GTA-V PC Graphics Performance Review - FCAT Frametime Recording GTX Titan X & 290X

Frametime and latency performance

With a benchmark technology called FCAT on the following two pages, we will look into Frame Experience Analysis. Basically with the charts shown we are trying to show you graphics anomalies like stutters and glitches in a plotted chart. Lately there has been a new measurement introduced, latency measurements. Basically it is the opposite of FPS.

• FPS mostly measures performance, the number of frames rendered per passing second.
• Frametime AKA Frame Experience recordings mostly measures and exposes anomalies - here we look at how long it takes to render one frame. Measure that chronologically and you can see anomalies like peaks and dips in a plotted chart, indicating something could be off. 

We have a detailed article (read here) on the new FCAT methodology used, and it also explains why we do not use FRAPS anymore. Frametime - Basically the time it takes to render one frame can be monitored and tagged with a number, this is latency. One frame can take say 17 ms. Higher latency can indicate a slow framerate, and weird latency spikes indicate a stutter, jitter, twitches; basically anomalies that are visible on your monitor.

What Do These Measurements Show?

Basically, what these measurements show are anomalies like small glitches and stutters that you can sometimes (and please do read that well, sometimes) see on screen. Below I'd like to run through a couple of titles with you. Bear in mind that Average FPS matters more than frametime measurements. It's just an additional page or two of information that from now on we'll be serving you.

Frame Pacing Enhancements Single GPU

Above the frame-time FPS plat of the test run @ 2560x1440 performed with a single GeForce GTX Titan X Radeon R9 290X (8GB) . Above is the indicator of performance relative to percentiles. E.g. for AMD 50% of the frames is roughly rendered at 63 FPS. No huge drop off points for both cards, meaning the FPS is very steady.

This test run lasts roughly 55 seconds. The GeForce GTX Titan X is showing smooth performance without any stutters. As you can see both cards do extremely well, there is a bit of frame latency at the R9 290X due to the slower performance, but also frame pacing. Overall this is pretty darn smooth but there is a notch more frame-pace latency in-between the frames going on alright for AMD.