Do you aim for high quality visuals or high frame rates?

MicroCenterOfficial

There's nothing more exciting than building a new rig, then booting up that top-of-the-line game to see "Video Settings Auto-Set for Max." But sometimes, you're stuck with more middle-of-the-road graphics. And what do you do then? Tank the visuals for those buttery 120 FPS or get it looking good and deal with the drops to 2F FPS?

MicroCenterOfficial

Personally, I try and shoot for something in the middle. I can deal with occasional 15 FPS drops if it generally runs well, but I cannot abide ugly visuals

Ian

Depends on the game style for me.

If I'm doing a racing game or something competitive, I want consistent high frame rate. If I'm using VR, I want consistent frame rate because choppiness in fps for VR is awful to experience. Don't want the immersion getting broken. 
If it's a more laid back / story driven single player type game, I can deal with some frame drops, especially if its a visually stunning game. 

AlexS

Most of the titles I've played in the last few years were mainly competitive.  CSGO, League of Legends, Valorant, PUBG, Apex, etc.  Even with a juicy system, I'd do whatever I needed to get maximum frames.

• Low graphic settings/Lower resolutions
• Launch commands
• Kill background tasks via msconfig/startup
• The works

But more recently, I've been enjoying single player titles such as Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn and Cyberpunk 2077 and finding a good median between performance/quality has been the goal.  As long as I'm hovering around or above 60fps (minus Cyberpunk), I generally enjoy the visuals. 

CPU		Intel i7-8700K
GPU		RTX 2060 Super
RAM		16GB DDR4-3200Mhz
SSD		Intel 540 480GB M.2
DISPLAY		ASUS TUF 27" 165HZ

Full_Medical

The truth is - it depends on the game. Something like Rust and I want better frames for survivability and the gameplay advantage, but something like No Man's Sky, I want better visuals so I can enjoy the atmosphere. I'd say my primary goal is usually better quality visuals for the cinematic experience. If I can get 60fps at 2k, I'm happy enough.

TSPhillipT

I usually just default to highest unless there is an awful stutter.  Haven't had any issues so far however, been playing at max quality and getting desired framerates fine.  

JS_MC

I'd say that I'm similar to @Full_Medical - for me, it depends on the game. With competitive titles, I'm all for more frames. I can handle lower frame rates for better looks when it's beneficial. Anything lower than 30 FPS hurts my head and I don't intentionally allow frames lower than 50.

MicroCenterOfficial

Ian said:

Depends on the game style for me.

If I'm doing a racing game or something competitive, I want consistent high frame rate. If I'm using VR, I want consistent frame rate because choppiness in fps for VR is awful to experience. Don't want the immersion getting broken. 
If it's a more laid back / story driven single player type game, I can deal with some frame drops, especially if its a visually stunning game. 

VR is a completely different beast, in my opinion, just because how easily it can cause motion sickness if not set up right. But get it just right and its some of the coolest experiences available.

But I also haven't gotten into anything competitive since the early days of Overwatch, so those frames are rarely as big of a concern for me.

Ian

SeanM said:

Ian said:

Depends on the game style for me.

If I'm doing a racing game or something competitive, I want consistent high frame rate. If I'm using VR, I want consistent frame rate because choppiness in fps for VR is awful to experience. Don't want the immersion getting broken. 
If it's a more laid back / story driven single player type game, I can deal with some frame drops, especially if its a visually stunning game. 

VR is a completely different beast, in my opinion, just because how easily it can cause motion sickness if not set up right. But get it just right and its some of the coolest experiences available.

But I also haven't gotten into anything competitive since the early days of Overwatch, so those frames are rarely as big of a concern for me.

I use VR probably an average 5-10 hours a week (I have an Valve Index), no motion sickness for me, but massive frame loss / stutters especially with the Index being able to do 120+ FPS is so odd on your eyes and is a great way to get a quick headache. 

termin

Personally, depends on the game. If I'm playing competitive games of course higher frame rates. Minecraft RTX ON Ultra Maxed everything, something like that.