Vert_sync?

[ErnieNow]

I have been told that vert_sync on the video card can drop fps by quite a bit. I was wondering what this is and how i can turn it off on my vid card, thanks.

[mikezel]

Vertical Sync synchronizes your game refresh rate settings with your desktop refresh rate settings. You turn this on or off in each game individually within its settings, there is no master setting for your video card. Generally, turn it off, but if you have any display issues in a game, try with it turned on to see if it is corrected. For example, i need to turn it on in Doom 3, or else i get "teardrops" in the game.

Mike

[ErnieNow]

OK, ill try that, thanks.

[Force Flow]

Actually, there is a way to turn it off.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/optimize/677/8/

[pam123]

Originally Posted by ErnieNow I have been told that vert_sync on the video card can drop fps by quite a bit. I was wondering what this is and how i can turn it off on my vid card, thanks.

Vsync keeps your fps ( frames per second ) from exceeding your monitor's refresh rate. So if the monitor is at 75 Hz then you will have an fps cap of 75.
That prevents tearing, which is what the distortion is called when your card is running a game 100 fps but your refresh rate for the monitor is 75 Hz. This affects some games more that others.
As a rule you'd keep Vsync on when playing a game and off when benchmarking.
The problem is that the new games that can bring a system to it's knees can have wildly varying fps rates depending on the level being loaded, how many monsters /enemies are in a given scene, what special effects are turned on and so forth and so on.
It's here that Vsync can make the problem worse.
I'll let any posting mathematicians spell it out but if you have a rig powerful enough to run FarCry at something close to 60 fps you would be looking at 30 fps with Vsync on when the fps dropped and at a drop to 45 fps with it off.
The reason was the math Vsync uses.
So some people turned Vsync off for that game.
The obvious point is that no one was in danger of getting 75 fps in FarCry so it didn't matter if Vsync was on or not.
Later there proved to be another way to smooth out the game, up the ram to 1024 mb.
Your graphics card has a control panel and it's there that you can turn Vsync on or off or set it to application preference.
Experiment to find out what works with your games and your computer but there is no blanket reason for turning off Vsync and a very good reason, superior image quality, for leaving it on.

[mikezel]

Originally Posted by Force Flow Actually, there is a way to turn it off. http://www.pcmech.com/show/optimize/677/8/

Whoops, I didn't know that. Thanks Force!

[Alienware_Dude]

I always play games with v-synch Enabled - they just look better that way, at least to my eyes.

[Force Flow]

I play with it disabled. Disabled, the framrate doesn't have to conform to the refresh rate and is often times smoother (if you aren't getting artifacts, which I've heard can sometimes happen with certain hardware and games).