Weird stuttering if framerate if Vsync ON and framerate is 59

[amarante]

Does anyone else have this weird mini-stutters that happen every few seconds if you play a game with Vsync ON and limit the framerate to 58-59?

I usually use this method in some of my games: Fallout series, Source engine games - Team Fortress 2, Dota 2.

It's not really a big issue but I'm just wondering why the stuttering occurs.

As most know, Vsync increases mouse lag but I found out that if you limit your framerate to 58 or 59, mouse lag will almost disappear but slight mini-stutters start occuring every few seconds for some reason.

Anyone know why this is happening?

My PC:

Intel i3 2100 3.1Ghz
4GB RAM
MSI HD 6850 1GB
Windows 7 64bit

EDIT: So, the good people on this forum said that I get stuttering at 59 FPS because my monitor and GPU is out of sync.

But the issue is still there. I can't play a game without Vsync because lowering my FPS lower than my refresh rate doesn't help at all. I still get screen tearing although I've read that lowering FPS lower than refresh rate eliminates screen tearing.

Also, if I keep using this option of Vsync+limit FPS to 59. Can this damage my GPU or monitor in some way if they keep being out of sync?

 

[sscultima]

i find that odd, sounds like vsync is not handling the frames properly, i use vsync only if my frame rate is too high in a game and i get tears in the frames, never had a stutter issue however with vsync on, i currently use a 6950 2gb.

have you tried different video drivers? you using 1 or 2 monitors?

 

[amarante]

I am using 1 monitor but I am using a VGA-DVI adapter so maybe that's causing the issue?

 

[sscultima]

unlikely, but possible i have noticed sometimes with adapters there is static in the picture on certain monitors or TV's on different resolutions, but nothing like stuttering as you have described.

what version of video driver are you using? have you tried older ones?

 

[amarante]

I think I am using 12.6 drivers. The stuttering doesn't show in the framerate digits. It's always a steady 59.

I haven't actually tried older ones. Might have to give that a try.

 

[sscultima]

just try some older ones, if you have more ports you can try off your video card try them, also if you have another adapter try it.

most likely it is a software issue, but never hurts to try other hardware solutions.

you can also try the 12.7 beta driver

 

[Sunius]

You need to set your refresh rate in game to 60 Hz. That's why it's stuttering probably: your monitor goes out of sync of your graphics card.

 

[sscultima]

good thinking sunius, completely forgot about that!

 

[AntiZig]

you're trying to manually v-sync the game via frame limiter while you have v-sync on?

 

[amarante]

you're trying to manually v-sync the game via frame limiter while you have v-sync on?

Yes because no matter what my framerate is without Vsync, I always get screen tearing. I don't know why because I have read that you only get screen tearing if your framerate exceeds the monitor's refresh rate but that doesn't work for me.

If I keep my framerate even at 50, I still get tearing on my 60Hz LCD monitor.

That's why I use Vsync to get rid of tearing and lock my framerate to 59 so I wouldn't get mouse lag.

I'd play all my games without Vsync if I wouldn't get such bad tearing but I am stuck with this option.

Can this option damage my monitor or PC if I keep using it?

EDIT: So, the good people on this forum said that I get stuttering at 59 FPS because my monitor and GPU is out of sync.

But the issue is still there. I can't play a game without Vsync because lowering my FPS lower than my refresh rate doesn't help at all. I still get screen tearing although I've read that lowering FPS lower than refresh rate eliminates screen tearing.

Also, if I keep using this option of Vsync+limit FPS to 59. Can this damage my GPU or monitor in some way if they keep being out of sync?

 

[macors]

Hi, amarante! I've got exactly the same issue as you have, but found a partial fix to that. If you are limiting your fps through the stand-alone program like Dxtory, it may fail in capping to 59 fps because of its inaccuracy. Instead of capping fps to value of 59, try out simply 60. It may sounds stupid, because that should be the task of vsync to cap fps this way, but maybe because of that inacurracy of the Dxtory, while capping to 60, it actually sets it a little lower. The idea may sound a little odd, but it reduced my mouse lag significantly while keeping a smooth play, while capping to 59 reduced lag close to zero, but screen tearing came up almost like while using only capping to 60 fps without vsync + triple buffering.

Info is based on playing TES: Skyrim and achieving vsync + triple buffering through D3Doverrider in every case (I turned vsync off in Skyrim using .ini file, but found out very quickly that it must stay on, so I simply added new case to the D3Doverrider to save time).

To sum up, using vsync + triple buffering with capping fps through Dxtory to 60 reduces original vsync mouse lag in about 70%, keeping the display smooth.

Cheers, and post the results!