This is an interesting question, but the answer is usually dependent of personal circumstances and personal preferences. Do you have a massive TV? You might want that resolution. Playing with your eyeballs five inches away from the screen? Maybe the frame-rate is more important.
Personally? I’m a frame-rate guy. Games running at 60fps? Swoon. If that game can maintain the frame-rate at a super high resolution, that’s also great, but a great, playable experience will always be a priority for me.
Comments
32 responses to “The Big Question: Resolution Or Frame Rate?”
Nice graphics are really nice to look at.
Playing with nice looking graphics that run at 15fps will kill a game though.
I chose frame rate but I don’t think it’s that simple.
For me, it depends on the type of game. If it’s an open world game like Infamous/GTA I am happy with a higher res and a lower frame rate – provided that frame rate is locked at 30fps or as close as possible.
If it’s a shooter (BF/CoD) or racer (GT/Forza) then frame rate is more important. A locked 60fps for these types of games definitely makes the experience a lot better.
Often a middle ground seems to work too. As in a slightly lower res (900p) with good AA leading to a nice clean picture but allowing for a higher frame rate. PvZ Garden Warfare on XB1 is a good example of this atm. The picture looks nice and sharp – despite not being 1080p – and the frame rate hits 60fps a lot of the time (bar a few tiny dips).
I wish developers of console games would give us a couple of display options. It’s one great thing about playing PC games that you can (generally) mess with a lot of settings to find the combination of display options that gives you the picture you want – assuming your hardware can handle it. It would be nice to see on console games 2-3 display options like: Display option 1 – 720p – highest frame rate. Display option 2 – 900p – good frame rate. Display option 3 – 1080p – lowest frame rate. Of course, if a game can hit 1080p/60fps then these options aren’t necessary. But fore everything else it would be nice to have choice.
Unless a game starts stuttering I pay zero attention to what the frame rate is.
I’d say frame rate, but come on. It’s 2014. 1080p should be default standard. Anything lower is just antiquated at this point.
Framerate obviously.
Whats the point of having a great game if you can’t play it?
I’m neither. If the game is enjoyable and sucks you into it’s world, you’ll notice neither in the end.
Framerate/Resolution should be left for the PC master race people to argue about, not gamers in general.
We don’t have to argue, we get both.
Story.
I couldn’t give a flying buggery about the other two since a chocolate covered turd is still a turd
im always in the middle.
However; i will not enjoy a game with a bad framerate, that said 30fps is not a bad framerate.
if a had to choose between 30 at 1080 or 60 at 720 i would say it depends on the game, racing will always be framerate, fps i dont care as long as it is a consistent framerate, then an adventure game id take resolution
Or just buy a PC and have both 😛
But to answer the question, anything less than 60fps looks like arse to me. The res is definitely important, but I’d say the framerate makes a bigger impression.
I’d lean towards framerate but honestly can’t vote. I consider both to be very important.
Depending on the game, I can enjoy a pretty low resolution, but a bad framerate will bring me out of the experience pretty quickly.
over 60 fps resolution is more important, under 60 fps fps is more important.
solid framerate is very important… even if it means lowering the resolution and/or details a bit…
i am however sick of these questions and debates all over the place lately… all the spoilt little numb nuts of the internet must have 1080p 60fps and anything that doesn’t deliver that is a piece of shit… wrong!
also if a game runs at a solid 30fps vs an unstable 60 (dropping to 45-50 constantly) its not worth having and i’d be quite happy with the solid 30 option… it will depend on your display/tv if this is noticeable… but as has been said already if a game is good enough you won’t notice or care all that much
Damn straight.
My TV doesn’t even support 1080p, so for years I’ve been happily gaming at 720p and 30fps (probably? I don’t remember many fps comparisons with 360/PS3). I doubt my level of enjoyment would have changed if I was playing at 1080p.
I think you need both in decent numbers.
But I will say smooth and fluid is more important than a high resolution. But I think you need a happy medium between both.
30fps is good enough provided it’s the minimum and not the average.
Dwarf Fortress sucks when the frame rate drops below 50.
Frame Rate was the first thing I noticed when I played an XBox One the other day for the first time, as apposed to x360. Super smooth, and obviously the detail was better as well, but wow, that framerate!
You need a good mix of both, Id prefer better resolution, but without a steady framerate it’s not worth it. I’ve been holding off playing some games until I get my gtx 780 ti next week, then I’ll see games at 1440p in all it’s glory!
Having played Skyrim on the PS3, I can say that framerate is hugely important. I’ve been gaming long enough to appreciate resolution but not be fussed by it – if the art direction is right, low res can be amazing – but poor framerate can kill immersion immediately.
If you have to sacrifice one to keep the other at a high standard, framerate should win since games are pretty unplayable if they’re jerky as hell. Stability of framerate that is, I don’t care how high it is as long as its 30+ and not fluctuating wildly whenever there’s particle effects or a change in lighting
Just like these ‘Big Question’ articles which are broken on mobile browsers, a broken frame rate can make a game unenjoyable – though I’m no stickler for 60, a consistent frame rate is fine.
Definitely framerate. As most people have mentioned, a super jumpy game is just not playable. High resolutions with lovely graphics are nice, but when it comes to what’s essential, framerate kind of wins hands down.
Both. Thats the beauty of PC gaming. Games must run at 60fps+ in 1080p for me. If they don’t I just turn a few settings down
320×240 at 30fps in 256 colors is where it’s at!
Both. 1080p @ 50-60fps
neither. I prefer my games at 2 frames a second, with pixels as big as a macadamia nut
30fps and 720p are base levels for me.
If it runs at 1080p and 29fps it should be running at 900 or 720p.
Once you get over those base levels though, for fast moving or competitive games (racers, sports games, FPS) I’d rather 60fps than 1080p, for slower games (rpgs, most action titles) I’d rather 1080p than 60fps.
I said framerate, but frankly you need a ‘depends’ option, in turn based games and the like as long as the frame rate doesn’t take a big hit I’d prefer lower fps for higher resolution.
Frame rate over resolution every time. I guess that’s why I’ve become less and less enamored with consoles, especially with the lack of foresight put into hardware for next gen consoles that have a predicted decade long life cycle (I feel it’s going to end up looking even more ugly than the last generation). You have no customizable options, and absolutely no say in how a game plays on a console. All developers seem to care about is ‘look how pretty this game looks’, but fail to notice the frame rate is struggling and stuttering away at 20 – 30 fps (that being said – can’t wait for GTA V’s release on PC). I’ve been playing Resident Evil 4 HD on PC, and 60fps makes the game so much more smoother and enjoyable in comparison to 30fps. People who say they can’t tell the difference between the two must have something fundamentally wrong with their eyes.
I choose “gameplay”
Max details, max AA, max resolution, >60fps. That’s what a PC can do.
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