FPS Test

How to Use This Test

1. Close other browser tabs and GPU-heavy applications before starting — they compete directly for the resources this test measures.
2. Start the test and let it run for at least 15 seconds.
3. Watch both the average FPS and the minimum FPS. The minimum is more informative — it catches stutters that average out in the mean.
4. Your FPS will naturally cap near your monitor's refresh rate. A 60Hz display will show roughly 60 FPS even with a fast GPU.
5. If the animation looks choppy despite a high FPS reading, try a different browser — rendering behaviour varies between Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

What Your Results Mean

FPS matches your monitor's refresh rate: Your browser is rendering at the display's full capability. This is the expected result.

FPS well below your monitor's refresh rate: Your system isn't keeping up. GPU load, CPU load, or browser overhead — close other applications and retest.

Average is good but minimum FPS shows large dips: Something periodically interrupts rendering — background tasks, garbage collection, or driver events. The average hides this; the minimum exposes it.

FPS locked at 60 on a 144Hz display: The OS may not be set to 144Hz, or the GPU driver is overriding it. Check display settings and GPU control panel.

Animation looks choppy despite normal FPS reading: V-sync or adaptive sync may be misconfigured. Try toggling V-sync in your GPU driver settings.

Common Problems and Fixes

FPS much lower than expected

Open Task Manager on Windows (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) or Activity Monitor on Mac. Sort by GPU usage. If another application is consuming most of the GPU, close it. Video players, games running in the background, and GPU-accelerated software all compete.

FPS is fine but animation looks jerky

Try toggling V-Sync in your GPU driver control panel. On NVIDIA, open NVIDIA Control Panel → Manage 3D settings → Vertical Sync. On AMD, use Radeon Settings. Also try a different browser.

FPS capped at 60 on a higher-refresh display

Confirm the OS is set to your display's full refresh rate. Check the GPU driver isn't enforcing 60Hz separately. Confirm the browser window is on the high-refresh monitor, not a secondary 60Hz display.

FPS drops every few seconds in a pattern

Regularly scheduled background tasks are interrupting rendering. These show as periodic low spikes in minimum FPS. Note whether this affects other applications — if so, it's a system-level issue, not a browser one.

Why This Test Matters

Low browser FPS is often an early indicator of a system issue that affects all GPU-accelerated applications — games, video editing, and graphic design tools. Identifying it in the browser is a quick first check of whether the rendering pipeline is healthy before diving into heavier troubleshooting.

For gamers, understanding the relationship between display refresh rate and GPU frame rate removes a common source of confusion when troubleshooting stuttering in games.

Why Your Frame Rate Might Be Low

A low number here, or in a game, usually comes from a handful of causes that are worth checking in order.

The most common is a refresh-rate cap: if your monitor runs at 60Hz, the browser typically can't display more than 60 FPS no matter how fast your hardware is, so a 60 reading on a 60Hz screen is normal and healthy. VSync deliberately locks frame rate to the refresh rate to prevent tearing, which produces the same ceiling. Background load — a dozen browser tabs, a video playing, a download, or a sync client — steals GPU and CPU time and drags the number down. Power settings matter on laptops: on battery, or in a power-saving profile, your machine throttles itself, so plug in and switch to a balanced or high-performance plan before judging the result. Finally, in actual games, low FPS points to settings that are too high for the GPU, an out-of-date graphics driver, or thermal throttling from a dusty, overheating machine.

Browser FPS vs In-Game FPS

It's important to know what this page actually measures. It reports how smoothly your browser can render animation right now, which is a good quick check of your display's effective rate and whether something is bogging the system down. It does not measure a specific game's frame rate — that depends on the game engine, its graphics settings and your GPU, and is best read with an in-game overlay or a tool like the Steam or Xbox Game Bar counter. Use this test to confirm your display and system are behaving; use an in-game counter to tune a particular game.

How to Get a Higher, Smoother Frame Rate

1. Raise your refresh rate. In Windows 11, Settings → System → Display → Advanced display — a 60Hz cap limits everything above it.
2. Close background apps and tabs. Each one competes for the same GPU and CPU time.
3. Plug in and use a performance power plan. Laptops throttle hard on battery saver.
4. Update your graphics driver. Driver updates routinely add measurable performance and fix stutter.
5. In games, lower the heaviest settings. Shadows, anti-aliasing and ray tracing cost the most FPS for the least visible gain.
6. Keep the machine cool. Clear dust and ensure airflow; thermal throttling quietly halves frame rates on hot laptops.

What Counts as a Good Frame Rate?

It depends on what you're doing. 30 FPS is the minimum for a game to feel playable and is common on consoles for visually heavy titles. 60 FPS is the comfortable standard most people aim for — smooth, responsive, and matched to a 60Hz monitor. 120–144 FPS on a matching high-refresh display feels markedly sharper in motion and is the target for fast-paced and competitive play. Beyond 240 FPS the gains are small and only useful on equally fast monitors. For non-gaming use, anything at or above your monitor's refresh rate is plenty — frames the display can't show are simply wasted. The real goal is a stable frame rate that holds at your refresh rate without dipping, because consistency feels better than a high average that stutters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next: Test your refresh rate →