monitor lag?

Cew27 · 5 May 2008 at 00:03

when playing crysis i notice that sometimes i see a line on the monitor (dell 24" 2408wfp) where it seems some of the game moves faster than the rest (hard to explain) is this monitor lag or is there an other explanation, im using a belkin dvi cable and an 8800 ultra

Space Monkey · 5 May 2008 at 00:20

I think thats called 'Tearing'? It looks like the picture(game) is being torn in two? Not sure why it happens, maybe someone with more knowledge on this can help?

Fanatic · 5 May 2008 at 01:32

Turn v-synch on

Vertigo · 5 May 2008 at 01:41

D.M said:
I think thats called 'Tearing'? It looks like the picture(game) is being torn in two? Not sure why it happens, maybe someone with more knowledge on this can help?

It happens when v-sync is switched off. V-sync ensures that the display doesn't refresh whilst the graphics card is part-way through rendering a frame. Without it enabled you can get this effect where the monitor refreshes its displayed image whilst the graphic card is part-way through rendering a frame, so you're seeing part of one frame and part of the next.

Enabling v-sync ensures the two are synchronised so you don't get this problem but can cause more "stuttering" or "jerkiness" as the graphics card is forced to wait for the next refresh cycle of the monitor before it can start rendering the next frame. This effectively caps the frames-per-second of the game at the same level as the refresh rate of the monitor (usually 60Hz for LCDs) which is why you have to remove v-sync for benchmarking.

Cew27 · 5 May 2008 at 10:16

ok cheers, how do i enable vsync? is it a game thing or is it in nvidia's control panel

Vertigo · 5 May 2008 at 10:37

Set for each game, although I think you can force it on or off globally in the NVidia control panel.

Cew27 · 5 May 2008 at 10:43

hmm did it for cod4 and now the fps are capped at 60 but i cant figure it out for crysis

Peter450 · 5 May 2008 at 11:04

The good, is you get a clean picture without all the unsightly tearing and shearing, which IMO subtracts significantly from the visuals

The downside is if your graphics card is not fast enough to generate frames at the rate your monitor refreshes, your framerate can drop more than in non v sync mode due to the fact the screen will only update when the whole frame is drawn

Personally i always leave it on, glitchy graphics are very unsightly, go to the nvidia control panel i think it's manage 3d settings, set it on from there, or do it from the game

Cew27 · 5 May 2008 at 11:21

i did it in the control panel but it didnt work in crysis (vertical sync?) and i cant see the option in crysis

KWJay · 5 May 2008 at 13:15

i wouldn't bother with vsync in crysis unless u r running low res and detail. it's just too slow!

Cew27 · 5 May 2008 at 17:13

for me vsync make it more playable and means less laggy fps!

fish99 · 5 May 2008 at 18:21

99% of the time v-sync on will reduce framerates, sometimes dramatically, although the size of the hit can be reduced with tripple buffering. There have been a few odd games that run better with v-sync on though.

plasticmekon · 6 May 2008 at 16:57

I knew v-sync slowed games down but I thought it was pretty much a must if you've got an LCD screen to avoid tearing. Hmm.. maybe I'm still thinking of when LCDs first came out and things have moved on since then..

Slyman2k4 · 7 May 2008 at 19:30

Didn't want to start a new topic when another fresh one existed that had been answered.

what would cause tearing on a Dell 2407WFP A.04 during video playback? Quite noticeable during DVD playback and brightly coloured scenes in anime. It doesnt bother me too much in games since i'd prefer the extra fps it brings. Thats using VLC. It's running off an X1900 XT-X. Time for an upgrade of gfx?