Mouse vs Gamepad on gameplay smoothness?

[Guizin]

Okay, now, this is a bit of a polemic subject. Flaming is not my purpose, and I would like you guys to restrain your opnions on wherever gaming mode you think works the best. Of course I can't make you guys not to express your views, but it is just a suggestion. Well, okay, let's get to the point:
I have noticed that a couple of games for X360/PS3 are locked on 30fps, and yet it looks very smooth. Capping PC games on 30fps won't look nearly as smooth as it looks on consoles. I've looked it up on Google, and beside the fact that discussions of this kind are somewhat rare, I did find some possible answers:
*Severe framedrop/Unstable framerate
*Distance between you and the display
*Differences between the TV which the console is plugged and the PC screen
**Gamepad**
It isn't for unstable framerate, since I can maintain 30fps on pretty much every game, and the fps are CAPPED at 30.
Distance might be related, but surely not the major factor, since getting as far as I could from the PC did little to nothing.
And we have the gamepad thing. For real, doens't sound like a valid option. I just can't imagine how a gamepad could make the game smoother. But, by now, I have no means to verify this claim, so I can't take any kind of conclusions. So I would like to ask if anyone here could try limiting the framerate of some games and play it with a gamepad in order to verify if there is a perceptable difference from smoothness with and without the gamepad. Thanks.

*******************THIS THREAD IS NOT ON WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT GAMEPAD AND MOUSES*****************

****************THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT MOUSES VS GAMEPAD************
****************THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT MOUSES VS GAMEPAD************
****************THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT MOUSES VS GAMEPAD************
****************THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION ABOUT MOUSES VS GAMEPAD************

[Blue]

a console runs games at 30fps locked on. when its locked it never rises above 30 fps or below 30fps its locked at exactly 30 frames per second. On a computer even if it says 30 fps it could actually be lagging cause its not a constant locked 30 fps. So even though it says 30 fps, its probably jumping around from 28fps to 29 fps to 32 down to 30 and so on moving around constantly giving an unstable gameplay.

[Blue]

But if you had a super pc gaming rig or even just middle level, you can achieve beyond consoles with higher resolutions and better stable frames. So consoles achieve 576p and sometimes 720p resolutions with usually 30fps locked on. Mid level pc's with like a mid level intel i3 cpu, nvidia 550ti gtx, and 4gb of ram could achieve 1080p with much higher frames of 60 frames per second. High level systems could achieve even 2k resolutions or 2048p and 120 frames per second. Game pad isnt valid. It doesnt change how smooth gaming is besides the fact that it might be more comfortable for you than mouse and keyboard.

[funkycmunky]

Ive gamed on consoles since nes came out.Played on xbox until about 2 years ago.U can tell a big diffrence in quality.I built myself and my son rigs,and now neither of us play our xboxs.The controller iznt as precise.Just dont set game quality higher than what ur rig can handle.

[Guizin]

Thank you guys for the answers. But I guess that I wasn't able to explain myself properly. English is not my native language, so...well, who knows?
Lets get things clear: I am not trying to verify which plataform provides the best gameplay, the best graphics or whatsoever. This is not the main subject of this thread. I am, instead, trying to find why is that 30fps on console is smoother than 30fps on PC. I have already stated that this is TRULY not a problem of unstable framerate. I have a very powerful rig, and it have zero problem on maintaining 30fps CONSTANT on any game, not matter the settings. It does however have problems maintaining 60fps constant, which is somewhat unsettling. And consoles are not FPS locked. They are CAPPED at 30fps, and even they have problems on getting that framerate. There isn't anything like locking the frame rate. If the hardware can't keep 30fps, then it will not, no matter in what circunstances. And this is not even my point. My point is that 30fps on consoles looks smoother than 30fps on PC, and I'm just trying to find out why. I've Google it, and some people claimed that this could be related to mouse+keyboard controls. As I said before, it doens't make sense, but I have no means to verify it, so, if someone could please do it for me and inform the results accurately, well, than thanks.

[TheCodifier]

Console games (30 fps) are maybe using the same tactic as movies (24 fps) and television (30 fps): motion blur.

I know that movies and television use motion blur. I don't know if console games are using it too, that's why I say "maybe".

[Benjamin]

Some of the smoothness you see in LCD TVs is due to display lag when pixels refresh. Older CRTs didn't have this problem, but most low to mid range LCDs have pretty poor display response time. It makes things blur a bit during motion, which has the effect of making things look smoother. You're losing clarity though as a tradeoff.

[em_t_hed]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Benjamin:

Some of the smoothness you see in LCD TVs is due to display lag when pixels refresh. Older CRTs didn't have this problem, but most low to mid range LCDs have pretty poor display response time. It makes things blur a bit during motion, which has the effect of making things look smoother. You're losing clarity though as a tradeoff.

this sounds exactly like what film makers do with films using 24fps to get that 'film' look for a movie. intentional motion blur to make things look smooth. or something like that

[Guizin]

Well, motion blur can be the answer...crap, I thought i was going to make my games as smooth as consoles games :(

[.:Ω-420:.]

Maybe its because the consoles hardware is banged more directly without several layers of OS API's between the HW and the game.So the latency (from input to reaction of the game) is smaller and the game feels smoother even at only 30fps.

[Vynn Tage]

If your monitor/tv has a higher refresh rate then the frame rate it can look smoother. the extra frames make for a smoother and more crisp change, watch hdtv on a 120 hz tv to see some of this effect (not a 3d tv just a 120hz).

[Smig]

not all console games are 30 fps. cod and some others are 60 fps

[Guizin]

Diposting pertama kali oleh Smig =TGT=:

not all console games are 30 fps. cod and some others are 60 fps

It doens't matter. Console games that are capped at 30fps run much smoother than on PC, capped on the SAME frame rate.

[Pramienjager]

I guess I am missing something here, because there isnt a console on the planet that looks and responds as smoothly as my PC. I am wondering if you are speaking about pure astetics or actual "movement"? for example when I play games using my mouse (3500dpi) I get jerky and tend to get a bit of screen tear even with high AA or similar but when I use a controller the anologue sticks help prevent that.

[Guizin]

Diposting pertama kali oleh src.zifnab369:

I guess I am missing something here, because there isnt a console on the planet that looks and responds as smoothly as my PC. I am wondering if you are speaking about pure astetics or actual "movement"? for example when I play games using my mouse (3500dpi) I get jerky and tend to get a bit of screen tear even with high AA or similar but when I use a controller the anologue sticks help prevent that.

****AT 30 FPS****
This is important. 60fps on PC is surely a hell lot smoother than on any console. But 30fps is not. This is my point. 30fps on consoles are smoother than 30fps on computer. Why?

[scotch_egg]

I play BF3 on both pc and xbox and with the control pad I use much lower sensitivity. The faster you turn at 30fps, the more you see the lag. The mouse on pc is nearly always set at a higher dpi since its more precise. Perhaps a test at very similar control speeds on both systems (at 30fps) would be useful. I would do it myself but I dont have a controller for pc