I usually get fps in the 50-60 range (usually high 50 range) but I also notice slowdowns in areas that you would not expect to have high graphics load, such as when opening the universe map, which drops me into the 15-20 fps range momentarily before returning to the 50-60 range. I have also noticed that my fps is lower while docked at stations by around 5-10 fps which drops the fps into the low-50 fps range while I'm at the starport menu. Interestingly enough this goes back to the usual 50-60 range while in the outfitting screen. I suspect that some of this is caused because you are still rendering the station and other internal details while docked but I'm not sure why simply opening the starport menu would add significantly to the graphics load.
I also suspect that some resource-intensive tasks may be sent to the GPU in some cases which effectively slows down the fps for some reason. For example I wouldn't be surprised at all if the route mapping when you plot a jump route is actually processed by the GPU as the architecture for most GPUs tends to be good at these types of tasks (which is coincidentally why bitcoin miners repurpose their GPUs for bitcoin mining). I haven't noticed any fps slowdowns when plotting short routes but it would be interesting to see if the fps drops while plotting routes in dense stellar regions (such as near SagA). In general though the graphics coding in Elite is pretty efficient aside from the issues people were having with the planetary textures.
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I would go along with what you are saying for the most part.
My frame rates tend to stay pretty well locked in at 60 fps except for those same menu and map loading areas where I might see a 57 or 58 in one frame or two during the load, but that is totally normal behavior and to be expected. I'm running the game off my system disk which is a Samsung 950 PRO NVMe M.2 which loads the Galaxy map pretty much instantly (less than 1 second) and the System map in under 2 seconds depending on the system. So there are some areas of the game where high performance hardware is delivering the kind of results you would expect. But there are several other areas where I am not seeing the expected performance, and those are what I find strange and uncommon.
There was a thread on here last week that was referencing the strange and yet unresolved stutter, hitching, hiccups, glitching... or whatever you want to call it. It is an issue that lots of folks with high end machines are seeing, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with frame rates or frame time.
The responders to that thread by and large are running high end machines like mine with an overclocked 980ti being about the minimum GPU being used along with everything in the game's graphics section being set on maximum/ULTRA. Some settings actually even higher than Frontier's ULTRA PRESET.
Not sure if the problem is tied to high performance machines, the use of ULTRA across the board, or a combination of the two, but most who responded to that thread all reported this same strange issue which prevents the 100% smooth and fluid motion you would expect on machines like this, while at the same time reporting frame rates at a locked 60 fps or above.
I've personally never seen anything like this in any other game. Usually when you see a hitch in the animation there is a corresponding dip in frame rate and/or frame time. This is not the case here, and it has everyone who is experiencing it scratching their heads, and looking for answers/solutions. Frontier is playing dumb as if this is the first they have heard of it, but after comparing notes on the number of us who have submitted tickets and bug reports, Frontier is obviously WELL AWARE of the problem. Likely just as stumped as we are regarding the source of the problem.
My theory is that it all comes back to the core elements of the game (BGS) and/or the game engine not being finished/optimized to its full potential. The same background issue that may be causing the high GPU demand when displaying static in-game menus could also be responsible for these frequent stutters in the animation that occur deeper within the system than a fps monitor can detect.
