I understand that many people do, but I don’t play Red Dead Redemption 2 or Shadow of the Tomb Raider. When a new GPU or CPU comes out I want to see how it performs in Flight Simulator. With the right settings, this game can bring any system to its knees so it seems like it should serve as the ultimate performance test.
1 Like
I think it is because:
- There is no built in benchmarking mode
- It is DX11 and will always show worse performance on newer hardware when compared to DX12 titles
- It doesn’t have DLSS or Real Time Ray Tracing which is all the buzz
4 Likes
I would also say that to do a good benchmark you must have a fully repeatable benchmark system, that means some sort of script which will be repeated each time. But you can’t (I think) currently script MSFS such that the flight or the camera is done every time the same way. Also as there is a lot of the performance which may be affected by the network which is not something you want to have have in a benchmark => you would want to have something which is always reproducible without possible external side effects.
3 Likes
Not really.
Most of the time the sim is main thread limited. This will lead to very boring benchmarks (5600X, 5800X, 5900X and 5950X will perform almost the same for example, which is good information to have, but not really interesting for a reviewer to show). Same goes for GPU’s; if the sim is main thread limited, then it doesn’t really matter which GPU you stick into your PC, as long as it’s able to render all the frames the CPU can produce at the resolution you require.
if you’re playing at 1080P, a GTX 1080 or RTX2070 will perform similar to a RTX3090.
Basically, MSFS is a pretty bad benchmark for both CPU’s and GPU’s due to this.
edit: there have been some channels showing MSFS benchmarks in their suite, so the information is out there. Which is why I’m surprised to see people spending loads of cash on 10900K’s, 5950X and RTX3090’s (and then complaining when their shiny new $4000+ e-peen can’t run the sim at 60FPS at 4K).
7 Likes
I can see that the lack of an integrated benchmarking tool means some extra effort is needed.
I don’t find the benchmarks that exist to be boring. Guru3D for example shows MSFS being CPU limited at lower resolutions and GPU limited at higher resolutions. It’s interesting to see where the crossover point lies, and how it changes as new hardware is released.
As long as you buy the new nVidia series you’re good to go, no need for benchmarks.
@ MortThe2nd
Excellent reply… 
That is just not true that “most of the time the sim is main thread limited”. I play on 5800X and rtx3080 in 1600p on ultrawide and the sim is only main thread limited when there is a lot of photogrammetry (only large cities with PG). Otherwise it is ALWAYS GPU limited for me. Same in 4k and I suspect in 1440 as well.
Why flight sim is not featured in many benchmarks is because it is really difficult to benchmark. There is no benchmark mode and the game is really inconsistent and dependent on the plane choice and location. Reviewers usually choose to benchmark JFK landing but other reviewers choose another challenge which makes results almost impossible to compare because the fps range from 25-50fps average depending on the landing challenge.
If you plan to play in 4k than the latest processor is not THAT important, it may give you a few fps over large cities. However, the latest GPU makes a big difference.
2 Likes
Also smaller audience than RDR or CP2077
But there are a few channels where MSFS is constantly benchmarked on new hardware
1 Like
Except the 5700XT, 6800, 6800XT, and 6900XT are faster in FS2020 than the 2070, 3070, 3080, and 3090
1 Like
Would you pleas share a link to those channels please? I’d like to see them. The only one that I remember is JayzTwoCents when it was first released
1 Like
Below are the couple channels where I found constant MSFS inclusion in their gaming benchmarks using various hardware
There are other channels where they do test MSFS occasionally in a single-video format using specific set of hardware.
And in big hardware launch events (such as Ryzen 5000 series), some popular channels such as Linus Tech Tip, Paul’s Hardware, GamersNexus and Jorrod’sTech do have coverage for MSFS
1 Like
I was considering 6800xt because it is also available where I live (same as 3080), but according to pretty much all tests online it is worse in 4k than 3080.
Not true the 5700XT is not even faster than the 2070 at least in this sim much less but if you are referring to the 6800xt cards those are certainly faster but the AMD new card looses against the 3080 and 3090 in 4K.
Thank you, sir
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.