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V-sync causes stutter?

unknownsock

unknownsock

unknownsock

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Joined
25 Mar 2009
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Leeds, UK
I've posted a thread every so often the last couple of months, because of this annoying game stutter and in video, although i cant prove the video part.
I've tried replacing everything, different computers with the same games etc, different locations, houses, yet i still seem to be plagued with this stutter in games.

And with my new 5870, its just made me even more mad.
It generally only happens when i strafe or move my character, it doesn't happen much if say im on a lift and the game is moving itself.

Now i may be jumping to conclusions and i'm not sure how to prove it tbh, but when i remove V-sync on COD4, i do get HUGE tearing but the gameplay seems a little smoother?
Resulting in me thinking this is maybe a v-sync problem?

Can anyone suggest some work arounds, programs, ways to test? Infact anything i just want to get this sorted out once and for all.

I've tested this on Source games (left4dead, half life, team fortress), COD, Gears of War, Company of heroes, WOW, Aion, Stalker, Fallout, i may just be using games that generally stutter? I don't know tbh.
 
Q9300 @ stock (2.5)
4gb DDR 1333 OCZ reaper at stock
standard 7200.11 HDD
5870
Playing at 1680x1050

Pointless to know my speccs tbh, as my system is capable of playing anything.
Currently i dont have it overclocked but its normally runs with my cpu @ 3.4-5 and my ram @ 1400-1666
 
I haven't experienced this to the same degree as you seem to have experienced, though I could only say that as the fps is capped to your screen's capability; [60fps the general norm] entering a particularly gpu heavy area will give you a quick stutter in performance as the gpu rendes back to 60. I've experienced this with fallout 3 once or twice with all settings at max 1920x1200.

I must say though I think there is something more sinister as to the cause, especially if your 5870 is doing that at 1680x1050. Sorry I can't be of more help, maybe take some fps tests and post back to us with results?
 
I see nasty glitches too when strafing or looking around while running in another direction. I'm personally considering going to a 120Hz Dual-Link LCD for my next monitor. This may or may not be related to the problem you describe, however, it might be worth looking into :)
 
If using vsync and your in game framerate doesnt equal or exceed your monitors refresh rate everyone CAN get stutter, same with home threatre PCs playing video (but that manifests in tearing as typically movie players dont use vsync). It depends on your setup, and how perceptive you are personally, as to how bad it is.

Example, lets say you are getting 50 fps in game with a 60hz refresh rate. Every 1/60th of a second the monitor will redraw. With vsync on the redraw will be an entirely new complete frame, if the game has produced one, or it will be the last frame drawn in this scenario.

So lets start with frame 1 drawn by the game - the monitor refreshes at 1/60 and draws this frame.

At monitor refresh 2/60 there is no new frame yet rendered by the game so the monitor draws game frame 1 again.

At monitor refresh 3/60 frame 2 is ready to be rendered so the monitor draws it

At monitor refresh 4/60 frame 3 is ready and gets drawn.

So In the above example you can see how you get stutter, with no frame drawn at refresh 2/60 you get an imperceptible stutter.
 
are you monitoring fraps while this stuttering is happening?

Try turning settings to low, if you still get stuttering then you know what the problem is
 
Are you using a soundcard or onboard audio? Dodgy Audio drivers can cause stutter when the rest of the system spec is up to scratch.
 
I may have missed a few points last night as it twas quite late and i was knackered.
Even though im stuttering, i do have a constant frame rate, it just seems somethings out of sync and missing some frames?

I'm using onboard audio and according to asus's drivers im up to date, although they seem quite old, i've tried to look for newer ones but failed.
This happens on vista/win 7.

Dsteviedee said:
I would look at the screen rather than the hardware tbh, refresh rate problem?

I too get this sometimes with lcds. Have you got an old crt you could try or borrow?
Click to expand...
This is a comment i've been waiting for, i was never sure if this could be a problem i have one at my gf's parents but that could be weeks before i get to test that out..

This happens with V-sync on or not, without it it just seems less noticable. (Possibly not the best thread title?)

Googling does nothing, 99% of the threads i find are just people with low end systems trying to play crysis..
Although the threads i have found are quite useful, so far i've tested my speakers, moving them away, turning them off and disconnecting my subwoofer.
Disabling my onboard wireless card.
I still need a buy a surge protector incase its spikes in the current?
Different monitors and cables.
PS/2 mice and keybooards.
I've done DPC latency checker, all windows system checker things.
I did notice i had a high page frame faults but i googled this and it didnt give me much info.


But to make this worse, i built a computer for my parents about a month ago and this seemed to have the same problem, and i have tested it slightly on another computer at a friends(the system wasn't up to specc so cant confirm this).
SO as you see im completely lost, im reluctant to go out and spend anymore cash to test this as so far its just been a waste.

Edit: I've noticed my grpahics card is sharing the same IRQ as a USB port, ethernet port and something else(can't remember at the top of my head), this isn't changable right?
 
Jezcentral said:
Have you run FRAPS to see how many frames the PC is outputting during the stutter?
Click to expand...

Like i said my FPS doesn't drop, i've done all these tests prior the previous months.

I was playing Aion for the first time on my own computer last night and my fps was terrible, although i strongly belive ive just not installed the drivers properly from coming from a nvidia card. So its not really related this this.
 
Driver Sweeper all your graphics drivers, use the ATi Catalyst installer also to uninstall any ATi drivers you may have and then run a clean install of 9.9. Hopefully that'll do your fps rates in Aion some good.
 
Ritsugamesh said:
Driver Sweeper all your graphics drivers, use the ATi Catalyst installer also to uninstall any ATi drivers you may have and then run a clean install of 9.9. Hopefully that'll do your fps rates in Aion some good.
Click to expand...

Already did that but i presume something was still left behind, always read problems when swapping from ati > nvidia and vice versa.
I have no doubt that this will sort my FPS but i still have quite annoying stutter :)
 
I want to just make sure your problem is what i think it is. What I want you to do is enable v-sync then try running around in a normally juddery game using the xbox controller (without using keyboard or mouse inputs during the game) and I want you to let me know if it stops the problem with your games.
 
Spazzfish said:
I want to just make sure your problem is what i think it is. What I want you to do is enable v-sync then try running around in a normally juddery game using the xbox controller (without using keyboard or mouse inputs during the game) and I want you to let me know if it stops the problem with your games.
Click to expand...

Although this may be a while till i can get one to test, care to elaberate more? And the reason of what could be causing this etc.

And i may buy one myself. As i wanted one eventually anyway.
 
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