How many frames per second is enough?

[Nestle]

I am not really a gamer, I just play a game every now and then.
But i see people here talking for over 100 FPS in some cases.
I know television is around 30 FPS.
Can you really see 100 frames in one second????

 

[FalseChristian]

You'll notice less than 60 but if you have an average of 110 fps on a timedemo you'll notice no slowdowns at all in yer games.

 

[eplebnista]

Here is a link to a good FPS debate thread.

hth,
eplebnista

 

[Mingon]

Have a look at this file here

 

[Speedy3D!]

60 seems to be the sweet spot. There is a limit to the number of frames per second your eye can see, 60 comes to mind but I'm not sure of the exact number.

 

[Rand]

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that what's an acceptable frame rate can deviate considerably depending upon the type of game,, individual eyesight, acclimation to specific frame rates. etc.

Personally, I find roughly 43-50FPS adequate for shooters.
Flight sims on the other hand I find 100% adequate at 20-24FPS.
Sports games I find adequate at roughly 30-35 for slower paced games like baseball, and roughly 35-40FPS for fast paced games like hockey.
RPG's I generally prefer a set solid frame rate of 30FPS. Indeed, many RPG's don't even allow frame rates above 30FPS. With RPG's frame rates tend to be directly related to affects such as path finding which depend upon a set frame rate for proper calculation of nodes. In such a case frame rates too high or too low could easily make the game virtually unplayable.

It really depends a lot on individual games though, and I even find it varies depending upon resolution.

Consider that most people consider 60FPS ideal for playing shooters etc.
Does that mean 60FPS is ideal for flight sims? Hell no!
There are flight sims out there that are 2 years old that still don't hit 60FPS on the fastest systems available today.
Modern flight sims typically only hit 30-35 frames per second on the fastest systems available upon release.
Playing a shooter at typical flight sim frame rates would lead to gameplay that was extremely choppy... but on flight sims that don't depend on fast twitch movements of the trigger etc, then such frame rates are more then adequate.

What's adequate has been argued to death, and it's pretty much a guarantee that there are those out there that wouldnt dream of playing at frame rates that I consider perfectly acceptable, while others probably consider my preferences extremely high.

 

[AA0]

I agree with Rand mostly, In RTCW 60 is smooth and clear, if I move it to somewhere in the 40s, I can feel the lag in the game a bit. Anything above 60 is clear, I've gone past 200fps, no difference.

FPS games are by far the most demanding on a high frame rate.

 

[Mingon]

<< 60 seems to be the sweet spot. There is a limit to the number of frames per second your eye can see, 60 comes to mind but I'm not sure of the exact number. >>



Try about 3 times more than that at least. I personally find 60 frames / sec the minimum I like in fps games but I prefer 85, the difference shows mostly when panning.

 

[spanky]

if u only play once in a while, 60 should be fine.

 

[BFG10K]

Can you really see 100 frames in one second????

Of course; I can see the difference between a constant 120 FPS and a constant 60 FPS and if you download and try the program linked to by Mingon, you'll probably find that you can too.

For single player games I aim for a minimum of around 45 FPS and an average of at least 75 FPS. Note that I prefer more (see below) and that's not to say that I can't see more, I'm just a little more leanient in this situation.
For multiplayer games and single player bot matches (eg Quake3 and UT) I want a minimum of around 60 FPS and an average of 120 FPS.

Of course in reality I want as much as possible and I'll take anything I've got over the guidlines I just listed.
Also note that I can easily see the difference between 60 FPS and 120 FPS and that I can immediately tell when game has dipped more than a few FPS below 60 FPS.

 

[JemAFinch]

It's a smoothness thing. So if you swing around in an FPS you see everything cleary instead of every 20 degrees you turn. Better frame rates mean easier kills etc.

I'd say a good framerate is 60-70 FPS for a First person shooter (JKII ROX) and anything above that is icing on the cake.

 

[THUGSROOK]

200fps .....im serious!

if you think 60fps is smooth, then 200fps must be like glass!
at twice my refresh rate - it never drops a frame, ever!

 

[Blurry]

40-60 Frames is enough. If you are playing games like Quake 3 where you rock at around 150 FPS @1024*768 32bit, then I think you should set vsync to elimnate and lags and tears you may notice and keep your frames in balance with your refresh rate. Or you could turn on AA.