Inconsistant FPS on New Rig (Rtx 3080, 10700k) - Any Tips?

I recently received a new pre-built Lenovo Legion PC with an RTX 3080, 10700KF processor and 32gb RAM @ 3200mhz with MSFS installed on an NVme drive.

After more than a week of testing, I am worried something is not quite right as my fps are all over the place and I’d really appreciate the feedback of those with a similar setup.

I am running at 4K, ultra settings, vsync off and resolution scaling set to 100. I have all the latest drivers updated and have removed any bloatware. My PC is set to high performance both in Windows and the Nvidia control panel.

On Ultra, in the air above 20,000 feet I get 50 to 60fps which is great but on or near the ground, my fps are much lower than expected some locations significantly worse than others.

For example on the runway in Nice airport, France I get 45 fps in the Icon and between 45 to 50fps in the air at 2500 feet, while yesterday on the ground at KSFO I got only 22 to 30 fps on the runway with dips in fps as I pan the camera around, and after take off flying through very low cloud in live weather I got only 26fps until I broke through the cloud (in the TBM). It then increased to 40fps. Upon changing the weather to scattered clouds and flying low over downtown San Francisco I got between 30 and 45 fps (mostly 40 to 45). Again the frame rate was sporadically going up and down depending which way I pan the camera. Which really ruins any sense of smoothness.

At KJFK I get as low as 22 to 25 fps if I am looking towards the terminal in the direction of Manhatten (gets to 30fps if I am stationary for a moment) and looking elsewhere at KJFK (away from Manhatten direction) it goes up to about 35fps on the ground but fluctuates all over the place averageing 30fps. Flying low over Manhatten gives me about 40 to 45fps.

In EIDW (Dublin airport) on the ground I get 35 fps (again quite a bit of fluctuation) and in the air in the cessna 172 I get 38 fps flying low to the ground and 40 to 45 above 5000 feet

The general trend I am seeing is an average of 45fps over cities at about 2,500 feet, 50 to 60fps at 20,000 feet or above, but only 25 to 45 fps on the ground with more complex airports and addons airports giving me an average of 30fps (FSDreamteam’s KORD for example) with quite a few stutters.

Being on or near the ground seems to quite dramatically lower fps which I guess is normal but to be honest I expected my new CPU and GPU to give me better fps on or near to the ground based on what others report.

I checked my CPU’s performance and it is hitting 5.1ghz, however the CPU usage remains around 15 to 40%. My GPU usage in the air is 100% and developer mode says I am GPU limited whilst airborned. However, on or near the ground my GPU usage falls to 45% to 70% and it says in those scenarios I am limited by the main thread. However my CPU usage does not increase when on ground and I can see that no thread is close to maxed out (in task manager CPU performance). So it seems on the ground I get low fps and neither my GPU or CPU is being properly utilized. Not even one whole core. Is this normal? I have tried changing the scenery cache from Ultra to Medium but it makes no difference.

If anyone can advise if the fps I am getting are normal that would be great. So many people say they are getting 60fps on 4K Ultra but as every situation is different (ground versus sky, addon or no addon, city or countryside etc.), based on my experiene described here, it doesn’t seem plausible that 60fps could always be achieved on an rtx 3080 and 10700k in Ultra 4K. Or is there something wrong with my machine?

What surprises me is the lack of CPU and GPU usage when on the ground. Do others experience this with a similar setup and subsequent significant lower fps?

Also I get quite a lot of small stutters especially at lower altitudes and around airports probably due my massively fluctuating frame rates.

I suppose this post is to alay my concerns something is wrong with my setup. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Hopefully it might help others as well. Cheers

Try this… it helped me unlock more FPS from a very laggy 10 fps even on everything low. To a constant and stable 30 fps on everything ultra.

What you described is normal so don’t worry about your nice system. The FPS fluctuate depending on the scenery. Higher FPS high up and lower when close to the ground. The FPS also fluctuate by Aircraft as some are more demanding on the system. If your worst FPS is well above 30 and you don’t have any major stutters - all is good.

I’ll give it a go. Thanks.

Mostly above 30 but does dip to mid 20s on occassion which really surprised me (like at KSFO with low cloud and KJFK)