When I read this thread I was monitoring the FPS on my way into Madeira tonight. Didn't notice higher frame rates but I did notice the FPS was much smoother and consistant. Probably came from fine tuning and optimizing in the latest hotfix? In any case I had a blast doing the FUN VOR Rwy 05 Approach in the Dark! What a Rush!

No difference in FPS for me after the latest fix. One thing that should be mentioned when reporting fps is if the fps slider is kept to unlimited or lower, because with unlimited the fps are higher (but ugly blurries occur).

I would say you guys are convincing yourselves that you see things that aren't there. Smoothness and frame rate are identical. This is why science relies on "objective" evidence. Human beings are easily fooled. I bet PMDG haven't done anything to improve FPS or smoothness in the hotfix.

no fps difference for me either ...

unlimited the fps are higher (but ugly blurries occur).

The Hard Drive is often overlooked as well as placement of the FSX files. Everything is important when it comes to FSX. CPU, GPU, Memory and Hard Drive. If you use a Fast Dedicated Hard Drive and Defrag it regularly the blurries will most likely go away even at unlimited FPS which I use for the whole flight. A second generation 7200 rpm 3.0 Gb/s Sata drive or better should work just fine. Course the Raptors are even better. SSDs are the best but are expensive if you need a 150 gig or larger size. Keeping your drive in good health is important if you have a lot of add-ons. With FSX and everything I have for it the total hard drive space used is 130 gigabytes. Course of all of the above is assuming you have a descent CPU, GPU and enough Memory. But all are important.