Vertical Sync

[WNxNuitari]

simple, what does Vertical Sync do, what happens when I turn it off, and for my low end system (don't laugh- Athlon 700MHz with a GeForce 2 MX 400) is it better on or off?

 

[BrandtP]

If you turn it off, you may notice some tearing as you change your view in FPS games. I imagine you could find a better description in the FAQs or search Tom's website. A more technical one is better left to Crashman or Flanders et al.

In your case, you would probably want it off to improve performance depending on what you are playing. I always used to turn it off until I played Doom 3 (which you will not be with that hardware). The tearing was bad enough to the point of distraction for me, and I'm not really much of a graphics whore.

 

[CaPtAiN_InSaNo]

Hay brandtP, i may have a solution to your Doom3 tearing without useing Vsync. By now i'm sure you've noticed that the game runs the refresh at 60 HZ. Force it to run 85~100 by makeing a text doc in the doom3/base folder called "AutoExec.CFG" and add the line
" seta r_displayrefresh "85" ", or 100 depending on your resolution, my monitor supports 100@1024x768 and 85@1280x1024. I run the game at 1280 with 2xaa and get minimal tearing and 75 fps avg.

Asus A8V Deluxe(rev. 2.00) / A64 3000@2527(Mp9.5x, 266FSB, HT1000) / 1024mb OCZ DDR533 / BFG 6800GT@405/1100 / Baracuda 120GB / Lian-Li PC-65 / Syncmaster 700NF / Antech True 380

 

[BrandtP]

Thanks, Captain, I'll give that a try. Although I am surprised at how well it actually does run with the VSync on.

 

[BrandtP]

Captain, that did the trick. Turned off Vsync and put the refresh rate at 75 (that's the most my crappy monitor can handle at that res). Sure enough, the tearing is decreased.
Thanks!

 

[addiarmadar]

Turning Vsync on will reduce the FPS while disabling will result in posible loss in eye-candy. Take Call of Duty for example. I really do not think that your AGP card will give you the candy with vsync on anyways.

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