When we look at graphs for GPU and CPU processors processing power, there is a section where they talk about one percent lows, what is that?
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You can use 1% lows with all sorts of metrics, and it’s basically telling you what the worst 1% of your measurement was. The closer it is to your average, the more stable your performance is.
In CPU or GPU testing, one of the metrics you might use is FPS. Now average FPS is one way of measuring this, but it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. If I display 5940 frames in 100 seconds of gameplay, that’s 59.4 FPS, which is close to the standard of 60 FPS. Sounds alright – not amazing, but certainly playable, right? Well, maybe.
– If I get that 59.4 FPS because every 100th frame is dropped, I’ll have a 60 seconds with 59 frames and 40 seconds with 60 frames. In this case, the 1% low – the worst second of my 100 – is going to be 59 FPS and people aren’t going to be able to tell the difference. Even if they could, 59 frames is still pretty close to 60 and is, despite what some PC builder snobs will tell you, perfectly playable.
– If that 59.4 FPS is instead 99 frames of 60 FPS and an entire second of no frames, my 1% low is the second with 0 frames. EVERYONE will be able to notice that, and it will cause problems in gameplay. This is why the 1% low is important – it tells you how bad the bad is.
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