Tycoon, to your original question: even though you say it isn't TrackIR, I believe paying at least some attention to your TrackIR settings may help you get a better / smoother in-game experience. My TrackIR setup guide might be worth perusing.

As for the rest of this discussion, there are some interesting points being made, and quite a number of them I agree with. I think I'll resist deeper analysis, except to agree especially with those that cite the game engine itself as a primary limiting factor in terms of getting a totally smooth, stutter-free in-game performance, especially at the higher air activity settings. Since the game engine is unlikely to ever receive any love, let alone be rewritten to take advantage of multiple cores (!), then all any of us can do is a) upgrade our hardware, b) tweak / experiment with settings, or c) play something else. I've been doing the latter for some time now, but I'm looking forward to revisiting WOFF with the upcoming new release (still two weeks away?).

Meantime, enjoy your new rig, Lou!