Frametime Analysis

We present a more in-depth analysis than just average FPS to show how the framerate changes over time, which helps highlight FPS drops. Minimum FPS at both the 95th and 99th percentile are reported in these charts, too. A second chart, a histogram, shows shape and spread for the frametime data—how tightly grouped the measurements are. The "IQR" result is called "Interquartile Range," which is an outlier-resistant statistical value that tells us the range in the middle of the frametime distribution.

In the following charts, we are comparing two G.SKILL retail memory kits. The primary and sub-timings are based on the individual XMP profiles and are not adjusted further. By doing so, these charts represent a direct comparison between G.SKILL 7200 MT/s 32 GB and G.SKILL 7200 MT/s 48 GB Trident Z5 memory kits.

Tests are conducted with the following components:
CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K (Locked P-core 5.5 GHz, E-cores 4.3 GHz)
GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 4090 XLR8 VERTO
Memory (1): G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 (32 GB) F5-7200J3445G16GX2-TZ5RK (34-45-45-115)
Memory (2):G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-7200 (48 GB) F5-7200J3646F24GX2-TZ5RS (36-46-46-115)




Pitting these two charts against each other helps illustrate how primary and secondary timings may impact the framerate in games. Lower graphical settings places a higher load on the CPU due to shorter rendering times per frame from the Graphics card, thus more frames in total.




As the resolution and/or graphical settings are increased, so are the render times per frame from the graphics card. When the frame rate is no longer constrained by the processor's ability to complete the required calculations, the gap between memory kits shrinks. In this example, due being mostly "GPU-bound," the gap is only a few frames apart on average. However, the 1% gap is still present and can be directly attributed to the different primary and secondary timings in both memory kits.




Pushing into 4K resolution and Cyberpunk 2077 becomes completely GPU bound, leaving the CPU waiting on the graphics card to finish each calculation. With a margin of error of 3%, these two memory kits are indistinguishable at this resolution using an RTX 4090.