We have had this issue with every max version after 2016. Our car rig files used to play well in max 2016, but now the viewport playback is terrible. Even the fix in 2019.1, .2, .3 has not addressed the speed issue and I have just tried Max 2020, which is exactly the same. The speed does not and is not reflective of the statistics shown relative to fps.
We have tried new drivers, closing everything else down, lower poly meshes, different setups, only having fps stats showing (and without) etc, but the playback just does not reach the same look as we were getting in Max 2016. I have spoken with other Adesk devs and they cannot see why this would be happening.
I replaced all the points/helpers with spline objects to avoid the redraw function on helpers/points, but this had almost no impact on what I was seeing in the statistics, 15-19 fps and lower.
I opened the file again in 2016, plays as it should.
Would like to see if there is a way to boost the viewport playback before we decide to redefine the rig system.
It really is an important issue for us to be able to have this playback be fluid and consistent while checking animation as previews are not always the best way to examine animation issues. We do have a bake/cache system for the rig, but this is also subject to the poor playback.
Machine is a good spec, 128gb RAM, Nvidia K5000 card
Played the file from our server and from the desktop
I played the file from our server and from the desktop, no difference.