Finally installed the 5090 last night and did some test runs today. Some quick observations - this is on FS2024 sim update 2, latest Nvidia driver and the OpenXRToolkit with FOV crop (42xx x 35xx resolution):

1. Overall the gain in VR is around 10fps, about 20-30% increase compared to the 4090, pretty much as expected. SU2 reset all my previous VR graphics settings optimized for 4090 which were closer to High than Ultra. 5090 is pretty much on full Ultra, so the difference could be a bit bigger if I also get settings optimized for 5090. 

2. I'm able to run almost everything on Ultra with 5090, including the *clouds*. I can fly around NYC at 1000ft with ultra clouds, DLSS Quality, TLOD = 300, and get around 40-45fps, ranging from 35 to 50fps. Such settings will definitely sink 4090 to below 30fps. 

3. It appears that I start getting bottlenecked by the 7950X3D. 5090 usage stays around 95% but I can only max the 5090 to about 400W (out of 500-550W max, with undervolting in MSI Afterburner). Both cores of 7950X3D often run at 80-90% - sth I never saw with 4090. .

4. Another sign I'm getting limited by CPU: reducing DLSS setting to Ultra Performance only gives me 5-10fps, and difference between Quality and Balanced is just a few fps so I stay with Quality. Even TAA is just a few fps below, but I like DLSS AA better.

5. I tried oversampling PCL to 1.25x. The native resolution goes to sth like 5xxx X 6xxx. FS2024 won't run it at TAA, with DLSS quality it runs but the visual improvement is hardly noticeable. So I would say there is no need to consider oversampling the PCL for better quality, much unlike Reverb G2. 

6. One thing puzzles me is that flying around rural/suburban area from small airport doesn't give me any better fps comparing to the mega NYC. Don't know why. 

To summarize, with 4090, VR in PCL feels like I'm just able to stick my nose above water - not dying but tough. With 5090, now my neck is above water - quite better, but still not enough. 

 

 

Edited May 17, 20251 yr by FlyIce

3 hours ago, FlyIce said:

better, but still not enough.

thanks very much for your honest report. sounds exactly like what was to be expected and it confirms: MSFS is not Cyberpunk.

in closing: going to keep my 4090 for 2 more years until RTX 6090.

So, can i ask does the speed/altitude tape still show as blurry when using DLSS? I use TAA to prevent this but have to compromise on settings...

7 hours ago, turbomax said:

in closing: going to keep my 4090 for 2 more years until RTX 6090.

That is a good decision too! The modest gain from 4090 to 5090 can be a bit hard to justify. 

 

1 hour ago, vonduck said:

does the speed/altitude tape still show as blurry when using DLSS?

I had some blurry tape digits issue with 4090/DSLL, but still acceptable. With 5090 the blurriness is much less noticeable and don't bother me at all, guess the higher fps helps. Still, TAA gives the best crispy glass display, but DLSS is really close. 

 

18 hours ago, FlyIce said:

1. Overall the gain in VR is around 10fps, about 20-30% increase compared to the 4090.

 

 

Thanks, I read in VRflightsimguy if I remember well, that in brute rasterisation around 30% and with DLSS4 40% for its new better dedicated DLSS 4 hardware, but it is ok, almost the same %.

Ok, I guess I owe a bit apology to the 5090 performance. I opened Developer Mode/FPS display, and found that more than 50% of time I was actually limited by the main thread. GPU time seems to always stay around 15-20ms, which means I should have 50-60fps if not CPU-limited?

One typical example is on a small GA airport in C172, I get only ~40fps and it's 100% CPU-limited as:

MainThread = 22 ms;  RdrThread = 11.9 ms; Manipulation = 9.2 ms.

While GPU time is only 11.9 ms.

I tried changing some settings like trees, traffic, etc, none gave a miraculous boost, at most 1-2fps, barely noticeable.

I have 7950X3D, which was the fastest CPU for MSFS before 9800X3D came out. Can't remember whether I was so CPU-limited with 4090 prior to SU2.  If so, upgrading to 5090 makes even less sense if the CPU caps you around 45fps anyway. 

Anybody else has such CPU-limit problem? I have most settings on Ultra, lowered TLOD to 200. 

Also, it seems MSFS2024 now doesn't remember the settings? Quite often the VR settings get reset when I run the 2024 the next time. 

Edited May 18, 20251 yr by FlyIce

I went before FS24 launch, from a 13900 for to test, with the 7800X3D, one week before the 9800X3D launch, and it was frustrating, clearly worse than the 13900K in constant stutters, a nightmare and a what is this, if this was the "king" for games, then I swap it with the 9800X3D one week after and the worries and disappointment with AMD went away, but the 9800X3D in pair or maybe a minimal better in FS20 than the 13900, all with a 4090, I didn´test in FS24 with the 13900. So a new 9950/9800X3D sure helps more.

I switched from a 4090 to a 5090. With the exact same settings on a flight in the Duke from Glasgow to Edinburgh, I was getting a pretty consistent 64fps in cruise ~ 5000ft with the 4090. Switched to the 5090 with no other changes and get a consistent 82fps. Given the resale price of the 4090, I'm happy with the upgrade. Nvidia are brute forcing it this time around with the extra cores though. Would be looking for a bigger jump with a more efficient node process in the 6090.

If the resale value of the 4090 wasn't so high, I would have stuck with it in all honesty but planning on a new higher resolution headset later this year so this was a viable gpu upgrade for me.

3 hours ago, Donka said:

I was getting a pretty consistent 64fps in cruise ~ 5000ft with the 4090. Switched to the 5090 with no other changes and get a consistent 82fps.

That's an incredible high and great fps for VR. I found even at 4K 2D, my fps is just close to 70, and on airports only 45 fps.

Just noticed you appears to fly MSFS2020, and I'm in 2024. Maybe that's the difference. Will try 2020 again to see the numbers. 

6 minutes ago, FlyIce said:

That's an incredible high and great fps for VR. I found even at 4K 2D, my fps is just close to 70, and on airports only 45 fps.

Just noticed you appears to fly MSFS2020, and I'm in 2024. Maybe that's the difference. Will try 2020 again to see the numbers. 

A few things to consider though. Yes, in MSFS2020. I believe I selected the high preset then tailored a couple of items i.e. lowering TLOD & OLOD. This is running DLSS 4 High Quality preset. In OpenXR Toolkit I have fixed foveated rendering enabled with a simple preset. Rendering 4000x3740 per eye. Quest 3 via Virtual Desktop (VDXR runtime).

Only mods installed are ORBX True Earth and WeLoveVFR. These figures are in cruise. Coming into land at Pyreegue's Edinburgh airport the fps is dropping ~ 65-71fps on the 5090 best I can recall.

4 hours ago, Donka said:

A few things to consider though.

and probably a few more things to consider: 5090 is great for multi frame gen in Cyberpunk, but won't help much with AI traffic, complex aircraft systems simulation, ATC, streaming from MS servers, you name it. hence your mileage may vary substantially for everything non-graphics.

Indeed. I have been in the mindset that I am 100% GPU-bound in VR for so long that I forgot the CPU could be a limiting factor too. I'll test lower settings just to see how much higher I can go with 5090 in VR fps. 

Seems we're hitting the wall of hardware performance. We desperately need framegen in VR, plus dynamic foveated rendering.  Maybe these two together will finally do the wonders. 

2 minutes ago, FlyIce said:

We desperately need framegen in VR, plus dynamic foveated rendering.

Well we already have framegen in the form of motion reprojection, albeit only a 2x multiplier. Same applies with dynamic foveated rendering in 2024 if your headset supports eye tracking. If they add customization options for DFR, it would be a big benefit for users. 

I know, but with PCL I haven't found any effective motion reprojection to work with yet. I heard SSW in VirtualDesktop works pretty well for Quest 3? 

 

On 5/18/2025 at 6:52 AM, vonduck said:

So, can i ask does the speed/altitude tape still show as blurry when using DLSS? I use TAA to prevent this but have to compromise on settings...

This is an issue more related to MSFS2024 than to the headset or card.  Happily, the recent SU2 update seems to have largely fixed this.  Last night I did a flight in the Fenix A320 and the tens and units were all individually distinguishable even when climbing or descending quite rapidly - which they weren't before. 

I'm running a 9800x3D CPU and RTX4080 GPU and using DLSS on Quality - as far as I know, I'm still on the old 572.16 nVidia Driver with original DLSS 'latest' option trickery from a few months back.