I have a brand new gaming PC that is clean except for MFS2020. That’s all I use it for currently. It’s specs are: Intel i7, 16GB RAM, and NVIDIA GTX 1660 Ti. Yes, it’s more mid-range, but as I said, I’ve been comfortably running an even mixture of medium-high specs and throwing a good bit of stuff at it, such as weather and flying a lot at large airports with the airliners and I’ve been getting really smooth performance. At first, it’s always a little laggy, but once everything gets loaded about a minute in or so, it runs smooth.
To answer your next question, yes other’s have reported a similar issue. Since the FBW mod has a lot more code and has a lot more functionality and complexity, that’s the reason people like me may experience more lag and FPS loss. There are some ways around it apparently. I’ve been told to set my cockpit refresh rate to low and turn off any displays I’m not using, such as the FO’s. I followed this advice and saw no difference. I went as far as to setting a lot of my graphics much lower than they were, like low-medium and still had FPS issues. I felt like it wasn’t worth it to be playing with low-medium settings and having noticeable FPS loss still when I was previously running super smoothly at medium-high settings.
As for your next point, let me explain again. There are two types of simmers, typically: “casual” and “hardcore.” I definitely feel like I’m not casual where I fly on and off and not regularly. I was flying everyday very regularly (well until the sim broke with the last update). I’m just not someone who knows a lot about aircraft systems and instrument stuff and all the in-depth, textbook-based knowledge. Like I said, I know enough to plan flights, fly them, and just in general, the basic elements that go into flying. I’m also no real life pilot, but I’ve flown as a passenger on countless flights in my life, so I definitely know how it feels and all the routines of flight. Also, I love to watch cockpit flight videos during my free time. I’m definitely an AvGeek and I do know a good bit about aviation, in fact I work in the industry with operations. What I meant was that having said all that, I just really don’t need a “study level” aircraft mod like FBW. I’m not really into the sim to learn, I’m more into it to just enjoy flying, plan flights, and fly them in a way that seems realistic enough for me to real life. No, I’m not just messing around, taking off like a rocket, or nosedive landing. No, none of that junk from me. I treat the sim as I would if I were a pilot IRL. Like I also said, I use the AP, just not the correct way a pilot normally would IRL. However, it gets the job done well for me.
So, having said all that, at the end of the day, I feel like I’m definitely somewhere in the middle between a casual and hardcore simmer.