How do you get a measure for frame rates

[bedlam_4]

Hi,
A lot of discussion on this board is about frame rates. I would like to know what frame rates I'm getting with my system. What does it take to measure their speed? Also, in a nut shell, what are they?

Just in case you need to know I have a Dell system 2.4 gig w/ hyperthreading, 512 megs of ram.

 

[olefarte]

FRAPS is what I use, you can get the free version here. It's a small program that will tell you your frame rates, when playing games.

The higher your frames rates when playing games the better your gaming expierience will be, ie., the game will run smoother, with no stuttering of the picture. 30 frames per second is the absolute minimum for gaming, naturally the higher the better, up to a point. I believe that anything over 100 FPS does nothing extra as to picture quality, others may disagree with me.

As to how many FPS you can/will get, that probably depends a lot on your video card. Without getting into brands, generally speaking, the more expensive you video card is the more FPS, in most games.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by olefarte
30 frames per second is the absolute minimum for gaming, naturally the higher the better, up to a point.

Hardly absolute, fps can go below 1 easily :giddy:

It all depends on what kind of a game you're playing.

This, for example, doesn't need 10 fps:

 

[olefarte]

Good point Mict., hadn't thought along those lines, although I don't play many games like that, oh maybe Freecell once in a while. HeHe.

 

[LNCPapa]

Most third person games don't need high frame rates either.

 

[olefarte]

Okay guys, I get your point, guess I am wrong. I was thinking of first person shooters, that's about all the games I play.

 

[Wrath of God]

Originally posted by olefarte
FRAPS is what I use, you can get the free version here.

That's what I use most times

 

[somekid007]

if you play games of the half life family (hl,cs, dod, tfc, etc) go to console and type net_graph 3, and hit enter. it will then draw a line in the bottom right corner telling you fps, upload lag, download lag and "choke"

 

[bedlam_4]

OK
Framerates in Code of Honor are between 60 or 70fps when out in the open and well over 250fps when I'm inside buildings. NFS Underground framerates are right at 33 most of the time but max out at around 56fps. Both games look very good to the eyes though. I am running an ATI RADEON 9800 PRO w/128 ddr. The monitor is a Dell 22" flat screen ultrasharp. I wonder if I should be getting higher frame rates.

 

[LNCPapa]

Not sure about your CoH scores - but the N4SU frame rates sound about right to me. I assume you play N4SU with AA and AF off. It's quite a demanding game if you play at a decent res - I play at 1280. I haven't done any exact measurements, but my fps isn't very high and it's bordering on unplayable with AA/AF on so I leave them off for that game.

 

[bedlam_4]

Well I'm also playing at 1280 res but I don't see the AA of AF options. Evrything else is turned on full. The game really does look good at the frame rates I recorded. I did just discover the rear view mirror option and the speed blur option while I was looking for AA/AF. Those are both cool little additions that I hadn't been using up to now.

So where do I find AA/AF options?

 

[LNCPapa]

AA/AF options are at the driver level. I normally run AA/AF on all the time, except when playing N4SU or Chaos Legion. Everything else runs 4xAA/8xAF at 1280x1024. By the way, you won't need as high a frame rate for games played from the 3rd person perspective.

 

[bedlam_4]

LNCPapa,
I do not see those options. At display>configure graghics card I can set the resolution and go to settings such as car details, headlights on or off, shadows and motion bluring. There are maybe a dozen or more options there but none for anti-alias or anti-filtering.