An experience that defies words but is clear and tangible.
An experience that defies words but is clear and tangible.
Many people claim 60FPS is exactly 60FPS, yet it often seems smoother when running on a stronger CPU. I've tested the same RTX 3060 with both a 10400F and a 12400F system, both using 32GB DDR4 at 3200MHz. Some say I'm overreacting, but the same games run better at the same FPS on the higher-end model. I've been playing PC since 2019, so I'm puzzled by this difference and struggle to explain it to others.
Confirm if the settings match. The Nvidia Performance Overlay (Alt+R) indicates the current FPS and shows "99% FPS" as well. Your system with the 12400F should offer a smoother experience, even at 60 Hz, because frame rate and refresh rate are separate. Monitor refresh rate and frame rate differ, and maintaining 60 FPS can still impact perceived smoothness.
You might notice smaller variations at 1% and 0.1% levels that aren't visible in the frame rate display. The distinctions exist, but the refresh rate overlay isn't updating quickly enough to capture them. I saw this issue on my earlier setup when playing a game from an external hard drive compared to an SSD. Since the hard drive needed more time to load the files, the CPU waited just long enough for the stuttering to appear, yet the frame rate counter didn't update because it refreshed once per second, making the stutters seem more frequent than the refresh interval.
The 12400F can handle a greater maximum framerate. I'm curious about why it maintains similar FPS when matched to your display's refresh rate. It's not a big gap, but consistent frame timing at the same FPS feels more reliable with stronger single-core performance in my experience.
Are you setting the frame rate to exactly 60 FPS or employing Vsync? According to what I and GodlyGamer mentioned, your 1% lows (also known as 99%) also contribute to the smoothness, since the 60 FPS rate is merely the average.
The current system relies solely on the Rivatuner Statistics Server, not the original Rivatuner product.