Screen flicker/tearing w/o V-sync

AxE Vigilante

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Apr 2, 2013
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Hello all,

Wasn't sure where I should post this as its a little complicated.

Anyway, I have just rebuilt my pc using some parts from my previous along with a new case, motherboard, processor.

specs:

Case: Zalman Z11 High Performance
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream2 700 w
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
CPU: Intel i5 2500k 3.30 GHZ unlocked
RAM: 8 GB Dual Channel Corsair 1333 hz
GPU: ATI/AMD Radeon HD6750 1GB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 - 60GB (windows drive)
HDD: Weston Digital 750 GB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64

I am an older gamer and still play the game Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, I have since it was released back in 2003 and Return To Castle Wolfenstein before that. I ended up rebuilding my rig due to frames per second lag which was being caused by my Phenom 555 x2 (unlocked to quad core) having issues with core 1 (the default core).

So I built this rig two weeks ago, since then I have noticed while playing Enemy Territory that I get screen flickers and also screen tearing, I have tried many things in game with settings and configs, different resolutions and also different frames per second and nothing has helped.

I will say that I usually run this game at 125 fps and always have without any issue, I tried to lower the fps to see if it made any difference and if I actually set it down to 60 fps to match my monitor refresh rate the screen flicker is far worst. its like I am seeing the screen refresh.

I put v-sync on to see if it made a difference and it does indeed take away all the screen flicker, I also get this same result if I run in windowed mode without v-sync which I guess windows aero is also syncing this for me.

The problem is I cannot play this game with sync enabled, its too slow compared to others (the quake 3 quirky engine) and I also get input lag.

Since I have never experienced this problem before in ET, I am assuming it is hardware related so I have tried the following.

Switched monitors to my TV/monitor - no change
Tried a different VGA/DVI cable - no change
Tried HDMI cable into monitor - no change
Updated all AMD Drivers to latest - no change
Uninstalled all AMD drivers with driver sweeper - no change
Tried the onboard Intel HD3000 GPU - No change
Updated every single driver on pc including chipset - no change
scanned for Virus's with S+D, MB, Windows Optimizer - no threats


Things Tested:

CPU - with prime95 for over 3 hours, cores 0 + 3 reached around 62c max, cores 1 + 2 reached 65-66c max. 0 errors reported for any core.

RAM - tested with Memtest86 for 1.5 hours - 0 errors

any ideas much appreciated.

 

random stalker

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Feb 3, 2013
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Well, that is pretty normal as a lcd can not handle the fps with it's 60Hz refresh rates...

The solutions would be /from the top of my head/ virtual v-sync /like virtu from lucidlogix/, getting a 120hz monitor or switching over to CRT /no input lag there and way better colours/...

So, what is causing this?

Well... obviously you have a monitor which draws images at a certain frequency.
Then you have a buffer which shows the monitor what image it should draw.
And you have another buffer which renders the scene and after rendering it, it feeds the image to the first one.

With v-sync enabled the second buffer waits until the monitor signalizes "yo man! I'm ready! feed me the next image!", without it the second buffer acts like a a-hole and feeds the first one every image it can manage. The poor first buffer has then no other option than to feed the monitor the next scene even if the first isn't completely drawn. The monitor then draws two different scenes on screen and thus the tearing occurs.
 
Try to turn on triple buffering and then turn up any and all graphics options, including those in the Catalyst Control Center. Try turning on Supersampling AA. What you are trying to do is get that FPS down as close to 60 as possible. High AA settings should help, and look better as well.
 

random stalker

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Feb 3, 2013
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well... well... well...
If he wanted to go at 60 fps, he would simply turn the v-sync on :)

The problem with all games /and mostly fps/ is, that all input is directly bound to the framerate. And once you attain a certain skill level you'll feel every frame.
You know, you can have the best gaming keyboard and the fastest rat on the planet, once you hit below 60 fps /in a friendly match/, you are toasted. Your reaction speed falls through the cellar, your precision suffers and you feel like the game is lagging like hell /which is as annoying as is it true, because it can not match your skill any more/.

It is that hunt for FPS why people use to play CS on the minimal resolution with everything turned off /which is also the reason I was being banned from several server back in the days.../

And not to mention every game has it sweet spot /be it 120 fps or 250 fps/ then the boost is so big that it can no longer be ignored.