Why Games Feel SO Laggy (and how to fix it :)

Consoles ALWAYS cap the frame rate in games, it kinda feels like an artificial limitation to the console gaming experience. People make mods to circumvent it, one of the major features of a PC port is that the framerate is uncapped. Maybe console makers do it for Vsync, efficiency, game consistency- maybe all of them combined... but are they on to something??

You can test your PC Latency with "Frameview" in games that have DLSS 3 in them:

So in this video we look at the difference between capping and uncapping frames. The latency, efficiency, consistency- some really interesting tests. Also how you should cap it for the best experience and comparing to Nvidia Reflex Low-latency and AMD Antilag (wish Antilag+ was here lol)

==JOIN THE DISCORD!==

0:00- Why do consoles intentionally limit framerate?
2:02- Latency and gaming
5:20- How capping fps affects latency
6:40- Nvidia Reflex-low latency tech... better?
9:40- Main issue and workaround with capping frames
12:20- Optimizing FPS in competitive games and efficiency
15:55- PEAK CONSISTENCY of GAME FEEL
17:42- AMD in the Latency War
19:55- Reducing Latency on AMD
23:42- Chasing frames...
25:10- Main Downside

[shApYT]

Friends don't let friends play with inconsistent frame pacing.

[nurbsivonsirup]

I don't want to be capped at 60, I was kind of hoping I could die in my sleep at 80?

[richardmcilwain]

Problem is, especially in some Breath of the Wild areas, the Switch takes a considerable hit when rendering too many entities and particles, dropping well below 30 fps occasionally, which is jarring and choppy at times. Locking fps only helps so much if you already can't support a higher refresh rate.

[mr_cryzler]

Glad that this is being brought up more.
I've been capping my frame rate individually for all my games for a very long time now using RTSS.
And I found out the consistency is SO MUCH better than squeezing out every frame possible.

For instance a game like let's say "The Finals" I will get around ~100-110 frames mostly, I would cap my frame rate to 90 and the frame time becomes completely flat and it feels amazing.

I feel like we are in another era similar to undervolting vs overclocking
(undervolting aka pushing a certain/highest clock speed at its lowest stable voltage vs pushing the highest possible clock the card can supply power to reach).

A key rule I have went by is that I would tweak the settings in a game to my liking, then I would monitor an estimated average frame rate and cap it around that value.

[blaux]

The difference between 60fps and 120fps is much less noticeable when you use a controller instead of a mouse as well. The most noticeable thing when it comes to motion smoothness is camera movement. So despite it being 30fps on switch, it's locked and steady, while also having smoother inputs to make it feel more consistent. When you run a locked framerate, you can tune your eyes to it and get used to it. You can't do that if it's constantly changing, because you notice the changes.

[Technicellie]

I am actually always capping the framerate to the refresh rate of the monitor on the driver-level.
Not to reduce the latency but to reduce the work that the CPU + GPU have to do, since I feel like it would be unnecessary (+ the bonus of reduced tearing because the framerate is in sync with the monitor)
That I'd also get a strongly reduced latency is actually very interesting! And a great benefit to have. ^^
I didn't know that I would have an advantage, I thought having like 6ms latency is normal tbh. xD

Thank you very much for making this educational content and the commentary, it really can help to put the information out there into the right perspective! ☺

[skythundersky]

Your content is top notch. Hope you're gonna blow up soon, you deserve it

[TheIndulgers]

I've been frame capping all my games for YEARS. Probably a decade now. Less latency, consistency, lower power draw, heat, etc.

Another point to add: Always try to use in-game frame caps if available. If the game doesn't, you can use radeon chill or rivatuner to do so.

Edit: This is why I find frame gen so flawed. Yes, the image will look "smoother", but there is more input latency and less consistency. This is what we are trying to avoid, not add into the game. Not to mention the artefacts FG introduces. Bigger number isn't always better. They are using marketing to trick people into new cards.

[just_afriendly_neighbor]

But if you look at the frametime, you can see that when he is locking the framerate, the average frametime almost always goes up. To me, a more steady and low frametime will always look smoother than a slightly lower latency.

[stephaneduhamel]

It's the first time I see someone actually recommand motion blur to increase smoothness in a long time. It's basically the next best thing compared to using frame gen for smoother visual experience without affecting latency as much.

[AAjax]

The FPS capping for input latency improvement is highly game specific. In many cases it makes input latency worse.
Check out the Hardware Unboxed exploration of it.

[emprrsfloret]

after purchasing a 165Hz monitor, 60fps is perceived as a strong slideshow. My minimum comfort has increased to 80-90. But more - better.

[Fearless]

I always limit my framerate to just below my lowest fps.

[chiari]

I've capped my fps ever since i bought my first pc. I prefer a better looking game runing smoothly instead of a fast paced, but choppy gameplay. Also capping the fps helps me ramp up the resolution and graphics without falling below the sweet 60fps even in render-heavy areas.❤

[especialistaemmira]

I play FPS games since 2003, and I also have some study in game dev and human performance in games here in Brazil, and the most important question that I found out is that where all the tech improvements stop to really improving something? And I believe that have something to do with the range of time that a person can make a decision (like when the target changes dir to the left than you move your aim to the left too) there's a curve at when FPS and Hz and latency stops to do something to your skills, and there's a lot of placebo and marketing with Nividia, Ultra-Polling Rate mouses and lots of stuff, and sometimes you can feel the diffrence between 1000 Hz and 4k, but the key is again not if u feel something, but if its doing something, the improvement have to be something that a human can interact with, its hard to self-test and require a lots of knowledge and you have to consider placebos, and your training routine, a lot of variables, but helps a lot ot identify what does a drastic, gigantic diffrence, like for example trying to aim with 24/30 FPS with V-Sync and them u progress to that gray range that u think that something made a litte diffrence or not.

[RobertCrane-vv]

Yall finally figured out about frame disparity and render lag... ive been preaching this.

[grumpyoldwizard]

I agree. Thanks for the explanation. The demand for super high FPS has always bothered me. It made no sense to me. I am old school, literally, lol.
You explaned it perfectly. Thank you so much.

[selohcin]

Yeah, I discovered this years ago. Capping the frame rate to a value where the GPU is, say, only about 90% loaded most of the time will reduce input lag and make your game feel more responsive. The issue is that you have to lower the frame rate to a number that you can stay above 100% of the time while also not maxing out your GPU. Because of this, you may have to play with frame rates that are in many cases 20% or more lower than what your GPU can put out, and that just feels bad...emotionally.

[DukeStallion]

This is probably the best explanation of this topic for people that don't understand it well, like my friends. I've been capping my fps for many years for the reasons in this video. When I tell my friends that frame times are more important than frame rates and to cap their fps, they're like, 'HUH? Get outta here.' Then they wonder why my games are visually much, much smoother than theirs even if they are running higher frame rates. This will be my go-to video from now on for my friends and others who just don't get it.

[pharmdiddy]

Wow oh yeah latency metric in afterburner? Why isn't this talked about more?? Great video! Dare I say... ... "game changer?" (Boooo) okay gotta check this out