Whenever users suffer performance issues with MSFS, the first diagnostic question is usually whether the bottleneck is the CPU or GPU. We’ve seen users with older CPUs buy a new and expensive GPU – perhaps a 4000 series card – but still endure disappointing fps due to their old CPU being unable to calculate data as rapidly as their GPU needs for the display. We call this being “CPU limited” (or sometimes “Main Thread Limited”).
We also see many instances where users have robust CPUs in their computer, but they’re still using antiquated graphics cards (GPUs) from years past. The CPU is churning out the data quickly enough, but the GPU struggles to produce a display as resolute and detailed as the simmer hopes. We call this being “GPU limited.”
Due to the remarkable programming achievement that is MSFS, however, we’re now seeing a new form of bottlenecking in 2023. Many users now have both powerful CPUs and GPUs. But an often-unforeseen, novel “problem” has now arisen that limits fps when using MSFS. The new “problem” is that the highly-efficient coding of MSFS, combined with a powerful CPU and GPU, now produces more fps than many TVs can properly display. In other words, MSFS is giving us too many fps! This “problem” is almost comical to consider, but it is nonetheless a problem that must be addressed for top performance of MSFS.
This is the problem I myself currently face. My primary MSFS display is an aging Sony 4K TV, which I purchased way back in 2015. At the time, it was truly state of the art. And, as a TV, its performance still shines. But this Sony TV, like most TVs currently in use as computer displays, was never designed to produce more than 60fps. TV displays (in America at least) were orginally designed to sync their standard 30fps (for TV shows) to the frequency of the incoming electrical current of 60Hz, recalling that there are/were actually two interlaced images being displayed as a single frame. (Many European nations use 50Hz electrical current and therefore 25fps for TV broadcasts.)
So what happens if MSFS and your computer are outputting more than 60fps to a standard 60Hz TV? Nothing catastrophic happens, but the display suffers noticeable issues such as screen tearing, discoloration, herky-jerky performance, and various other graphical anomalies. The casual observer may not even notice these quirks. But the fact remains that you’re never going to get more than 60fps from a TV that can only display 60fps. Period. So in 2023, you can now be “TV Bottlenecked.” This is an entirely new curveball for flight simmers.
What, then, is the solution to TV bottlenecking? I personally just lock my refresh rate (in the MSFS options) to Full Monitor Refresh Rate, which, in my case, is 60fps. (You can also cap your fps in various other ways, such as your Nvidia MSFS profile.) And I’m absolutely thrilled with the performance I get. I run MSFS at full 4K resolution with all sliders on Ultra, locked at 60fps. I don’t even turn on Frame Generation even though I have a 4090. I get a perfect, stutter-free, 60fps display even on my dilapidated TV.
But if 60fps just isn’t enough for you, you’ll need to buy either a dedicated computer monitor with variable refresh rate or a newer TV with a variable refresh rate (VRR). These displays are often called G-Sync or G-Sync Compatible, or Freesync, or just VRR. These displays adjust themselves dynamically to the video input signal they receive from the computer, rather than bottlenecking the video display to a standard 60fps output due to their inherent hardware limitations.
Five years ago, who would have thought that a new challenge for flight simmers would be too many fps? Funny but true, thanks to the efficient coders at Asobo.
on high end gpu/cpu’s and then only use a 60Hz monitor then it’s like putting a tiny VW engine in a corvette. It’s just going to be somewhat disappointing.