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8800GTX issues (?)

HummuH1

HummuH1

HummuH1

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Joined
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Edinburgh
Hope you can help. Recently bought a new system with an 8800GTX card. Coming from a 7800GTX the improvement is noticeable but I think I'm spotting a glitch.

Whilst the on screen display is flawless, I'm noticing that when panning around, particularly in FPS games, there seems to be some "tearing".

It's hard to explain, but if I pan up/down, there is a couple of horizontal breaks on the screen. The breaks are not defined around images being diaplyed on screen, its more like the screen has been split into 3 horizontal sections which all move but slightly out of time with each other. I've seen it happen on 3 different FPS games (not on other games).

It's only noticable when moving around the screen fast and your eye only just catches it, but it does and therefore its annoying!

I first noticed it when gaming on a 720p screen but I'm now noticing it on my 22" monitor at 1680 x 1050. My system specs are:

Q6600 O/C to 3.4Ghz
Abit IP35-Pro
Crucial 2GB PC2-8500
OCZ 850W

Power shouldn't be an issue. Any ideas at all guys?
 
i get this too mate and im running a 19" Asus flat screen - ive had it with both my X1900XT adn now my new 8800GTS - im not exactly sure what it is but i think its relatvely normal by all accounts, albeit annoying.
 
That was quick!

I tried playing around with Vsync, but it didn't seem to rectify the problem. I'll have another play tonight. Better to alter at driver or software level?

Also ment to mention, I'm using latest Nvidia drivers.

@ fastwunz: I'd certainly not call it normal. I've been playing games on the 7800GTX for a few years now without any issues. On a card like the 8800GTX there should be no issues at these kind of resolutions.
 
Its not a problem with the card etc.

Its just normal screen tearing. It is caused by your rig being faster than your monitor.

The only way to 'fix it' is to turn on Vsynch in your nVidia control pannel.

Doing so will limit the FPS of the game to the refresh rate of your monitor and thus will remove any tearing you will see.


The downside to Vsynch is that if your FPS ever drop below your refresh rate your FPS will be halved.

e.g.

Your TFT refresh rate is 60Hz.

Your theoretical PC can output:

120 FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3


With Vsynch disabled you will get:

120FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3

However you will get the tearing you describe whenever the FPS is over your monitor refresh rate.


With Vsynch enabled you will get:

60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
30FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

In Scene 3 your FPS is halved as it dropped below the 60FPS refresh rate of the screen.


In some games you can enable Triple Buffering as well, this will add a 2nd 'drop down'. So for example:

With Vsynch enabled and Triple Buffering:


60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
45FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

With tripple buffering you get hard caps of 60, 45, and 30.

If the game drops below 45FPS then it would drop to the 30FPS cap.


Bit of a simplification but you get the idea.


Anyway, only way to stop the tearing is enable Vsynch.
 
Set your desktop resolution to 60hz, in each game enable vsync. You won't have to enable vsync in drivers as the game does it. Unless the game doesn't have the option.
 
Thanks guys.

Would make sense as with the old 7800GTX I was rarely getting above 60 FPS on newer games. My monitor is a 226BW with a referesh rate of 60Hz, now I'm getting much better FPS on the new rig, must be in a territory where Vsync is required.

@ Hex: thanks for the explanation.
 
HeX said:
Its not a problem with the card etc.

Its just normal screen tearing. It is caused by your rig being faster than your monitor.

The only way to 'fix it' is to turn on Vsynch in your nVidia control pannel.

Doing so will limit the FPS of the game to the refresh rate of your monitor and thus will remove any tearing you will see.


The downside to Vsynch is that if your FPS ever drop below your refresh rate your FPS will be halved.

e.g.

Your TFT refresh rate is 60Hz.

Your theoretical PC can output:

120 FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3


With Vsynch disabled you will get:

120FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3

However you will get the tearing you describe whenever the FPS is over your monitor refresh rate.


With Vsynch enabled you will get:

60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
30FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

In Scene 3 your FPS is halved as it dropped below the 60FPS refresh rate of the screen.


In some games you can enable Triple Buffering as well, this will add a 2nd 'drop down'. So for example:

With Vsynch enabled and Triple Buffering:


60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
45FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

With tripple buffering you get hard caps of 60, 45, and 30.

If the game drops below 45FPS then it would drop to the 30FPS cap.


Bit of a simplification but you get the idea.


Anyway, only way to stop the tearing is enable Vsynch.
Click to expand...

I always wondered what Triple Buffering did. Cheers for that. :)
 
HeX said:
Its not a problem with the card etc.

Its just normal screen tearing. It is caused by your rig being faster than your monitor.

The only way to 'fix it' is to turn on Vsynch in your nVidia control pannel.

Doing so will limit the FPS of the game to the refresh rate of your monitor and thus will remove any tearing you will see.


The downside to Vsynch is that if your FPS ever drop below your refresh rate your FPS will be halved.

e.g.

Your TFT refresh rate is 60Hz.

Your theoretical PC can output:

120 FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3


With Vsynch disabled you will get:

120FPS in Game Scene 1
65FPS in Game Scene 2
55FPS in Game Scene 3

However you will get the tearing you describe whenever the FPS is over your monitor refresh rate.


With Vsynch enabled you will get:

60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
30FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

In Scene 3 your FPS is halved as it dropped below the 60FPS refresh rate of the screen.


In some games you can enable Triple Buffering as well, this will add a 2nd 'drop down'. So for example:

With Vsynch enabled and Triple Buffering:


60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 1
60FPS (capped) in Game Scene 2
45FPS (capped) in Game Scene 3

With tripple buffering you get hard caps of 60, 45, and 30.

If the game drops below 45FPS then it would drop to the 30FPS cap.


Bit of a simplification but you get the idea.


Anyway, only way to stop the tearing is enable Vsynch.
Click to expand...

Outstanding post there :cool:
a lot of people still don't understand this concept. Stuff like this should be stickied.
 
beware vsync makes mouse lag i cant believe these new cards tear surly they should at least sort the mouse lag out if vsync is enabled :(
 
Use a good quality CRT and you dont need V-Sync, run at 85hz-100hz depending on RES. :).

I had never seen Tearing ever till LCD use, and I played on CRT for years.
 
helmutcheese said:
Use a good quality CRT and you dont need V-Sync, run at 85hz-100hz depending on RES. :).

I had never seen Tearing ever till LCD use, and I played on CRT for years.
Click to expand...

Yup CRT's are the clear winners in the tearing issue department. Their far higher refresh rates make this problem far less common.

As for the 'mouse lag' with vsynch, i've never experienced that problem myself, and i've used vsynch for years.

I do know others who have though, must either be a personal thing, or rig specific.
 
HeX said:
Yup CRT's are the clear winners in the tearing issue department. Their far higher refresh rates make this problem far less common.

As for the 'mouse lag' with vsynch, i've never experienced that problem myself, and i've used vsynch for years.

I do know others who have though, must either be a personal thing, or rig specific.
Click to expand...

I think the mouse lag is rig specific. You either have it or you don't. My rig doesn't suffer from that problem (thank god) so I run fps with vsync on.
 
I used to play on my 17" office reject CRT over my 22" LCD screen for the same reasons. LCD's aren't up to the job yet but I admit they have came a long way for gaming.

I bought a Viewsonic P225f CRT (2048x1536 @ 79Hrtz) a few months ago as I play most of my FPS titles on CRT and the LCD wasn't up to the task. I need CRT's for online FPS games where every pixel counts and a full speed refresh instead of this ghosting nonsense no matter how small it may be is what I need.

I get mouse lag on some older opengl games online with v-sync enabled. Not in every game though.
 
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