frames per second

[mikey388]

Ive noticed that frames per second is mentioned alot.I use an nvidia fx5200 128MB card which although not the fast by todays standards it doesnt stutter even when there is a lot of action going on and Im more than happy with the graphic quality.

What Im confused about is I get the impression that a card giving 80fps will get you more kills etc as opposed to one at 40fps.Have I got the wrong end of the stick or is this the case?

 

[diluted]

40 FPS is a very playable framerate - someone with 80 FPS doesn't really have an advantage over someone with 40. Someone with 15 FPS though, for example, would definately be at a disadvantage, because the gameplay is very jerky. That's not to say that one could not learn to play with such a low framerate, I used to play Quake2 CTF on my old computer, and in 20-player servers I'd get about 10-20 FPS average, yet still somehow managed to rack up some kills.

 

[mikey388]

I cant get my head round the fact of how a higher fps rate would improve how you score.As I doubt the human eye could diferentiate between say 20 and 40 fps

 

[FictiousWill]

Higher framerates produce smoother motion, something you don't notice with film because the individual frames are pre-motionblurred. A game is more of a stop-motion animation, making framerates much more important. You will get varying testimony from everybody, but I can't really aim for crap at anything lower than 50 fps, and I can see up to 70 or so. My monitor runs at 85hz. That's about average, some people claim they can detect higher or lower fps and it impacts them differently.

 

[Gothax?]

Although some would say that having higher FPS does not help generating kills, I disagree. Whenever I played 1.6 with my VERY out-dated computer, I hardely got 30-50 fps ( 50 FPS on a good day ). Obviously, playing with this framerate isn't horrible, obtaining kills on a certain FPS depends on the player's interpretation on what is happening on the screen. I see many players today that do not have problems playing with a low framerate, but for myself high FPS around 60-80 REALLY do help out. However, this doesn't guarantee more kills, because playing around 50-60 FPS is just about the same as 60-80. Anything 80+ FPS is just a waste of hardware use. So I hope that helped.

 

[nick103]

In the video stress test it said I averaged about 60 FPS. And I'm still using a Ge Force 4 Ti 4200 w/128mb ram. It's out of date. But HL2 and CSsource aren't heavy on system requirements.

 

[mikey388]

Ive just run the video stress test and I got 57fps

Then I joined a couple of servers and played office and dust and ran the net graph and it showed between 40-60 but averaged around 48.I tried lowering the video options to their lowest but all it did was make the game look bad the fps stayed roughly the same.

What I really want to know if is I would gain any benefit from a new graphics card in terms of my score as I am quite happy with how the game plays and looks so I dont want to waste money.I am a relative noob only been playing a few months but my scores have gone from like 1 kill to 5 deaths,to 1 for 1 so in all probability it is just the skill of the other players and with time mine should hopefully improve more.

I should add that as well as the fx5200 card,I have an xp3200 running at 400mhz with 750MB ram.

 

[beam]

I have nearly the same setup as you mikey but I only have 512mb RAM and I run a GeForce4 ti 4600 (to my knowledge the FX series is better). I made plenty of tweaks to my CS and they definatly helped I can run at a solid 60 FPS regardless of how much is going on. The reason I'm capped at 60 is because I have v-sync on and my monitor is only 60Hz. The only time my FPS drops is when I'm playing cs_office, it's not a dramatic drop in FPS but I can definatly feel it and it seems a lot of people I talk to have the same problem with that map.

If you haven't already you should find yourself a nice CSS tweak guide and mess with the settings a bit, just google for a counter-strike source tweak guide and you will find plenty.

Then again I'm one of those guys that likes to sacrifice quality for preformance :imu:

 

[mikey388]

Thanks for that I will give it a go,I will let you know if it improves things :cheers:

 

[mikey388]

Well Ive done a bit of tweaking in xps settings and the bios.Ive also downloaded the latest nvidia drivers but its actually made things worse now during the stress test I average 52fps.Im beginning to think that maybe its actually just what the card is capable of.

Also reading beams earlier reply my monitor also runs at 60 hz so does more than 60fps mess thins up on a 60hz monitor

 

[CommunistPenguin]

I get around 52-55 fps which I consider fine. I just need a better internet connecion.

 

[beam]

Also reading beams earlier reply my monitor also runs at 60 hz so does more than 60fps mess thins up on a 60hz monitor

Not really, you may notice "tearing" in the screen because your monitor is missing frames but only if you leave v-sync off. I would suggest turning v-sync on because it will cap your frames at 60 and will sync the frames being produced by your GPU to your monitor.....it's smoother

 

[Ultimape]

The human eye can see well over 30fps. The Tv blurs.

 

[mikey388]

I cant find anything called v sync on my monitor or in control panel however in my graphics card properties the monitor is set to 60hz so is this the same thing?

 

[beam]

just go into your game options under video, click advanced then enable "sync every frame"

 

[mikey388]

Just wanted to say thanks for all your help I have tried everything suggested and I cant get my fps to go any higher so Ive come to the conclusion that its all that my card is capable of.

Ill have to talk nicely to my gf and get a new one.Any suugestions on which to go for would be appreciated.Im on a tight budget so one in the region of £80-100 would be what im most likely to go for