I am still limited by the main thread in SU5, I have watched a video of one of the developers talking about the update, albeit largely in the context of the Xbox but he did say, and I certainly am CPU limited with my 2080TI, as main thread is indicated in red on the FPS counter.
My understanding is, and again I am likely wrong, but even though more tasks have been offloaded to the GPU and CPU demand has been reduced, the CPU is still the limiting factor for most people as discussed here:
https://www.flightsimulator.blog/2021/08/04/sim-update/
I wonder though whether I might get some other benefits apart from just again in frame rate, such as quicker load times greater detail being less likely to impact performance perhaps.
Absolutely agree with you there Athena.
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The counter being red does not refer to the type of limiting imho, it refers to certain FPS thresholds. So…red=bad, green=good 
Current limitation should be displayed in written, that is “limited by render thread” or “…main thread” etc.
If you’re really limited by main thread, then it might really be your CPU, however, memory comes into play as well.
For me it usually reads “limited by render thread” after SU5, while before it was fluctuating between main thread and GPU.
The problem before SU5 was that almost all stuff was running on one and a half threads, roughly speaking, which means that one thread/core was running at 100% all time. Now they distributed some of the load onto additional threads which gives a bit more balanced picture. As written above, try whats happening if you deactivate 1…2 cores/threads or decrease clocks.
In my experience, CPU has little impact on load times, it’s drive and memory and probably also your internet connection that are limiting here. Maybe you will gain a couple of seconds, but that doesn’t make much of a difference.
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100 percent agree, my choice of words were bit less differentiated for simplicity.
Bottom line is: in the most common (ie board OCs situations ( without individual voltage tuning to eek out the last MHz in clockspeed ) the impact on life span is so little that most PCs are obsolete before the CPU reaches its limits especially as common use cases not even if you run MSFS 24/7 constantly keep the CPU at full design load (something eg Prime95 could do, which is pretty boring from an entertainment point of view ).
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To get to the point: upgrading your CPU won’t hurt - except your wallet, as you’ll have to buy a new mobo and probably memory and cooler as well. But don’t expect it to have a large impact on FPS, as upgrading your GPU would.
Tbh, the money you saved for those components + what you will get when selling you 2080 would probably be enough to buy an overpriced 3080 or the like.
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Well, some people seem to value P95 as a replacement for p**n… 
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LOL. yes whatever floats your boat
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Yep, @DerKlausi, I am aware of those caveats, the but like most people, the most expensive part of my build was the GPU and given that it’s a 2080ti AIO cooler which seems fairly decent even now and I can’t justify an additional AUD$2000 in exchange cost for a 3090, then I thought I might consider a new MOBO and CPU, if it provides some reasonable return for perhaps $600 turnaround.
I’ll update the GPU one day but it’s only 20 months old well…….you know the rest.
Sure. But also get faster RAM, better CPU cooler (your current CPU cooler will not be sufficient) and check your power supply - if you need both, you are already pretty much buying a new system (except for the casing).
I’m glad to know that, I was considering AMD. Thanks, hope it sorts itself out on the next update.
Yep, and that’s a lot o& stuffing around or 1-2%. I did do a GPU OC benchmark and it came back with a lower score albeit within the margin of error. My 2080ti AIO cooler has been pretty good and I suspect it runs pretty fast as standard but perhaps it was just the way that I checked it to, it’s all black magic to me.
That’s a possible issue with O/C - you may run into throttling, which will be initiated by hard-coded thermal, power or voltage limits. In this case, you may hit higher max clocks for a short while, but then the clocks will drop below maybe even your previous non-O/C clocks to restore safe operation. Nailing the proper O/C requires some time-consuming fine-tuning and proper cooling.
Just to give you some perspective eg the 10900k has a PL2 (powerlimit) of around 250W, which is more than double our your current CPU. Consequently your PSU has to be able to supply this without a sweat as peak power can even be higher (PSU platinum of above 800W maybe). The CPU cooler should also be able to at least remove 250W of thermal power (eg. bequiet Dark Rock 4 Pro or the high end Noctua ones or the large water coolers). This adds to your CPU and motherboard. There are plenty of YouTubes or manufacturers sites which can help you to specify the exact requirements for the new CPU.
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@PianoArrow61382: SierraHotel2873 just brought up a good point: Is your current PSU able to deal with what you’re throwing at it? That is, an overclocked 7700k and a 2080Ti which alone will draw shy of 300W under load? Plus mainboard, memory, drives, coolers/fans, USB devices etc.? I’m just asking because even with a 600W PSU you may start running into issues here, and you may be capping performance? However, in this case you should also face stability issues like freezes, CTDs and BSODs - don’t know if that’s the case.
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I had a 7700K and 1080Ti. Overclocking the CPU resulted in no measurable change in MSFS for me. But then YMMV
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MSFS doesn’t like overclocked systems.
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I am looking at all that but before I even go there, I need to consider whether 3-5FPS is worth looking at. If there’s nothing much to be gained, I’ll sit the whole thing out for another year and see where we’re at then, I think my PSU might be 650, but he’s I’ll have to look at all that thanks.
It’s ok if it’s done correctly. I OCed my I9- 9900K and with a NH-D15 it is now running cooler than stock.
Same CPU. Doesn’t seem to cause problems at 4.9 Turbo. Don’t think, however, that it has a great effect on FPS. I don’t see CPU load going over 50% and temps in the 50’s, but GPU hits 100 - mostly in the menus. GTX 1080 ti, 11Gb, PSU 860W platinum.
I don’t OC my GPU, but I use MSI Afterburner for fan control. This helps a lot with GPU temperatures. Given your rig has correct air flow.