I would be interested to hear the result since my 4770K+16 Gb ram + 2070 Super is GPU limited in MSFS.
Which btw is strange. How can I be GPU limited with that old CPU ?
And is it different in other sims like DCS P3D XP ?

If you post your MSFS graphics settings and tell us whether you limit fps or not (including whether you use Vsync) it might give the community an idea why you are always GPU limited. You can see my specs in my sig, and I was almost always CPU limited, yet I recently upgraded from a 1070 to a 3080 12GB to allow higher setting for GPU intensive graphics (clouds, anti-aliasing, reflections and shadows, etc.) I'm still CPU limited with almost exactly the same very smooth performance but now with beautiful graphics.

One of two things is probably the cause of GPU limit: 1.) unlimited fps setting usually will cause all GPU's to limit because they are rendering the max fps the GPU can produce (most likely); 2.) one or more graphics settings are taxing the GPU

1 hour ago, somiller said:

If you post your MSFS graphics settings and tell us whether you limit fps or not (including whether you use Vsync) it might give the community an idea why you are always GPU limited. You can see my specs in my sig, and I was almost always CPU limited, yet I recently upgraded from a 1070 to a 3080 12GB to allow higher setting for GPU intensive graphics (clouds, anti-aliasing, reflections and shadows, etc.) I'm still CPU limited with almost exactly the same very smooth performance but now with beautiful graphics.

One of two things is probably the cause of GPU limit: 1.) unlimited fps setting usually will cause all GPU's to limit because they are rendering the max fps the GPU can produce (most likely); 2.) one or more graphics settings are taxing the GPU

I have tried posting screenshots here that shows my settings but not been able to figure out how. But I can say my fps are set to 30 fps and that is for 2D. IN VR there are no option to set fps limit

On 8/28/2022 at 3:45 PM, jfri said:

I have tried posting screenshots here that shows my settings but not been able to figure out how. But I can say my fps are set to 30 fps and that is for 2D. IN VR there are no option to set fps limit

Maybe just refer to a screenshot and type out your settings into your post. My mind is too tired right now to try and guide you through how to post images - it's a bit cumbersome. Requires linking them from a host like Dropbox. Another option is just pasting hosted image links here and anyone can click the link to see them.

22 minutes ago, somiller said:

Maybe just refer to a screenshot and type out your settings into your post. My mind is too tired right now to try and guide you through how to post images - it's a bit cumbersome. Requires linking them from a host like Dropbox. Another option is just pasting hosted image links here and anyone can click the link to see them.

So lets see if these links works

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ge4s9ixb95meqpn/2022-08-28.png?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y4xczf7oxd66855/2022-08-28 (1).png?dl=0

Those links worked great...can you post links for 2D also? I know nothing about VR so I can't help you there, but let's take a look at 2D settings.

14 hours ago, somiller said:

Those links worked great...can you post links for 2D also? I know nothing about VR so I can't help you there, but let's take a look at 2D settings.

Here they are

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkFfOTs53AL181F_mzuoodn3TUZJ?e=dQkPOk
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkFfOTs53AL181L3r5FvPGG5Ycwy?e=ND3VKf
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AkFfOTs53AL181CILibELvE4mTiF?e=qOza1E

These settings I think impact load on your CPU - try reducing one of them and watch what happens in dev mode, then set it back and try the next one.

1.) Terrain Vector Data

2.) Buildings

3.) Volumetric Clouds

4.) Water Waves

If you want to lesson stutters when panning set Off Screen Terrain Pre-Caching to ULTRA

17 hours ago, somiller said:

These settings I think impact load on your CPU - try reducing one of them and watch what happens in dev mode, then set it back and try the next one.

1.) Terrain Vector Data

2.) Buildings

3.) Volumetric Clouds

4.) Water Waves

If you want to lesson stutters when panning set Off Screen Terrain Pre-Caching to ULTRA

I now have made a flight from KEWR in the Kodiak 100 and made the adjustments you suggested. This was in 2D with Track Ir. No noticeable differences was seen. I could see that though I was mostly GPU limited there were frequent short updates of something else which I guess is CPU limited. What else could it be ? My fps remained at 30 fps. The bar of main thread was yellow and the same with the GPU but some spikes in red.

Then I switched to VR. Then fps was not locked at 30 fps but varied up to about 40 and sometimes below 30. My GPU limitation was more constant without interupptions

7 hours ago, jfri said:

I now have made a flight from KEWR in the Kodiak 100 and made the adjustments you suggested. This was in 2D with Track Ir. No noticeable differences was seen. I could see that though I was mostly GPU limited there were frequent short updates of something else which I guess is CPU limited. What else could it be ? My fps remained at 30 fps. The bar of main thread was yellow and the same with the GPU but some spikes in red.

Then I switched to VR. Then fps was not locked at 30 fps but varied up to about 40 and sometimes below 30. My GPU limitation was more constant without interupptions

I just realized I was going at it wrong...the settings I provided mostly affect CPU. To reduce GPU load you need to lower shadows, reflections, clouds, windshield affects, light shafts, texture res. Glass cockpit refresh rate will load the CPU depending on the aircraft (PMDG 737 seems to show little difference between Med. and High; the WT CJ4 seems to be heavy on the CPU with high cockpit refresh rate).

When you reduce settings, if fps is locked you're not really going to see any difference in performance of MSFS as long as the system can maintain the locked value. The only time you'd see a difference is if before lowering settings you couldn't maintain the locked fps value. If you open Task Manager and watch the performance of CPU and GPU you'll see each showing lower usage % as you lower settings in MSFS because the system will never do more than required to maintain locked fps value.

19 hours ago, somiller said:

I just realized I was going at it wrong...the settings I provided mostly affect CPU. To reduce GPU load you need to lower shadows, reflections, clouds, windshield affects, light shafts, texture res. Glass cockpit refresh rate will load the CPU depending on the aircraft (PMDG 737 seems to show little difference between Med. and High; the WT CJ4 seems to be heavy on the CPU with high cockpit refresh rate).

When you reduce settings, if fps is locked you're not really going to see any difference in performance of MSFS as long as the system can maintain the locked value. The only time you'd see a difference is if before lowering settings you couldn't maintain the locked fps value. If you open Task Manager and watch the performance of CPU and GPU you'll see each showing lower usage % as you lower settings in MSFS because the system will never do more than required to maintain locked fps value.

I have now tried lowering some of these suggested settings and also opened task manager. According to task manager I see CPU mostly loaded at 100% and also GPU close to 100% but not solid at 100% which MSI afterburner reports. No difference in Developer menu. But maybe a slightly reduced GPU load after lowering texture resolution. As before highest GPU load in VR.

Then I have to believe something else is going on. As can be seen in my sig I'm running a 6700K that is barely faster than your 4770K, and before the 3080 I was running a 1070 for which I had to manage MSFS settings or it would get to 100% and stay there - high cloud setting seemed to kill my 1070, expecially at dusk, or even just heavy cloud coverage. As far as CPU I rarely see more than 35% - 45% consistently with periodic spikes sometimes up to 100% but short-lived. I find the spikes seem to coincide with high network (internet) activity, like anything over 10-15 Mb at times as high as 50-60 Mb. I was surprised how well the 1070 handled MSFS, but I upgraded to the 3080-12GB for more eye-candy. Still makes my wallet hurt that I paid $799.00 for it.

In any case MSFS runs smoother while rarely dropping below my 33 fps fixed/vsync (100 MHz monitor refresh with fps set at 20 in MSFS, vsync on in MSFS) and with lower CPU and GPU utilization than I ever saw in P3Dv4. MSFS is like magic for my meager (aside from the 3080) system.

I'm running 1440p on a Gsync monitor btw.

20 hours ago, somiller said:

Then I have to believe something else is going on. As can be seen in my sig I'm running a 6700K that is barely faster than your 4770K, and before the 3080 I was running a 1070 for which I had to manage MSFS settings or it would get to 100% and stay there - high cloud setting seemed to kill my 1070, expecially at dusk, or even just heavy cloud coverage. As far as CPU I rarely see more than 35% - 45% consistently with periodic spikes sometimes up to 100% but short-lived. I find the spikes seem to coincide with high network (internet) activity, like anything over 10-15 Mb at times as high as 50-60 Mb. I was surprised how well the 1070 handled MSFS, but I upgraded to the 3080-12GB for more eye-candy. Still makes my wallet hurt that I paid $799.00 for it.

In any case MSFS runs smoother while rarely dropping below my 33 fps fixed/vsync (100 MHz monitor refresh with fps set at 20 in MSFS, vsync on in MSFS) and with lower CPU and GPU utilization than I ever saw in P3Dv4. MSFS is like magic for my meager (aside from the 3080) system.

I'm running 1440p on a Gsync monitor btw.

I also tried doing these flights with the default analog C172 and then in developer menu the main thread bar wa green with yellow spikes instead. So it seem a glass cockpit puts a big load on the CPU