Hello there fellow desktop aviators. I’m literally having my PC being built as I type this. I am coming from an Xbox Series X and was hoping I could get some guidance, specifically on settings. I have the following:
AMD 7950X3D
MSI RTX 4090
Samsung 990 Pro 4TB NVMe m.2
64GB (2x32gb) DDR5-6000
Both CPU and GPU water/liquid cooled
So fellow aviators, any suggestions on getting the absolute best possible performance/graphics out of the simulator/computer. I will have my computer plugged into my 55” Sony A90J which at 3840x2160p can run at 120Hz.
If there is any other information needed, please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer. I should mention that I’ve been a Mac user and console gamer for about 15 years (maybe longer) now so the PC/Windows is pretty new to me.
I found this to be a pretty comprehensive guide to basic settings, done by a reputable source. It’s only 5 days old.
There are many system ‘tweaks’ that really can only be gleaned by researching many threads here. But this will give you good info about in-sim settings.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I’ll get to watching. I’m extremely excited and am looking forward to taking my simulation experience to the next level
I’ll just add one comment: You’ve got a beast of a machine. Manage your expectations, though. I’ve seen a few folks here with similar systems who thought they should be able to max out every setting and run every 3rd party addon and get 120 FPS everywhere, all the time.
With the outdated core code that FS2020 is based on, the sim is poorly optimized for very powerful systems such as yours. It will certainly run better on your system than it does on my less capable one. I firmly believe that the release of FS2024 later this year will allow us to experience this simulation in ways we can’t dream of today.
So if you find you aren’t getting the performance you think you should, be patient. Continue working on system optimization (meaning your BIOS, Windows, nVidia settings, and the sim itself) to get the best performance you can get with the current version. Learn about P-cores and E-cores, power settings, undervolting, and PBO.
And when FS2024 comes out, buy it, and hopefully you’ll unleash your system’s true potential.
I really appreciate you. I am definitely looking forward to MSFS2024. I am hoping that I will have a better experience with the computer rather than the Xbox, which I am sure I will. My goal is to find max quality and performance but most importantly, optimize it as much as I could. You’ve been extremely helpful and I looking forward to fiddling around with the settings and sim.
Also, thank you for the video, it is extremely informative and a good first steps towards my goal.
Tuning the sim is a process and there is no single best way to set it up for a given platform. Some of that is because of differences in raw system performance and some based on how you prioritize fidelity over frame rates. The above guide will get you started, but no self respecting person will tell you exact settings to make. What works for them may not work for you.
Since you are going with the 7950x3d, it’s imperative that you set it up correctly due to the v-cache only being on one chiplet. Follow this official guide to get you started.
One other thing that guide doesn’t tell you is you’ll have to completely reinstall Windows if you ever want to switch to the 7800x3d and maybe even future single chiplet CPU 's due to driver related issues in how it assigns work to the individual cores. Gamers Nexus discovered this when they reviewed the 7950x3d first, then the 7800x3d when it was later released and noticed extremely poor performance. Simply uninstalling the drivers wasn’t enough as it still kept things messed up deep inside Windows, and a full OS re-install was the only solution.
The 7950x3d has also been more fickle than the 7800x3d in running stable due to issues with “core parking.” Hopefully a lot of that has been resolved by now so you won’t have to troubleshoot much, but again it’s something to know about just in case.
To be honest, you may want to consider switching to the 7800x3d if it’s not too late. In gaming. The 7950x3d basically transforms into the 7800x3d by parking the non-v-cache cores. Even with half the cores parked and effectively paused, the sim doesn’t even come close to saturating it or the 7800x3d. Unless you have a specific need for the 7950x3d apart from the sim, it’s largely a waist of money.
Thank you so much for this valuable information. Besides MSFS, the computer will be replacing my PS5, Xbox Series X and my 16” MacBook Pro. I use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit my raw files. Since this was my first windows based computer in years, I wanted to “future proof” myself as much has I can since it’s replacing 3 machines I use often.
Literally just upgraded my system to the i9-13900kf, RTX 3080, samsung 990 SSD M.2 4TB, Samsung Evo 790 SSD M.2 2TB, WD HDD 1TD, watercooled, with 64GB DDR5 vengeance 6000mhz.
Im not expecting to run msfs on ultra in fact im just gonna leave the settings right where theyre at from my previous processor. Now the thing im most interested in seeing with those same setting is how ( which were on the high end of a respectible custom medium of settings) the sim performs better and i can do another hard hitting process at the same time while flying (VS, Sony Vegas, any Literal adobe product, etc). So aka can do workspace and game at the same time. My last processor couldnt (i7-6700k)
Well its more along the lines that i shouldnt have a problem. 1 of my monitors is for the sim. Another is for edge and the other is always just blank because i couldnt use another program do stuff while crusing
Sure. But the fact remains that your CPU has X number of cores, and those cores are utilized for every running process. Many of the apps I run simultaneously (LittleNavMap, FSR, etc.) use very little system resources. Photoshop is a pretty resource-intensive program. At least you didn’t say you were trying render a 4K, multi-layer, 30-minute video in Premiere while flying your Fenix A320 over London, streaming it live to YouTube.
One of the reasons I mentioned P-cores and E-cores is that, by using software like Process Lasso, you can assign processes to utilize specific cores, and permanently set their priority (I set flightsimulator.exe to high-priority, for example.) That would give you a lot of control for minimizing the sharing of resources (your 7950X3D has a lot!) between apps.
Management of the 2 CCD’s along with core parking has been simplified now. As a matter of fact core parking is no longer required and games will always be properly run on the v-cache cores - see this post.
I suggested manual core parking because OP stated he plans to run other multi-thread programs concurrently with the sim, and manual core parking would give him control over which processes are confined to what cores. If he doesn’t need to worry about Photoshop using the same cores as the sim, that’s Great!
So the Ultimate Plan Plan is responsible for ensuring the L3 cache is utilized by the P-cores? And processes that don’t use that cache won’t share resources?
From what I’ve seen with either the Performance or Ultimate power plans, while no cores are parked with either plan, games get put onto the v-cached cores and non-games get put on the regular cores. I believe it’s the MS gamebar that decides what app runs on what core(s) but it’s uncannily accurate even when you have both games and non-games running at the same time.
This is on my 7900x3d with 2 CCD’s so it’s probably safe to say the 7950x3d would do the same. MS/AMD have fine tuned core allocation very well at this point compared to the fiasco when the 7900x3d/7950x3d first came out.
I am currently fiddling with settings and all the options. Spoiler alert, it’s a lot. Especially coming from an Xbox. There’s been plenty of updates and installs so I’m just now finally able to fiddle around.
