Probably like most of you, I don’t deliberately overclock my computer even though the hardware I got are OC-capable.  Normally I just leave it to the BIOS to auto tweak the computer a bit by default.

Surely this is fine as our systems can run to spec stably.

Unfortunately, no difference from other flight simulators, the MSFS 2020 performs better on better performing computers.

Therefore I lately further enabled XMP, thru which I got about 8-10 fps increase in MSFS by pushing the DDR4 RAM from standard 2400MHz to its rated 3200MHz.  That’s not insignificant I dare say.

XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) is a technology by Intel which allows users to overclock memory to above industry standards for better performance without complex manual settings.

Enabling the feature is just a few mouse clicks in the BIOS.  Here’s a video by UserBenchmark on how to enable it.

Do note that the names of XMP used by different manufacturers might be different.  Moreover, newer motherboards might come with two XMP Profiles as well.  The Profiles, in short, are just pre-programmed timings for the RAMs.

In general,

XMP1 is optimized by the motherboard manufacturer for better stability but modest in overclocking, and;

XMP2 contains more extreme settings that offer a much higher level of system improvement but potentially less stable.

However, it’s not always the case.  One should try both profiles and choose for the one better performing on their computers.

Of course, whenever overclocking is involved, there is a risk.

In theory, the XMP can configure the memory to run at the rated speed advertised by their manufacturers.  However, there are other factors, such as the status of the CPU and GPU, which are out of the control of the automatic configuration can handle.

If instability is experienced, one might need to change the XMP Profile or simply disable it.

Your mileage may vary.

–