resolutions or framerates?

Anxiety_timmy

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I have had this going around for a while. What really is better? resolutions or framerates or, to put this in a better format, Would you rather play a game that runs at 8k 120fps but can dip to 2fps and not just for short times or, play a game that runs the same as the first option but can dip to 240p not just in short bursts.
For context this is a open world game.
 
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mightymuffy

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?? Let's go a bit less extreme ehh......:lol: OK the next gen consoles are pushing 120fps.... now this one's quite the question: 120fps(+) for esports titles using cutting edge kb/m setup, yeah sure, but for a J-RPG? No, certainly not - 120fps would come with a graphical impact, and the returns over 60fps are diminishing compared to 60v30. Personally I hope it flies a little under the radar for consoles, 120fps... give us 60 and pump those graphics up - PC kids can have 120+

EDIT As for my personal choice, well there's no better example game for me than Forza Horizon 4 on my Xbox One X. You've got the choice of 4K/30 and 1080p/60 ......and I can't decide!! I KNOW it's far smother, and ultimately the better gameplay experience in 1080/60, but fukk me does it look glorious in 4K....
 
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I always prefer to find the best middle ground. Get a sweet spot between framerates and resolution for the game/application. Low framerates feel like meh and low res looks like meh, no one likes playing a chugging game and no one likes having to squint through blurry, overblown pixels to see what's going on. Playing GoldenEye 007 on an original N64 comes to mind lol. Resolution scalers are a really cool performance option we see now, but I tend to simply leave them off and find a static res setting that seems good for all circumstances, while targeting a minimum desired amount of frames per second.
 

The Real Jdbye

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Honestly, high frame rate is more of a "oh, that's cool I guess" than something that actually enhances your experience, unless you're really into twitch shooters and other fast paced esports games. If I can't get a decent FPS at 4K, I'll happily drop down to 1440p, or even 1080p if I must, but the difference between 1440p and 4K is so marginal and I'm pretty sure it's 99% placebo anyway, that there really is no drawback to lowering the resolution.
To answer your question directly, it depends on how frequent the lag spikes are. Anything below like 25 FPS will have a pretty big impact on the gameplay experience, at that point you should probably think about lowering some settings. 2 FPS is just terrible, but so is 240p, if those were my 2 options I'd probably just not play that game until I got a more powerful PC TBH because those are both unplayable. But I could live with some 2 FPS lag spikes if they were infrequent (no more than a couple of times in each play session), I'm already dealing with lag spikes which last like 5 seconds and the entire screen freezes up for the duration of them, and this issue persists across all my PCs and happened on Windows 7 as well as Windows 10 and I have no idea why. They are annoying but since they only happen maybe once an hour, I can live with them.
 
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Tom Bombadildo

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Depends on the genre, the person, and the hardware you're running really. It's not something where you can say one is better than the other when certain things won't benefit from the difference, or the hardware you're using can't consistently push XYZ, or just the person themselves don't really see a difference between X resolution or Y framerate. ie I wouldn't bother with higher refresh rates for certain genres like strategy/turn based games, but for fast-paced things like shooters, racing games, action RPGs and such IMO it's a must.


But in general, I personally opt for higher framerates every single time over higher resolution since I can see and feel the difference between something running at 60fps and something running at 100+, whereas resolution-wise I see almost 0 difference between something like 1440p and 4k.
 
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krakenx

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It's very subjective. For me, I prefer resolution as long as it can maintain at least 30 fps. I can immediately tell the difference between 4k HDR ultra settings and 1080p medium settings, but I can't tell the difference between 60fps and 144 without a frame counter. Furthermore, 60fps actually makes me motion sick in some games and I have to turn it down to 30 fps even though my hardware easily supports more.

Meanwhile, some of my friends not only notice the difference in fps, but refuse to play anything at 30 and will gladly play in 720p if that's what it takes for stable 144 fps. So, I guess do what feels best for you. It's nice that PC games usually give you a lot of customization options, and hopefully consoles will too.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I'm already dealing with lag spikes which last like 5 seconds and the entire screen freezes up for the duration of them, and this issue persists across all my PCs and happened on Windows 7 as well as Windows 10 and I have no idea why. They are annoying but since they only happen maybe once an hour, I can live with them.

Since this is happening across multiple PCs and operating systems, it is almost certainly some price of software that is installed on all of them. I experienced similar freezes and it was malwarebytes, so try temporarily disabling your virus scanner and see if it persists. Be very careful not to install anything new from untrusted sources and make sure your browser is up to date though while the virus scanner is disabled.
 
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I think I will pick framerate over resolution/graphic quality, if that's the question.
If it requires medium to keep a consistent 60 fps, I will take this option.
I surely like higher quality, but if it makes the framerate drop, or slowdown, then it could break the immersion a bit.
Even locked at a stable 30fps it's just not the same.

So yeah, I prefer sacrificing resolution and quality for a much smoother experience.
It will most likely still look good, anyway.
 

The Real Jdbye

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It's very subjective. For me, I prefer resolution as long as it can maintain at least 30 fps. I can immediately tell the difference between 4k HDR ultra settings and 1080p medium settings, but I can't tell the difference between 60fps and 144 without a frame counter. Furthermore, 60fps actually makes me motion sick in some games and I have to turn it down to 30 fps even though my hardware easily supports more.

Meanwhile, some of my friends not only notice the difference in fps, but refuse to play anything at 30 and will gladly play in 720p if that's what it takes for stable 144 fps. So, I guess do what feels best for you. It's nice that PC games usually give you a lot of customization options, and hopefully consoles will too.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Since this is happening across multiple PCs and operating systems, it is almost certainly some price of software that is installed on all of them. I experienced similar freezes and it was malwarebytes, so try temporarily disabling your virus scanner and see if it persists. Be very careful not to install anything new from untrusted sources and make sure your browser is up to date though while the virus scanner is disabled.
I think it's persisted across different AVs, but may be worth trying another AV to see if it goes away or at least is improved. I have malwarebytes but only the free version, so no background scanning. I really don't want to ever disable my AV.
 
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i've found 1080p 144hz is the sweetspot for me, at arround 1 foot away from my screen (distance i use for gaming, im closer for productivity), i cant tell individual pixels apart, and it looks smooth, every game i threw at it, with some level of tweaking hits this, even with my specs, ussually at med-high too, so it also looks great
 
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The Real Jdbye

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Since this is happening across multiple PCs and operating systems, it is almost certainly some price of software that is installed on all of them. I experienced similar freezes and it was malwarebytes, so try temporarily disabling your virus scanner and see if it persists. Be very careful not to install anything new from untrusted sources and make sure your browser is up to date though while the virus scanner is disabled.
Actually, the thing is... I have almost nothing installed on my desktop other than the bare essentials, since it's only used for gaming. I use my Shield TV for watching TV/movies and my laptop for chatting and browsing the web. So I don't really know what it could be. Perhaps my AV, but I don't know if switching to another AV would be any better, and I don't want to go without an AV, plus, if it was that simple, it should be happening to just about everyone, yet no one I talk to seems to have the same problem. Just about everyone has an AV after all, and this is not a weak PC (RTX 2080 Super and Ryzen 7 3700X)

And it's so intermittent, it might happen once, and then not happen again for the next 6 hours, or it might happen several times in the same time span, but usually it's very infrequent. You would think the AV would be doing background scanning more often than that, so it's odd.

Also, I don't know what are some good alternatives for AV. I'm using Panda because of the high detection rate and low false positives, but I'm sure it's not the lightest one around. Do you have any suggestions you think might be lighter and still have a high detection rate/low false positives? Don't suggest MSE/Defender :P
 

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I have had this going around for a while. What really is better? resolutions or framerates or, to put this in a better format, Would you rather play a game that runs at 8k 120fps but can dip to 2fps and not just for short times or, play a game that runs the same as the first option but can dip to 240p not just in short bursts.
Framerate trumps resolution. I wouldn't say 100%, but for anything that isn't turn based I think it's safe to assume fps is the better option.

The irony is that these extremes are less annoying than a more average dip. With things turning into slideshows or Gameboy quality screens (Erm... Do games actually do this? :unsure:) you at least immediately see its doing something it's not supposed to.
But back when playing UT2004, I upgraded my rig after about a year. And... I didn't knew how bad the game was until I played it afterwards. Sure, 30 fps 'is doable'. But the difference with the 40-50 I had afterwards was huge (also : shorter loading times were not just 'less annoying', but actually kept you engaged longer).
 
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What if the game is all 2D with pixel sprites? Then it can be low resolution, still look good, and run at high frame rate. :P

I'm guessing this topic is more focused on 3D games since those seem to have the honor of being ugly at lower resolution and chugging fps without hardware specs to support it properly. Honestly I think FPS is important, though not to everyone and not for every situation (type of game) but I learned that it's possible to become ill of motion sickness in some situations.

To me, I just want the game to look smooth. I still think that textures on the polygons of games should remain a priority. Though someone will likely inform me that resolution helps make those textures look better. (I do agree) Still if the textures are already good, then the "Lazy HD Remaster" of "just increase the resolution and screen view" would actually look good. :creep:

(Note, I do not condone lazy ports to any extent) :ninja:
 

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kinda bump
the frames aways
because i never owned a 4k display until now so i see 720p and 4k literally the same
i like it when the game is 60fps and my eyes enjoy if its higher like 144frames
as long as motion blur dosent exist on the monitor or the game
 
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I prefer 60fps at lower resolutions to 30fps at higher resolutions most of the time. If you're playing a turn based game then I'll pick resolution over framerate.
 

kazya88

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Go for higher fps instead of resolution for competitive games, especially for fps. despite this the graphic difference is noticeable if you play under the native monitor resolution, es. playing 1080 on 2160 4k monitor/tv res, even if there is to say that a competitive player usually goes with minimum graphic and effects settings in order to get the maximum framerate stability
 

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i would def say go for higher fps, i can run max settings @ 1080p and easily hit 175+fps, with dips around 50-60fps on avg (i use a slightly higher native res and downscale), its really about how good you want it to look vs is it playable? i always turn frame limiter off anyway
 
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