V-Sync Off - Games feel choppy.

[Matkinson]

Hi,

Attempting to play CS:GO or TF2 with V-Sync off, and getting 300fps+, the game feels choppy, almost like it's at 30fps (no tearing though). I'm guessing this isn't normal? As I don't see how anyone could play without VSYNC ON otherwise in first person shooters.

This is a bit of a continuation from the following thread, but didn't want to change the topic:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...s-certain-games-look-horrible.18939823/page-4

I have a GSYNC 144hz monitor, but I don't feel it's relevant as it does it regardless of which monitor I use. (I have tried 3, new high refresh monitors)

I've tried swapping out every part of my computer, one by one, apart from my GPU. Still no change.
I've reinstalled Windows and tried every possible bit of troubleshooting I can think of.

I'm really just trying to find if anyone has experienced this stuttering with V-Sync off and if it's GPU related.

 

[BeadyRoller]

I'm also having this problem. I've got a GSYNC 144hz monitor. I don't hit 144fps that often as I play at 1440p and only have a 1080ti and a Ryzen 1700 CPU but get usually around the 100 mark, so a decent frame rate.

Most of my games feel choppy even though my FPS is in the 100s. It feels more like 30-40fps at times, it's weird.

Its like I feel every frame drop, even if it's small. Say it drops from 130-120, I can notice the difference. I don't think that's normal?

 

[Matkinson]

It's a weird one to describe as well, almost like it's another frame trailing the other.

It reminds me of when video/drone footage is taken at the 'wrong' shutter speed or fps and looks jittery.

It feels even worse if I try the 1ms blur reduction on my monitor as well. Probably because it's getting rid of any blur and making it more pronounced.

 

[HangTime]

Vsync is bad for competitive fps as it introduces input lag. However, you need a very fast PC relative to the game you are playing to really take advantage of vsync off.

Its like I feel every frame drop, even if it's small. Say it drops from 130-120, I can notice the difference. I don't think that's normal?

It's normal for competitive FPS players. Framerate drops are bad, really you want to be running at a stable framerate.

Bear in mind that "frames per second" is actually not a great measure of smoothness, because the resolution is abysmal, an entire second.
Imagine a scenario where you are running at 1000fps. Sounds great, huh? But what it it renders 999 frames in the first 0.5s and 1 frame in the second 0.5s. That's still 1000fps, but it will be incredibly jerky, because the 1 frame over 0.5s is the equivalent of 2fps.
The best thing to do is to measure frametime and see what the highest value is. If you have anything over 0.1s then that's the equivalent of dropping under 100fps which is why it might feel bad despite your FPS counter saying 120-130fps.

In my experience of trying to optimise this in a particular FPS game over a 20 year period, the optimal scenario is to cap at a framerate significantly higher than your refresh rate. So on a 144hz monitor I'd be wanting a stable framerate significantly higher. You also need to understand the game in question in terms of whether it has any particular sweet spots for framerate in terms of game tics, physics etc.

 

[Matkinson]

Vsync is bad for competitive fps as it introduces input lag. However, you need a very fast PC relative to the game you are playing to really take advantage of vsync off.


It's normal for competitive FPS players. Framerate drops are bad, really you want to be running at a stable framerate.

Bear in mind that "frames per second" is actually not a great measure of smoothness, because the resolution is abysmal, an entire second.
Imagine a scenario where you are running at 1000fps. Sounds great, huh? But what it it renders 999 frames in the first 0.5s and 1 frame in the second 0.5s. That's still 1000fps, but it will be incredibly jerky, because the 1 frame over 0.5s is the equivalent of 2fps.
The best thing to do is to measure frametime and see what the highest value is. If you have anything over 0.1s then that's the equivalent of dropping under 100fps which is why it might feel bad despite your FPS counter saying 120-130fps.

In my experience of trying to optimise this in a particular FPS game over a 20 year period, the optimal scenario is to cap at a framerate significantly higher than your refresh rate. So on a 144hz monitor I'd be wanting a stable framerate significantly higher. You also need to understand the game in question in terms of whether it has any particular sweet spots for framerate in terms of game tics, physics etc.

Playing around with 0.1% and 1% lows...it seems random on my system. I'm using a 144hz monitor with G-Sync on.

Playing TF2, if I cap it to 240fps with RTSS, the lowest I get is about 220fps, with a highest of 250 ish. This looks reasonably smooth, not quite as smooth as 144 vsync, but sort of close.

If I cap it to 120fps, 0.1% is about 115fps and max of 123fps...however...this looks like jittery garbage.

Then if I go into R6 Siege, 240fps cap looks terrible.

140fps cap (with 0.1% lows of 80fps) looks lovely and smooth. R6S is about the only game I really can't replicate this issue on....but I can with lots of other games I play...very odd.

EDIT - Trying it a second time with TF2, can't replicate it so much. HOWEVER if I open up my monitor OSD, when I see the monitor hz change and shows a different fps than the counter, this is when I can see it stuttering. So it seems to be a monitor/gpu desync of some kind.
Even if I disable G-SYNC, and can see that the monitor hz isn't fluctuating, the issue is still seen.