30FPS on PC

[SM Phoo]

Honestly didn't know what part of this forum to put this so picked this one.

Around March last year me and a friend decided to go over to the PC from Xbox.

 

Every so often in game, I cap the FPS to 30 to try and see if it's a big improvement on the 90-120 or so I get currently.

Thing is, when I switch to 30, the game looks awful. Now I played on Xbox for a lot of years and it just didn't ever seem THAT bad.

 

I've not got an Xbox anymore to actually set up and check, but does dropping to 30FPS on a PC require more than just doing that, capping the framerate in game.

I'm just curious to compare on what would be a fair test.

If doing what I've done is all I needed to do, then holy hell!, but I don't think I'm doing a fair test

[Feanturi_IV]

Console games are designed to run a 30fps, so it runs smoother than a pc game at 30 for a pc game is usually geared for 60+

[Feanturi_IV]

so in a way it isn't fair, but console games are likely to go to 60 fps soon. Try your test again when it becomes more mainstream for games to do so 

[FloRolf]

Have your turned motion blurr all the way up to 11?

[GoldenLag]

Did you lock the framerate or did you also lower the refreshrate of the monitor?

 

Because you should have the refreshrate at whatever the monitor can do. 

 

Also motionblur has to be on.

 

With all of that it should look like a console

[Feanturi_IV]

2 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Did you lock the framerate or did you also lower the refreshrate of the monitor?

 

Because you should have the refreshrate at whatever the monitor can do. 

 

Also motionblur has to be on.

 

With all of that it should look like a console

did not know that

[GoldenLag]

10 minutes ago, Feanturi_IV said:

did not know that

ive played 25 fps PC. it looks very similar to console 30hz with the exception of the fact i dropped to 15-18fps frequently

[SM Phoo]

16 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Did you lock the framerate or did you also lower the refreshrate of the monitor?

 

Because you should have the refreshrate at whatever the monitor can do. 

 

Also motionblur has to be on.

 

With all of that it should look like a console

 

Thanks! I'll give that a go

[SupaKomputa]

It depends on the pc specs, a bad 30fps you must have a bad gpu.

 

[SM Phoo]

1 minute ago, SupaKomputa said:

It depends on the pc specs, a bad 30fps you must have a bad gpu.

 

I run a 1080ti

It plays all games very well.

 

As others have said, it's more to do with optimisation 

[SansVarnic]

-= Moved to PC Gaming =-

[PlayStation 2]

It's going to depend on how the game handles a 30FPS cap.

If you're just locking it to 30 without any vertical sync, it's not gonna look or feel good. If you have a perfect 30FPS lock, straight 33.3ms lock (and you'll be able to tell visually), it's going to look a lot more like how a PS4/XO game looks at 30.

[Richard Webster]

Tips for 30fps on PC:

1. Cap to 30 using Nvidia Adaptive Half Refresh rate (if using 60hz), or using Vsync and RTSS to limit to 30fps.
2. Set Maximum Prerendered Frames to 1 in Nvidia control panel (helps with input and screen lag).
3. Sometimes setting your display to 30hz and then using Vsync can feel smoother. Depends on the game and whether your display supports it.
4. Use a controller.
5. Don't go to 30fps after seeing it running at 60fps. It will look too jarring. Have a break between.
6. Avoid in-game 30fps caps as they're usually broken. Check your frame times using RTSS. You want to make sure your frame times are a clean line of 33.3ms with little to no judder. Games that I know work using in-game limits are Forza and Destiny.

 

Bear in mind that the way you lock to 30 might have a different feel depending on the game. It's all about testing it for yourself. For me some games feel fine at 60fps vsync while using 30fps limit with RTSS, other times just using Nvidia adaptive half refresh feels smoother, sometimes using borderless windowed mode with RTSS 30 limit feels best, and sometimes I use the 30hz option and vsync. Always worth using RTSS to check your frame times, I can't stress that enough.

 

I'll add more if I can think of anything else. I do this all the time for 4K gaming.

Edited January 16, 2019 by Richard Webster