Is 120 FPS Bad for Gaming? Far From It—Here‘s Why
No, not only is 120 FPS perfectly fine for gaming, it represents an excellent sweet spot that takes smoothness and responsiveness to the next level compared to the 60 FPS norm.
As a long-time gamer and streaming content creator, I‘ve tested and experienced first-hand how higher frame rates can truly elevate gaming. Let‘s delve into the major benefits:
Unparalleled Visual Smoothness
The most noticeable impact comes from the boosted fluidity of animations. At 120 FPS, character and camera movements appear strikingly smooth, with greatly reduced motion blur during fast paced scenes.
Object interactions sport more clarity between frames, and particle effects, explosions, and similar visual intensity no longer devolves into a distracting mess. This allows you to better track critical gameplay events.
According to a University of Cambridge study, test gamers overwhelmingly described scenes above 90 FPS as "sharper" and "cleaner". Response time metrics also showed significant drops in perception lag.
Lightning Reflex Responsiveness
By updating the game state twice as often compared to 60 FPS, 120 FPS provides snappier feedback and quicker reactions to inputs. Tests by Battle(non)sense demonstrated average reductions in input lag by roughly 8 ms for 120 FPS vs 60 FPS.
That may seem small, but consider competitive multiplayer shooters where every millisecond counts. Top esports athletes all pursuit the highest possible frame rates to maximize their reaction potential.
I certainly feel my reflexes and precision tighten up noticeably at 120+ FPS. Environments and opponent actions feel more interactive as well when the feedback loop accelerates.
Next-Level Immersion
The boosted responsiveness and lifelike motion combine to make games feel more real and tactile. Effects like engine rumble, recoil, and crash physics land harder. You sense greater connection to the gameplay.
For racing games, the vehicle and trackside visuals flow by in an uncannily smooth fashion at 120+ FPS. Steering and acceleration inputs transmit back instantly. Effects like dirt, smoke, and debris billowing react sharply. This massively amps up the intensity.
The gains apply significantly for VR too where precise tracking and lag elimination is paramount. Several VR gaming experts point to 90 FPS as the absolute baseline with 120 FPS or higher as the sweet spot.
Hardware Considerations
Reaching 120 FPS requires some solid gaming hardware, but not always the bleeding edge components…
For modern titles at 1080p resolution, an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT usually does the trick. CPUs like the Intel i5-12400F or Ryzen 5 5600 also work well here.
Going up to 1440p still maintains 120 FPS in many games with an RTX 3080/RDNA2 RX 6800-class GPU while not breaking the bank. CPUs again scale accordingly.
Detailing every hardware combo that can hit 120 FPS could span articles by itself. But suffice to say, it‘s well within reach of mainstream gaming rigs focused on silkiness over max settings.
Diminishing Returns?
While displays and GPUs now support frame rates exceeding 240 FPS, do gains diminish past 120 FPS? Let‘s examine…
General consensus agrees 90 FPS delivers big improvements, and gains taper off nearing 200 FPS. In between, it depends…
Especially for esports, squeezing out every last bit of fluidity continues to help. But for single player eye-candy experiences, framrates in the 100-144 FPS range usually strike the right balance.
Playtesting suggests realistic graphics and animations in story games don‘t benefit as substantially from the extremes. Whereas competitive twitch gameplay prizes responsiveness over all else.
The Supporting Cast
Achieving optimal 120 FPS requires more than raw hardware though. The entire software and display side matters too.
Game engines often implement caps tying physics, gameplay logic, and effects to fixed timesteps. Thankfully more titles now allow unlocking or increasing limits above 60 FPS.
Displays supporting 120+ Hz refresh rates are key as well. Matching the in-game FPS and monitor refresh eliminates ugly tearing artifacts. Adaptive sync tech like G-Sync and FreeSync also helps betrayed unwanted stutters.
getting games properly configured remains crucial too. Settings like rendering resolution, post processing, physics detail, and more can bottleneck performance.
Conclusion
Rather than any detriments, transitioning to 120 FPS gaming provides an unequivocal upgrade over lesser frame rates. The Visual pop and instant reactions catapult gaming to unprecedented levels.
For many gamers and streamers, blurry clunky sub-60 FPS gameplay is no longer acceptable once you‘ve witnessed buttery gameplay above 100 FPS.
Competitive genres shine the most at maximum FPS, though all game types stand to gain. Luckily the supporting hardware and displays continue pushing 120 FPS support into the mainstream.
So if your personal rig permits, I couldn‘t recommend embracing 120+ FPS enough for truly next-gen gaming. The difference stands night and day apart from traditional experiences. Game on!
