For many PC gamers, choosing a playable frame rate means balancing visual quality against what their hardware can deliver. Unless a five-grand gaming PC is within reach, adjusting settings and accepting compromises is often part of the experience; routinely achieving 4K/240 is not a realistic expectation for everyone.
PC Gamer's Dave James recalls when 30 fps was a common PC gaming target, before newer console generations helped shift expectations toward 60 fps. His own tolerance once stretched much further: he remembers enjoying Operation Flashpoint on an underpowered PC at perhaps 18 fps at most.
To find out where readers draw the line today—and whether 60 fps now feels insufficient—PC Gamer spent a week asking what minimum frame rate they consider playable.
The minimum frame rates readers will accept
| Minimum playable frame rate | Votes (%) |
|---|---|
| 60 fps | 50 |
| 30 fps | 20 |
| 45 fps | 12 |
| 120 fps | 11 |
| 24 fps, as in movies | 4 |
| 240 fps + for highly competitive play | 2 |
At 50% of votes, 60 fps remains the clearest benchmark for playable performance among PC Gamer readers. Half of respondents chose it as the lowest frame rate they would accept from their games and hardware.
Still, 36%—more than a third—are willing to play below that threshold. The 20% who chose 30 fps would likely find agreement among console developers, many of whom would consider that level acceptable.
Another 12% selected 45 fps. James suspects a substantial share of that group may use a Steam Deck, another handheld gaming PC, or a laptop with a high-performing iGPU. That is speculation rather than a finding of the poll, but it reflects greater willingness to accept lower frame rates in exchange for portable gaming convenience.
At the other end, 11% require at least 120 fps, while 2% chose 240 fps +. Those thresholds call for both capable gaming monitors and PCs with enough graphics performance to support them.
Would you insist on high frame rates, or accept a compromise such as 45 fps? Readers were invited to share their views in the comments.
The next reader question
The following week's poll turns to the age of readers' hardware: what is the oldest component still inside your current gaming PC?
About Dave James
Dave's gaming history reaches back to Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, along with Commodore Vic 20 code books, including Death Race 2000! He built his first gaming PC at 16, then spent roughly a year troubleshooting the Cyrix-based machine before dropping it out of a window.
He began writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World, later joining PC Format full-time and writing for PC Gamer, TechRadar and T3, among others. Back at PC Gamer, he covers graphics cards, CPUs, gaming laptops and SSDs.
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