Questioning the Sanity

[QuickSilver]

There is a constant battle raging between various different video chip manufacturers, the most notable and famous being Nvidia and ATI. The graphics are ever improving, the frame rates are growing ever higher, but there comes a point when I must ask my self, “what’s the point?” I can understand wanting to have a game that plays smoothly. Lord knows that gaming is far more enjoyable on a competent system that is up to par for the job. I do, however, have to question the sanity of frame rates that are now pushing well over 100, depending on what game you happen to be playing. The fact of the matter is, fluid motion, in the perception of the human eye, occurs at between 30 and 40 fps. Knowing this, I have a hard time buying into the frame rate race. I’m all for a better quality picture, better looking worlds, more eye candy, better textures and the like, but I’m not quite grasping the frame rate buzz.

[icallmedan]

Well frame rates are a bench mark fo better looking things, and better picture quality....a game may run at 15FPS on a 9800XT, but an X800 may run it at 30FPS. The more eye candy built into a game the slower games will run on even the newest cards, so a game at 100FPS on a x800XT today is just an older game, when a new game comes out tomorrow it may only run at 30FPS,so they have something to look forward too. That is my take on it.

[QuickSilver]

I see your point there, but my 9700 pro is still up to par for every game that I have yet tried (and I have tried a lot of them). I just think that the hardware has gotten a little ahead of the software when it comes to video.

[Jaggannath]

I'm definitely with you on this one Quicksilver...

[Sanguimancer]

Quicksilver, I have to ask, how many FPS do you get in Unreal 2k4 Onslaught, if you have the game. That gametype would require a phenominal computer to run at a framerate better than 30. Also, a lot of people notice the difference between 30 and say 60 FPS. I would say 60 fps is optimal, not 30-40.

[Spartan]

People are running higher resolutions these days and that affects framerate also. Hardware probably is ahead of software, but then that helps future proof you (to an extent) doesn't it?

-Spartan