Resolution or Frame Rate? - General Discussion Forum - Page 3

BAMozzy · 2017-07-10T08:58:20+00:00

With this generation seemingly built more for resolution - this can be seen by the quite powerful GPU's and relatively weak CPU's, do you think console manufacturers are wrong and should have concentrated more on building a console to deliver higher frame rates? Do you think frame rate matters more in some games than others and Resolution/graphics matter more in others? Before you comment, in the past 10 or so years, the games that have won 'Game of the Year' have tended to be 30fps games. Of course it depends on which game awards group you look at but the BAFTA's for example haven't had a 60fps Game of the Year for the past 8yrs, Overwatch (60fps) has won a few GotY's alongside Uncharted 4 (30fps) but most years are dominated by 30fps games on Console - All the Uncharted games (at release), Last of Us, Witcher 3, RDR, Skyrim, Fallout etc - all 30fps games on console. With first impressions counting, and often our first impression is the 'game reveal' video/screenshot, is it any wonder why developers push visuals to their limit rather than focus on 60fps for some titles. You only have to look at games like Watchdogs, the Division and Witcher 3 in more recent memory and the backlash they got for downgrading the visuals from the reveal. My Game of the Year this year is (so far) Horizon: Zero Dawn and, as the photo mode proves, the game is absolutely stunning! Last year it was Uncharted 4 (another incredible and visually impressive game, the year before was the Witcher 3 - yet another breathtakingly stunning game etc - all 30fps games. I have no doubts that Spider-Man, Days Gone, RDR2, Anthem, Destiny 2, Assassins Creed: Origins and Last of Us 2 will all be 30fps games too and looking forward to playing all of these. Of course I would prefer them to be 60fps but I am still happy to play these at 30fps (as long as they hold 30fps and don't drop frames). I expect these will be visually stunning too - especially on the Pro/XBX. I can't say I am 'happy' with the design choice of the XBX as I hoped they would upgrade the CPU to enable more games capable of hitting 60fps. Maybe the customisation will help by offloading a lot of the workload to other areas to free up more CPU time. With the talk and eyes now looking at Sony and their 'next' gen Hardware, Zen CPU offering a big boost over Jaguar, they 'could' build a next Gen console that offers 60fps more often. Chances are it will still have a more powerful GPU, but say for example, it's not that much more powerful than the 'X' and still uses Checkerboard rendering to hit 4k. The question is this though, should next gen consoles be built for 'native' 4k (I really don't see them being built for HD as 4k is certainly the future), or built to offer 60fps. Does it matter if games aren't as visually 'perfect' because of the Checkerboard artefacts (which are often so small you can't see them at normal viewing distances) as long as it hits a locked 60fps? Is 30fps 'good' enough for certain games but 60fps a must for others? Or should visuals take priority, having the best looking games on your console? Of course, we could see games targeting other frame rates in the near future. With Game VRR, a developer could target 40, 45, 50 fps etc. The only reason we have 30fps is because of the way TV's are built and 30 fits perfectly in this which is why 30fps feels much smoother than 40, 45, 50 etc because it fits perfectly with a TV's own refresh rate. With Game VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), you can target say 45fps and the TV would refresh at 45Hz to match the game giving a much smoother looking and feeling game - as long as your TV supports this function. However as we don't have Variable Refresh Rate yet, we are left with 30 or 60fps. Its not as simple as just dropping the resolution - say from 1080p to 720p - to get 60fps either. The CPU still has to do a lot of things - like AI and where they are, the path they take etc, Physics calculations, Hit Detection, where you are in relation to this, what input you are doing (like moving, shooting etc) and how that affects the environment (like bumping into NPC's, Blowing up something and its impact on the environment/NPC's etc) and sending all that to the GPU so it knows what to draw. This is why CPU's are Important and why they often can't do 60fps on Pro despite having more than double the GPU of the PS4 - the CPU is only 30% faster. CPU's are measured in GHz compared to MHz and 1GHz is equal to 1000Mhz. The PS4 has a 1.6GHz CPU with a GPU running at 800MHz or 0.8GHz - half the speed. At 60fps, the CPU has to do all the calculations of everything and tell the GPU what to draw and get everything on screen in 16.6666ms and at 30fps, this is 33.333ms (or 0.033s) Assuming you have a choice to play a game at 60fps but much lower resolution and lower visual settings (like shadow quality, lighting, particle effects etc) or locked 30fps but higher resolution and better visual effects, which would you choose and why? Would it depend on the game - like favouring 60fps for a FPS, Racer, fighting game and 30fps for an open world RPG, Action/adventure game? Would it have to be 60fps regardless? Again, relating to the next gen of console hardware, assuming you own 4k TV's, If given the choice of Native 4k/30 or CB 4k/60 (same quality visual settings - just rendering differences) which would you pick? Is it game dependent again? What if the Resolution had to drop to 1080p to achieve 60fps (the equivalent of 540p (standard Definition) to HD). A console you have bought believing it to be '4k' but only hits that at 30fps. If you don't know what 4k is like for example - apply this question to the HD era - assume its the PS4 that offers 1080/30 or 540/60 - has to drop from HD to SD to offer 60fps. Point I am making here, is there a 'resolution' drop that isn't 'acceptable' just to get 60fps - dropping to the point its no longer even UHD (or HD in the case of PS4).

Topic: Resolution or Frame Rate?

Posts 41 to 41 of 41

41
Haruki_NLI
Tue 11th Jul 2017

@BAMozzy Its very hard to explain and truth be told, I dont expect you to understand. Nor do I expect you can understand period. Its a frustration for me and me alone and as such I recommend you just enjoy your higher end graphics and colour.

As for brightness, no not really. A bright flame will still blend in. Why? Because its still that colour.

You have to understand this one fundamental aspect.

No matter what you do to an inage I can ONLY see a few shades. No matter how bright one is to the other. If you had two objects coloured what you call red but had one be really bright and the other not, unless they fit into what I can see, they will still look the same. Brightness and contrast doesnt change the colour of the object. Just makes them stand out for you more. It works for you because you can see all the shades of red and green. I cant. What you call lime or dark green or grass coloured is one thing to me. If you made one really bright next to the other to give off more light, its still just green. The coloyr doesnt change. Id see its more bright. But i wouldnt know why. Because its still that colour.

You can manipulate the inage as much as necessary but that simple fact remains. Its not the image. Its what i see. Me. Individually. The only way to change it is go into my genetics and fix my DNA.

As I said, you won't understand and nor do I expect you to. So lets move on with the thread instead of frustrating me for being disabled in this futile attempt.

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