How much FPS do you ACTUALLY NEED?

How much FPS do you actually need? That's the question us PC Gamers ask, especially when looking to buy a new GPU and trying to justify buying the more expensive one... So I put that to the test!

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How much FPS do you ACTUALLY NEED?

TechteamGB

[TechWithSean]

Depends on the game, but I like to have at least 90+ at 1440p.

[billcarson]

I'm over 50 so I've been gaming since it started. It's extremely funny and amusing to me to see friends and very old YouTubers saying how they can't live without 144 fps when just a few years ago they were going apeshit over 75hz monitors, calling it "buttery smooth gameplay" and anything beyond that you'd never need because you'd never know the difference. LMFAO!

[Xaltar_]

To me at least this has always been a simple thing to work out:


30fps - Single Player, story driven or strategy titles (casual gaming)
60fps - Single Player FPS and driving/flying sims, Multiplayer strategy (LoL etc)
100fps+ - Multiplayer where response time actually matters


Even an RX 470 will allow you to hit all these FPS ranges @1080p and even 1440p with properly adjusted settings. For a story focused game (like single player RPGs etc) set your details as high as you can while retaining a 30fps average and no lower than 25fps minimums (1% lows, lower 0.1% lows are fine). Repeat for 60fps on appropriate titles then drop everything to low on multiplayer FPS and bump up settings until you start seeing more significant FPS drops. Don't be afraid to experiment with settings, often times a single setting could have a huge performance hit while others have little to none at all. One low setting with the rest high can often result in identical or even better performance than a game's default medium setting. Shadows, lighting, Ambient Occlusion (AO), foliage density, mesh complexity, view distance, these are settings that very often hit the FPS hard depending on engine optimizations. Texture quality for example can often be set to high with all other settings low and yield a huge visual uplift at minimal FPS cost provided you have the VRAM for it. On a 4gb GPU you can typically get away with high texture quality, if not ultra.


A competitive gamer doesn't need anything more than a GTX 1660 or RX 580 to be competitive, the only reason to spend more (in 2019) is if you game at high resolutions, play for a league professionally (in which case you would have sponsorship and gear) or are trying to show off how much money you spent on your system. I have a friend that slays in PUBG (casual) and his big secret is that he plays on the lowest settings possible even though his system can handle high easily. It is so much easier to spot opponents with low ground clutter and foliage.


TLDR: You don't need to spend a fortune on a GPU to have a great gaming experience, tailor your system to the type of games you like to play and adjust your settings to provide you with maximum enjoyment.

[attackLive]

120fps at 1440p is the sweetspot. 4k adds too much input delay. 144fps is a nice extra.

[aaronrodriguez]

Unless you have all the pieces together, then it doesn't matter anyway... I see so many people buying the latest and greatest CPU/GPU to get "max FPS", but then they still have a 1080p 60hz monitor on their desk!

[kiillabytez]

I always thought as long as you're not going below your monitor's refresh rate, you were golden.

[thedaranesianconfederation]

I knew I didn't have the best setup for gaming but I didn't know it was that bad...
I averaged 14 FPS and was ecstatic when I would reach 20

[SpaceMike]

It was then that Mike realised he was poor.

[moeinkhademi]

Around 60 I think is really good ... and even not go under 30 in third person game I think still good ... but under 30 is gonna damage your game experience.

[jorgeisdead_]

for sp games i’m fine with 40~80 but for mp games i want atleast 60~120

[yarincool]

i easily see and feel the diffrence between 120 to 144. i pretty much cant play online shooters below 144.

[Safetytrousers]

I don't play twitch PvP shooters and I play all PC games with a controller, so no quick jerky mousing for me. I am totally happy with 60fps. I used to have a 100Hz monitor, I don't miss it.

[JewelRocks]

sorry for being a noob here but I see you using the terms 60fps and 60hz interchangeably. Is refresh rate and frame rate the same? plz clarify, I'm confused 😅

[alecubudulecu]

I’d love to see a video showing what cards and best settings to achieve 1440p at high refresh rate. Ideal I want ultra maxed out settings 1440p around 120hz reliably

[kylematheson]

Why is computer hitting like 600 FPS when I’m loading screen and nailing 260 FPS in game

[robinsoneveonline]

Just enough for your opponents to hit the dirt. What brand & model is the monitor you was using?

[Housenumber]

Hi there. I have 165hz monitor. I am getting 55fps on GTX 1650. Is it good? I'm new to gaming. So thought wil ask your help

[lypzel]

I am getting a pc and 144hz monitor for 800 and I’ve researched the pc should run 140fps 1080p or 90fps 1440p

[imatiredpotato]

Honestly, if I get 30 fps in minecraft for example, I don’t really notice lol.

[mr.rainbowlovescoffee]

I play my games at 1hz with 1 frame per second. There's no way I can run that fast 😂