What frame rate is unplayable or no longer enjoyable?

I watched this video from my Youtube feed where your boys over at Hardware Unboxed were asked "What frame rate would you say is unplayable in modern games these days?". It gives some good insights.

(6:29)

This shows how PC gamers generally have higher standards compared to console gamers. Personally, I won't play anything under 60fps unless I am forced to with a console exclusive (worst). 30fps is shit. 60fps is generally not good for MP competitive games and 80 fps is probably the minimum while 100fps+ is preferable. What are your guys standards? Are PC gamers just crazy? Are console gamers masochists who enjoy the pain of low frame rates? Let's hear it....

30fps is fine for light puzzle games where fast response times and fast camera movement is not a priority.

30fps in action games like Horizon Forbidden West for example where quick reflexes and precise aiming is required, that's simply out of the question.

Check out this new game that has a 12fps framerate:

Everyone knows 30 fps is the bestest for the cinematixx. lol

30 is passable but 60 is much preferable. "said Captain Obviuos" :P

The higher the better but stability is more important to me than raw speed. I.E I'd a rather a game maintain a stable 60 than try to hit 120 and yo yo between say 80 and 120.

60 fps or bust.

30fps is unplayable to me now I've tried out quality mode at 30 and I just can't play at it. Performance 60 all the way.

I prefer stability over more fps, but let's say 30 fps.

30fps with motion blur or 60fps without motion blur

120fps or gtfo!

Dude, I love Amanita design! Thanks for posting this, had no idea about it.

When games run in 30 fps, as they often do on consoles, I can usually make do as long as the game runs in stable 30 fps. I'd never play a game in 30 fps on PC. Even a tiny dip under 60 is annoying.

Somewhat depends on the game too, as @R4gn4r0k mentioned. 30 or 60 doesn't really matter for games that don't move much, while games that move a lot and fast can be borderline unplayable in 30.

30 and higher for me.

Lower than 15. I still love my N64. Shut up...

Adaptive sync is a must unless you can hold a consistent frame rate.

Most games anything less than 60 is going to bother me.

Prefer 100+

Depends on the game.

For a fighting game or a shooter, a high fps is a must. For slower games like TBS or puzzle games it doesnt really matter.

for sony thats 23 fps...because movies run at 24fps, so this needs to be the minimum.

Below 60fps its unplayble, but for the likes or ER, you gotta bend over, use a quality lube and accept what's given.

When you're used to play a certain game at 144fps, and then go back to 60fps, 60 feels so damn bad, BUT its easy to rewire your brain to 60fps after one day of playing at those frames.

It always depends on the game.

As a mostly PC gamer 30 FPS is fine. I play plenty of games at 30FPS no bother. As long as its consistent. That's the main thing. I do prefer 60FPS of course if my PC has the punch to do it but I'm not willing to make the sacrifices needed to get games running at 60+FPS.

There are some situations where i do get a bit pickier.

• Racing games (arcade and sim), Beat em ups and fast paced FPS i do want 60FPS (not a deal breaker though).
• VR really 90+ FPS (one of the reasons i want to upgrade my PC is for 120FPS VR).

As for 120+ FPS (outside of VR)....i really don't care. I have a 144FPS Screen on my laptop and its nice but, for me, that's a pointless target to chase (though i should note that i have 0 interest in competitive MP). I'll take a 4K 60Hz panel over a 1440P 144+Hz panel any day.

I'm more the old school Graphics W&*(£ type of PC gamer. Just all of the pretties please. All of them. Oh there is an ultra mode for the lighting setting that docks you 15FPS and barely makes any difference outside of one level? Dont care...switch it on :P. RTRT even though it cuts your framerate in half? is it still above 30? if yes then it's getting switched on. ULTRAOPTIMEGAHD Texture pack that makes things a tiny bit sharper? you bet that's getting installed.

60 minimum, Like 120 plus for competitive MP.

I'm not a snob, I prefer 60fps+, but I'll still play a game at 30fps if anything more than that is not an option.

I love retro gaming and most retro games are not 60fps.

Not much of a frame counter myself so kind of hard for me to put a number on it but I’ll hazard a guess and say that once things start dropping below the mid to low teens is when I’ll start being bothered. Kind of depends on the game as well. Would also add that if the frame rate is fluctuating frequently and drastically would probably bother me too.

Inconsistent frames

Series s has treble the 120 FPS games that the PS5 has,if you are a console gamer who is a FPS whore and not a X/S owner then you ain't no whore,just a bit slutty

@BassMan: I actually enjoy reading your butt hurt elitist PC threads. Actually most people in this world don't give a shit about even 60fps. To them, 30fps is fine because thats all they know anyway. Did you know, the human eye can't even distinguish past 80 or 100 fps, thats the top limit, so 60fps is fantastic.

Its like people who enjoy eating a big mac at mcdonalds. They are happy with it. They don't know how steak tastes, and yes while it may be delicious, the cost is too much and missing out on it, doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Is steak any healthier than a hamburger? No it isn't. Its all just heart attack inducing / cholesterol / cancer etc red meat at the end of the day. Eating vegetables is the best option, you get the most nutrition. That would be the same as going outside and getting some physical activity instead of playing video games.

I was waiting for “the human eye” to show up.

All my games play at over 100 fps, but I haven't noticed much difference when set to 60fps. 30 is an annoyance to play at now for most games.

@SOedipus: lol

bloodborne is as low as i can go. it's supposed to be locked at 30fps but not sure at times. it's a struggle, combined with the resolution, but can still play it, although it does get harder to readjust back to it with each passing year.

found quite a lot of games with "resolution" mode on the ps5 to be frustratingly shit when it comes to framerate. makes it a bit of a pointless feature, often it's just not a viable choice. fallen order was the worst, genuinely unplayable

I played some games actually not to long ago and set my framerate to 30 just to experience it--not bragging or anything, but my PC generally keeps me at 60+--and it was unbearable. I didn't last 10 minutes, I felt like it was actually straining my eyes a bit.

I don't know how console gamers can settle for that. It's either because they don't have a choice, or they've never experienced anything faster and don't know how good it could be.

Anyway, my answer is maybe 45 fps minimum? I mean honestly I don't think a 60 minimum is really asking too much these days, the only games that run under that either have a lot going on at once on the screen (like DCS World or Satisfactory) or really unoptimized games like Cyberpunk with RTX on.

I tend to aim for 100 fps average though.

Don't really have much trouble switching between 30 and 60 fps games. 60 is of course preferable, but I'm not gonna turn off Jet Set Radio for example simply because it is locked at 30.

If I were to get a monitor, my order of importance would be something like...

1. Good colors/color accuracy (Probably one made for photographers.)
2. 2560x1440 (Only reason I don't want to go higher is because of DPI issues with many programs. Don't want everything to be teeny.)
3. 27 to 32 inches
4. Good (not great) HDR
5. High frame rate

Not surprised the guy picked some really high frame rate. Nerd.

Oooooof, buddy....c'mon, you just made an argument in favor of being willingly ignorant.

I mean, hey, if you want to wallow in shit that's your choice, but it's also my choice to tell you your wallowing in shit and can do better.

AND you managed to insult the gourmands of the world with you Big Mac and steak analogy. And for the record, yes, a steak is healthier than a Big Mac. No, it's not healthy, but it is much healthier.

@nintendoboy16: I agree. N64 games are still playable. Though I would say things get annoying around 20fps.

Maybe I don't play games at as high a level as all you folks, but 30fps is perfectly fine for just about anything. More is better, sure, but I have never felt like controls were detrimentally affected playing a game at a stable 30fps.

This is at couch distance though. I do kinda get motion sickness playing 30fps right up near a computer monitor for too long.

Only play shooters at 100+, but I only play shooters on PC anyways, so non issue.

Everything else, prefer 60+.

Will begrudgingly play some console exclusives far below that. Stuff like Bloodborne or BotW pushing my limit with their inconsistent 30.

In some cases, just a deal breaker. Refuse to give Astral Chain a go until it's released on better hardware. Can deal with Bayo 2 being 60 with dips. Astral Chain being 30 with dips, nah, not doing that for an action game. If Bayo 3 somehow ends up being 30, out on that one as well.

Depends on the genre.

Something like a flight sim, I can play these at 15-20fps, as it's essentially a boat in the air.

If that makes sense. Which is doesn't.

Ideally 60fps+ everything. But on alot of things,can do 30.

60fps really has become a requirement for me, apart from some specific games that dont really benefit from a higher frame rate like the South Park ones.

30fps really hampered my enjoyment of console exclusives this past gen, to the point I stopped buying games for my PS4 a couple years ago (well before the PS5 came out). I'll wait for a PC launch or eventually get a PS5 that can run them at 60.

Elden Ring has really been brought down for me by its frame rate drops and inconsistent performance. I notice the instant it starts to drop below 60 and it does that in quite a few areas. it just feels awful to me and legit causes me to get a headache after 15 mins of playing in those low-fps areas.

@mrbojangles25: Were you right next to your monitor when you tried this? I do find 30 fps can give me morion sickness after a while when I'm right next to the monitor, but at couch distance from a TV it's never been a problem. I think thats part of why PC and console gamers have such differening opinions about this.

how exactly is 30fps wallowing in shit?? Many people are happy playing on such settings, millions of people are playing last gen consoles still, and millions more are buying devices like the steam deck that plays 30fps for most newer games, and the switch which is also 30fps mostly. The nintendo switch is close to beating the best selling console in history, the ps2. Let that sink in. Not to mention, the xbox series S which does 30fps in a bunch of games and is now outselling the xbox series X and the ps5. End of the day people really don't care all that much.

And that was the point about the big mac / steak analogy is that most people don't care one way or another. Saying 30fps is unplayable is just nonsense, though its something bassman constantly parrots here every other day.

I don't know how much healthier a steak is compared to a bigmac, but it can't be that much. Both are beef end of the day, and red meat. The only difference is the bread and sauce. Though i'll admit Im not an expert on it.

Depends on the game. I say this fresh off of playing Star Fox on SNES. Yes, of course it would benefit from more frames, but it is in no way "unplayable". However, for a fast paced multiplayer FPS, higher frames is a must.

Millions of people playing in 30fps does not mean that they enjoy 30fps🤦‍♂️They do so because they have no choice.

For me, a solid 30 fps on a console with a TV is ok. But overall I prefer it to be at the very least 60 fps. On a 144hz screen I prefer minimum of 72fps but try to target 100+ fps or as close as i can get to 144 fps.

Unless I absolutely have no other option. I play at 144 frames.

But I also play old ass games, on old ass hardware sometimes too, and sometimes that shit had bad framerate. IT is what it is. You could never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER EVER get me to play a fighting game at this point in my life that isn't locked 60 frames.

That is a war crime.

For most games, anything less than 30 fps is unplayable.

For many fast action games, anything less than 50 fps is unplayable.

I sit a healthy distance away from my monitor, at least three feet. Definitely more than an arms length.

I think you're right though because I bought a PS4 and most of those games seem to run slower; I definitely noticed the slower framerate, but I did not get sick or anything.

lol right, imagine. 😬

Like outside some jank ass arena fighters, when was the last time this happened? Shaq Fu? I'm sure there's been others since, but yeah thank **** this genre maintains some priorities.

30fps is absolutely unacceptable

The biggest fanboy post of the thread. Congratulations 😐😐😐

@mrbojangles25: Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you have to be right up in the monitor's grill or anything :). Sitting about 3ft from a monitor, I will get motion sickness playing a first person shooter for more than a half hour at 30fps. But at couch distance 5+ ft or so it has never been an issue for me.

In fact, I usually have my PC hooked up to our TV while playing a game suited for a contoller, because it's just more comfortable to me.

@jg4xchamp: I get what you mean, but I grew up playing Tekken 3 at 30fps. Still find it playable.

In our day and age, only a sheep would accept 30fps because they know that their system can barely even even get there.