Your understanding is correct. I have an i5-6600K with 16GB Ram and an RTX 2700.
I'm able to run VPX tables at 120hz in 1080p with AO and Quality FXAA or SMAA. ScSP will work as well, but I do not bother to run it. I can also run with SSAA4x, but I choose not to right now because it's so hot outside here in the south. There are two VPX versions of Strike N' Spares, but they are the same copy despite occupying different data base entries.
The issue with the VPX Strikes 'N Spares is that it'll run fine if you want to play one or two games, but over time it gets worse and worse. It has something to do with the physics as the VPX version starts around 20% (via F11 in VPX), but each time balls are returned after firing at the pins the physics value gets higher and higher until it's consuming all of the CPU. It's not an issue with the script as the % usage for script functions stays very low.
I've become used to the single obsolete table entry and have learned to ignore it. I doubt they'll be another VP9 table in my database. Thanks for your time and response!