Some games run at an "uncapped" framerate, where the game renders as many frames per second as it can at any given moment. The God of War games on PS3, for instance, run at an uncapped framerate, mostly between 30 and 40fps.

Others, such as Driveclub, choose to limit the framerate to an arbitary maximum of 30fps, which is more consistent, but means it doesn't always run as fast as it could.

Some recent games, such as Infamous Second Son, even allow the player to choose between an uncapped framerate or a 30fps cap.

Which do you prefer?

Capped. I prefer a consistent frame rate that a frame rate dancing between 45-30 or something like that. It's less noticeable for me. And I'm fine with 30 fps if it's not a racing game, shooter and fast-paced games in general.

Obviously, 60FPS is the most ideal setting when possible, but when that isn't the case, I prefer a capped framerate for consistency, as opposed to an uncapped, inconsistent framerate.

I actually prefer my framerates uncapped rather than capped at 30fps.

When playing Bayonetta 2, for instance, which varies from 30-60fps, (mostly in the 35-50 range during action setpieces) I appreciated that at least it was well above 30fps most of the time. Capping it at 30fps would have made it feel less fast and fluid.

Capped. Consistent.

30 or 60. I'll never go uncapped.

This is the best of both worlds... so this.

If not possible, then I prefer locked 30fps. I really don't like unstable games, it ruins the fluidity in my opinion.

Capped for consistency

Each time I could test capped or uncapped I always preferred uncapped, even with only 35-40 fps like in Infamous SS or Killzone SF where it's often running at only ~35fps, but also often much higher. It makes a world of difference IMO, it's much less blurry even with only 5-10 fps added.

So I guess I prefer uncapped.: More clarity, less blur >>> added judder

Adaptive vsync can't come soon enough! The best of both worlds!

It depends ...

Without V-sync an uncapped framerate may be better due to more consistent frame times ...

With V-sync I think it breaks down to two cases. In the first case if you can maintain an average FPS of above 55 or so with only rare instances of dipping below to the high 40's then you mostly get a better experience since the vast majority of the frames are delivered in 16ms rather than 33ms. In the second case if the framerate varied wildly between 30-50FPS then I would prefer a 30FPS cap in that instance since it gives better frame times which is important when it comes to delivering a smooth control response ...

*Laments how consoles don't have adaptive sync.*