Frame Rates/Smoothness vs Graphical Detail

[Attic]

I've used both Sli and Xfire and I typically game 100% of the time with vsync on. I have spent time trying max graphical detail vs frame rates and the consistent irrating thing through most games is choppyness more than anything else. I've only found one way to get rid of percieved chop in either single or dual gpu configs.

Through my many upgrades and game sessions one thing keeps standing out. 60fps minimum with vsync on on a 60hz screen is as important as any graphic setting a game may have.

There's a lot of concerns over multi GPU setups with stutter, but anything less than vysnc on and locked framerates to maximum screen refresh appears to me to be quite degrading to graphical presentation and immersion regardless of single vs dual gpu.

With growing benches of 2160p and higher res i'm just tossing this out there for discussion. I'd like to compare 2160p at sub 60fps without vysnc to 1080p locked to 60fps with vsync, I haven't, but I'm guessing for some folks the biggest hurdle to jump for improving game immersion is getting 60fps mins 99-100% of the time in games, upping resolution would come second with graphics otherwise being equal.

120hz is another thing I'd like to experience, but I'm not sure if frame rate fluchations between 60-120fps is better than locked to 60. Whatever is more fluid. Locking to 120fps requires huge resources.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Its entirely dependent on the game/engine how sub 120fps looks on a 120hz monitor. Crysis 3 is fine battlefield 4 plays like garbage below 90fps on 120hz.

 

[toyota]

There is not a cpu in the world that is going to let you run all games at 120 fps locked. Some games cant even stay above 60 fps the whole time no matter how much hardware you throw at it.

 

[MrK6]

It depends on the subjective personal taste of the user. We had the similar arguments a decade ago about CRT's and refresh rates as well as compared to early LCD's when they first became more popular. Personally, I find lower resolution completely distracting and ruining immersion; I don't think I could ever play at 1080p now that I've been at 1600p for so long. However I don't mind framerates well below 60 FPS in most cases. As VulgarDisplay noted, a lot of this is also dependent on the game/engine in question.

 

[toyota]

Its what you get used to. After playing some games at 120-144 fps on 144hz screen, it was very hard to tolerate 60 fps. After returning the 144hz screen, it took me a couple weeks for 60 fps to actually feel smooth again in any game.

 

[Attic]

The game engine is critical and that's out of our control. I'm currently delving into Tomb Raider (almost let it go after the first few hours, glad I stuck around) and the 3rd person and large outdoor scenes really benefit from my perspective a 60fps min. Bioshock Infinite is another one that I got a lot better mileage out of by locking to 60fps. It's the few areas of games that hurt frametimes that make this goal frustrating, you have to average quite a bit faster than 60fps to get a 60fps min.

Tomb Raider seriously demands POWA!!! for that, but wow is it gorgeous. We can all fine tune to our hearts delight, which is more than half the fun of this for me, but personally i'm going to be putting 60fps mins as my target before cranking details or res. As toyota noted, some engines just won't allow for it, but most will.

I'd like to get a 50-60" screen that will support true 120hz, AFIAK these are non existent.

 

[OCGuy]

I've never experienced a poor gaming experience due to choppiness. "Smoothness" was only a problem in multi-GPU if the game didn't support it or the profile wasn't out yet.

I crank the settings up as high as I can for the resolution I am using, and if the FPS dip to where it causes a problem, I back off the post-processing until I am good again.


Needing 100FPS+ to have a quality gaming experience puts you in a very small minority PC gamers, let a lone gamers in general.

 

[toyota]

I've never experienced a poor gaming experience due to choppiness. "Smoothness" was only a problem in multi-GPU if the game didn't support it or the profile wasn't out yet.

I crank the settings up as high as I can for the resolution I am using, and if the FPS dip to where it causes a problem, I back off the post-processing until I am good again.


Needing 100FPS+ to have a quality gaming experience puts you in a very small minority PC gamers, let a lone gamers in general.

The difference between 60 and 120 fps on a 120/144 screen is massive. If you get used to that then yes 60 fps will look and feel different than it does on a 60hz screen. 144hz vsynced was one of the most stunning things I have ever experienced and I hated go back to lower framerates.

 

[OCGuy]

The difference between 60 and 120 fps on a 120/144 screen is massive. If you get used to that then yes 60 fps will look and feel different than it does on a 60hz screen. 144hz vsynced was one of the most stunning things I have ever experienced and I hated go back to lower framerates.

I doubt many people are hitting a maxed out vsync on 144hz on a modern graphics-heavy game, since the cards needed to do that @ 1080P and above are such a small part of them market, they don't even hit the Steam Survey.

The higher refresh rate will look noticeably smoother @ 80FPS over a 60hz/60FPS.

I have read monitor reviews where they cant tell the difference between 120/144 no matter the hardware.

 

[toyota]

I doubt many people are hitting a maxed out vsync on 144hz on a modern graphics-heavy game, since the cards needed to do that @ 1080P and above are such a small part of them market, they don't even hit the Steam Survey.

The higher refresh rate will look noticeably smoother @ 80FPS over a 60hz/60FPS.

I have read monitor reviews where they cant tell the difference between 120/144 no matter the hardware.

I already mentioned that those framerates are impossible in many games as no cpu will let you maintain it even with enough gpu power. I am simply saying that once you see high framerates such as 120 on a 120 hz screen then yes 60 fps will feel and look slow.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I already mentioned that those framerates are impossible in many games as no cpu will let you maintain it even with enough gpu power. I am simply saying that once you see high framerates such as 120 on a 120 hz screen then yes 60 fps will feel and look slow.

This is the reason why these low level/low cpu overhead API's can't come soon enough. CPU's are being outpaced by GPU's rather quickly and the problem is only going to get worse.

I am guessing that flagship 20nm GPU's will be almost completely CPU bottlenecked without SSAA/MSAA.

 

[toyota]

This is the reason why these low level/low cpu overhead API's can't come soon enough. CPU's are being outpaced by GPU's rather quickly and the problem is only going to get worse.

I am guessing that flagship 20nm GPU's will be almost completely CPU bottlenecked without SSAA/MSAA.

yeah even with my CPU, which is about as fast as it gets for gaming, I can't even stay above 60 frames per second the whole time in every game. I rarely see full GPU usage unless I'm cranking AA and/or downsampling and then it becomes hard to stay above 60 from a GPU standpoint in some games. So it seems either way I'm going to be screwed in some cases. Lol

 

[krumme]

I find it far more difficult to go from high fps to lower fps than go from higher quality to lower quality.

I was looking for 4k screen but ended up upgrading to 1440p. Good luck for that.

Apparently i was getting so used to the high fps and smoothness with mantle in bf4, at least now i can get a new gfx and solve the problem and still play at reasonable high quality. No way can i go back to lower than 60fps min dips and inconsistent cpu frame to frame rendering. No way. But i recon its a very personal thing. One of my kids gladly play with 35 min fps - and do it with double the k/d ratio i can manage , but still mantle helps my k/d ratio - and experience in the game. Damn expensive sensitivity !

 

[Skurge]

Well, I stayed pretty close to 120FPS when played BF4. That min FPS was at the end of the round. Thats on Capsian Border with everything on Ultra and MSAA/PostAA off.

With a Small OC and I can prob manage a nice 120fps average.