How Can You Estimate How Much GPU Performance Headroom Remains for a 120 FPS Target?
If a project targets 120 FPS and will add more characters, effects, and post processing, how can you determine how much GPU performance headroom remains?
You can estimate the per frame GPU Clocks budget based on the target device's rated GPU frequency and the target frame rate. For the current test device, the GPU's rated frequency is approximately 902 MHz , and the project targets 120 FPS : https://uwa overseas public.oss us east 1.aliyuncs.com/uploads/markdown/5fdf1d77 bc5f 43d1 b30e f21283c76092.png 902 MHz ÷ 120 FPS ≈ 7.5 million cycles/frame The 7.5 million cycles/frame figure is a theoretical reference limit derived from the device's rated GPU frequency. In the current GameOptim GOT Online report, GPU Clocks already exceeds this level in some intervals, indicating that these intervals may affect the 120 FPS target. However, mobile devices cannot guarantee that the GPU will maintain its rated frequency for extended periods. As power consumption and temperature increase, the GPU may also reduce its frequency. Therefore, some headroom needs to be reserved when setting the actual performance budget. For now, the budget can be estimated at 80% of the theoretical limit : 7.5 million × 80% ≈ 6 million cycles/frame The 6 million cycles/frame value can be used as a GPU budget reference for the current device tier, but it is not a universal fixed safety threshold . When adding characters, effects, shadows, or post processing, use the same device and the same scene to compare GPU Clocks and determine how much of the available budget the new content consumes. If GPU usage approaches or exceeds the budget, rendering load can be reduced based on the visual contribution and performance cost. For example: Reduce the number of on screen effects. Disable some shadows. Reduce the quality of post processing. Change Bloom from 1/2 sampling to 1/4 sampling . GPU Clocks can be used to evaluate the overall GPU budget , but it cannot directly tell you how many additional effects the project can support. Different effects have different screen coverage, Overdraw, and Shader complexity, so their actual cost needs to be confirmed through comparative testing. GPU architectures also have different computational capabilities per cycle. Therefore, GPU Clocks should not be directly compared across different devices . A more appropriate approach is to select a standard test device for each hardware tier and use it to compare different versions and graphics quality configurations. Finally, perform longer duration tests and continue monitoring GPU Clocks, frame rate, temperature, and power consumption . If GPU Clocks exceeds the reference budget after new content is added, accompanied by a frame rate drop or performance fluctuations after running for a period of time, the rendering workload needs to be reduced.