Is there much difference between 60fps and 120fps and full HD and 4K?

[Deleted member 754542]

Back when the Wii U came out I was so glad blurry Wii games were a thing of the past. 20fps Nintendo 64 games are unplayable to me. 30fps games are not ideal but still good enough and 60fps games feel so nice to play. I haven't tried gaming at higher framerates and resolutions. Is there much difference? I suspect that going above 1080p 60fps has diminishing returns for the player's experience.

 

[hippy dave]

60fps looks great to me, and higher rates might look even better but if I never use them I'll never feel like I'm missing them.

 

[CMDreamer]

Beyond 30fps/60fps the average human eye can't see any diference. A very few humans can see (distinguish) something (single details) at 100fps/120fps and even though "experts" say the human eye can process higher fps (up to 1,000 fps), there won't be any real advantage for it.

Many would say that higher fps means less response time when playing high demanding games, but humans can't beat "machines" at higher fps.

For the most part, it's all just advertising lies.

 

[tmnr1992]

I've seen some conflicting information on what the highest framerate that the human eye can perceive is, ranging from 66 to 120 fps. That being said, I do think there is a noticeable difference, I tried the Ocarina of Time PC port a while ago and changed the framerate to 240 fps, and it did feel smoother than 60 fps.

 

[Deleted member 705600]

The more you go up, the harder is to notice the difference, but if you go back to lower framerates you will actually feel the effect

So it's easy to notice going from 30 to 60 fps, but it's less impactful from 60 to 120
Funny enough, if you then get used to 120 and go back to 60, you will notice the difference a lot harsher

Same with res, you will think you don't notice but once you go back to your old res, it's gonna hit you like a train

 

[DKB]

I've seen some conflicting information on what the highest framerate that the human eye can perceive is, ranging from 66 to 120 fps. That being said, I do think there is a noticeable difference, I tried the Ocarina of Time PC port a while ago and changed the framerate to 240 fps, and it did feel smoother than 60 fps.

240 is absolutely noticeable to me as well. But, yeah, many people truly cannot see a difference between it and 120/144. Which is fine, considering 240HZ is sort of a pain to maintain in modern games.

 

[Reploid]

Don't forget that beside 'seeing' the difference you may also feel it. Like I've played Visions of mana for a while and then noticed FPS is locked at 60. I've unlocked it and combat felt noticebly more fluent and smooth to play and control. It wasn't bad before, but my enjoyment of the game rose up nonetheless.

 

[Citizen_404]

I apologize in advance for linking Linus Tech Tip videos, but these (now 5 years old!) but they had really good, detailed info about monitor refresh rates and resoliution...the TLDR is, higher resolution is great, but most people are sitting too far away from their computer monitors or TV's to really benefit from the highest resolutions; for refresh rates, the higher the better, but not much gain after 144Hz, and even then, people get used to whatever it is they are gaming on.

So, the TLDR of the TLDR is exactly what you said in your post...good up to a certain point, then, diminishing returns

 

[gnmmarechal]

Beyond 30fps/60fps the average human eye can't see any diference. A very few humans can see (distinguish) something (single details) at 100fps/120fps and even though "experts" say the human eye can process higher fps (up to 1,000 fps), there won't be any real advantage for it.

Many would say that higher fps means less response time when playing high demanding games, but humans can't beat "machines" at higher fps.

For the most part, it's all just advertising lies.

Are you taking the piss? That's blatantly false - the human eye can definitely see the difference clearly. The human eye does not see in frames, you know

 

[yankii]

No. Anything over 1080p 30fps is a placebo.

 

[smileyhead]

I can't say for FPS, since the highest refresh rate monitor I've owned so far is 60 Hz (I have seen higher RR ones in stores, and they definitely looked smoother, but I don't own one).

For resolution, however, I would say it depends on what you want to use it for. If you're gaming, then you probably won't notice the difference between 1080p and 4K in the middle of all the action, especially with anti-aliasing on. If you're couch gaming, then it really does not matter, because you'd have to have eagle eyes to see a difference from that far away, anyway.

However, if we're talking about productivity on a computer, then increasing the resolution increases the amount of usable space you have for your programs. You will be able to fit much more content on a 1080p display, compared to a 720p one. It's essentially like resizing a window – the larger window will obviously fit more stuff.

For this, I've heard the sweet spot nowadays is 1440p. I only own a 1080p main display on my computer and I would say it's fine, but definitely just the minimum requirement. What got me to upgrade in the first place was that my old, 768p monitor was starting to feel very claustrophobic, especially how more and more modern content is designed for at least 1080p and is not in any way optimised for anything lower than that. One of the most egregious experiences of mine was OBS: If you open a settings or properties window, it will literally hang off the bottom of your screen at 768p, and you will have to manually resize it every…single…time to fit.

 

[NyaakoXD]

Back when the Wii U came out I was so glad blurry Wii games were a thing of the past. 20fps Nintendo 64 games are unplayable to me. 30fps games are not ideal but still good enough and 60fps games feel so nice to play. I haven't tried gaming at higher framerates and resolutions. Is there much difference? I suspect that going above 1080p 60fps has diminishing returns for the player's experience.

I'd say there's a pretty clear difference when going up from 1080p to 4k and 60 fps to 120 fps.

However, imo, I think that past 4k and 120 fps is where we see significant diminishing returns and gets harder to see the differences.

Like, going from 4k to 8k is not as visually obvious in improvements. Same goes for 120 fps to 240 fps. At least from a casual observation.

I use a 1440p240 monitor and I've tried going back and forth from 240 fps and 120 fps in games and barely notice the differences. However, going from 120 fps to 60 fps, I could definitely see and FEEL the differences as the games felt and looked almost choppier to play.

 

[Gbasam64]

Are you taking the piss? That's blatantly false - the human eye can definitely see the difference clearly. The human eye does not see in frames, you know

I agree, I don’t know why people still say this. It’s completely false.
I noticed a difference right away 120 vs 60.
But on topic, 4k I my opinion is overkill for a gaming monitor, 1440p is better and also easier to run at high frame rate which I prefer more.

 

[FemtoFalcon]

Are you taking the piss? That's blatantly false - the human eye can definitely see the difference clearly. The human eye does not see in frames, you know

Exactly, higher fps or monitors with higher herts with the higher fps reduces blur between frames, have you not seen the tests reviewers do on high hertsa monitors where it has a ufo speeding across the screen, on low hertz or frame rates it is jumping, to blurry trail where in the crazy hertz and fps it has silky smooth movement and can get to zero blur.

Also higher fps and higher hertz helps with reducing input lag.

So in the end there is a visual benefit especially for very fast movements and gives a better feel with the game.

 

[gnmmarechal]

I'd say there's a pretty clear difference when going up from 1080p to 4k and 60 fps to 120 fps.

However, imo, I think that past 4k and 120 fps is where we see significant diminishing returns and gets harder to see the differences.

Like, going from 4k to 8k is not as visually obvious in improvements. Same goes for 120 fps to 240 fps. At least from a casual observation.

I use a 1440p240 monitor and I've tried going back and forth from 240 fps and 120 fps in games and barely notice the differences. However, going from 120 fps to 60 fps, I could definitely see and FEEL the differences as the games felt and looked almost choppier to play.

Well, that makes sense - the absolute drop in latency between 60-120 is much larger than 120-240's.
And yeah, it gets harder to see the differences, but that's not to say we *can't* see it at all, as for some reason people are still claiming in 2025. I honestly thought this myth had died ten years ago...

 

[Deleted member 754542]

Thinking about it now, my phone has a 120FPS screen and using 60FPS phones feels less comfortable these days. I didn't notice the improvement when I started using this phone, I only felt it when I scrolled on an older phone. Not sure whether I'll feel any improvement when gaming at 120fps for the first time.

 

[Skv0ra]

Refresh rate is everything. Then you want FPS as close to your monitor/TV refresh as possible. I can absolutely notice the difference between say, 60 and 120/144, but it also comes down to what you're playing. Anything action that requires quick input adjustments - the faster you see your controlled model move, the faster you can react. Fighting, racing, especially shooting games - refresh/fps match makes a bigger difference if you're trying to be harder, better, faster, stronger.

Above 1080p becomes moot in the same fast action genres because you're not gonna have the time to stare at every ass-hair of every blade of grass trying to run, dodge, drive a car at 150+mph.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Refresh rate is everything. Then you want FPS as close to your monitor/TV refresh as possible. I can absolutely notice the difference between say, 60 and 120/144, but it also comes down to what you're playing. Anything action that requires quick input adjustments - the faster you see your controlled model move, the faster you can react. Fighting, racing, especially shooting games - refresh/fps match makes a bigger difference if you're trying to be harder, better, faster, stronger.

Above 1080p becomes moot in the same fast action genres because you're not gonna have the time to stare at every ass-hair of every blade of grass trying to run, dodge, drive a car at 150+mph.

I saw a huge poster ad for Metroid Prime 4 saying it'll be 4K/120, but as long as it's a smooth 2K/60 I'm good to go.

 

[krakenx]

First off, you need a display that can do 120hz and 4k well. I'd recommend an OLED, like an LG TV. That TV looks stunning with any content, but really shines with 4k 120hz. Next, you will need a source that can output that resolution and fps. Basically a PS5 Pro or a high end gfx card. All of this is going to get pricey. A 3080 can pull off ~45-60 fps at 4k and a 5070ti can pull off ~80fps on newer games without using DLSS and framegen.

One you have that setup, playing a slightly older game and toggling between framerates and resolutions is a simple way to tell. Everyone's perception is different. My GF gets sick watching me play above 30fps, but I absolutely love the difference between 60 and 120fps and find it very noticeable. I also notice the difference between 1080p, 1440p, and 4k, and I dislike DLSS resolution scaling. It's sort of an uncanny valley for me because some parts of a scene look worse than others and with high motion things blur and unblur. I'd rather just play at a constant lower resolution and framerate.

Framegen is another story though. There is an awesome program called "Lossless scaling" that can insert extra frames into any Windows application. So I can take a 30fps locked PS1 or N64 game and play it at 120fps in Retroarch. A lot of those older games felt cheap and laggy back in the day due to their low framerate, and now they feel straight up modern. Playing 50hz PAL region games at 100fps is great too as it removes the stutter. Finally, split screen games that drop each player to 30fps (or even 15fps) can now be played at full fps for both players, which is huge for CGTP Deluxe. As you can easily tell with your current setup the difference from 30->60fps is huge and with a 120hz+ display and a powerful enough gfx card you can ensure you are never stuck at 30fps again.

So is it worth it? I'd say yes, but again it's going to be pricey to get the full experience. It's exponentially more difficult to push 120fps at 4k than 60fps at 1080p and tech still isn't there without tricks.

 

[MPRTwice]

I have been on this Earth for nearly forty years, and the only one in my family who has zero sight problems and better than 20/10 vision. Why? I rest my eyes and I train a lot. When I work on programs on PC, I use 5760x3240 resolution and custom driver graphics settings. The framerate is very low, but it also means my eyes can relax as I work on AutoCAD for hours. The same with games; my eyes can relax.