If you’re unfamiliar with gaming, you might have heard the frequent abbreviation ‘FPS’ and wondered what it represents.
The term actually has two meanings among gamers, so we will take a thorough look at these abbreviations and go into more detail about each one.
FPS can mean various things depending on the context. If you are discussing video game genres, FPS means First Person Shooter, but if graphical performance is being discussed, FPS means Frames Per Second.
A game known as a First Person Shooter is when the player views the game from the perspective of their character, as if they were actually present. The primary focus is on shooting. There are alternative games with a comparable viewpoint, but they do not require shooting. Typically, these games involve puzzle-solving, such as Portal or The Stanley Parable.
The First Person Shooter is one of the most popular video game genres, and there are numerous eSports events dedicated to FPS games. Perhaps the most well-known FPS of these is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but there are other exceptionally successful shooters, including the Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises.
Due to their renown as online multiplayer games, FPS (first-person shooter) players will require outstanding FPS (frames per second) to remain competitive.
**Frames per second** (or frame rate) is the measurement of how many images a GPU can produce in one second. The more frames that are displayed, the more fluid the motion and the more pleasant your gaming experience.
There is a reason why competitive gamers want to play on monitors with high refresh rates with the best available graphics cards. Playing an online shooter at 200 FPS will grant you a significant advantage over a similarly skilled gamer playing at 60 FPS.
Even without these advantages, most players want a higher FPS to enjoy their gaming experience to the fullest. If the images are excellent quality but aren’t produced at a rapid, steady framerate, games will be far less visually appealing and less enjoyable to play. In 2025, the standard target for FPS is 60. This number used to be 30 and, with the constant advancement of technology, it’s safe to assume it will only continue to trend higher.
A graphics card works in such a way that the GPU chip will perform all the computations required to produce the image that the user requested. This means you will see the image that you specified in your graphics configuration as long as your graphics card meets the basic requirements. If your card is adequate enough, your monitor will display the exact quality of the image that you requested.
This is also where problems can occur. Although the image quality might be exceptional, the frame rate could suffer greatly depending on your GPU. If it isn’t powerful enough, it could still render the image, but it may need extra time to do so, which can lead to bottlenecking.
The best way to achieve a stable frame rate with appealing image quality is to patiently adjust the graphics settings in your chosen game. There are other tools, such as Nvidia’s GeForce Experience, which allows you to make changes to the settings outside of the game, but this particular tool uses the game’s settings options. It can still be very useful because it allows you to optimize the settings before launching the game.
In some cases, particularly when gaming competitively online, it could even be beneficial to reduce some video details to achieve a higher FPS and gain a tactical edge.
