Drasa is right; if your game happens to be really light on rendering, and really heavy on events, then the events will determine the performance of the game. However, I'm sure this is rare, and that most games spend more time on display. You're suffering from premature optimisation though. It's impossible to tell which your game will be until you make it, in which case trying to determine the fastest way is utterly futile. Make your game whichever way suits you best; if it's slow, find out why, and speed that part up (and that will probably be the renderer). You can't usually pre-empt that process.