Why fps matters

A high FPS results in smoother visuals, so when you quickly aim your gun at a target or speed around a tight bend in a racer, everything in view remains in clear focus. It also helps to reduce the likes of latency and blurring effects, making it substantially easier to track a target which is obviously very important for competitive shooters.

Related: Best Graphics Card As the frame rate increases, it becomes gradually more difficult for the naked eye to detect a difference. For this reason, most people will likely be fine with a 60fps performance in single player action games.

When set to Fidelity mode, the game runs in 4K at 30fps, and there is a noticeable jarring effect when sharply turning the camera mid swing. Activate Performance mode, which ups the frame rate to 60fps at the expense of Ray Tracing, and the visuals suddenly look a lot smoother. Related: Best Gaming Monitor In the below example, we have simplified the pipeline down to three stages for easy explanation.

Starting on the left, we have the CPU denoted by the blue bar that interprets input, updates the game state, prepares the frames for the GPU to be rendered, and places them in the GPU render queue. The GPU denoted by the green bar , then takes those prepared frames from the queue and renders them. Once the GPU is finished, the Display denoted by the grey bar presents the final image on the next refresh cycle. Pipelining affects the rate of completion FPS , but does not necessarily change the system latency as your actions still pass through each stage regardless.

Breaking this down to a single frame on each system, we can see the difference in system latencies. Finally, the display section is also 4 times longer on the 60 FPS system as the refresh cycle is 4 times slower than a Hz display. The positional difference between the two is the difference in system latency. Using a vertical rule, like a black bar, makes it easy to compare these offsets caused by system latency.

Lower system latency allows you to see player earlier. Additionally, reducing system latency makes the game feel more responsive as the time between your mouse movements and the results on screen is shorter.

With these benefits together, lower system latency gives you a competitive edge on the battlefield. In conclusion, having a higher frame rate has definitive, measurable benefits: smoother animations improves target tracking, smaller ghosts and tears help reduce distracting effects, and lower System Latency helps you see targets sooner with a more responsive feel.

Combining these benefits together, high FPS will give you an edge compared to your competition. How much of an edge you ask? But put in the context of FPS benefits such as animation smoothness, reduced ghosting and tearing, and lower system latency outlined in the article, the positive relationship shown in the chart makes a bit of sense.

And watch our new Tony Tech Talk video, below, for more on the subject. This site requires Javascript in order to view all its content.

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What is FPS and Hz anyway? This is caused by system latency. Looking at the animated. This slow-motion video comparison shows how much smoother a fast-moving object will appear at 60 vs.

The only framerate that really matters is the one you find acceptable, so how do you test your eyes to check? Thankfully, there are tons of resources online to help you figure that out by comparing framerates — especially 30 vs.

One of our favorites is 30vs The Battlefield 4 Running comparison is one of the best. You are almost guaranteed to notice a significant improvement to the smoothness.

If you really want to check your eyes, you can actually take a test over at Frame Rate Matters , a website that displays side-by-side gameplay at 30 and 60 FPS, requiring the user to see if they can tell the difference.

The number of FPS detectable by humans ranges considerably from one person to another, and people can be trained to more quickly perceive visual information.