A 60Hz screen has a maximum frame rate of 60 frames per second – is this accurate?
A 60Hz screen has a maximum frame rate of 60 frames per second – is this accurate?
As a young child, I enjoyed games at a rate of 15 frames per second. I recall titles like Thief and Condemned, running on older AMD graphics cards approximately fifteen years ago. Considering that, perhaps it’s worth trying... 40 frames per second is acceptable—not ideal, but functional.
It’s not straightforward either. A 72 Hertz refresh rate doesn't simply signify the screen presents 72 images per second; it indicates these images are uniformly spaced in time. Consequently, there’s a consistent interval of 1000/72 = 13.9 milliseconds between each image.
One hundred frames per second simply denotes that the graphics card is producing an average of 100 images each second. However, it provides no information regarding the distribution of these images over time. For instance, if 99 frames were rendered in 13 milliseconds and the final frame took the remaining 987 milliseconds, the monitor would only display two distinct images per second despite a GPU outputting 100 fps and the monitor having a 72 Hz refresh rate.
Therefore, achieving an average frames per second exceeding the monitor's refresh rate can be valuable if it ensures a minimum fps remains at or above that rate. And the assertion in the thread’s title – “60 Hz display = limit to 60 fps” – is inaccurate. This would lead to the monitor omitting a frame each time the GPU’s instantaneous fps falls below 60 fps.
Essentially, when a monitor is 72 Hz and you desire it to display 72 images per second, the appropriate setting (if available in your game) is to set a minimum fps at 72 fps. This means that if the game determines a frame will take longer than 13.9 milliseconds to render, it will automatically reduce some image quality settings to ensure the frame completes within that timeframe. This guarantees a new frame is drawn before each monitor refresh, maintaining an fps of at least 72 fps consistently.
This is why technologies like G-Sync and FreeSync are so significant. Rather than the GPU striving to synchronize with the monitor’s refresh rate, the monitor adjusts its refresh rate to align with the GPU's output.
Yes, this is correct. For example, if you're rendering 120 fps on a 60 Hz monitor and your GPU finishes a frame while the monitor is halfway done refreshing, the bottom half of the monitor will come from the new frame. You'll have screen tearing, but you'll have a more up-to-date image on at least part of the screen compared to if you were only running at 60 fps.
Tell me, Solandri, what’s going on—I'm not following you.
The game would run more smoothly and quickly if we added new cards, especially on a 60 Hz monitor, right?