V-Sync

[abhigyan001]

I have a couple of doubts regarding V-Sync. So here they go-

 

 

What are the problems with it?

 

If I play games at 1080p 60fps on a Monitor with 2 ms Response Time, would I face some major Response Delay?

[Oshino Shinobu]

The response time makes no difference to the delay you experience. 

 

VSync can cause some input delay, as it uses a buffer to prevent tearing, causing the GPU to wait for a complete frame to be drawn before drawing the next one. There are also VSync modes that use double and triple buffering to ensure that the game is tear free, but it can result in more input delay. The amount of delay varies from game to game, as some games work better with VSync than others. 

[manikyath]

the downsides seem to be very game-bound, and in fact setting-bound as well.

 

in slower paced games, 60 (or even 30) fps will make no difference what so ever, but if we're talking games like CS:GO or even quake where everything is so fast paced the entire game can turn on a split second, that starts to make a difference.

 

issue: your monitor is 60Hz, it cannot display more than 60 frames per second. in that view its not worth to have more than 60FPS rendered.

issues arise: when your game is running at 60FPS, and your framerate dips even a little, you'll see a stutter, you'll *notice* the stutter.

 

games like CS:GO have settings for "double" or even "triple buffering" which brings your game to 120 or 240FPS respectively, giving the following advantages:

- stutters are pretty much a gonner, as long as your system can push the FPS the game is set to comfortably.

- i'm not quite certain on the details of this one, but people say the game is more "snappy" at higher framerates.

 

another note on double/triple buffering in CS:GO:

different games handle vsync very differently, minecraft is actually a very great example of the wrong way: the vsync built into minecraft is so badly implemented that you'll lose 20FPS over the frequency you set once you enable vsync. hence minecrafters vsync at 80FPS, or 140fps

if you enable vsync in nvidia drivers instead of in minecraft (minecraft -> off, nvidia -> force enable) it runs smoothly.

 

source engine on the other hand, is very different. source engine has a built in "max FPS" setting which basicly with zero overhead implements a "hard roof" on the frames rendered, which basicly just "lowers" to whatever you set vsync to.

in most source games this cap is set to 300FPS by default, so *basicly* "quadruple buffering" or however you want to call it.

 

 

TL:DR enable it and try it out, if it doesnt feel right, see if your game supports the double/triple buffering thing, if it doesnt then you can always turn it back off again.