FPS to frame time
Frame time (ms) = 1000 ÷ FPS. It's how long each frame stays on screen. Frame time shows the real cost of an FPS drop better than FPS does: going from 60 to 30 FPS adds 16.7 ms per frame, while 240 to 120 adds only 4.2 ms.
| FPS | Frame time |
|---|---|
| 30 FPS | 33.33 ms |
| 60 FPS | 16.67 ms |
| 75 FPS | 13.33 ms |
| 120 FPS | 8.33 ms |
| 144 FPS | 6.94 ms |
| 165 FPS | 6.06 ms |
| 240 FPS | 4.17 ms |
| 360 FPS | 2.78 ms |
| 500 FPS | 2 ms |
Do you need more FPS than your refresh rate?
Your monitor can only show as many frames as its refresh rate. Running the game faster than that still helps a little in shooters, because each frame shown is more recent, but the biggest jump is reaching your refresh rate in the first place. Not sure what yours is? Run the refresh rate test.
Why frame time spikes feel worse than low FPS
An average of 144 FPS can still stutter if a few frames take 30 ms or more. Games feel smooth when frame times are steady, so a stable 120 FPS often plays better than a jumpy 160. Capping your FPS a little below what your PC can hold is the easy fix.