I’ve been enjoying the heck out of MSFS for the past few months on my i5-6600k + 1070 system (running 4K at Medium).
I really want to run this thing at 4K Ultra settings (as close to max as possible) and recently picked up a new mobo + i9-9900k and almost randomly found a 3070 at my local store. My original plan was to get the 3080 but it’s been impossible, scalping market not withstanding. I am feeling impatient and am leaning towards just building the system with what I have vs delaying gratification. Can anyone with a similar 3070 setup attest to the overall 4K Ultra experience? I’m hoping that I’ll be satisfied if I can avg around 30 fps after the upgrade.
I can tell you now, there is not CPU/GPU on the world capable of running this game at 4K on ultra and having good FPSs. There are a couple of post discusing this already.
you will get 30FPS or more , dpending on the area you are flying.
I have a 3090 and i9-10980XE. The game runs well, but I use High not Ultra on 4K monitors. I can run Ultra, but the FPS in many areas is 25-35 on ultra and 40-50+ on High. I think high looks good, hard to really tell from ultra. The 3070 or 3080 will run well, just don’t expect 60fps for much of the time (and don’t think you need it either).
Mark
Hi @howarya76
I have the same CPU, 32g of 4000 memory, and have recently bought the 3070 for the same reasons. To be honest, it’s not much better than the Asus 1080 TI that it replaced. It’s better… but not what I expected. I’m running 4k ultra, and it’s a little jerky, and every now and again the sim just stops (like it’s hung… but it hasn’t) for 10 or 20 seconds.
I’ll be buying the 3080 if/when supplies are avaliable in Australia.
Thanks
PaulyFSPauly
I use a Ryzen 5600X (10900k level for gaming performance) and a 3080, running the fs on a 4k60 monitor. I ran it the first time on a 8700K + 3080 but the stuttering is so bad although FPS was decent. Stuttering usually happens when you’re in an area where photogrammetry data is dense, it’s acceptable when you’re still far away but when you’re dead center in the area, I had my FPS dropped to as low as 12 FPS, and this is on a 3080.
The only time I get +30FPS in ultra is when it’s clear skies. Performance will drop dramatically when there are clouds and even more on an intel build. Before upgrading to Ryzen 5600x, I ran the flight sim on a 8700k and Ryzen 3700x, both are not the best. A 5600X is the definitely the best value, at least until DX12 support comes (I assume).
Optimization needs to improve for an immersive 4k experience. Running a 3090 + i7 9700k OC 5Ghz and I run High settings at 1440p with 45~55 FPS. Running 4k drops that down to 25 FPS on the same system. I think we’ll get some proper optimizations in the future, but it’s just not there right now.
As someone who will be upgrading their rather old gaming laptop early next year for this Sim, I wondered if anyone can actually describe the difference between 4k and 1080p…
What difference will I see, how will it benefit me to run it in 4k…whats the overall experience like in 4k…
I’ve got a 4k TV and watched some YouTube in what they describe as 4k. Yes its cleaner and sharper looking…but will this be what comes across in gaming…I’ve kinda lost touch over the years and long due an upgrade.
Love the responses in this thread! Others are 100% correct stating that MSFS is NOT PLAYABLE on the Ultra present in 4K resolution. It is simply just not playable. I’m not sure why it exists- I guess just for the future? Unless you enjoy feeling nauseated when looking at your screen from the skipping, stuttering, constant frame drops, spikes, lags, and tanks.
3070 will be a good choice. As others have said, MSFS is so poorly optimized it will be a long while before they can sort it out. If you do want to run at 4K on ultra I’d advise trying that out and then lowering rendering scaling, LOD, and instrument refresh rate down. That will make it playable. Don’t listen to anyone claiming great performance on ultra. They’re a liar.
Agreed. I have 3090 and 10900k and good mem and psu Plus new m2 ssd for msfs. To have always above 45 fps @ 4k all ultra except for:
Clouds high
Reflections medium
Depth of field off
Lens correction off
Cockpit effect high
Instrument refresh rate low
Boat cars etc at 20
Airport personnel at 1
AI real time
At the moment I think 2K (rather than 4k) gives a real sweet spot - playable on ultra without stuttering (very occasionally in PG areas) at 40-50FPS with a 10900K and 2080 Super. Dips to 30s in airliner cockpits near cities. Although, I think your 3080 will be twiddling its thumbs at 2k as the CPU will be the bottleneck.
Hard to say as I don’t have anything 4k i can try it on unfortunately. I’m sure it will look awesome in 4k but the performance with current hardware may not be acceptable enough, although plenty people are using 4k on these forums. It runs beautifully on my 2k 144hz monitor with 40-50 fps with my rig, and it seems to be maximising the use of the gpu.
I’ve no idea what 4k slightly down scaled to improve performance might look like but that may be an answer
I’ve been using 4K in High with a 3090 card that was a bit hot for the case it was in. I now swapped it for a different 3090 that is running cooler in this case. I think my former setup had some thermal throttling on the card. I’ll try the new one on 4k High and compare those to 2k Ultra and see what it looks like. Maybe Ultra will work on 4k with the new card. However, high looks so good on 4K I’m ok either way I think.
Hi all, OP here. So I finally finished my PC this afternoon. First time I’ve ever built one. There were some nervous moments, but overall it was fun. My build:
i9-9900k
RTX 3080
32GB 3000mhz RAM
Aorus Pro Wifi motherboard.
On 4K Ultra with nearly full settings (rendering at 80, nearly indistinguishable from 100), I’m basically locked at 30 FPS. And to me, 30 FPS is perfect and overall the game looks gorgeous. I really can’t understand why 60 FPS is sought after for a flight sim like this. The only thing that doesn’t look good to me are the clouds (which I think may have degraded after the last update).
Try it at 60FPS and see it for yourself it’s awesome. I think we should have the option for sure. 30FPS is a slideshow and on par with console gaming on a cheap Wal-mart TV. Smooth 30FPS is better and playable. The main problem with MSFS is not only poor FPS but also a stuttering and lagging experience.
That being said feel free to tweak the LOD and cockpit refresh rate as well if you want higher FPS. Sounds like you’re enjoying it though and that’s all that really matters.
