Skittles,
My definition of "acceptable performance" of the commercial product out of the software giant and yours likely differ........ and that is where we go different ways on this whole concept. ;) Acceptable performance is a subjective term.
Anything less than a solid 20 FPS for me is not realistic at all. So I sort of agree with Captain Farhan that the 25+ he mentioned is the real target that would make things pretty "happy" in simland.
And for
me that 20-25+
has to happen consistently from about the middle marker onto the ground and to the gate at the big places like KJFK or Seattle or the equiv., with AI maxed, planes qued up on the taxiway behind the hold short as I land, and other runways in use with planes landing or taking off.
As I
did say in the post above........ I get pretty good framerates when I am away form anything that would put demands on the system. But... who cares! Bush flying in Alaska I often get in the 60's...... at FL 450 and up, ditto. Again "Who Cares". I
can also run it with max settings out in the boonies and still get 30 FPS consistently. Again "Who cares?"
Maybe it is also that for me, the simulation is very much about takeoffs and landings and commercial traffic and big airports and "heavy metal". As I said... I do some bush flying in Alaska... and on out of the way strips with maybe one AI plane around and no autogen buildings, no special elaborate Gmax scenery, and no "special effects" and so on.... it flys "OK".
But even a bit in the boonies, something like the payware "Emma Field" just
kills my framerates.
I just chime in on this subject so that people do not get disappointed as to what they have actually bought from Microsoft. I've been reading posts on this issue since the program was released... and the majority of users have significant issues with framerates, in my opinion.
The Microsoft
marketing stresses all the fancy new features and eye candy... so Microsoft sets the expectations high in order to sell it. But I think the reality is that
most people have to turn stuff they just paid for down or off.
How much have you invested in this sim? I know that I have spent a
LOT of money trying to get this thing to work well. Most people can't or don't WANT to have to spend another $75 USD on top of their base purchases of machine and software .... just to get the product to work OK.
Your system specs are a bit above the average persons.

That
you can't maintain 25+ FPS without resorting to the turn down or off concept and by hiring ramsa to fine tune the system....... it a powerful message about the demands of this program.
So I have no problem with you disagereeing at all.... to each his/her own........ just wanted to clarify where I am coming form.
best,
.................john