4.1 and CPU specific settings/impact

Just thought I’d like to share my experience as well as get inputs from you guys after playing around with some settings and their impacts specifically on CPU usage and eventually the inevitable bottleneck on the main thread. 

This is of course with a fully loaded sim with all the typical addons and a complex aircraft like the PMDG 777 or FSL A320x. Only exception is default airport scenery to keep things simple. 

Special effects sliders, I’ve noticed most people keep this at high, but is it really necessary and how much of a CPU impact do you guys notice? Personally I think these scale with AI traffic and are the main cause of stutters on landing. Currently testing medium on both.

Shadow draw distance, unclear if this is a CPU or GPU centric setting. Shadow quality is known to be GPU based as shown on the settings chart but draw distance remains unknown. I find that draw distance also cause stutters at higher settings but can’t confirm. Currently at ultra but undecided.

Texture size - Settings chart says GPU impact only but I find otherwise. Seems to have a bigger impact on CPU than GPU to me. Testing 60 vs 30cm.

Scenery complexity - dropping from ultra to very dense doesn’t seem to actually do anything for me. Only difference is sawtoothing on scenery rendering threads vs constant loads with ultra. Read somewhere that sawtoothing is something you want to avoid as mentioned by Steve, so would ultra actually be better than very dense? Currently at very dense.

LOD, autogen draw distance and density along with mesh resolution are the biggest CPU hitters for me personally. With SPAD I can’t tell if going from 30%-10% AI traffic made much of a difference. Maybe in high density airports there might be a noticeable difference.

What have you guys experienced and what balance have you implemented to keep a playable frame rate? (>25 FPS with minimal stutters IMO).