VSync on or off?

[Chris_linge]

Hi LTT community! 

 

I just got my new rig and at least in theory, I built it to run games at very high to ultra settings at 60fps (at least). My rig consists of:

Asus 170-A, i5-6600K @ stock speed, sapphire R9 390, G.Skill RipJaws 2400 8GB, CM V850 W.

 

So to my horror when i played my first game, Assassin's Creed Black Flag (yea old game so the more shocked i was), i turned everything to MAX and it was lagging crazy like 30fps and sometimes lower! I was so sad that my rig couldnt run it at max settings. So i turned down the Anti-aliasing and got a meh average 45+ fps. But i did some research on ppl doing benchmarking on this game and they got really nice fps like average 70+ and it was with VSync turned off! I tried that and it worked! Everything is so smooth now.

 

I thought the VSync is supposed to lock down the fps to 60? why does it go much lower? I did experience some minor tearing after turning it off but there's no way i will turn it on again if i had to play at 30fps or reduce settings by a huge chunk just to get the 60fps.

[danomicar]

Vsync helps with screen tearing, it does not "lock" your fps. 

[bydus]

there was some setting which made this game terrible fps even on my 970. It was over a year ago and not sure what it was (maybe physix?) but I did play it on with vsync and max detail and it ran always 60fps vsynced which is what I always play at. 

[Nacho Marco Segui]

Vsync helps with screen tearing, it does not "lock" your fps. 

Yes it does,it locks the max fps to your monitor's maximum refresh rate

[Enderman]

Vsync helps with screen tearing, it does not "lock" your fps. 

yes it does

it locks it at the screens refresh rate (or a lower multiple of that)

[theloveablemoose]

Try Adaptive V-sync much better implementation or just don't use it. Its fine when you can hold a consistent 60fps but it makes it look worse when you drop below also it adds input lag a very minuscule amount but it does add some.

[BlazingGunnerFTW]

Hi LTT community! 

 

I just got my new rig and at least in theory, I built it to run games at very high to ultra settings at 60fps (at least). My rig consists of:

Asus 170-A, i5-6600K @ stock speed, sapphire R9 390, G.Skill RipJaws 2400 8GB, CM V850 W.

 

So to my horror when i played my first game, Assassin's Creed Black Flag (yea old game so the more shocked i was), i turned everything to MAX and it was lagging crazy like 30fps and sometimes lower! I was so sad that my rig couldnt run it at max settings. So i turned down the Anti-aliasing and got a meh average 45+ fps. But i did some research on ppl doing benchmarking on this game and they got really nice fps like average 70+ and it was with VSync turned off! I tried that and it worked! Everything is so smooth now.

 

I thought the VSync is supposed to lock down the fps to 60? why does it go much lower? I did experience some minor tearing after turning it off but there's no way i will turn it on again if i had to play at 30fps or reduce settings by a huge chunk just to get the 60fps.

It kind of does lock your frame rate to your refresh rate. Same thing in heavy modded minecraft. (I have 225 mods) If you have vysnc on, it will crumble and dip down to 20-30 fps. vysnc on heavy demanding games can impact performance as from what I've seen. i notice no screen tearing whatsoever either at 120 fps on my 60 hz monitor.

[Chris_linge]

But my monitor is 60hz so shouldn't VSync be, in theory, communicate to the GPU to sort it out and only vomit out 60fps? Why would I get so much lower fps?

[Guest]

But my monitor is 60hz so shouldn't VSync be, in theory, communicate to the GPU to sort it out and only vomit out 60fps? Why would I get so much lower fps?

Sometimes the GPU isnt able to keep up to what is happening in the game and thus losing frames

[johnt]

Black Flag is a unique example. The game runs flawlessly, but only with AA turned off. There are far too many objects present on the screen for most video cards to keep up with the calculations. Turn off AA and hopefully you will have the same experience with it as I did.

[Tsuki]

v-sync prevents you from going above your monitors refresh rate.  if you arent getting above 60fps, turn it off because its doing nothing but causing problems.

[Snadzies]

The 45fps is a little odd as v-sync is supposed to keep the framerate to a speed that is cleanly divisible by your monitor.

Since you have a 60hz monitor if the game dropped bellow 60fps it should then limit the framerate to 30fps as 30 easily fits into 60.

Drop bellow 30 and it should limit to 20, 15 and so on.

 

I guess I'd chalk it up to Ubisofts often sub par PC ports and the in game v-sync being a bit screwy.

I'd try running v-sync through your GPU and see if that works any better.

[jjohnthedon1]

Vsync and triple buffering lock hover between 30,45 and 60

[.spider.]

This doesn't make any sense vsync double buffered would lock to 60,30,15

Vsync tripple buffered wouldn't change your fps they just can't go beyond 60

[jjohnthedon1]

This doesn't make any sense vsync double buffered would lock to 60,30,15

Vsync tripple buffered wouldn't change your fps they just can't go beyond 60

Strange because it does for me

[JcGross]

Vsync helps with screen tearing but at the cost of introducing lag. Think about it, the only way your computer can synchronize frames are by holding some back until the rest is done -> lag. Of course there are other methods like G-sync but that requires special hardware. I almost never use Vsync, it is a HUGE fps boost sometimes and almost always gives you a smoother experience.

[teddyteddyteddy]

Vsync helps with screen tearing, it does not "lock" your fps. 

What? yes it does

[danomicar]

What? yes it does

Not in the sense that it forces it to be at 60 all the time

[Chris_linge]

Ok I think I need to use proper tools for benchmarking. Will do it later. It's irritating that this game doesn't come with a Benchmark option. So I'll just have to climb to a viewpoint and do the Synchronize option to benchmark.

[Thony]

But my monitor is 60hz so shouldn't VSync be, in theory, communicate to the GPU to sort it out and only vomit out 60fps? Why would I get so much lower fps?

Vsync limits the max fps to match the refresh rate of your monitor. It doesnt control the minimum fps.

If you card is not steong enough to keep 60 at any given time then fps will drop. Vsync wont change your ingame settings to keep u at your desired frame rate.

[WynLore]

Vsync limits the max fps to match the refresh rate of your monitor. It doesnt control the minimum fps.

If you card is not steong enough to keep 60 at any given time then fps will drop. Vsync wont change your ingame settings to keep u at your desired frame rate.

Off-topic, how much is the FPS drop with V-Sync? I was gonna make the same thread as OP (pretty much the same question anyways), but making one on my own would be redundant since this thread is made.

[Thony]

Off-topic, how much is the FPS drop with V-Sync? I was gonna make the same thread as OP (pretty much the same question anyways), but making one on my own would be redundant since this thread is made.

Depends on your GPU and ingame settings. I dont use Vsync ever.

[.spider.]

Off-topic, how much is the FPS drop with V-Sync? I was gonna make the same thread as OP (pretty much the same question anyways), but making one on my own would be redundant since this thread is made.

Exactly 0 fps if it is triple buffered.

If it is double buffered the drop is max 29fps on a 60Hz screen. 

[teddyteddyteddy]

Not in the sense that it forces it to be at 60 all the time

It does not allow fps to go above 60, so it's "locking" your fps below that threshold 

[Chris_linge]

Off-topic, how much is the FPS drop with V-Sync? I was gonna make the same thread as OP (pretty much the same question anyways), but making one on my own would be redundant since this thread is made.

Well it's more of a trial and error for me until i find that sweet spot. I don't use any fancy program like fraps to benchmark the fps. I just turn VSync off (cos the frames always drop a lot even when it's like smooth 70% of the time, the 30% would sometimes drop so low that it made me giddy), and everything else is up to u depending on your build. For me everything except for the Anti-Aliasing (AA) can be maxed out if you have a recommended card per your game's requirements. From thereon it's just tweaking the AA till it is stable fps and minimum tearing.