Having a better GPU will almost certainly lead to better
gaming performance.
We know what you're thinking - something along the lines of:
"Tell us something we don't know, Mr Holmes."
But bear with us - there is a bit more to this blog than
stating the blindingly obvious.
Our friends at NVIDIA - manufacturer of standard-setting
GPUs - have conducted an in-depth study into just how much difference a top-class
graphics card can make.
Esports pros have been tuning their hardware for 144 FPS or
even 240 FPS for many years. When you're in the midst of the frantic gameplay
of Fortnite or Call of Duty, the minute split-second gap between when a pro
clicks the mouse and when the resulting image is displayed on screen can make
the difference between success or failure.
It's called latency. Simply put, the faster your GPU, the
less time it takes for the instruction of the mouse to be processed and
displayed on the monitor.
According to the NVIDIA study, the latency of a system with
an NVIDIA RTX graphics card is halved compared to a GeForce GTX 750 Ti - and
nearly six times less than a system without a GeForce GPU.
The simplest way to calculate performance in a Battle Royale
game is the kill-to-death ratio, that is, how many times you killed another
player, divided by how many times another player killed you.
NVIDIA found that
the median player using new GeForce RTX 20-Series graphics cards had a 53
percent higher kill-to-death ratio compared to a player using the older GTX
600-Series cards. Pretty conclusive findings.
And that ratio increased significantly as NVIDIA looked at
people who game 20 hours a week, and still further up to 40 hours a week.
NVIDIA then took things further by combining the better
performance GPUs with higher performance monitors. Unsurprisingly, performance
improved across the board as FPS increased.
That's all well and good, you might say, but is this only
relevant for pro players? Is it worth spending more on a top dollar GPU if
you're a casual gamer?
Well, if you want to perform at your best, and consequently
enjoy the experience as much as possible, the answer is yes. If you want to be
the best you can be at Battle Royales, 60FPS no longer cuts the mustard. The
games are just too intense.
Consider optimising your system for 144 FPS or greater and
pair it with a 144 Hz monitor. 240 Hz monitors are also an option, but you'll
need a powerful enough graphics card to get the full benefit out of it.
But a word of caution - simply buying the best GPU isn't
going to turn you into the next Ninja overnight. You will still need skill and
you will still need to practice.
But it will, as this NVIDIA research shows, improve your
performance - and increase your enjoyment.
For the full NVIDIA study, including a breakdown of how high
frame rates impact individual games from Apex Legends to PlayerUnknown's
Battlegrounds,
click here