Can someone help me understand FPS? «12...Next Go

mariah6194

Okay so I'm trying to understand FPS and what's considered high and what it means and all that. And if I need to turn on v-sync.

I turned on the "fps on" cheat and it displayed a number in the lower left corner that rapidly changed. I don't know what any of this means and how to tell if I need v-sync and what the effects of v-sync are (I know it helps your graphics card). I want to know how it can effect my game. I've tried googling this stuff and I figured I'd just make a thread of my own.

Thanks (thank goodness for the tech section )

phoebebebe13

vsync is there to prevent screen tearing and overworking your video card. Vsync will sync your video card with your monitor's refresh rate. If your monitor is 60 hz your fps should lock at 60 or if you have 120 hz will lock at 120 fps. It's ok if your fps is under the refresh rate but not ok if it's running over.

If your zooming in and out on the game your fps may drop. This is do to the instability of the game. It also depends on what video card you have and what your monitor resolution is. You need a GTX Nvidia card with ddr5 vram to game in 1080p. If you have a GT card they are not made for higher resolutions so it would be a good idea to lower your in game resolution or lower your game settings. Which ever works best.

mariah6194

phoebebebe13 wrote: »

vsync is there to prevent screen tearing and overworking your video card. Vsync will sync your video card with your monitor's refresh rate. If your monitor is 60 hz your fps should lock at 60 or if you have 120 hz will lock at 120 fps. It's ok if your fps is under the refresh rate but not ok if it's running over.

If your zooming in and out on the game your fps may drop. This is do to the instability of the game. It also depends on what video card you have and what your monitor resolution is. You need a GTX Nvidia card with ddr5 vram to game in 1080p. If you have a GT card they are not made for higher resolutions so it would be a good idea to lower your in game resolution or lower your game settings. Which ever works best.

Okay, I'm about to go out to eat, but once I get home I'm going to post my stats so maybe you can help guide me more (if you don't mind of course)? I have a NVIDIA card and a great custom PC that @chesterbigbird helped me configure. The number that displays changes like extremely fast without me even moving the camera.

Once I get back I'll be able to tell you more

mariah6194

@phoebebebe13 how do I find out my monitor's refresh rate?

rosemow

Hello
This link may help you
http://www.windowscentral.com/what-does-refresh-rate-mean-your-pc-monitor

mariah6194

rosemow wrote: »

Hello
This link may help you
http://www.windowscentral.com/what-does-refresh-rate-mean-your-pc-monitor

Thanks, Rose!!

I seem to have figured it out, my monitor's refresh rate is at 60 hz. GeForce GTX 960 is my graphics card. When I turn on the "fps on" cheat, the rapidly changing number floats between 60-70 (although it changes to many different values, I see it around here the most). I'm guessing I should turn on v-sync, what do you think? And will doing so slow down my game?

Edit: oh and this is in windowed mode. If that makes a difference.

rosemow

Hello
It would be best to turn on v-sync. It will help with your game.

mariah6194

rosemow wrote: »

Hello
It would be best to turn on v-sync. It will help with your game.

Okay, well here's my other question.

When I got my PC, chesterbigbird told me how to enable v-sync within my Nvidia control panel. I was told to set it either to "on" or "adaptive" and I have it on adaptive. She also told me to enable triple buffering, and set power management to "prefer maximum performance." I thought I changed these things when I first got the computer... either way, I just went back and did that. I went in-game and did the fps cheat again, got the same numbers. Do I need to be enabling it within the Sims 4 settings as well?? And any opinions on the other settings I mentioned?

SimplyJen

What is the highest number your FPS reaches? With v-sync it should be capping at whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Did you find out your monitors refresh rate with the link rose gave?

mariah6194

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

What is the highest number your FPS reaches? With v-sync it should be capping at whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Did you mind out your monitors refresh rate with the link rose gave?

Yes, I listed my stats a few posts up ^ with v-sync on thru the nvidia control panel (as well as the other options I talked about in the post above yours) the number is still floating between 60-70

SimplyJen

Sorry, I missed that. But it's not going over 70? What happens when you turn the in-game v-sync on for Sims 4? (It will do the same thing and shouldn't conflict with the control panel.)

chesterbigbird

mariah6194 wrote: »

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

What is the highest number your FPS reaches? With v-sync it should be capping at whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Did you mind out your monitors refresh rate with the link rose gave?

Yes, I listed my stats a few posts up ^ with v-sync on thru the nvidia control panel (as well as the other options I talked about in the post above yours) the number is still floating between 60-70

It's never going to be a stable 60 so fluctuating is fine. 60-70 is fine but much above 70 means your vsync is not working, you can enable it in game also if you like. It will often drop below 60 and this is fine too. When i mention high fps i mean around and above 100 mark. In my case i had my fps (in a different game) reach 2,000 and it got that high and crashed.. this was planet coaster and was a game problem fixed.
One way you can tell your fps is through the roof is you will hear your fans racing and possibly a high pitched noise coming from your pc.
Also if you update your cards driver then you will need to change the settings in the control panel again as it gets reset. Also sometimes your in game settings will reset after a game update.

mariah6194

chesterbigbird wrote: »

mariah6194 wrote: »

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

What is the highest number your FPS reaches? With v-sync it should be capping at whatever your monitors refresh rate is. Did you mind out your monitors refresh rate with the link rose gave?

Yes, I listed my stats a few posts up ^ with v-sync on thru the nvidia control panel (as well as the other options I talked about in the post above yours) the number is still floating between 60-70

It's never going to be a stable 60 so fluctuating is fine. 60-70 is fine but much above 70 means your vsync is not working, you can enable it in game also if you like. It will often drop below 60 and this is fine too. When i mention high fps i mean around and above 100 mark. In my case i had my fps (in a different game) reach 2,000 and it got that high and crashed.. this was planet coaster and was a game problem fixed.
One way you can tell your fps is through the roof is you will hear your fans racing and possibly a high pitched noise coming from your pc.
Also if you update your cards driver then you will need to change the settings in the control panel again as it gets reset. Also sometimes your in game settings will reset after a game update.

Ah, okay! Thanks for that. Yeah, it will sometimes spike higher, but not by much. Ahh okay that must be why I had to re-do my settings, I could've sworn I followed your exact instructions once I got the PC. So, having v-sync on in the control panel AND in the in-game settings is good or doesn't really matter? And my numbers are about the same-ish with v-sync on and off, although I notice the game appearing smoother when I rotate the camera with it on.

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

Sorry, I missed that. But it's not going over 70? What happens when you turn the in-game v-sync on for Sims 4? (It will do the same thing and shouldn't conflict with the control panel.)

I just finished watching the bowling night livestream, i'll jump in-game and try it out.

mudlip

fps fluctuation is normal don't be worried that something is wrong. Regarding vsync, its job is to try and cap the fps at the monitor's refresh frequency which can help with mitigating screen tearing when displaying graphics, especially when there is a lot of fast movement on the screen. In my opinion you should only enable vsync in the event you are seeing screen tearing, graphic anomalies, or large and frequent fluctuations of fps. Fluctuating between 60-70 fps is nothing to be concerned about.

mariah6194

Okay so with v-sync on thru the game options, the fps doesn't ever go above 60. With the nvidia control panel v-sync set to "adaptive" the number fluctuates between 60-70, sometimes spiking higher every so often but not by too much. I'm going to try setting it to "on" and see what I get.

Edit: Okay, turning it on in the control panel does the same thing as adaptive pretty much. Only the in-game v-sync option is what keeps the fps from going above 60.

phoebebebe13

@mariah6194 Sorry I did not reply sooner. I'm in the process of moving. Glad chester and others got you covered

mudlip

It will likely look much the same as adaptive. Unless you are having performance issues (lag spikes or hangs) or seeing graphic anomalies you might want to leave it off altogether. I have a similar card (gtx 970) with vsync off and experience no issues running the game at the highest graphics settings.

mariah6194

phoebebebe13 wrote: »

@mariah6194 Sorry I did not reply sooner. I'm in the process of moving. Glad chester and others got you covered

It's all good!

mudlip wrote: »

It will likely look much the same as adaptive. Unless you are having performance issues (lag spikes or hangs) or seeing graphic anomalies you might want to leave it off altogether. I have a similar card (gtx 970) with vsync off and experience no issues running the game at the highest graphics settings.

Well, I definitely don't wanna do any unneccessary damage to my video card, so I figured to keep it on just to play it safe?

Now, can someone answer me this... why in CAS is the number displaying in the 180s?!? And that's with v-sync on in the nvidia control panel.

Edit: Okay, I feel like a crazy person with how much I update this thread and how many questions I'm asking... but I really don't know squat about this stuff and need all the help I can get lol. So @Simasaurus09 to answer your question, the highest number I'm seeing is somewhere in the 90's, althought it mainly fluctuates throughout the 60-70's. And @chesterbigbird if my v-sync isn't working, is that a bad thing? The in-game v-sync seems to be working rather than the nvidia one...

SimplyJen

@mariah6194 I don't know if it's been mentioned but make sure you are running the game in fullscreen mode because otherwise the control panel won't work.
The alternative is Nvidia Inspector... But if the in-game v-sync works for you in Sims 4, it's fine to use it instead of control panel/any other tool. Games that do not include v-sync like Sims 3 will need another way to turn on v-sync like control panel or inspector.
Info for Nvidia Inspector:

Download Nvidia Inspector

(These instructions are for the Sims 3 but the same applies to any other game.)
Look for the small tool icon or green symbol next to Driver Version. Click to launch Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Select Profiles at the top and scroll through the long list to find Sims 3.

Under Sync and Refresh, select Vertical Sync > Force On

Apply Changes top right corner.

*With Nvidia Inspector you do not need to be in fullscreen mode.

I don't know how well Sims 4 copes without v-sync with high end cards and it's possible others could experience a different result. Sims 3 is known to have sky high frames which leads to temperature spikes on higher end machines. You can use a tool like HW Monitor to track temps under load and Google what is safe for your components... But with v-sync on this will prevent gpu temps from spiking unless something else unrelated is the problem.

mariah6194

Simasaurus09 wrote: »

@mariah6194 I don't know if it's been mentioned but make sure you are running the game in fullscreen mode because otherwise the control panel won't work.
The alternative is Nvidia Inspector... But if the in-game v-sync works for you in Sims 4, it's fine to use it instead of control panel/any other tool. Games that do not include v-sync like Sims 3 will need another way to turn on v-sync like control panel or inspector.
Info for Nvidia Inspector:

Download Nvidia Inspector

(These instructions are for the Sims 3 but the same applies to any other game.)
Look for the small tool icon or green symbol next to Driver Version. Click to launch Nvidia Profile Inspector.

Select Profiles at the top and scroll through the long list to find Sims 3.

Under Sync and Refresh, select Vertical Sync > Force On

Apply Changes top right corner.

*With Nvidia Inspector you do not need to be in fullscreen mode.

I don't know how well Sims 4 copes without v-sync with high end cards and it's possible others could experience a different result. Sims 3 is known to have sky high frames which leads to temperature spikes on higher end machines. You can use a tool like HW Monitor to track temps under load and Google what is safe for your components... But with v-sync on this will prevent gpu temps from spiking unless something else unrelated is the problem.

LOL yep, I was playing in windowed mode. Fullscreen mode keeps the game capped at 60 fps with the control panel v-sync turned on. Thanks! and thank you for the Nvidia Inspector info

SimplyJen

yayyyy glad it was an easy fix.

Goldmoldar

When using V-Synch it is also good to enable Triple Buffering which decreases or stop screen tearing and this options are for Nvidia cards.

Milan14

Ofc.

0-25: unplayable, distracting, won't be fun
30: playable, can offer a fun experience, can be harsh to go back to if you're used to 60 but no biggie
60: great! smoother than all of the above and it'll offer a better experience, this is the standard for now
120: this is for the diehards who feel like 60 isnt enough, players say it's an even better experience than 60
144: i didnt really research this one but i doubt it impacts gameplay enough to be worth researching

chesterbigbird

Milan14 wrote: »

Ofc.

0-25: unplayable, distracting, won't be fun
30: playable, can offer a fun experience, can be harsh to go back to if you're used to 60 but no biggie
60: great! smoother than all of the above and it'll offer a better experience, this is the standard for now
120: this is for the diehards who feel like 60 isnt enough, players say it's an even better experience than 60
144: i didnt really research this one but i doubt it impacts gameplay enough to be worth researching

Keep in mind 120 and 144 is if you have a 120 or 144 Ghz monitor. Most people that play this game have 60.
The sims is not the type of game that is better with higher fps. The games that are better with higher fps are first person shooters.

mariah6194

chesterbigbird wrote: »

Milan14 wrote: »

Ofc.

0-25: unplayable, distracting, won't be fun
30: playable, can offer a fun experience, can be harsh to go back to if you're used to 60 but no biggie
60: great! smoother than all of the above and it'll offer a better experience, this is the standard for now
120: this is for the diehards who feel like 60 isnt enough, players say it's an even better experience than 60
144: i didnt really research this one but i doubt it impacts gameplay enough to be worth researching

Keep in mind 120 and 144 is if you have a 120 or 144 Ghz monitor. Most people that play this game have 60.
The sims is not the type of game that is better with higher fps. The games that are better with higher fps are first person shooters.

Ahh okay. Cool, thanks for the insight.

One more question, lol, is light noise coming from your graphics card normal during gameplay? Not the high-pitched whining noise.

Nearia35

I'd just like to add, don't focus on your FPS as the end-all-be-all of your game play. Unless you are noticing a problem, just turn on V-Sync and enjoy your game. Checking the FPS will drive you crazy because this game fluctuates so much and there is nothing that can be done on our end to really fix it.

Whenever you play any kind of 3D game, or use a visually demanding application, it's fairly typical that your computer will get louder as the fans speed up to keep up the needed cooling.