I’ll say upfront: ever since the 40HZ update on the LCD model, I’ve tried to understand why is feels so much better than 30FPS at 60hz, but the logic never really set in.
With the OLED model, playing around with Elden Ring, I’m observing a few drops into the 30’s which will obviously become more common in later sections, so I’m looking to move away from a 40FPS cap. Playing at 30FPS at 90hz doesn’t feel great, particularly when it comes to camera movements, but I noticed capping the game at 34 or 36FPS at their respective suitable refresh rates feels significantly better than the 30FPS cap.
Ultimately my question is this: is this something of a placebo or is there solid reasoning behind it feeling substantially better than a bogstandard 30FPS cap?
It feels better because there is less latency and the time each frame is on screen is shorter. Games are interactive so the less time it takes for an action to be seen on screen, the better it feels.
Personally I don’t mind at all switching between 30, 40, 50, 60, and 90fps at all. I lock it to whatever gives me stable frame rates
I think Digital Foundry’s OLED videos mentioned what you’re talking about in more detail than I can pretend to type out. I would start with their recent OLED videos.
Even before the OLED videos, they were saying that 40Hz is a nice sweet spot because it gives you a frame time that’s exactly halfway between what you’d get with 30 and 60 fps. In other words, it only takes 10 more frames a second to get you half way to the latency and responsiveness that you see with 60Hz.
I’m still waiting on my deck to arrive (tomorrow!), but as a 4k120Hz TV owner I have reallllly appreciated the 40fps modes in Playstation games like Spiderman and Ratchet & Clank. The difference is more substantial than I thought