it is good but not important
being good and using your brain matters way more

I don't play comp but I personally don't feel comfortable playing below ~120fps

As long as your frames aren't so low that you're teleporting around and having drops to like 10 FPS, it's good enough.

I think consistent 30 is extremely important. 60 is ideal. 120+ is best, but not necessary to get into competitive

If you can play well while even under the pressure of 20fps drops, then you can still play comp fine. but it will still hold you back till you get at least 30 average

20-30 to low? Cause that is what I have.

find a good scout who plays on 60 fps you have a huge disadvantage without 120

OP is getting into competitive, from a low level standpoint obviously 120+ is an advantage no matter what but majority of low level players probably wont be functioning on a level where you HAVE to shell out for a new rig to get into it. If you're playing at a higher level then the frame difference becomes more and more apparent.

OP also didn't mention what class he prefers so I was speaking in a general sense

lol what in the world are these responses

anything less than a 120 hz monitor is extremely bad and will dramatically hinder your gameplay. if you're going to have any fps under 120+ you better hope it's at least 60. Without 120/144 hz monitor and 144+ fps you will never unlock the potential you have and never be as consistent. being smart doesn't matter if you get out-aimed by everything you come into contact with. Before you take this game super seriously you should try to see if you can get the funds to at LEAST upgrade your computer, and more preferably both monitor and computer

yah I am building a computer right now that can run over 120 fps but the problem is i can't afford a monitor that will let me run the game at above 120 fps

The game will run at 120+ fps no matter what, if your build is capable of that. I assume you mean refresh rate on the monitor, which is how frequently the monitor updates to show frames. 144hz is best, definitely try and bargain shop around to find one. If you have to settle for a 60hz then upgrading later on when you do have the funds is always an option. 144hz is very distinguishable from 60hz when you try it out, but that's not to say you can't get into competitive without 144hz.

on scout its super needed or else u'll be like 9/10ths of a scout no matter how good you are simply bcuz of hardware

youre gonna be super frustrated when you miss shots that you would of hit on high fps because of mouse lag and stutters

More fps = more responsive = better gameplay = better player

The increased smoothness @ 144hz with good fps helps with hitscan aim a pretty decent amount. Do keep in mind however that most people GREATLY over exaggerate the benefits of (or dangers of not having) 144hz, mostly due to the fact that once you have played the game with it, playing with 60hz feels very wierd and can even give mild eye strain. If you are playing scout and care about getting good I highly encourage you to invest in getting a good monitor.

Additionally, I feel its important to stress that even if you don't have a 144hz/120hz monitor it is within your best interest to use a graphical config to increase your FPS regardless of whether your display will actually display all of those extra frames. Inputs to the game will be more accurate and your overall gameplay experience will feel better. It can make just as much of a difference as having a good monitor.

with lower fps also assuming you are only at 60hz your screen will most likely tear a fuckton and have alot of ghosting on it (unless its a good CRT), you will also constantly receive moderate input lag in your mouse and that greatly hinders your ability to aim and track properly, as someone who used to play on a 60hz lcd and an intel pentium 4 computer (30-50fps avg) going to a computer that can pump out 150-400fps on tf2 with 144hz I can tell you that upgrading your computer should be a priority if you ever want to really go far in comp fps games. the consistency and smoothness of tracking is unreal especially with 144hz

with cmdrate 66 having less than 66 fps at any given time will cause warping and bad connectivity stuff

consistent fps above 120 is pretty ideal, I usually have around 200 inconsistent and drops to 60 or less which is worse then lower fps but it being consistent, it causes mouse jitter and it can really be frustrating on a class that requires accuracy like sniper or scout.

x

I am 10x the player on over 120 fps than I am on my laptop (anywhere from 20 to 60 fps). You can't react effectively on sub 60, instead of controlled aim you have to rely a shittonne on luck and hope that input lag doesn't fuck you over. <60fps just doesn't work for competitive play.

The higher fps (up until a certain point) the better your aiming skill. I've never played on a monitor over 60hz but I often play on around 20 fps in hl and I can tell you it's 10 times harder than playing at decent fps.

You absolutely need 120+ fps if you're planning to play at your best.
Putting choppiness and lag aside, the mouse lag is just disgusting.

144hz is really important in scout v scout fights but scout v anything else is OK with 60. 144hz definitely helps but its completely doable with 60hz. I played for the longest time on 60hz and after switching to 144hz, the biggest improvement was definitely my scout v scout and my sniper aim.

Soldier and Demos benefit less and medics even less so.

at least 60 fps or tf2 becomes quite difficult. 60 fps is the highest i can get talking about consistency, i cant get 200fps consistently or even 80

Thanks for all the replies, I will try to save up for a 144hz monitor. Anyone know some good ones that aren't super expensive?

If you check craigslist you might be able to find a crt you can overclock for like $25. I found a really nice Sony one that can do up to 170hz for $40. It's probably the cheapest way to acquire refresh rate.

If you plan on buying such a monitor its critical that you can get consistent fps otherwise the extra Hz are useless.
Take a look at this thread.

very important

nvm misread

Thanks! I am getting a nice graphics card that can run tf2 at easily 120 fps on 1440. So I don't think that is to much of a problem.