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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →A frame-time graph shows how long frames take, usually in milliseconds; FPS percentiles summarize parts of that timing distribution. To read either correctly, identify the tool’s timing metric, distinguish a percentile threshold from a slowest-frame average, and check which part of gameplay the capture includes. A high average FPS can coexist with visible stutter because a single average does not show when slow frames occurred.
What is a frame-time graph?
Most frame-time graphs put time or frame index on the horizontal axis and frame duration, in milliseconds (ms), on the vertical axis. A low, fairly level trace means frames took similar amounts of time. A sudden rise means one or more frames took longer than the surrounding frames. For example, a nominal 60 FPS target corresponds to about 16.67 ms per frame: 1,000 divided by 60. This is a conversion, not a universal measure of acceptable performance.
Check the plotted metric before interpreting the line. “Frame time” can refer to different points in the graphics pipeline. FrameView 1.1 describes MsBetweenPresents as timing between rendered-frame Present calls near the beginning of the graphics pipeline, while MsBetweenDisplayChange measures the interval between display changes near the end, indicating more directly what the user sees. PresentMon also reports MsUntilDisplayed (from a Present call to display) and MsRenderPresentLatency (from a Present call to completion of GPU work for that frame); these fields answer different questions. See the PresentMon documentation and NVIDIA’s FrameView 1.1 User Guide.
A long frame-time spike establishes that a frame took longer; it does not by itself identify why. The timing alone cannot prove whether CPU work, GPU work, asset loading, shader compilation, synchronization, or another factor caused the delay. Assigning a cause requires a diagnostic trace that correlates CPU and GPU events.
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How do you read 1% lows?
First check the benchmark tool’s definition. In FrameView 1.4, 1% Low FPS is the average FPS of the slowest 1% of frames. FrameView’s separate 1% FPS is a percentile measurement: the FPS boundary separating the slowest 1% from the fastest 99%. Those are not interchangeable statistics. The definitions are specific to FrameView 1.4; when reporting another tool’s result, use that tool’s stated calculation. See NVIDIA’s FrameView 1.4 User Guide.
FPS and frame time run in opposite directions because FPS is the reciprocal of frame duration. A high-percentile frame time describes a threshold toward the slow end of the millisecond distribution; a low-end FPS statistic describes slow-performing frames. Do not take the reciprocal of a frame-time percentile and assume it equals the average FPS of the slowest fraction: a threshold and an average are different calculations.
What does 99th percentile frame time mean?
A frame-time percentile is a threshold, not the average duration of the frames in that tail. A 99th-percentile frame time is the value at or below which 99% of the measured frame times fall; the slowest 1% are above that threshold, subject to the tool’s percentile convention. NVIDIA’s FrameView 1.1 guide explains the principle with P95: if rendered P95 frame time is 16.67 ms, 95% of frames rendered faster than 16.67 ms.
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Read the unit and metric alongside the percentile. P99 in milliseconds is not the same as P99 FPS, and neither is automatically the same as “1% low.” A percentile also loses the shape of the data: it cannot show whether slow frames were one isolated event or a cluster. A graph or per-frame trace can reveal that timing pattern; the statistic condenses it.
Why does my FPS look high but feel stuttery?
An average FPS number compresses a capture into one value. It can remain high even if a small number of frames take much longer than their neighbors, producing a hitch the player notices. In NVIDIA Nsight Systems, the FPS overview includes frame durations and a stutter row that flags frames significantly longer than nearby ones. That makes a timing trace useful when an average does not match the experience; it does not, on its own, diagnose the cause. See the Nsight Systems FPS Overview documentation.
Also check whether the timing is rendered or displayed. A frame may be submitted or rendered at one cadence while display changes occur at another. PresentMon’s separate fields help distinguish those events, and NVIDIA describes displayed timing as more indicative of what the user sees. A graph of only Present-call intervals may therefore tell a different part of the story than displayed-frame timing.
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Is 1% low the same as 1% FPS?
No—not as a safe general assumption. FrameView 1.4 explicitly distinguishes its 1% Low FPS slowest-tail average from its separate 1% FPS percentile measurement. Other tools may use different formulas or labels, so a result should name the application, version, metric, unit, and calculation when available. A bare “1% low” figure is ambiguous if those details are missing.
What is the difference between rendered FPS and displayed FPS?
Rendered or presented timing describes events around submission into the graphics pipeline; displayed timing describes intervals between frames becoming visible on the display. In PresentMon, MsBetweenPresents measures time between Present calls, while MsBetweenDisplayChange measures how long the previous frame remained displayed before the next display change. MsUntilDisplayed and MsRenderPresentLatency measure still other intervals. They should not be substituted for one another merely because all are expressed as time.
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For comparisons about what a player sees, displayed timing is particularly relevant; for pipeline analysis, present and render-related timings can help answer different questions. State which one a capture reports rather than calling every value simply “FPS.”
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How to compare frame-time and percentile results fairly
Use captures that measure the same thing under comparable conditions. Before drawing a conclusion, line up the metric and capture scope; otherwise a difference in the number may reflect the measurement rather than the game’s performance.
- Metric and event: identify rendered/presented timing or displayed timing, plus the tool and version.
- Statistic: distinguish average FPS, percentile FPS, percentile frame time, and the average of a slowest-frame tail.
- Gameplay segment: compare the same scene or benchmark section and a similar capture duration.
- Conditions: keep settings, frame cap or sync setup, and background conditions as consistent as practical.
- Outliers: consider the size, frequency, and clustering of spikes, not only the single maximum.
- Exclusions: disclose whether menus, loading screens, transitions, or spikes were removed from the analyzed interval.
NVIDIA’s FrameView 1.1 guide says percentile data is highly sensitive to stutter and recommends excluding loading screens, menus, and large spikes when selecting a meaningful dataset. That can help isolate a gameplay segment, but it should not become a blanket reason to discard real gameplay hitches. If the question is whether play stutters, retain those events in a whole-session result or report them separately from a selected segment. See the FrameView 1.1 User Guide.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Which tools can show frame times and percentiles?
PresentMon Capture Application
The official PresentMon project documentation describes a capture application with a real-time performance overlay and trace capture. Its output includes per-frame CSV data and a summary with capture duration, frame count, average, minimum and maximum values, plus 99th-, 95th- and 90th-percentile FPS. It also exposes distinct present, display-change, display, and render-present timing fields, so check the field name before interpreting a number.
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NVIDIA FrameView
NVIDIA FrameView measures frame rates and frame times with a configurable real-time overlay and logging, using PresentMon analytics. NVIDIA’s product page links version 2.0 release notes, while the specific definitions discussed above come from user guides labeled versions 1.1 and 1.4; do not assume every label or calculation is identical across versions.
NVIDIA Nsight Systems
Nsight Systems’ FPS overview provides frame durations, average and minimum/maximum CPU frame times, average FPS, and a 99th percentile for the currently displayed timeline range. Its stutter row flags frames significantly longer than nearby frames. It is a profiling and diagnostic option, not a requirement for ordinary gameplay benchmarking.
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