What does 75 FPS look like? The budget high-refresh tier and Steam Deck OLED target

How this is calculated

75 Hz monitors became a real category when panel makers realized they could push many budget 60 Hz IPS panels to 75 Hz over DisplayPort without artifacts. The upgrade is mostly free for the buyer - the panel is the same - so 75 Hz is the de facto 'budget gaming' tier. The catch is that to actually hit 75 FPS in newer games you usually need to drop settings or resolution, because the GPU work to go from 60 to 75 FPS is ~25% more throughput. The Steam Deck OLED's 90 Hz panel is a different story - that's specifically a 7-inch mobile panel - but the 75 Hz VRR mode on it shows the same 'slightly smoother than 60' effect.

Verdict

The 13.33 ms frame budget at 75 FPS is just 3.3 ms shorter than 60 FPS's 16.67 ms, which is below the threshold most viewers consciously register in static content and subtly smoother in fast motion. The category exists because panel makers realized many budget 60 Hz IPS panels could be pushed to 75 Hz over DisplayPort without artifacts, which made 75 Hz the de facto budget-gaming tier and mostly free for the buyer since the panel is the same. The reason it isn't a target tier: the GPU cost of going from 60 to 75 FPS is about 25% more throughput, and at that price of admission the perceptual gain doesn't justify itself versus a 144 Hz panel that costs barely more and delivers a tier-of-magnitude leap. The Steam Deck OLED use case is the exception where 75 Hz cap is intentional: capping below the panel's 90 Hz max extends battery life while staying clearly past 60.