How to read an FPS counter

That number in the corner of your screen is easy to misread. An FPS counter counts frames your computer finished in one second, not pictures your monitor showed. A 144 Hz panel still refreshes 144 times a second when the counter reads 200. You finished extra frames, but the screen didn’t display them as extra images.

I read that number on an RTX 5080 and an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2, on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor. This guide shows you how to read the counter before you change anything. The guides index covers the rest of the settings work.

Next to the average sits the 1% low, the slow tail. Once that pair tells you whether the scene was even, heavy, or hitching, the frame-rate guide takes over.

Official counters (use one)

• NVIDIA App overlay: NVIDIA’s in-game overlay note, updated 4 August 2025, is for GeForce RTX and GeForce GTX 600 Series and newer. Enable In-Game Overlay under Settings, Features. Default toggle is Alt+R. Alt+Shift+R cycles metrics. Alt+Z, then Statistics, then Configure heads up display, is opacity and which numbers show. NVIDIA’s App page lists real-time FPS, GPU and CPU utilization, FPS 1% Low, and PC and system latency with Reflex Analyzer support. Remaining GeForce Experience users should upgrade to the NVIDIA App, because NVIDIA says those GeForce Experience servers will be switched off.
• AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition: AMD’s Performance Metrics FAQ, updated 12 November 2024, is the Radeon overlay. Search Metrics in AMD Software, open Performance Metrics, and turn Show Metrics Overlay on. Default toggle is Ctrl+Shift+O. AMD lists Frame Rate in FPS, Frame Time, 99th% FPS, and Stutter Rate. Sampling can sit between 0.25 and 5 seconds. Logging exists as a separate switch, default Ctrl+Shift+L.
• Xbox Game Bar: Microsoft’s Game Bar page opens it with the Windows logo key and G. Intel’s Windows 11 note, last reviewed 5 September 2024, says the Performance section there shows FPS. Microsoft’s Game Bar troubleshooting page says to turn Game Bar on under Settings, Gaming, Game Bar if Windows logo key and G does nothing.

If the game has a show-FPS line, a performance display, or a frametime graph, that is the one. It is counting the game you are in. An overlay is the fallback. Steam’s 30 June 2025 client note puts its overlay under Settings, In Game, Performance Overlay. Steam’s Performance Monitor FAQ is the page that explains those numbers. At the smallest detail it is a single FPS value. It can also separate generated frames from the frames the game drew. Two overlays are two samples. They can disagree because they averaged different moments, or because one counted extra pictures. Read one, and turn the other off.

The short version: one counter, one busy scene, both the average and the low. A number stuck on the refresh is a limit, not the card’s maximum.

What to check first

An FPS counter counts frames the computer finished. Read it in a busy scene, and read the low as well as the average. A number that will not climb is a limit, not the card's maximum.

Where the number isNot sure yetThe game shows oneAn overlay shows oneMinecraft's F3 screenWhat it does in a fightNot sure yetIt sits on one numberIt jumps aroundIt stays above the refreshThe refresh rateNot sure yet60 Hz144 Hz165 Hz240 Hz

What this means

Name the source

Use the game's own counter if it has a show-FPS line. Otherwise one overlay. Steam's is under Settings, In Game, Performance Overlay. Two counters on screen can be two different samples. Read one.

Read the refresh before you judge the counter. Windows shows it under Settings, System, Display, Advanced display. A 144 Hz panel left at 60 is a 60 Hz screen, and a counter sitting on 60 is matching that setting. Do this on every screen you play on. A number copied from a video, for a refresh you are not using, is someone else’s screen.

A menu is the easy moment. The card is drawing a still interface, not a turn through a fight. Stand in the place you actually play, or replay one fight, and watch the counter there. In Overwatch that is a team fight, not the spawn room. In Minecraft it is a turn through the world you play, not the pause screen.

The average hides the hitch

The average is the middle of that scene. It is the number people quote. It is also the number that can look fine while the picture hitches. The slow frames are a small share of the second, so they barely move the average, and they are the part you felt.

Many games, and NVIDIA’s overlay, call that slow tail the 1% low. It is not a second copy of the average, and it is not a grade of the PC. It is the bad end of the scene you just played. NVIDIA’s App page lists FPS 1% Low as a metric you can put on that overlay. AMD prints a nearby cut as 99th% FPS. Those are two official labels for the slow end. They are not the same formula. Compare a low only with the average from the same counter. An average near 144 with a low near 60 hitch. The average said the scene was fine. The low said it was not. A higher average that still hitches is not the result you wanted.

Some counters print the same fact in milliseconds, one frame at a time. Divide 1000 by that number and you have the FPS of that single frame. AMD lists Frame Time next to Frame Rate. The frame-rate guide already uses about 16.7 milliseconds for a 60 FPS frame and about 6.9 milliseconds for a 144 FPS frame. At 155 Hz, the sharper screen I sit in front of, that gap is about 6.5 milliseconds. At 240 Hz, the Overwatch screen, it is about 4.2. One 16.7 in a run of 4.2s is the hitch. The average smoothed it into a number that looked like the refresh. The low, or that one long frame, is the reading that matches what you saw. The frame-time and Hz calculator prints that invert next to the refresh interval.

Watch the same moment twice before you trust a jump. A counter updates in samples. AMD lets that interval sit as coarse as five seconds. One sample during a load, or while the camera was still, is not the fight. If the low stays low on the second pass, the scene really did fall. If it does not, you read a one-off.

When the number will not climb

A counter that sits on the refresh and never goes past it is at a ceiling. The card may be able to finish more. Something told it not to, or the wait for the next trip is holding the count on that rate. That ceiling is not the card’s maximum. It is a limit you can see. If you set a cap, the counter should sit on the number you typed and not climb past it. If it climbs past, the line you edited is not the one in force. NVIDIA’s Max Frame Rate and AMD’s Frame Rate Target Control are those driver ceilings. VSync is a different wait: it holds a finished frame until the next trip.

A counter that sits on 60 while Advanced display says 144 is the same kind of limit, at the wrong rate. A borderless or windowed game uses the desktop rate. A fullscreen game can keep its own video setting, including a refresh of 60 or a frame limit near 60. The monitor did not ignore you. The counter is reporting the limit that is actually on.

On a 60 Hz panel, a counter that sits on 60 is that panel’s ceiling. It can still be a cap on top of the ceiling. It is not, by itself, proof the card is weak. Proof would be a busy scene whose low falls apart while nothing is capping it.

In Minecraft, press F3. The counter is on that debug screen. Read it while you stand in the world you play, then turn the camera. The menu, and the pause screen, are not the test. The number during a turn is the one that matches the world. Sodium plus Iris still wants the same reading: a busy look around, not a still inventory.

Utilization is the other column, not a second score

NVIDIA’s overlay can sit GPU and CPU utilization next to FPS. AMD’s list does the same: GPU Utilization, CPU Utilization, clocks, and temperatures. Steam’s June 2025 note says those extra columns are there to show whether a slow CPU, a slow GPU, or a memory squeeze is the cause. They are not a second frame rate.

A GPU sitting near full, with a counter that will not climb, is the card finishing as many frames as that scene allows. A GPU sitting low, with a counter that still hitches, is often the processor, a stall, or a limit you already set. Those percentages do not raise the frame rate. They tell you which side to cut first when you open the frame-rate guide. Paste the same three overlay numbers into the bottleneck estimator if you want that label written out.

Steam’s Performance Overlay has four official detail levels: a single FPS value; FPS details; FPS details plus CPU and GPU utilization; and FPS, CPU, GPU, and RAM. Start at the single value if you only need the count. Open the rest when the count is short and you want to know which part of the machine is busy. You can change that detail in the game. You do not need a third program to do it.

What the counter does not say

It does not raise the frame rate. Turning it on adds a small draw of its own, the digits in the corner. NVIDIA still ships the overlay because that cost is the price of seeing the number. It does not finish the frames faster. A scene that was short stays short until you give each frame less work.

It does not time the click. Frame generation can insert pictures the game did not draw, and a counter that counts those pictures goes up. Steam’s June 2025 overlay can show that second number apart from the frames the game drew. NVIDIA’s overlay still prints FPS, and it can also print system latency when Reflex Analyzer support is on. The higher FPS figure is extra pictures. It is not an earlier click. Reflex is the line that times the click. How late an inserted picture sits is a different problem from reading the count.

It does not change the monitor’s refresh rate. Set that rate in Advanced display first. Then read the counter against it. Frames past the refresh can trim a little delay. They are not extra pictures. A 240 Hz panel still starts 240 trips a second when the 5080 finishes 300. The extra frames existed. The glass did not show them.

It does not settle an argument between two overlays. If NVIDIA’s number and Game Bar’s number sit apart, you are looking at two samples, or at two ways of counting generated frames. Pick one. Leave it on for the next change. Five overlays at once make the number move, and you will not know which sample you believed.

If you have one counter, one busy scene, and both the average and the low, you have the reading. The next change belongs to the frame-rate guide, and it is one change. Five changes at once make the number move, and you will not know which one did it.

A missing overlay is an incomplete setup, not a weak card. Turn on the game’s line, or one of the three official counters above. Then read the pair. A high average with a collapsing low is still a hitch. Both numbers low together means the scene is heavy. A number glued to the refresh means you found a limit. More guides.

Common questions

How do you read an FPS counter?

Look at it during a busy moment in the game, not in a menu. The average FPS tells you overall speed, and the 1% low shows the stutters the average hides. If the number never goes above your refresh rate, there's a cap in place.

What is a good FPS?

A steady FPS that matches your monitor's refresh rate, like 144 FPS on a 144 Hz screen. Going higher can slightly lower input lag, but your monitor won't show the extra frames.

What does 1% low FPS mean?

It's the frame rate of your slowest frames, which shows how bad your stutters are. If your average is 144 but your 1% low is 60, you'll feel hitches even though the average looks great.

Why is my FPS stuck at 60?

Usually there's a cap: VSync, an in-game limit, or Windows running your monitor at 60 Hz. Check the refresh rate in Windows Advanced display settings, then look for a frame limit in the game.

Does higher FPS always look smoother?

Only up to your monitor's refresh rate, and only if your 1% lows stay close to the average. A high average with big drops still feels choppy. Frame generation can also raise the number without the game rendering every frame.

How do I turn on an FPS counter?

Use the game's built-in FPS display if it has one. Otherwise, NVIDIA App's overlay opens with Alt+R, AMD Software with Ctrl+Shift+O, Xbox Game Bar with Windows+G, and Steam has a Performance Overlay under Settings, In Game.

Why do two FPS counters show different numbers?

They're measuring at different moments or counting frames differently. Some counters include frame generation frames and some don't. Use one counter at a time so your readings are consistent.

Does frame generation inflate FPS?

Yes. The generated frames get counted, so the number goes up even though the game isn't rendering those frames or responding faster. Steam's overlay can show generated frames separately.

How do I check FPS in Minecraft?

Press F3 to open the debug screen, and your FPS shows in the top left. Check it while moving around in your world, not on the pause screen.