MSFS + 4090 + 7950x3D = surprising results

[RobJC 2,088]

I went ahead and upgraded my pc this week, and i wasn’t really expecting the results i am seeing. My plan was to upgrade to a 4k monitor after i set everything up in my man cave/office, but I have a 2560 x 1440 gsync monitor, so i have been doing some testing. With my old 3080 i ran almost everything on ultra (thanks to the FG hack), and i thought everything looked pretty good. The only real difference i was expecting with the new build was being able to run higher frame rates, and possibly be a bit smoother. After all, it isn’t like i was going to be running 4k, which i figured would provide the most dramatic difference visually. 

Keeping in mind that my MSFS settings are almost identical to my old pc, i was really surprised by the visual improvements. The jaggies that i was seeing are completely gone. Everything is incredibly sharp. The night sky was amazing. The lines on the tarmac are now crisp. It is like MSFS turned on a whole new set of visual options. It really has me rethinking 4k, because this level of visuals is excellent. The reflections are better. It really is a completely new sim. 

I fired up F1 23 and again, much better visuals. I have always run F1 23 with everything maxed out, yet now it just looks so much sharper with tons more visual detail. Same monitor. Same resolution. Same settings. Yet drastically different visuals. 

I was expecting higher frame rates and better smoothness, but not this. Anyone else notice similar results? 

[craigeaglefire 204]

You’ve made a very big upgrade & be mindful of the placebo effect,

the 4090 is far more snappy in performance than a 3080 - direct GPU grunt to screen pixels,

& enjoy!

[Redge 271]

I know what you mean. The other night I was enjoying a late afternoon flight on my new system (same as yours, except for a 7800X3D instead) and definitely got the feeling that the visuals were better than the equivalent I saw on my old system (again, same as yours except for the 10700k instead). Not quite sure exactly why it looks so much better with the equivalent settings — it could be some mechanism in the brain to help justify the huge expense of the upgrade! 😆

[MrFuzzy 2,142]

It's probably a matter of settings changed in between the reinstallation of the GPU and its drivers. 

Considering that people hear sound improvements just by putting spikes underneath the CD player though, it could be placebo as well 🙂

[Republic3D 1,240]

Congrats with the new rig!

The system you chose is incredibly powerful, and it's awesome that you see such a big improvement. 

[RobJC 2,088]

Thanks guys. It definitely isn’t placebo, as there are so many improvements to places i fly (or drive) often. For example, on airport structures i can see slight shimmering with my 3080 but none at all with the 4090. Maybe a completely new system and reinstall of MSFS (and Win 11) got rid of a tweak or two that impacted this? That seems plausible but in any case oh boy are the visuals pretty amazing. I installed Assetto Corsa Competizione and immediately noticed no shimmering on the guard rails. I could run this game maxed out on my 3080 but the shimmering was a big put off. Now, completely gone. 

Not sure how much the CPU upgrade plays into this either, but these two are a pretty amazing combo. And my fans are almost silent, as i hear almost no noise out of my pc now. It was a lot of money for sure but totally worth it. I have my frames locked at 60 in MSFS and the experience is stutter free and smooth as butter. 

If you are on the fence about building a pc like this, I recommend strongly that you just do it. 
 

 

[Donka 687]

Did you say you were running FG with the 3080? If so, and not with the 4090 then this will likely account for a good portion of the improved visuals.

[RobJC 2,088]

3 minutes ago, Donka said:

Did you say you were running FG with the 3080? If so, and not with the 4090 then this will likely account for a good portion of the improved visuals.

Was running FG with both. The FG hack on the 3080 led to some artifacts where on the 4090 things look pristine. Probably a lot of little things all adding up.

[mmcmah 463]

If you're loving the new combination (and I agree that it's not placebo) you should check out the DLDSR and DLSS thread that has ways of enhancing your experience even more.

[RobJC 2,088]

23 minutes ago, mmcmah said:

If you're loving the new combination (and I agree that it's not placebo) you should check out the DLDSR and DLSS thread that has ways of enhancing your experience even more.

Haha just reading it. Long thread but super detailed. The Ultra Quality tweak sounds interesting. I actually created a thread a while back on how to do this a different way. 

[mmcmah 463]

1 minute ago, RobJC said:

Haha just reading it. Long thread but super detailed. The Ultra Quality tweak sounds interesting. I actually created a thread a while back on how to do this a different way. 

Interesting. Do you have a link to that thread?

[RobJC 2,088]

3 minutes ago, mmcmah said:

Interesting. Do you have a link to that thread?

 

[mmcmah 463]

12 minutes ago, RobJC said:

 

Thanks! I'll give it a look later.

[Noel 4,649]

47 minutes ago, RobJC said:

Haha just reading it. Long thread but super detailed. The Ultra Quality tweak sounds interesting. I actually created a thread a while back on how to do this a different way. 

You have the horsepower now to easily run Render Scaling to at least 130 or more.  I am, with a lowly 9900K and it's absolutely razor sharp now and 4090 easily manages this and I'm using TAA as well.   Just took off out of FSDT KORD in the PMDG 738 with zero stutters, totally fluid and as I say, razor sharp.  I was locked at 60fps but could have easily managed 70 or greater, but 60 is already fabulous.

Edited February 28 by Noel

[Cpt_Piett 5,110]

7 hours ago, Redge said:

Not quite sure exactly why it looks so much better with the equivalent settings — it could be some mechanism in the brain to help justify the huge expense of the upgrade! 😆

I think that’s most likely it 😜

Or that the FG mod caused some artifacts that were gone when the superpowers of the 4090 kicked in 

2 hours ago, RobJC said:

I have my frames locked at 60 in MSFS and the experience is stutter free and smooth as butter.

There’s a gang over at this thread who have got amazing results (smooth!) when FPS-locking w/ RTSS in edge sync. I’ve also locked at 60.

I had a look at your thread that was mentioned. Those images look super crisp! I guess there’s different ways to achieve this - you mentioned you tried DSR but found your approach better. But I recommend to look into ultra quality if you’re using DLSS. 

Btw congrats on your new rig! 🎉 

EDIT: just realized that by changing secondary scaling in usercfg.opt to 2.000000 would make the sim render in 8K, which would bring even the mighty 4090 to its knees, lol. 

Edited February 28 by Cpt_Piett