Back in the P3D days, there was a widely used trick to get silky smooth performance with 30 fps by locking fps to 30 and setting the monitor refresh rate to 30 hz. Has anyone tried this in MSFS? Does it work here as well?
Yep. It might help with some CPU bound setups. If you consider 30 fps silky smooth that is, which, if you’re using head tracking or if the scenery is moving fast, then it isn’t. You probably don’t need to reduce the monitor refresh rate either, especially if you’re already using vsync or gsync.
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Moved to #gd-commsupport:tech-talk which is more appropriate 
How feeble is the computer that can’t run the sim at better than 30 FPS?
Sure, even a fairly powerful one sees dips in high load areas like KLAX.
No way I want 30 FPS in places my decidely mid-range system runs silky smooth limited to 82.5 FPS.
Demanding aircraft + Demanding add on scenery + high graphics settings + FSTL traffic should I go on?
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I wouldn’t do the 30hrz, I’d do 60hrz and lock the game at half
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I am also using the “30 Hz Limit” … as a sight seeing goose I prefer ultra high detail 4K … at lower FPS.
Given that MSFS is usually “main thread limited” on my system anyways, that 30 FPS also does reduce unnecessary noise from the GPU.
I do enjoy constant quiet 30 FPS … instead of fluctuating noisy 40 to 50 FPS.
I’d wager that my system capped @ 82.5 FPS would give me the same performance with the parameters you listed as it would if I capped it @ 30 FPS - maybe even slightly better. But I wouldn’t know if it was capped @ 30.
It’s like putting a governor on an engine and driving the speed limit. In a 30 mph zone you’ll hit the rev limiter. On the interstate you’ll still be going 30 mph. Makes no sense.
While this won’t help if your monitor can’t do some sort of VRR (variable refresh rate), I find that I really have no reason to lock a specific frame rate with FreeSync: as there’s no jitter delay from waiting for the next frame, motion remains smooth even as the frame rate varies up and down.
I use a TrackIR head tracker for panning/translating the camera and am happy enough with it even on low-frame-rate areas like large airports.
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I’ve played around a lot with FPS caps. Right now I use RSS to cap at 90 FPS, and frame sync to cap at 50% of the monitor’s 165Hz refresh set in NVCP.
That could change tomorrow, but for now it’s working exactly as I want it to work.
I see your point, and I have set up my system with no FPS cap and no frame sync. I can get up to 20% higher FPS, but end up with more frame latency. I’ll trade a few frames for lower latency.
I’m not against capping frame rate, but as I originally asked,
… just to add my 2 cents (and to support what @SirGreenLemon already wrote):
I prefer to max out all the graphics options that the sim has to offer, and if I then get stable 4K @ 30 FPS without too much noise, then I am a happy goose.
And regarding the “feeble” point, I clearly can not reach 60 fps on my 12 core 3,8 GHz CPU + Radeon 7900 XT with the max settings … and yes … I can reduce the resolution and the graphics settings to reach 80+ FPS or more … but high FPS is not my goal. Why do I need more then 30 FPS anyways. Flight dynamics is smooth motion with lots of inertia.
This goose is flying MSFS to enjoy the planet at smooth 4K.
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I should have qualified my comment. I run the sim at 2K, with mostly Ultra settings.
My monitor isn’t big enough and close enough to worry about adding the extra overhead that 4K requires.
If you use VR or a head tracker (eg TrackIR) for panning/translating the camera, higher frame rates make a big improvement in smoothness! If you’re using fixed camera views, though, you’ll likely never notice anything above 30 indeed. 
On PC, I have run both at 60Hz@30FPS locked (50% RR) but I am currently using 120Hz@40FPS locked (33% RR). The sim likes to see these multiples of RR with VSYNC. Gives you better fluidity IMO. Also keeps your GPU not at 100% (noisy). Other people swear by turning VSYNC off and just targeting max fps all the time, but they must either not mind having screaming GPU fans or have very large spacious and well ventilated cases.
Note: the VSYNC / RR tweaks won’t stop you from experiencing in game stutters during takeoff and landing say which are related to being CPU mainthread limited and requiring you to turn down some settings in the sim to get out of CPU limited situations first.
I run sim at 4K on a 3090.
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