Hi,

I would like to stress that I want to create a constructive discussion here, without throwing any insults, like I was able to see on the Synaptic Discord.

It is obvious from many Youtube videos, especially from Youtubers who are known for having a high end PC, that the Synaptic A220 is not very well optimized, and for example there is a visible significant stuttering, for example in A330Driver videos. I guess part of it stems from the A220 not having a native 2024 version.

Could you please elaborate on your plans regarding this issue? I don't believe that a "smaller" airliner, like this, has a right for being this performance heavy (when compared to the A380 for example).

Thank you!

i think it's tied to the amount of calculations that are done by the FMS. Seems that these type of FMS, like also A350 and A380, are terribly hungry on resources despite the size of the plane. Probably all the pages are working and calculating constantly compared to other FMS like A320 or Boeings.. just my two cents.

I'll pass this feedback along to our team. I can't say for sure why some streamers have performance issues and others aren't, but that goes for about half of the problems people have in simming in general. Thank you :)

I agree, something is really not optimized here. I can fly the A350 with 60FPS but with the A220 I barely get 19FPS inflight. Strangely enough on ground it was fine.
Apart from the performance, plane looks and feels amazing!

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by flyaviation

I have the same issue as @flyaviation mentioned. The ground is great with little to no stutters even with intense scenery. However, as soon as I get airborne, the stutters hit hard and I drop to around 20 frames. PC Specs: 7800x3d, 32gbs ddr5, Zotac 5070

Same for me. On the ground the FPS was perfect at around 60. Once in the air, I barely get 20FPS.
Specs: Ryzen 7 5700X, 32GB DDR4 and RX9070
I've attached a screenshot of MSI Afterburner. CPU and GPU seem to be bored in flight, however FPS is really bad.

Yup, same here... the minute I get airborne, the FPS drops to almost zero with a terrible stutter.... However, I've got no issues with the A350. I've decided not to fly the A220 until something is done...

I have noticed, when I program the FMS frame rate drops significantly. It must be the calculations dropping the frames and not the model itself.

Intel I9 and 4090 here, INI please do something about the performance. I dont know how mid range systems can fly this at all!

I too got airborn and noticed a huge performance drop. I realized that for some reason, if you have the Route page open on any of your displays, it kills the frames and causes lots of stutters. As soon as I switched out of the Route page, the performance went back to normal. Kind of frustrating though anytime you have to do a DIR to or make changes to the flight plan, you have to fight through the lag. Not sure why this happens, but hopefully this helps you

7 minutes ago, MaxiMoose said:

I too got airborn and noticed a huge performance drop. I realized that for some reason, if you have the Route page open on any of your displays, it kills the frames and causes lots of stutters. As soon as I switched out of the Route page, the performance went back to normal. Kind of frustrating though anytime you have to do a DIR to or make changes to the flight plan, you have to fight through the lag. Not sure why this happens, but hopefully this helps you

Thanks for the tip 👍

A user is reporting that if you spawn in a low density area like GVAC (island with nothing around it really), then switch Screen Refresh rate in MSFS Graphics Settings to Low; that some users might benefit from this resulting in a 8-10fps increase

I have done a little testing recently since I bought this lovely aircraft.

I am running MSFS 2020 on an Intel i7, RTX 3060 laptop. I conducted a controlled test at LDZD Zadar Airport with no AI traffic.

Test conditions

• Same airport, weather and graphics settings throughout

• AI traffic completely disabled

• Glass Cockpit Refresh Rate set to Low

• Both A220 EFBs switched off during testing

• Developer Mode FPS and frame-time display enabled

Synaptic A220-300 results

• Cold and dark after restarting: approximately 31 FPS

• Displays and systems powered: approximately 18–21 FPS

• Engines starting/running: approximately 15–19 FPS

• Fully running, exterior view: approximately 14–16 FPS

• Fully running, cockpit view: approximately 15–16 FPS

• Taxiing: approximately 11 FPS, with severe stuttering that made the aircraft extremely difficult to control

Disabling both EFBs produced no meaningful improvement. Developer Mode consistently showed the simulator as Limited by MainThread.

Recorded A220 frame times included approximately:

• MainThread: 39–50 ms

• CoherentGTUIThread: 20–37 ms

• Manipulators: 21–28 ms

• GPU: 14–15 ms

In one directly compared powered-cockpit capture, the PMDG 777-300ER showed a CoherentGTUIThread time of approximately 3.8 ms, while the A220 showed approximately 21.2 ms—around 5.6 times higher.

The relatively low GPU frame time indicates that the graphics card was not the principal limitation.

Controlled PMDG 777-300ER comparison

I repeated the test at the same airport with the same simulator settings:

• Cold and dark, exterior: approximately 40 FPS

• Cold and dark, cockpit: approximately 33–34 FPS

• Systems and displays fully active: approximately 25–26 FPS

• FMC programming and normal cockpit workflow: approximately 22–23 FPS, remaining smooth

• Engine start: approximately 23–26 FPS

• Flaps 5 selected: approximately 22–23 FPS

• Taxiing: approximately 17–20 FPS, fluid and without stuttering

• Fully configured and ready for take-off: approximately 20 FPS, still smooth and controllable

• Airborne with engines, flight dynamics, gear retraction and autopilot active: approximately 19–20 FPS, remaining smooth and controllable

I have successfully completed flights lasting approximately 14–17 hours, including London Heathrow–Perth, London Heathrow–Tokyo, Singapore–Los Angeles, Delhi–London Heathrow and New York JFK–Frankfurt, using the PMDG 777-300ER, Horizon 787-9 and iniBuilds A350. These flights included smooth approaches and landings without progressive frame-rate loss or severe stuttering. In my testing, this level of performance degradation has occurred only with the Synaptic A220, where it appears even while the aircraft is stationary or taxiing.

The A220 loses approximately half of its cold-and-dark performance as its systems become active and falls to approximately 11 FPS with severe stuttering while taxiing. This appears to be an aircraft-specific MainThread or systems-processing issue rather than a general GPU limitation.

Could the development team please confirm whether this behaviour has been reproduced and whether broader MainThread and systems-performance optimisation is currently being investigated?