What Is FPS in Gaming?

FPS (frames per second) measures how many individual images your GPU renders every second. Each frame is a complete image of the game world from your camera position. At 60 FPS, your GPU produces 60 unique images every second. At 144 FPS, it produces 144. The more frames per second, the smoother the motion appears.

FPS is determined jointly by your CPU and GPU. Your CPU processes game logic, AI, physics, and draw calls. Your GPU renders the resulting image. If either component cannot keep pace, FPS drops. A significant mismatch between the two creates a bottleneck — use our free FPS calculator and bottleneck calculator to estimate your system's output.

30 FPS: Console-standard for many years. Playable but not smooth — feels "cinematic".
60 FPS: The PC gaming standard. Smooth for most genres except competitive shooters.
144 FPS: Competitive standard for esports. Requires 144Hz monitor to display fully.
240 FPS: Professional esports standard for CS2, Valorant. Requires 240Hz monitor.
FPS above your monitor's refresh rate is wasted — a 60Hz monitor cannot display more than 60 FPS.

How Much FPS Do You Actually Need?

The right FPS target depends on your game genre and monitor. For single-player games and RPGs, 60 FPS at high settings is perfectly satisfying. For competitive shooters (CS2, Valorant, Fortnite), 144 FPS or higher is a meaningful competitive advantage — enemies are easier to track and shots feel more responsive.

The human eye detects differences in frame rate up to approximately 200–300 FPS in terms of perceived smoothness. Beyond that, the benefit of additional frames is negligible for most people. The biggest perceptible jumps are 30→60 FPS (dramatic improvement) and 60→144 FPS (significant in competitive play).

Single-player games, RPGs, adventures: 60 FPS at high/ultra settings is the ideal target.
Competitive shooters (CS2, Valorant): 144 FPS minimum, 240 FPS ideal with a 240Hz monitor.
Racing games, fighting games: 60 FPS minimum, 120 FPS preferred for smooth motion.
Strategy games, simulators: 60 FPS is fine — fast reactions are not required.
Use our FPS calculator to estimate what FPS your GPU and CPU will achieve.

Pro Tip

Match your FPS target to your monitor's refresh rate. A 1080p 144Hz monitor pairs with a mid-range GPU targeting 144 FPS at medium-high settings.

FPS vs Monitor Refresh Rate: Understanding the Relationship

FPS and refresh rate are two sides of the same coin. FPS is how many frames your GPU produces per second. Refresh rate (Hz) is how many times per second your monitor refreshes the image. For the smoothest experience, your FPS should match or exceed your monitor's Hz.

If your GPU produces 120 FPS but your monitor is 60Hz, you only see 60 of those frames — the rest are wasted. This is why upgrading from a 60Hz to a 144Hz monitor only helps if your GPU can actually reach 144 FPS. Screen tearing occurs when FPS and refresh rate are mismatched — enable V-Sync (caps FPS to refresh rate) or use G-Sync/FreeSync (syncs refresh rate to FPS dynamically) to eliminate it.

60 FPS + 60Hz monitor: perfect match, no tearing, smooth motion.
144 FPS + 60Hz monitor: you only see 60 FPS — the extra frames are wasted.
60 FPS + 144Hz monitor: you see 60 FPS — the monitor is underutilised.
G-Sync (NVIDIA) and FreeSync (AMD): dynamically sync monitor Hz to GPU FPS — eliminates tearing without V-Sync input lag.
Enable G-Sync or FreeSync in your monitor settings and GPU control panel for the best experience.
Use our FPS calculator to check if your GPU can hit your monitor's target FPS.

What Affects FPS in PC Gaming?

FPS is affected by many factors — hardware, software settings, and game engine. The GPU is the primary FPS determinant in most scenarios. At 1440p and 4K, the GPU does the vast majority of the work. At 1080p with a fast GPU, the CPU becomes a significant factor — especially in CPU-intensive games.

Resolution has the largest single impact on GPU load. Moving from 1080p to 4K quadruples the number of pixels the GPU must render per frame — roughly halving FPS at the same settings. Graphics settings (shadows, ray tracing, texture quality) have varying impacts — shadows and ray tracing are the most GPU-intensive settings.

GPU: Primary FPS driver at 1440p and above.
CPU: Primary FPS driver at 1080p high-FPS gaming (144Hz+).
Resolution: Moving from 1080p to 4K roughly halves FPS.
Graphics settings: Ray tracing and shadows have the biggest impact on FPS.
RAM speed: Faster RAM (via XMP/EXPO) improves FPS by 5–15% in CPU-limited scenarios.
Drivers and OS: Updated GPU drivers can improve FPS by 5–15% for recently released games.

How to Improve FPS in Games

Improving FPS starts with identifying your bottleneck. If your GPU is at 100% and CPU is at 50%, lowering graphics settings will help. If your CPU is at 100% and GPU is at 50%, lowering graphics settings will not help much — you need to reduce CPU load instead (lower resolution, enable XMP, close background apps).

Use our bottleneck calculator to identify whether your CPU or GPU is the limiting factor, then use our FPS calculator to estimate performance before and after potential upgrades.

Enable DLSS (NVIDIA) or FSR (AMD) — the biggest free FPS gain available.
Update GPU drivers — 5–15% FPS improvement in new games.
Enable XMP/EXPO in BIOS — 5–15% FPS improvement in CPU-limited games.
Lower shadow quality from Ultra to High — 15–25% FPS improvement.
Reduce resolution scale to 85% — big FPS gain with minimal visual loss.
Check our FPS calculator to see FPS estimates for 10 popular games on your hardware.

How to Measure Your FPS

There are several free tools to measure FPS in games. The simplest is the in-game FPS counter available in most modern titles. For more detailed data including GPU/CPU usage and frame times, MSI Afterburner with RivaTuner is the gold standard.

Steam's built-in FPS counter is the easiest option for Steam games: Steam → Settings → In-Game → In-game FPS counter. It shows FPS in a corner of the screen without any additional software. For non-Steam games, use MSI Afterburner or the GPU vendor's overlay (NVIDIA GeForce Experience Alt+Z, AMD Adrenalin Alt+Z).

Steam FPS counter: Settings → In-Game → In-game FPS counter. Easiest option.
MSI Afterburner + RTSS: Most detailed — shows FPS, GPU%, CPU%, temperatures.
NVIDIA Overlay (Alt+Z): GeForce Experience performance overlay.
AMD Adrenalin Overlay (Alt+Z): AMD's built-in performance display.
CapFrameX: Advanced frame time analysis tool — useful for identifying stutters.
Average FPS is less important than consistent FPS — use frame time graphs to spot stutters.

Pro Tip

Pay attention to 1% low FPS (the average of the lowest 1% of frames), not just average FPS. A game averaging 80 FPS with 1% lows of 20 FPS will feel stuttery despite the high average.

What is FPS in Gaming? Why It Matters and How to Improve It