Games stuck at 60 fps (no vsync)

[Venn]

Hi, so recently i've noticed that my games (CS:GO, TF2) are capped at 60 fps. I've turned off vsync in game and in the nvidia control pannel.

 

Although im running a 60 hz monitor, i can definitely feel the difference when im running 100+ FPS.

 

I'm trying to narrow down whats capping my fps at 60. Any help is appreciated

[alanz25]

Hi, so recently i've noticed that my games (CS:GO, TF2) are capped at 60 fps. I've turned off vsync in game and in the nvidia control pannel.

 

Although im running a 60 hz monitor, i can definitely feel the difference when im running 100+ FPS.

 

I'm trying to narrow down whats capping my fps at 60. Any help is appreciated

wait, how can you feel the difference if your screen is 60 hz? also try disabling in game fps caps

[Xizerz]

the only difference between 60 fps and 100 fps on a 60hz monitor is that 100fps will have more screen tearing

I would reccomend leaving v-sync on unless youre benchmarking stuff

[vanished]

wait, how can you feel the difference if your screen is 60 hz? also try disabling in game fps caps

 

It depends how they are being capped.  I find in minecraft if I cap it at 60 or use vsync for that matter, it feels sluggish and choppy, but letting it run up to 150+ makes it feel perfect (very quick and smooth).

 

That said, I will vsync pretty much all other games

[AresKrieger]

"Although im running a 60 hz monitor, i can definitely feel the difference when im running 100+ FPS." --That is what is called the placebo effect since a 60Hz monitor running 100fps will look worse not better.

[Venn]

The games felt more smooth, thats all.

[Xenift]

"Although im running a 60 hz monitor, i can definitely feel the difference when im running 100+ FPS." --That is what is called placebo since a 60Hz monitor running 100fps will look worse not betterIt

It's not a placebo, having higher framerates will prevent the dipping from going down to your screen refresh rate.

I have legitimately tested this by staying at 80 frames frames while playing cs:go and it annoyed the crap out of me.

[vanished]

"Although im running a 60 hz monitor, i can definitely feel the difference when im running 100+ FPS." --That is what is called the placebo effect since a 60Hz monitor running 100fps will look worse not better.

That would be true if capping at 60 worked perfectly, but in some games it does not and creates a feeling of dropped frames due to how it caps.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Are you running any kind of gpu overclock or fps overlay tool? I use MSI Afterburner and it starts Riva Tuner Statistics Server for the fps overlay. RTSS has an option for capping framerates which I usually set to 60 since it really smooths out ingame vsync for me. It might be worth checking if you run any tools like that.

[AresKrieger]

That would be true if capping at 60 worked perfectly, but in some games it does not and creates a feeling of dropped frames due to how it caps.

 

It's not a placebo, having higher framerates will prevent the dipping from going down to your screen refresh rate.

I have legitimately tested this by staying at 80 frames frames while playing cs:go and it annoyed the crap out of me.

 

Well yes if the game dips it will help to have a buffer, but unless the game is poorly programed 10 fps buffer should be sufficient, though with current AAA games quality.......

[vanished]

Well yes if the game dips it will help to have a buffer, but unless the game is poorly programed 10 fps buffer should be sufficient, of course with the current AAA games.......

I actually really want to analyze this scientifically now since I know it's not a placebo but I want to prove it.  I'm going to shadowplay record minecraft capped at 60 and then unlocked (but still only effectively at 60 hz because of my monitor) and compare the footage

[Venn]

Are you running any kind of gpu overclock or fps overlay tool? I use MSI Afterburner and it starts Riva Tuner Statistics Server for the fps overlay. RTSS has an option for capping framerates which I usually set to 60 since it really smooths out ingame vsync for me. It might be worth checking if you run any tools like that.

 

I've restarted the games, tweaked some settings in nvidia's control pannel and it seems not to no longer be a cap. I have no idea how but it worked

[Enderman]

The games felt more smooth, thats all.

you always want to be playing at a framerate higher than your refresh rate for competitive games

 

of course there are a lot of people who dont understand very well how frames are pushed out of your GPU, but it actually is possible for the game to feel more responsive at a higher framerate

 

you're right, it does feel more smooth because the frame drops remain above the refresh rate of your monitor, but also for a second reason

 

 

 

 

think of it like this, your monitor refreshes 60 times per second

if the game pushes out a frame only once each refresh, then there is a random chance of that frame being soon or late after that refresh (about a 16ms window)

if you GPU pushes out 10 frames for each refresh, the amount of time between the last frame pushed out and the monitor displaying it becomes much smaller

(16/10 = 1.6ms window)

 

you dont see any more than 60fps, but the game feels more responsive because there is less time between you moving your mouse and you seeing that change

on the screen

 

 

@Badazzz @AresKrieger

[vanished]

Yeah I just recorded in in case I want to slow it down and count frames or upload it, but just from trying minecraft again, with it on unlimited it felt as expected, but when on vsync the controls felt a little "heavier" and there was some stutter, and when using the game' built-in frame limiter set to 60, it was unplayable, feeling very heavy and looking like it was getting 40 fps or worse when in fact it was actually 60.

[Beeeyeee]

can i... how old are you?? you LITERALLY cant tell the difference between 60fps and 100fps on a 60HTZ monitor. the only thing is you can possibly be dipping to like 59 or maybe even 58 unless you just have lag spikes. have a friend randomly turn on or off vsync and then you play without knowing... lets see if you can really tell the difference.

[Mazeman03]

wait, how can you feel the difference if your screen is 60 hz? also try disabling in game fps caps

well i have a 60hz moniter and when i play cs go and have photoshop open my framed will keep jumping from 280 to 60 and it make its feel like my lagginging like massive frame lag. 

[Enderman]

can i... how old are you?? you LITERALLY cant tell the difference between 60fps and 100fps on a 60HTZ monitor. the only thing is you can possibly be dipping to like 59 or abe even 58 unless you just have lag spikes. have a friend randomly turn on or off vsync and then you play without knowing... lets see if you can really tel the difference.

yeah it is possible, you dont see more than 60fps, but the mouse movements are displayed sooner

 

you can test it yourself, put CSgo on minimum settings until you're getting about 300, and move your mouse around very quickly

 

then lock it at 60 and do the same

 

you will notice that the game feels more responsive at 300, even though you're only seeing 60fps

 

this is due to how monitors and graphics cards are not synced together (unless you run gsync or freesync)

[Beeeyeee]

yeah it is possible, you dont see more than 60fps, but the mouse movements are displayed sooner

 

you can test it yourself, put CSgo on minimum settings until you're getting about 300, and move your mouse around very quickly

 

then lock it at 60 and do the same

 

you will notice that the game feels more responsive at 300, even though you're only seeing 60fps

 

this is due to how monitors and graphics cards are not synced together (unless you run gsync or freesync)

yes i know, theres a very very slight amount of timing inconsistencies that can cause the frames to drop by 1 or 2. thats what I said. but you can barely see that difference whatsoever. 

[Venn]

Hehe, I didn't want to make a big deal out of this guys. But thanks for everyone's help.

 

For competitive games I'd say its worth to get the most FPS you can. I can definitely feel that the game is more responsive (even if it's just by a bit)

[AresKrieger]

 

you dont see any more than 60fps, but the game feels more responsive because there is less time between you moving your mouse and you seeing that change

on the screen

 

 

@Badazzz @AresKrieger

 

That should still cause visual jitter, just in a lead rather than lag manner, but true the controls would be faster (not necessarily smoother visually)

 

@Venn Are you using AMD or Nvidia, if Nvidia check the global settings for frame settings or vsync

[PyroBlast13]

Have you tried reinstalling your Video Drivers?

[TrifectaIII]

It's all about the difference between when a frame is drawn and when it is displayed guys. When running at any refresh rate, a higher fps will make the game seem more responsive because each frame you are seeing is being drawn from a point in time that is slightly closer. The overall lowering of frame-times will also lower the delta between frame-times, leading to more smoothness.

 

If you can't tell the difference between 60fps and 300fps on a 60hz monitor, you just aren't paying attention.

 

See this video for some nice graphics that explain how this works.

[vanished]

I just re-watched my recording in Premiere stepping through the frames one at a time and in both the vsync and in-game 60 fps cap modes there were many instances of two identical frames, as well as there being larger and smaller jumps between frames.  With it at unlimited, these both did still happen occasionally but it was much less common.  I knew there was a reason that after playing it for a long time, I suddenly thought something was wrong one day and sure enough, it had set itself to vcync.  Yes, it was instantly noticeable. Also keep in mind what I can't capture in video, but when I ran with frame limiters the controls feel like they are slightly delayed and worse yet feel choppy, and as if the mouse sensitivity had been lowered.

[Enderman]

yes i know, theres a very very slight amount of timing inconsistencies that can cause the frames to drop by 1 or 2. thats what I said. but you can barely see that difference whatsoever. 

you dont see the difference, its more like you "feel" the difference

kinda like playing on a 20ms screen vs a 2ms screen

 

and yeah I agree its not very noticeable unless you're playing at very high framerates (like 4x your monitors refresh rate) and fast paced games