Modern graphics cards and gaming CPUs have gotten to the point that achieving high framerates in most titles isn't as challenging as it used to be. Even on budget GPUs, assists like upscaling and frame generation ensure your average FPS remains well above 60, and often above 100. The problem with using average FPS as the sole metric of performance is that it doesn't truly reflect what makes a smooth gaming experience. A game running at 90–120 FPS can still be riddled with microstutters, ruining your immersion despite a "good average FPS." The crucial metric you need to keep an eye on is the frame time. It represents the consistency of your gaming experience. A huge variance in frame time can result in terrible frame pacing, even if the FPS counter shows no apparent problems. Fortunately, you can detect poor frame pacing and fix it to a large degree.

High average FPS keeps you blind to what really matters

Frame time is where it's at

The average FPS has long been the north star for measuring gaming performance for a reason. It's the simplest number to track and is generally a good indicator of how well a PC handles a given title. However, the bridge between a good average FPS and an enjoyable gaming experience is the assumption that those frames are rendered at regular intervals. You see, the average FPS only tells you how many frames your system renders in a second. It doesn't reveal how long the system took to render each one of them. The frame time is the metric that informs you about the interval between individual frames. So an average FPS of 60 simply means that a frame was rendered every 16.67ms on average. Since this is an average, it doesn't mean each of those 60 frames took 16.67ms to render. Some of them could have taken longer, and some shorter. The greater this variance, the more inconsistent the frame pacing, and the worse your gaming experience.

An inconsistent frame time can manifest in the form of huge frame drops or microstutters, frustrating you to no end. You might look at 100+ FPS and lament why your game feels jittery or unstable. This instability is easier to notice at higher framerates, since your eyes are used to the smoother motion, and expect the next frame at relatively shorter intervals. At lower FPS, say 50–70, the interval between frames is already on the higher side, so a few microstutters don't feel as jarring. Hence, the higher your average FPS, the greater the chances of poor frame pacing ruining your experience. It's not enough to have a gaming PC capable of spitting out 100–200 frames every second; it also needs to smooth the time intervals between those frames.

The reasons behind poor frame pacing

Plenty of blame to go around

Expecting your gaming PC to cleanly divide a single second between each of the frames being rendered in that time is unrealistic. Depending on the game and the individual scene in a game, the graphical demands keep changing every moment. This puts an uneven load on your system, which naturally results in a fluctuating frame time. However, you can still track down a few hardware and software causes that contribute to poor frame pacing. The biggest factor here is a CPU bottleneck. If your CPU isn't fast enough to deliver a frame to the GPU at the required interval, the latter will wait slightly longer to render that frame, adding to the delay between individual frames. Your eyes, in turn, will feel this in the form of microstutters as the previous frame lingers on the screen ever so slightly.

Slower RAM also comes into the picture whenever a game becomes CPU-dependent. Even if you have a DDR5 kit rated at 6,000 MT/s, your timings might be relatively looser. A DDR5 kit rated CL40 can contribute to poor frame times compared to a CL30 kit. If you're building a new PC anytime soon (good luck, by the way), try to strike the right balance between RAM frequency and latency to avoid microstutters.

In many cases, your hardware might be blameless, since some game engines are known to suck at handling the workload evenly between frames. Whether it's due to the engine being old or linked to shader compilation issues, the result is irregular frame times contributing to a messy experience. Even something as minor as your PC's background processes could be the culprit, since they can lead to momentary spikes in frame time as the load on the CPU increases.

Detecting and fixing irregular frame timings

There's a lot you can do without upgrades

The obvious starting point for detecting poor frame times is what you "feel" when playing a game. If the experience feels choppy or jittery instead of responsive, then microstutters could be at the root of it. And poor frame pacing is usually the biggest reason behind microstutters. You can confirm your suspicions by using MSI Afterburner and RTSS to generate a frame time graph in real time. Check Enable frametime history overlay in the Setup in RTSS to display the frame time graph. A somewhat flat graph will indicate relatively decent frame pacing, whereas deviations will represent frame time spikes.

You can also display 1% and 0.1% lows alongside the average FPS in the Afterburner OSD, so you can compare them. A large variance between the minimum and average FPS indicates poor frame pacing. The closer your average FPS is to your 1% and 0.1% lows, the more consistent and stable your game will feel.

Now, fixing frame time issues can be done in a number of ways. If you built your PC in the last 1–3 years, your hardware is most likely not the place to look. You can start by capping your frame rate a few frames below the average FPS to avoid maxing out the GPU. This minimizes unnecessary frame time spikes and provides a consistent experience despite a lower absolute FPS. It's also recommended to disable VSync in-game and enable it in your GPU's control panel. Your monitor's VRR capabilities, combined with VSync, will ensure your experience remains the most consistent. You can also reduce CPU-heavy graphics settings, such as crowd density, level of detail, and draw distance, so that the game stays GPU-bound. This helps systems alleviate CPU bottlenecks, stabilizing framerates even without necessarily increasing them.

Frame time is the real currency of modern gaming

More than average FPS, a stable FPS is the true indicator of smooth performance. And a consistent frame time is at the heart of that. A sky-high framerate can still feel terrible if it keeps jumping around. A lower but more stable FPS is arguably more enjoyable. Stabilizing your frame times can be done with a few software tweaks, so you don't always need to spend money on hardware upgrades.