Lame Frames Per Second Question

Ok, here is a REALLY dumb question that is bound to send this question to post hell, but here it goes.

All this talk about frame rates I really don't understand. What is a good frame rate? Some say that 30 fps is good, while others say that is really sucks. Is there an optimum? Is there a real difference between 30 and 40 fps? (aside from 10 fps)

Sorry for that lamer question,

The Bruce

Yeah, there are differences (noticable) between frame rates. The point at which a person can't differentiate between frame rates changes, it seems, from person to person (I can tell 300fps from 200), as does the optimum value imo.

For a casual gamer, I'd think that anything above 30fps is fine. If you play pretty often, 50-60 should be the target. If you're pro, at I'd say at least 120 or 130. I personally like my Quake3 rates around 300fps.

Now, if you think for a moment, PAL TV displays at 25fps, NTSC-U and NTSC-J at 23.something and 29.something, and film at 24fps. All these tend to look smooth. So why does 30fps still look a bit choppy at times? The thing is, movies behave differently on screens than videogames when they're displayed. A film has this sort of natural motion-blur from the moving frames which compensates. Games do not.

This does end up affecting accuracy in the end. 30fps will make a player a little less accurate than one playing at 60fps.

the human eye can see ~35fps, so that's good enough for most people.

Haruko, I just don't see how you can tell the difference between 200 and 300 fps....unless of a non-constant frame rate. Maybe you have superman eyes!

choppiness in frame rates is due to an non-constant frame rate, meaning a frame rate that constantly switches up and down. You could have 1000 fps but if its not constant, and the fps switches down and up repeatedly, you will notice a difference in the scene is rendered on to the screen, ie., you'll see a slight slowness.

Doom2 is locked at 35fps unless you are using a port.

DJ_Haruko said:

(I can tell 300fps from 200)

Whoah dude! What make is your monitor?

You can tell the difference between 300 and 200??? Whoah man that's amazing since your monitor can't even refresh that fast :P

Unless of course you've got an absolutely awesome monitor that refreshes at 300Mhz.

chilvence said:

Whoah dude! What make is your monitor?

Some really nice quality one my boss gave me. And I should clarify that I can't tell as much visually as I can with the feel of the game.

Here's an article I once read that I was looking for:
http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/editorials/fps/

Anymore I'm so used to the 300fps in Quake3, I can notice lower ones.

DJ_Haruko,

Thank you soooooo much. Finally a reasonable answer.

That was a very good article.

Thanks!

The Bruce