[Valjack]

I knew a few things you described here and i use 90% of advice exept:

I have C2duo 6600 (4Mb) + 8800GTS 512 and THead2go (Matrox) with 3*1024x768

First:
in fact using Vsync off means that when turning view to quick (right or left) induce a (quick) visible refresh line on the upper 2/3 side of center monitor, just the time i change view.. so not very disturbing but that's why i use Vsync ON with Triple Buffer ON in Nvidia profile ...
(i use AA2x multisampling and Aniso 4X,gamma correct ON,Multi-Transparency , bias LOD neg FIXED,Trilinear or Aniso sample Optimization OFF and mipmap forced to Trilinear )


The fact is that with my old settings, Vsync Off gave me always a few more FPS, after doing EXACLTY all the things you described, turning it ON+TrBuf did NOT reduce my framerate, while avoiding this (little) refresh bug !!

Second:
The only thing i would change for older system could be Effect=0 (not 1) as for my experience and what i read elsewhere, the only visible part of the 1 is shadows under explosions.. which can cause stutters (with older system - GF 6800gt f.I.), so i could set it to 0 if needed...

so, 3 parts of conf.ini (no stutter - minimum 24 fps in heavy load and yes of course sometimes could drop in "hard" situations (explosions with 20 planes around + smoke online F.I.)

[window]
width=3072
height=768
ColourBits=32
DepthBits=24
StencilBits=8
ChangeScreenRes=1
FullScreen=1
DrawIfNotFocused=1
EnableResize=1
EnableClose=1
SaveAspect=1
Use3Renders=1

[game]
Arcade=0
HighGore=0
mapPadX=0.6689453
mapPadY=-0.046875
viewSet=35
Intro=0
NoSubTitles=0
NoChatter=0
NoHudLog=0
NoLensFlare=0
iconTypes=3
eventlog=eventlog.lst
eventlogkeep=0
3dgunners=0
TypeClouds=0

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=2
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=0
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=1
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=0

Shadows=2
Specular=1
SpecularLight=0
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=2
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=2
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=3
Water=0
Effects=1
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

One last thing:

Stutter like real 1/2 sec pause can also come from SOUND

so perahps a good advice could be for low-level Audio chips to reduce hardware acceleration 1 notch to the left (control Panel>sound properties) while using minimum sound settings in IL2

I hope this can help you making your guide and thanks again, i didn't know about Specular=1 and
SpecularLight=0 ;-)

Good luck!
Valjack