Hi,

I've recently purchased a RTX 3090 as an upgrade from my old 970GTX, which is obviously a pretty big jump. I've always kept my settings really reasonable because I prefer 60fps to 30fps. I'm using a screen that only supports 1080p, so I'm not even worried about 4k performance. I have a 8700k that is overclocked to a stable 5.0ghz, 32gb Ram, and I'm running P3D 4.5 (but will go to 5.3 shortly.)

Most things I've sacrificed I've never really used, so I don't miss them:

FXAA: Off

AA: 4xMSAA

Texture filtering: Anisotropic 2x

Texture resolution: 1024x1024

Reflections: all off

Shadows quality: Low

Shadows draw distance: Low

Ships and ferries: 0%

Leisure boats: 0%

 

But there are a few things that I've sacrificed that wish I could increase:

Autogen and scenery draw distance: Low

Autogen vegetation density: Sparse

Autogen building density: Normal

AI traffic density: 75% (limited by FSUIPC to maintain 60fps)

Road vehicles: 0%

Cloud draw distance: 70 mi

Maximum cloud layers (AcitveSky): 3

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 70 mi

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 80 mi

Dynamic lighting: on (but it kills my fps, so I have to delete it from some sceneries)

 

My question is: which of these are CPU bound, and which are GPU bound? Which ones can I increase and still maintain 60fps?

p.s. the card is not installed yet, it's going in to the shop to also install a new PSU to support the card.

 

Thanks,

Daniel

Edited December 26, 20214 yr by Daniel Baker

 

A 3090 driving a 1080p display is massive, massive overkill in the GPU dept.  You should consider 16x Anisotropic filtering (virtually no impact on GPU load), and 4x or even 8x SSAA, which the 3090 should be able to easily support.  And at least 2048 texture res.

Autogen is mostly a CPU load.  Dynamic lighting is GPU, and can impact frame rates when used together with SSAA--but at 1080p I'd test it to see what you can get away with.  5 layers in ASP3D should also be pretty easily doable.

Wow, nice Xmas present... which I could afford one myself, it'd be a huge GPU jump.

I'm running v4.5 atm and have tuned quite extensively to maximise the GPU and CPU use.

My settings are way higher than yours, that said I'm running a vsync'd 30 Hz for 30 fps (unlimited in sim) along with DSR screen modes for higher resolutions and improved AA.

I'd say the biggest limitations are going to be maintaining that 60 fps, yeah 60 fps (vsync'd) is a very smooth experience but scenery sacrifices are generally needed to keep @ 60 fps.

My experiences in tuning has shown the following.

Everything will use a certain amount of CPU, the more you turn on and the higher the settings, the more CPU is used.

In particular the most CPU use I've noticed has been.

• Traffic - all types
• Scenery Objects|Scenery Complexity
• Cloud draw distance
• Scenery Objects|Autogen and scnery draw distance (this affects both CPU and GPU)

For heavy GPU use I've noticed the following will really drag down a GPU.

• 8xSSAA
• Volumetric Fog
• Lighting|shadows|Casting - Simulation Objects & Vegetation (Vegetation the most).
• Reflections

Most things tend to be run on the GPU these days, as a comparison I've added the settings I use.

49 minutes ago, Daniel Baker said:

FXAA: Off    ON

AA: 4xMSAA    2xSSAA|4xSSAA (2x if cloudy and poor weather, or lots of trees).

Texture filtering: Anisotropic 2x    16x

Texture resolution: 1024x1024 4096x4096

Reflections: all off   ON - Clouds|User Vehicle|SimObjects|Terrain & Dynamic Refections - Medium

Shadows quality: Low    ULTRA

Shadows draw distance: Low    ULTRA

Ships and ferries: 0%    50%

Leisure boats: 0%    25%

 

But there are a few things that I've sacrificed that wish I could increase:

Autogen and scenery draw distance: Low    Medium to Very High (depends on the flying area)

Autogen vegetation density: Sparse   Extremely dense

Autogen building density: Normal    Extremely dense

AI traffic density: 75% (limited by FSUIPC to maintain 60fps)    100% (limited by FSUIPC to maintain the 30 Hz vsync)

Road vehicles: 0%    25%

Cloud draw distance: 70 mi   90mi

Maximum cloud layers (AcitveSky): 3   5

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 70 mi    90mi

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 80 mi    90mi

Dynamic lighting: on    ON

 

With a 3090 GPU if your display is a std 1920x1080 you can enable DSR and run a higher screen mode and it should easily handle it.

I have P3D automatically run as 2560x1440 @ 30Hz, then when P3D is closed the screen auto switches back to 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz.

I also use Display Global Settings|Profiles for different areas and types of flying, because sometimes there is a need to drop the settings and a pre-configured profile makes it easy.

Really once you get the new card I'd start with a max'd settings profile and a saved test scenario and use a process of elimintation to tune to your flying style.

Cheers

42 minutes ago, w6kd said:

A 3090 driving a 1080p display is massive, massive overkill in the GPU dept.  You should consider 16x Anisotropic filtering (virtually no impact on GPU load), and 4x or even 8x SSAA, which the 3090 should be able to easily support.  And at least 2048 texture res.

Autogen is mostly a CPU load.  Dynamic lighting is GPU, and can impact frame rates when used together with SSAA--but at 1080p I'd test it to see what you can get away with.  5 layers in ASP3D should also be pretty easily doable.

Thanks Bob, this is really helpful. I'll use your texture/AA suggestions.

I guess everything I desire is in sight, with the possible exception of autogen.  I'm not sure what I should expect in this department, but I'd like to get to dense with a medium draw distance at least.  I'd like to understand how to optimize my computer/P3D setting for autogen performance...

Cheers,

Daniel

5 minutes ago, Rogen said:

Wow, nice Xmas present... which I could afford one myself, it'd be a huge GPU jump.

I'm running v4.5 atm and have tuned quite extensively to maximise the GPU and CPU use.

My settings are way higher than yours, that said I'm running a vsync'd 30 Hz for 30 fps (unlimited in sim) along with DSR screen modes for higher resolutions and improved AA.

I'd say the biggest limitations are going to be maintaining that 60 fps, yeah 60 fps (vsync'd) is a very smooth experience but scenery sacrifices are generally needed to keep @ 60 fps.

My experiences in tuning has shown the following.

Everything will use a certain amount of CPU, the more you turn on and the higher the settings, the more CPU is used.

In particular the most CPU use I've noticed has been.

• Traffic - all types
• Scenery Objects|Scenery Complexity
• Cloud draw distance
• Scenery Objects|Autogen and scnery draw distance (this affects both CPU and GPU)

For heavy GPU use I've noticed the following will really drag down a GPU.

• 8xSSAA
• Volumetric Fog
• Lighting|shadows|Casting - Simulation Objects & Vegetation (Vegetation the most).
• Reflections

Most things tend to be run on the GPU these days, as a comparison I've added the settings I use.

 

With a 3090 GPU if your display is a std 1920x1080 you can enable DSR and run a higher screen mode and it should easily handle it.

I have P3D automatically run as 2560x1440 @ 30Hz, then when P3D is closed the screen auto switches back to 1920x1080 @ 60 Hz.

I also use Display Global Settings|Profiles for different areas and types of flying, because sometimes there is a need to drop the settings and a pre-configured profile makes it easy.

Really once you get the new card I'd start with a max'd settings profile and a saved test scenario and use a process of elimintation to tune to your flying style.

Cheers

Phenomenal response Rogen, thanks so much for your guidance.  Yeah, 60fps is tough, but I've found no matter what I try with my system the 30fps just seems stuttery.  Panning/yawing/turning is where I had really noticed it.  My monitor does not have a 30hz emulation mode, except when you're using a VGA connection (which my 970GTX couldn't output to.)

 

Cheers,

Daniel

 

7 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

My 2 cents for 8700 CPU + 3090 GPU (assuming 32GB RAM):

FXAA: Off  / On  (GPU)

AA: 4xMSAA / 4XSSAA (GPU)

Texture filtering: Anisotropic 2x / 16X (GPU) 

Texture resolution: 1024x1024 / 4096 x 4096 (GPU)

Reflections: all off  / Clouds, Terrain, User Vehicle, Buildings, SimObjects maybe (GPU)

Shadows quality: Low / Ultra (GPU)

Shadows draw distance: Low / All except vegetation and No Shadow Flagged Content (GPU)

Ships and ferries: 0% / No Change (CPU)

Leisure boats: 0% / No Change (CPU)

But there are a few things that I've sacrificed that wish I could increase:

Autogen and scenery draw distance: Low / No Change (CPU)

Autogen vegetation density: Sparse / No Change (CPU) but this rarely impacts FPS that much when NOT using Dynamic Vegetation

Autogen building density: Normal / No Change (CPU)

AI traffic density: 75% (limited by FSUIPC to maintain 60fps) / No Change (CPU)

Road vehicles: 0% / No Change (CPU)

Cloud draw distance: 70 mi  / Max - 200mi (GPU)

Maximum cloud layers (AcitveSky): 3 / 5 (GPU)

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 70 mi / 200 mi (GPU)

Min cloud draw distance (AcitveSky): 80 mi / 200 mi (GPU)

Dynamic lighting: on (but it kills my fps, so I have to delete it from some sceneries) / On (GPU)

This is over simplified because there is more than just CPU/GPU in the rendering equation of what determines your goal of 60 FPS.  Network bandwidth (if you run ASP3D from external PC), I/O storage performance, bus speed, etc.   CPU is required for everything so it's never entirely GPU only so the above should be viewed as skewed to one or the other in terms of load but not "exclusive".

Cheers, Rob.

Amazing, thanks very much @Rob_Ainscough.  My only disappointment is the autogen buildings - not sure what kind of CPU upgrade I'd need to push these up?

 

Cheers,

Daniel