Getting a modern game to run well can be a challenge, especially with modern gaming technology evolving at a breakneck speed. Everyone likes a steady 60 frames per second, but that isn’t always possible. Unless, of course, you can afford the latest and greatest hardware. And of course, not everyone can.
This means that tweaking of graphics settings will often be required, which can efficiently steady out the frame rate and offer a better gaming experience, much like you’d enjoy when playing the online casino no deposit options. The only problem is that graphics settings can often be confusing. Just what do each of the terms mean in the graphics menu, and how much impact will they have on performance? Let’s look at some of the most important settings.
Resolution
Most are aware what resolution is, and how it works. The resolution determines how many pixels per square inch of a monitor will be used to display the game. Higher numbers are clearer but have an enormous performance impacts. It’s safest these days to stick to HD, which is 1920X1080. Going above this is only recommended for powerful graphics cards. You can go below HD resolution to improve performance dramatically.
Antialiasing
Antialiasing is a graphics technology that smooth’s out an image, hiding jagged edges and overall improving image quality. There are different types of antialiasing, with different visual quality improvement, and equivalent performance loss. Ranging from 2X to 16X, the higher the number, the better the quality, but also the bigger the strain on the computer. A person can turn antialiasing off for best performance, or experiment with other settings, as they prefer.
Nvidia Gameworks Features
Some PC games have specific features based on certain graphics card technology. In the case of Nvidia graphics cards, Gameworks features are sometimes offered. These features are extremely demanding, and generally only recommended for higher end graphics cards. Gameworks are generally impressive real time physics effects, such as interactive smoke. Only enable these features if your graphics card is higher end.
Texture, View Distance, And Shadow Quality
Most games have general quality settings, including texture, view distance, shadow quality, and others. These settings can be adjusted from low to high. Such settings will have the most noticeable visual quality effect on a game. Adjusting these settings should dramatically improve performance, and can be experimented with, as the user prefers. As always, the higher the setting, the bigger the performance hit the game will take.
Advanced Settings
There may or may not be a number of other settings in a game’s graphics menu, and in retro games you may have to hunt for these.
Some of the names of settings can seem obscure and confusing, but generally can be Googled for a quick explanation. A simple rule of thumb is that putting a setting on, and turning it up, will make the game look better at the cost of performance.
Is 60FPS Needed?
Note that although 60 FPS is considered a good standard to aim for, it may not be necessary for every gamer. A game running at 50 FPS should still be fine. It’s simply a matter of preference.
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