Graphics settings explanation needed please

[Bleedingyamato]

I just downloaded Call of Duty 4 from Steam and in the graphics settings there's two I don't understand:

 

screen refresh rate

and

sync every frame 

 

I know I have my monitor set to 120Hz in the Nvidia Control Panel but I'm confused why is there an option for it in the game and what does it do?

 

What does the sync every frame setting do?

[Arc_Jester]

The "screen refresh rate" option is so you can manually set you refresh rate in the game and the "sync every frame" option is to enable Vsync.

[Mira Yurizaki]

13 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I just downloaded Call of Duty 4 from Steam and in the graphics settings there's two I don't understand:

 

screen refresh rate

and

sync every frame 

 

I know I have my monitor set to 120Hz in the Nvidia Control Panel but I'm confused why is there an option for it in the game and what does it do?

 

What does the sync every frame setting do?

If you are using the game in full screen, screen refresh rate overrides what's set in the control panel. Sync every frame is just another name for VSync, which if you have some kind of variable syncing, you have to leave it off.

[Bleedingyamato]

16 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If you are using the game in full screen, screen refresh rate overrides what's set in the control panel. Sync every frame is just another name for VSync, which if you have some kind of variable syncing, you have to leave it off.

Ok.  I'll make sure to set it to 120 like my monitor.  Is variable syncing g sync?  I don't have a g sync monitor if that's it so I don't need to worry.  I don't use v sync anyway.

 

Thank you for the explanation.  

[Bleedingyamato]

22 minutes ago, Arc_Jester said:

The "screen refresh rate" option is so you can manually set you refresh rate in the game and the "sync every frame" option is to enable Vsync.

Thank you for the info.

[Arc_Jester]

24 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Ok.  I'll make sure to set it to 120 like my monitor.  Is variable syncing g sync?  I don't have a g sync monitor if that's it so I don't need to worry.  I don't use v sync anyway.

 

Thank you for the explanation.  

They're similar but instead of syncing the frames to a value you chose like G-sync and FreeSync does Vsync instead syncs/locks the frames with/to your monitor's refresh rate instead. They both improve overall smoothness and eliminate screen tearing But Vsync is more limited and you don't need a special monitor to use it.