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Difference between revisions of "Glossary:Frame rate (FPS)"

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===LightBoost successors===
 
===LightBoost successors===
LightBoost hack has shown that there is demand for such feature among PC gamers. Soon after some monitor manufacturers started to integrate such feature into official feature list of their monitors. Examples:
+
LightBoost hack has shown that there is demand for such feature among PC gamers. Soon after some monitor manufacturers started to integrate it into official feature list of their monitors. Examples:
 
   * Eizo FG2421 (Turbo240)
 
   * Eizo FG2421 (Turbo240)
 
   * BENQ XL2420Z (BENQ Blur Reduction)
 
   * BENQ XL2420Z (BENQ Blur Reduction)
 
   * Asus ROG Swift PG278Q (ULMB)
 
   * Asus ROG Swift PG278Q (ULMB)
Such technologies reproduce colors much better than LightBoost hack method.
+
Main difference from LightBoost hack method is that they produce much better colors and gamma.
  
 
==Issues fixed==
 
==Issues fixed==

Revision as of 07:52, 20 September 2014

Visualization about frames shown in tenth of a second.

Key points

This should not be confused high frame rate in videos, where it usually means exceeding over 24 FPS.
For wiki purposes a game is considered to support high frame rate when the frame rate can reach at least 120 FPS.
Higher frame rates makes gameplay feel and look smoother.
Higher frame rates reduce input lag.
Screen tearing and stuttering are less visible when more frames are shown.
Higher frame rates reduce blurring significantly (especially combined with technologies such as ULMB).
Higher frame rates give you ability to play in stereoscopic 3D with active shutter glasses on certain monitors (eg. NVidia 3D Vision)
High frame rates will make the GPU / CPU work much harder, resulting in high temperatures. This is more significant if there is no frame cap set.
High frame rates require much more powerful hardware on graphic intensive games.
Many games cap the frame rate at 60 FPS or below.
Some games don't work correctly when the cap is increased.

General information

Frame Rate at Wikipedia
120hz.NET - Source for 120hz 1440p Monitors
The Blur Busters

Frame rate or frame frequency, often measured in frames per second (FPS), is the frequency (rate) that images (frames) render. It is a general concept not unique to computer video games.

Frame rate affects the quality of a game experience, very low fps can hinder or distract from gameplay. High FPS looks good - smooth and fluid and low FPS looks bad - choppy and laggy. This is because in games frames are generated perfectly and interactively controlled so it's easier to notice jerky movement where in other media motion blurring is occurring naturally. Many games do offer motion blurring as graphical option but it's simulated and can distract even more as you can't clearly what's happening in fast paced points.

There are several different frame rate comparison sites including 30vs60, Bo Allens comparison and UFO test. Content on YouTube and GIFs are usually bad to compare as they usually lower overall quality significally[1] as well as show only FPS to certain degree; Gifs are 50 FPS max and most content on YouTube is 30 FPS as 60 FPS support was only announced June 2014[2]. Also keep in mind that games are interactive media so smoothness doesn't only show but it also feels when you are actually playing.

FPS is different for every game and setup, it depends on both software and hardware. Rendering is very complicated. Generally, more powerful and expensive hardware has higher FPS. However, problems with FPS are not always easy to solve, and there may be no solution.

Measuring FPS

An FPS counter is a simple way to show frame rate, and averages FPS over a short period of time.

Most games will have a key combo or console command to show or toggle a counter. See game specific articles.

Alternatively, many overlays can show counters, including Fraps, MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, RivaTuner, Xfire, and others.

Increasing FPS

Generally easiest and most effective way to increase games FPS is to simply lower graphical fidelity. This is also one of the greatest advantages of PC gaming overall as some users may want to have smoother experience at the cost of overall eye candy. Generally speaking newer the game is and with higher settings your computer has to work harder to make frames which results lower overall FPS.

However if you are experiencing surprisingly low FPS there may be issues in the game itself; see games article to see if there are fixes for the issue.

If you have really low FPS even with minimum settings best solution is to try upgrade the hardware. Some games allow going even lower settings with configuration files but usually this is manual work and results may not be satisfactory.

High Frame Rate

Regular 60Hz monitor refreshes 60 times per second so it can only show 60 FPS and it's usually useless to go beyond that. With higher refresh rate monitors it's possible to show more frames which result even smoother and even more responsive gameplay, but just like with resolution differences with higher values are smaller, but still make gameplay more enjoyable and reduce need for features like motion blurring and vsyncing but also require more powerful machine.

Without Vsync you see less tearing and stuttering as time those are shown is much lower. However there are technologies that can adjust screens refresh rate according to games frame rate, these include Nvidia Gsync[3] and Dynamic Refresh Rate aka FreeSync which is part of DisplayPort standard[4]. Gsync is available in selected models and can be installed in some older models where FreeSync should be available in models supporting 1.2a Display port standard.

Stereoscopic 3D

Stereoscopic 3D in Nvidia Control Panel. For example Batman games have native support.

One of less used features of high frame rate display is ability to play and view content in stereoscopic 3D. There are few reasons for this; it usually requires buying separate 3D glasses kit with transmitter, some displays only support certain GPU e.g. "Nvidia 3D Vision Ready" monitors usually only work with Nvidia GPU and if game haven't been done this in mind there may be problems with crosshair, shadows, object depth, etc.

Also virtual reality devices use stereoscopic 3D.

Using 3D HDTVs

Most 3D HDTVs do not accept a 120Hz input but this can be forced; see True 120Hz from PC to TV for testing results.

LightBoost

With some monitors it's possible to turn on LightBoost which almost completely eliminates motion blurring. As of Spring 2014, a few Asus, Samsung and BenQ monitors support it. It's normally used when viewing 3D image so it's not usable with regular use by default. There is few ways to enable this with Asus and BenQ monitors and easiest way is ToastyX Strobelight program. With Samsung monitors simply set refresh rate to 120 Hz from PC, then from monitor change “Response Time” to “Normal” and then turn 3D on.

LightBoost successors

LightBoost hack has shown that there is demand for such feature among PC gamers. Soon after some monitor manufacturers started to integrate it into official feature list of their monitors. Examples:

 * Eizo FG2421 (Turbo240)
 * BENQ XL2420Z (BENQ Blur Reduction)
 * Asus ROG Swift PG278Q (ULMB)

Main difference from LightBoost hack method is that they produce much better colors and gamma.

Issues fixed

Frame rate capping

Skyrim with ~150 FPS, Horse got under cart after couple flips and front cart going sideways. Usually game can't even advantage from this part if frame rate exceeds over 100 FPS and there are other issues as well playing over 60 FPS.
Mostly High Frame Rate display issue, but may be issue even with some games on regular 60Hz monitors! With lower end machines it may even be more viable to cap the frame rate to 30 FPS if frame rate is jumping between 30 and 60.
Usually even if high frame rate monitor isn't supported game is still playable but with lower frame rate compared to monitors refresh rate. However with some cases developers haven't even though of possibility of monitors above 60Hz and simply design game around this idea and force vsync to avoid problems. This can make game behave unexpectedly including games physics go haywire throwing objects everywhere, games clock running faster changing gameplay and game running over double the speed.
Usually this kind of behaviour is fixed with patch either fixing behaviour or capping the frame rate but with some cases and especially older games this usually isn't the case or fix provided doesn't work optimally.
Method
Advantages
Disadvantages
Change monitors refresh rate to 60Hz and enable Vsync
[Vsync]
  • No need for external programs
  • Some monitors doesn't natively support 60Hz so it has to be manually added or enabled and may cause flickering effect.
  • No quick automatic way of doing this so every time game is launched and closed refresh rate has to be manually switched.
Adaptive/Dynamic vsync with half refresh rate setting
[Vsync]
  • Offered natively for both Nvidia and AMD in their control panels.
  • Automatic when game is opened.
  • Only works right with 120Hz monitors.
  • May not work as intended with all games.
Nvidia Inspector
[Cap], instructions below
  • Stored in nvidia game profile, automatic when game is opened.
  • Nvidia only.
Radeon Profile Tool
[Cap], instructions below
  • AMD only.
Dxtory
[Cap], "limit video FPS" under "Advanced"
  • Game profiles, automatic when game is opened.
  • Can be changed while game is running.
  • Costing software.
  • Program has to be running in the background.
RivaTuner Statistics Server
[Cap], instructions below
Instructions
Instructions
Nvidia inspector.png
Instructions

External links

Techquickie - Monitor & TV Refresh Rates as Fast As Possible - YouTube
Reality Check - Do we need 60 FPS on PS4 and Xbox One? - GameSpot - 60 FPS video


References