I found myself often setting the deck to 50 fps to save some performance but still get a very fluid picture.
Do you think running the deck at the highest frequency and halving that will be substantially better then anything from 46-50 or maybe even 46-60 at native frequency?
Not necessarily. Sometimes 45 FPS is still a bridge too far. You’ll still get the same benefit at 40 FPS: the screen will run at 80Hz with frame doubling. Even 30 FPS will feel better, because you now get frame tripling instead of just doubling. That means it will feel a little smoother and input lag will be less. Ironically, cranking back to 30 FPS to enjoy better battery life and performance may actually see a little more interest, if anything.