Tag: fps

  • A Comprehensive Guide to Monitor Refresh Rate

    The world of competitive gaming and eSports is a fast-paced environment where every millisecond counts.

    One of the key components that can make a significant difference in your gaming experience is the monitor refresh rate.

    This guide will delve into the concept of monitor refresh rate, its importance in gaming, and how to choose the right monitor for your gaming needs.

    What is Refresh Rate?

    Refresh rate is how often your computer updates the image on the screen. This means that if you have a higher number, your computer will update the image more times per second, which will make it look smoother.

    How is Refresh Rate measured?

    Refresh rate is measured in Hertz (Hz). Most screens today have a refresh rate of 60 Hz, but some gaming monitors can go up to 240 Hz or even higher.

    Why is a high number important?

    Monitor refresh rate is important for users because it impacts how smooth images appear on the screen.

    A higher rate means that images are refreshed more frequently, and therefore appear smoother.

    A lower rate can cause images to appear choppy or blurry, which can be distracting or even nauseating for some users.

    What factors affect monitor refresh rate?

    It is the number of times per second that the image on the screen is refreshed. This is important because it determines how smooth, or “fluid” motion appears on the screen.

    A higher number means that motion appears smoother, while a lower rate can make it appear choppy.

    The three main factors that affect refresh rate are resolution, frame rate, and pixel response time.

    Resolution is the number of pixels that make up the image on the screen. A higher resolution means there are more pixels, and therefore more information to be refreshed. This results in a lower refresh because each pixel needs to be updated more often.

    Frame rate is the number of times per second that a new image is displayed on the screen. A higher frame rate means that each image is displayed for less time, which results in a higher refresh.

    Choosing the Right Monitor: Factors to Consider

    When choosing a monitor, the refresh rate is an important factor to consider, especially for competitive gamers.

    However, it’s not the only factor. Here are some other components to keep in mind:

    Resolution

    This refers to the number of pixels displayed on the screen. A higher resolution provides a sharper image.

    Graphics Card Compatibility

    Your graphics card needs to be powerful enough to send data to the screen quickly, providing a smooth gameplay experience.

    Screen Size:

    Larger screens can provide a more immersive gaming experience, but they also require more powerful hardware to maintain high frame rates.

    Panel Type:

    Different panel types offer different advantages. For example, IPS panels offer better color accuracy and viewing angles, while TN panels have faster response times.

    Price

    High refresh monitors can be more expensive. It’s important to balance your budget with your gaming needs.

    How to Check and Change Your Monitor’s Refresh Rate

    Checking or changing your monitor’s refresh settings is simple through the Windows Settings menu. Here are the steps:

    1. Right-click on your desktop and select “Display settings”.
    2. Scroll down and click on “Advanced display settings”.
    3. Under “Choose a display”, select the monitor you want to check.
    4. Under “Refresh rate”, you’ll see the current setting. If you want to change it, select a different option from the dropdown menu.

    Remember, to take full advantage of a high refresh numbers, you’ll need a game that can run at high frame rates, and a graphics card powerful enough to handle it.

    Conclusion

    In the world of competitive gaming, having a monitor with a high refresh rate can be a game-changer.

    While it’s not the only factor to consider when choosing a monitor, it’s certainly an important one.

    Whether you’re an aspiring eSports professional or a passionate gaming enthusiast, understanding monitor refresh rates can help you make an informed decision and enhance your gaming experience.

  • The Ultimate Guide to The Best Gaming CPU: Boost Your Experience

    Whether you’re a professional gamer or simply love playing games, having a high-performance gaming CPU is essential for a smooth gaming experience. We have compiled a list of the top gaming CPUs that are designed to deliver exceptional speed, efficiency, and performance. These powerful processors will elevate your gaming experience to new heights, allowing you to dominate the virtual realm with ease.

    What does the CPU do?

    The CPU job is to feed frames to the graphics card that creates the visual we see on the screen.

    How many cores are necessary?

    Games are still mostly relying on frequency and rarely utilize more than 4-6 CPU cores.

    Why is the CPU important?

    Feeding high refresh-rate monitors with more than 240 fps requires a high frequency that Intel can provide.

    Intel or AMD?

    This is the most controversial topic right now since AMD made such a massive impact during 2020.

    The AMD Ryzen CPUs are undoubtedly more advanced and have the best multi-threaded performance, along with power efficiency.

    To create their CPUs with a large core count, they have bridged chips together using various methods which will add latency.

    Intel is the most established manufacturer and has the best support from Microsoft and Windows.

    Is high Clock Frequency important?

    A too slow CPU will result in choppy gameplay or stutter. This is called frame pacing or frame timing.
    The more FPS you strive for (e.g. 240Hz), higher demands will be placed on the CPUn.
    For gaming, therefore, a high cook rate (Ghz) is by far the most important aspect.

    What’s the best CPU for gaming?

    – K-model CPUs have higher clock speeds and are recommended for high FPS gameplay.
    – Intel currently has the highest frequency
    – Intel has the best support from Microsoft and Windows.

    i5,i7,i9

    – i9 is best (You can always deactivate Hyperthreading)
    – i7 is usually a damaged CPU with inactivated cores/HT which may introduce latency.

    CPU demanding games

    Open world, MMO, Real-time Strategy and Battle Royale games with large open areas, multiple players require a lot of computer power.
    Strategy games and MMO’s require a lot of calculations for devices and others play where they are on the map ex. Higher CPU requirements.
    The same goes for Battle Royal as Fortnite, PUBG.

    What is Hyper-Threading?

    CPU hyper-threading is a technology that allows a single CPU, or central processing unit, to effectively operate as two separate CPUs.

    This allows the CPU to perform more tasks simultaneously and can improve overall system performance.

    Hyper-threading is a form of simultaneous multithreading technology, which means that it allows multiple threads of execution to run simultaneously on a single physical CPU core.

    This can help to improve the efficiency of the CPU and make better use of its resources, allowing it to handle more tasks at once.

    Is Hyper-Threading important?

    – Disable Hyper-Threading for 6-core CPUs as it may add latency.
    – Hyper-Threading is also a security hazard and is constantly patched which will reduce performance over time.
    – Introduces security issues.
    – Adds heat to the CPU which may limit the Frequency.
    – Most likely to add a premium to the purchase.

    Should you overclock the CPU?

    Core-Boost automatically increases GHz under strenuous loads, which means that you hardly need to overclock.

    Conclusion

    In addition to clock speeds and core count, other factors to consider when choosing a gaming CPU include cache size, architecture, and compatibility with the graphics card. It’s also important to consider future-proofing, as newer games may require more powerful CPUs. Ultimately, it’s a balance between budget and performance requirements that will determine the best gaming CPU for an individual.

  • What is Frame Timing & How to Fix Micro Stutter

    Frame timing is an important part of the graphics pipeline and can impact your overall gaming experience. Understanding frame timing and how to fix micro stutter can help improve your gaming performance.

    Frame timing is the process by which video frames are delivered to your graphics card. Frames are delivered in a fixed order, so it’s important that the graphics card receives them at the right time. If there’s anything wrong with the way frames are delivered, you’ll see micro stutter.

    This phenomenon has been haunting gaming for many years and it was only recently in 2018 when people started to investigate why stutter occurs and how to fix it.

    How is Frame-timing measured

    1. Measured in MS
    2. The amount of time between each frame drawn by the computer.
    3. 60 FPS equals 16.67ms delay between each frame on screen.

    Example

    Rapid differences

    If you run a game with unlocked FPS, you will notice that your performance will skyrocket in dark areas with little environmental details.

    Once your turn around to face the world again your FPS will drastically go down, the larger the difference in FPS the bigger drop.

    This is especially noticeable in large open-world games such as Battle Royal titles such as Apex Legends and Fortnite.

    When there is a fast reduction in FPS you will notice that your PC has trouble pacing the frame output correctly and your will experience stutter.

    The console experiences

    If you have played on console in recent years, you have noticed that while the overall performance is lower than PC the experience is usually smooth.

    What is frame timing?

    Micro stutter is what happens when the frame-timing is bad.
    It usually occurs when the FPS has a huge variance within a short amount of time.

    Why is Frame timing important?

    Stutter in games can be devastating for your performance.
    No matter how fast/expensive your computer is stutter can still occur if the system is badly optimized.
    Bad pacing makes it impossible to predict future actions and interferes with your gameplay.

    What can cause bad Frame-timing?

    Happens when the Frame-timing is bad

    If you have an underpowered PSU
    Can happen because of bad optimization in games.
    Up to the developer to fix.

    Overheating components and throttled GPU and CPU.
    Slow Drive can cause stutter when new textures are loaded in the game.
    Unstable overclock will make the system unstable and can cause bad Frame times

    Hyper-Threading (Intel) and SMT (AMD) can cause stutter.
    Hyper-V and virtualization technologies can cause stutter
    Conflicting drivers and leftovers can interfere and cause stutter
    Malware and Bloatware running in the background
    Service and Tasks running in the background.

    Graphics

    SLI/Crossfire with multiple GPUs can cause stutter because of bad sync between the devices.

    Windows

    Windows Update
    Downloads and installation during the game is bad

    Hardware bottlenecks

    When the CPU usage is 100% causes the game to stutter.
    This phenomenon is often referred to as a bottleneck
    Happens when the CPU can’t provide enough frames to the Graphics card to render.
    Often a problem for 240Hz and higher specification monitors.

    Memory compression

    Lack of enough RAM causes Windows to dump data to the page file (disk).

    Power Management

    Energy-saving can cause CPU and GPU to lower performance during low-intensity moments which will make the game stutter.

    V-Sync

    If your computer is unable to maintain FPS equal to your monitors Refresh-rate the FPS will drop to effectively 50% of the Refresh-rate causing the massive stutter.

    How to fix bad Frame-timing

    To minimize the impact of bad Frame-pacing

    Total Time: 1 hour

    Limit FPS

    Lower FPS limit until a solid Framerate is achievable.
    Higher Framerate such as 240Hz is very demanding on the CPU
    Use tools such as RTSS and Nvidia Control Panel to limit Framerate.

    Power management

    Disable power saving features that lower the performance to save on power.
    Set CPU and GPU to full speed during gaming to avoid downclocks during low-intensity moments.

    Use Ultimate Performance Plan to control CPU
    Use Afterburner to control the GPU.
    The best way to fix this is by optimizing you BIOS.

    V-sync

    Enable V-Sync to synchronize visible frames rendered on screen at the cost of Input-lag
    (Always consider the impact of Input-lag when enabling such functionality, there is a trade-off.)

    Drivers

    Make sure to clean out and update all Drivers on the system to avoid slow access to essential functions
    Carefully remove old devices and drivers.
    Optimize and streamline BIOS
    Disable unnecessary devices

    Background applications

    Disable additional software from running during gameplay which may request CPU cycles to process. Quit demanding such as Spotify, Google Chrome, etc.
    Avoid applications that manipulate and injects overlays on top of the viewport
    Limit amount of background services and updates

    Memory management

    Disable memory compression in Windows.

    Resolution Timer

    Conclusion

    In conclusion, frame timing is a crucial factor to consider for smooth gaming without micro stutter. There are ways to address this issue, and each one comes with its own set of pros and cons.

    By understanding what frame timing is and how it affects your gaming experience, you can make the best decision on how to achieve a smoother experience.

    Be sure to apply the fixes we’ve outlined in this article to get the best performance possible from your system!