Frame Time Calculator
Convert FPS to frame time (ms) and analyze your frame budget.
Find out how much time each frame has for smooth gameplay.
Frame time is how long (in milliseconds) your GPU takes to render each individual frame. It is the inverse of FPS:
Frame Time (ms) = 1000 ÷ FPS
While FPS gives an average, frame time reveals consistency. A game averaging 60 FPS could still feel stuttery if individual frames take wildly different amounts of time to render — a phenomenon called frame pacing.
Why frame time matters:
- A perfectly smooth 60 FPS means every frame takes exactly 16.67 ms
- If most frames take 10 ms but one frame takes 100 ms, your average FPS looks fine but you feel a jarring stutter
- Frame time analysis (1% and 0.1% lows) is how reviewers detect poor frame pacing
Frame budgets by target FPS and refresh rate:
| Target | Frame budget |
|---|---|
| 30 FPS | 33.33 ms |
| 60 FPS | 16.67 ms |
| 120 FPS | 8.33 ms |
| 144 FPS | 6.94 ms |
| 165 FPS | 6.06 ms |
| 240 FPS | 4.17 ms |
Monitor sync technologies:
- G-Sync / FreeSync: Eliminate tearing by syncing monitor refresh rate to GPU output — frame time consistency matters more than raw FPS
- VRR range: Most G-Sync monitors work between 30–144 Hz (or 48–240 Hz on newer panels). Staying within this range maximizes smoothness.
CPU vs GPU frame time: In CPU-limited scenarios, the CPU finishes drawing each frame faster than the GPU can render — irregular frame delivery causes pacing issues even if average FPS is high.