Gaming PC Tutorial and FPS Explained

[WallacEngineering]

This is a guide for anyone new to PC building who would like to know what FPS numbers mean, why they are important, and what to look for when considering your first gaming PC.

 

So what is FPS? Why does it matter? Why do people choose PC over consoles for more FPS and more settings? What does it all mean?

 

Well, FPS - Frames Per Second. In reality, what video is - is a stream of still images sent to your screen very quickly. When you watch TV, what you are seeing is actually 26-27 different STILL images per second that depicts motion.

 

Consoles like Xbox and PlayStation are generally limited to 60 FPS maximum, and while this is fine, you can have a more premium gaming experience on PC with higher FPS and more settings options and customization available. Plus, you don't have to pay for PlayStation/Xbox Live membership for online gaming which is a pretty nice bonus.

 

Most games on PC these days have the ability to run what is called a "Benchmark" - a test that evaluates the overall performance of a given game. And even if a benchmark is unavailable, there is ALWAYS a way to display your current FPS while playing, and you can assess your performance and tweak your settings that way.

 

Keep in mind that some games are more demanding than others. A good way to judge what hardware is right for you is to share what games you play most. Plenty of testing is done on PC Hardware when it comes to market and what hardware you need for what games you play with your desired level of performance should be easy to determine - just ask any PC enthusiast and they should be able to tell you.

 

PC games come with settings presets that set all graphical settings to a predetermined level for a given overall experience. "High" Graphics settings presets are considered the standard for PC enthusiasts as it gives you high visual fidelity and detail without needlessly throwing away performance. "Very High"/"Ultra" settings are nice but usually cost a massive amount of performance for only small differences in overall image quality.

 

So what numbers are important, what should you look for, and what are ideal numbers? Well, the two most important metrics in gaming performance are "Average FPS" and "1% Lows". Average FPS is the average framerate of the given test, while 1% lows show when the PC struggles with a particularly demanding area or images. The range of different Average FPS experiences is summarized below:

 

20 FPS or Less: Unplayable - The game will be so studdery, slow, and unresponsive that you will genuinely not enjoy the experience, and will probably stop playing.

 

30 FPS: Not Very Fun, but Tolerable for Some. This will feel sluggish and fairly slow, especially when demanding areas drop your FPS under 30, but it can be played if absolutely necessary.

 

45 FPS: Playable - While not very responsive or smooth, it can be somewhat enjoyable, especially if dips in performance from demanding areas are occasional and don't drop the FPS into the 30's very often.

 

60 FPS: The Basic Standard - at 60 FPS your game will appear visually smooth but you may notice the responsiveness between your inputs and what happens on screen is not quite as nice as you would like. When demanding areas drop the FPS into the low 50's and high 40's, these moments are certainly not ideal either.

 

75 FPS - The Bang For Buck - At 75 FPS, a Game not only appears very visually smooth, but the responsiveness is also quite nice and fast enough to satisfy most gamers. Even demanding areas that drop FPS into the low 60's don't really ruin the experience and this is exactly why entry-level budget gaming PC monitors are 75-Hz rated (Hz is basically the max FPS the screen itself can display, also known as "refresh rate").

 

90 FPS: The Enthusiast Standard - PC enthusiasts usually game on PC for the advanced performance over a console. 90 FPS and beyond is where this difference truly shines. At 90 FPS, your game will feel incredibly responsive, basically instantaneous, and will remain very responsive even in demanding areas that drop FPS into the 70's.

 

100 FPS - The Premium/Ideal Target. 100 FPS Average may not seem a lot different than 90 FPS, but the important difference is that even the most demanding areas of a game with the biggest drops will likely keep the FPS above 75. This means that the game will remain responsive and the experience will remain premium and smooth pretty much no matter what happens. I recommend 90-100 FPS Average for most people.

 

120 FPS: The Enthusiast High-End/Flagship Experience - My personal favorite way to play. Why? Well, while I will admit I don't really see any gains in the gaming experience above about 100 FPS; if you game runs at 120 average, then your lows will probably remain above 90 FPS meaning your entire gaming experience is as premium as it gets - So fast and responsive that you truly feel no desire to go any further even in the most demanding areas of a game.

 

144 FPS and Beyond: Overkill - Many Gaming Monitors are rated at 144 Hz and they are affordable for most and the perfect choice for most gamers. However, there is no need for your game to actually run this fast. Linus himself has shown in several tests that even professional E-Sports gamers - people who get paid an actual salary to play video games - have no performance improvement when going beyond 144 Hz/FPS. Some people may claim they feel a difference and they are welcome to their opinion, but there is no way for them to prove that claim, and someone new to PC gaming certainly doesn't need to be worrying about such things.

 

So there you go, now you can decide what level of performance you want your Gaming PC to achieve, and you can now use this knowledge to ask someone experienced with PCs (we are all happy to help you here at LTT Forums) to recommend a given pre-built PC or recommend hardware for you to build your own. This is the very first decision towards getting your first gaming PC. Welcome aboard!

[Skiiwee29]

<-- Moved to Guides and Tutorials -->

[GoStormPlays]

I'd want to mention that if you have a monitor at 60 HZ, I'd cap the FPS lock at 70 or 80. If your monitor can't display above 60, there's no reason to go for anything above 70 or 80.

[filpo]

On 2/27/2024 at 4:14 PM, GoStormPlays said:

there's no reason to go for anything above 70 or 80.

Linus explained this in a past video 

At 18:23

[wasab]

why 30 fps not very fun? i mean can your eyes even see above this?

[WallacEngineering]

On 3/30/2024 at 12:09 AM, wasab said:

why 30 fps not very fun? i mean can your eyes even see above this?

Absolutely, a game doesn't even appear visually smooth until about 60 FPS. A game doesn't feel responsive and snappy until above 75 FPS

[wasab]

35 minutes ago, WallacEngineering said:

Absolutely, a game doesn't even appear visually smooth until about 60 FPS. A game doesn't feel responsive and snappy until above 75 FPS

They look the same to me

[WallacEngineering]

5 hours ago, wasab said:

They look the same to me

Ya its not the same for everyone, although it does account for the vast majority of gamers until they get older and can't tell the difference anymore.

 

So for the vast majority of people, 60 FPS is visually smooth and 75 FPS+ feels responsive.

 

There is a reason why the average gaming monitor these days is 144Hz/FPS. It is technically possible to see a response benefit all the way up to 240Hz/FPS but I have yet to see any human being capable of actually proving it makes a difference versus 120Hz/FPS.

 

What doesn't make sense is these days we are now going far above even 240Hz/FPS. 360Hz/FPS Gaming monitors are widely available now and the worlds first 500Hz/FPS Gaming monitor just recently came out. At this point I think its safe to say we have gone into "overkill mode".