Does V-Sync really matter?

[Omlet]

Alrighty, so I decided to run a little test in Just Cause 2 with my 9800 GT to see how much frames I gain or lose with V-Sync enabled. Please note that the 9800 GT is an older card, but should give some decent scores.

These are the current settings:

Refresh Rate: 75

Display Settings
----------------
Gamma: 50
Motion Blur: On
Full Screen: On
Screen Resolution: 1280x1024

Advanced Display Settings
----------------------------------
Texture detail: High
Shadows Quality: Medium
Anti-Aliasing: 4x
Anistrophic Filtering: 16x
Water Detail: Low
Objects Detail: Low
Decals: On
Soft Particles: On
V-Sync: Off
High-Res Shadows: Off
SSAO: Off
Point Light Specular: Off
Bokeh Filter: Off
GPU Water Simulation: On

System
----------------
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
RAM: 2047

I ran the benchmark "Concrete Jungle" which is the only benchmark in which I get around 20 FPS.

With V-Sync Off, I achieved 24.59.

With V-Sync On, I achieved 24.54.

That's hardly a difference!

I went ahead and tried "The Dark Tower" as well and achieved a 4 frame difference which isn't very significant.

I also ran this test on serveral other games and achieved about the same results.

Now, I'm not saying that everyone will get these results, but leaving V-Sync on when your FPS is below the refresh rate isn't a very significant difference as leaving it off, right? :shock:

 

[Wishmaster]

I think you may be mis-understanding what Vsync does. or im misunderstanding the post
(Which BTW, Vsync is best used with Tripple Buffering On as well))

Vsync "syncs" your monitor with the frames drawn.

In a nutshell it works like this:

If you have a monitor that has a referesh rate of 60, then it can only display 60FPS. Even if the cartd is drawing 200, the monitor can only display the approx FPS as its refresh rate.

What Vysnc does is limit the FPS th the refresh rate, so if you have a 60 refresh monitor, and the card was drawing 200FPS, with Vsync on it will throttle at 60FPS.

tripple buffering on the hand work a bit differnet, as its storing the next 3 frames in que, or buffer. this will help with Vsync keep a more stable and consitant FPS rate.

This also helps to prevent image tearing etc and an overall better picture quality. So you can run AA or AF and in thory shouldnt loose in FPS in this case.

However, if your card is unable to draw more FPS of a particular game that the monitors refresh rate, Vsync may not help anything. As it has no need to limit anything. tripple buffer may help slightly, but I wouldnt expect much.

I always leave both on, with AA and AF. Youll never gain any FPS over the refresh rate, but it will always be stable and eliminate that dreadful tearing effect.
IMHO, the picture quality is just better with it on, provided the FPS are at a reasonable rate and the card isnt struggling to start with.

 

[Omlet]

I think you may be mis-understanding what Vsync does. or im misunderstanding the post
(Which BTW, Vsync is best used with Tripple Buffering On as well))

Vsync "syncs" your monitor with the frames drawn.

In a nutshell it works like this:

If you have a monitor that has a referesh rate of 60, then it can only display 60FPS. Even if the cartd is drawing 200, the monitor can only display the approx FPS as its refresh rate.

What Vysnc does is limit the FPS th the refresh rate, so if you have a 60 refresh monitor, and the card was drawing 200FPS, with Vsync on it will throttle at 60FPS.

tripple buffering on the hand work a bit differnet, as its storing the next 3 frames in que, or buffer. this will help with Vsync keep a more stable and consitant FPS rate.

This also helps to prevent image tearing etc and an overall better picture quality. So you can run AA or AF and in thory shouldnt loose in FPS in this case.

However, if your card is unable to draw more FPS of a particular game that the monitors refresh rate, Vsync may not help anything. As it has no need to limit anything. tripple buffer may help slightly, but I wouldnt expect much.

I always leave both on, with AA and AF. Youll never gain any FPS over the refresh rate, but it will always be stable and eliminate that dreadful tearing effect.
IMHO, the picture quality is just better with it on, provided the FPS are at a reasonable rate and the card isnt struggling to start with.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. For example, I tried BC2 with V-Sync on and off and couldn't notice a difference at all. The only thing I noticed was the lack of screen tearing with V-Sync on. Some games without triple buffering have the same results. The reason this bugs me so much is because I have alot of games and some have V-Sync on while the others don't.

 

[Wishmaster]

Yes, but if your card isn't drawing enough frames to equall the refresh rate, vsync will not give you more.

It can only reduce the frames drawn to the refresh rate, while tripple buffer will que the next 3 over that amount.

So if you only get, say 25-30FPS, it will still be about the same.
With a 75refresh rate, youll need to be drawing more than 75FPS on a particular game for vsync to really do its thing.

So my answer to the original question would be, Yes, vsync does matter and makes a significant difference only if your card is drawing more FPS than your refresh rate.



I still think its best left on always tbh. Although others may disagree.

Some games have no option for it but you can force it to On Always. I know you can in ATI Catalyst & Im gussing Nvidias control panel wuill have a similar setting.

Have you tried that setting for the games that do not have a option to see what results you get? Some games Vsync wont help or makes things worse though. Depends on the game.

~~On a side note related to this topic, there are issues Im curious about as well.
For example:

I recently purchased The Withcher Enhanced (Directors Cut) from steam. Ive noticed it had the tearing issue in areas and it annoys me. The game itslef has settings for AA,AF and such but no Vsync option.
I have tried forcing Vsync, tripple Buffer etc and in this particular game it seems to not help at all.
The tearing is persistant regardless of settings. It seems to run fine regardless what settings I use. X2A x8Af or X4AA X8AF, Other than the tearing issue.

Any ideas on how to get vsync to work with this game? ;-/

Normally, enabling Vsync solves such an issue, but this game seems to be an exception.

 

[archie123]

v sync is indeed better with triple buffering on but it doesnt work in direct 3d games , you have to force it with an app called D3D overrider (comes with riva tuner) which works fantastically well except that punkerbuster (bless its little cotton socks) now sees it as a rogue driver and kicks you , and the lovely guys at PB (bless their little cotton socks) DONT CARE!!!


as your total fps on both runs is well below your capped refresh rate your results are pretty meaningless , if you cant acheive 60fps anyway neither benchmark is a good indication of any hit v sync will make , but that of course means you can run that game with v sync on and enjoy a nice tear free game with no hit on performance

but for me yes v sync really really does matter , i cant abide tearing , however for now i have to do without it or face the wrath of punkbuster

I recently purchased The Withcher Enhanced (Directors Cut) from steam. Ive noticed it had the tearing issue in areas and it annoys me. The game itslef has settings for AA,AF and such but no Vsync option.
I have tried forcing Vsync, tripple Buffer etc and in this particular game it seems to not help at all.
The tearing is persistant regardless of settings. It seems to run fine regardless what settings I use. X2A x8Af or X4AA X8AF, Other than the tearing issue.

Any ideas on how to get vsync to work with this game? ;-/

if your not playing online try D3D overrider , its packed with riva tuner so if you aint got that download it here

http://downloads.guru3d.com/RivaTuner-v2.09-download-163.html

that will force triple buffering and v sync , worth a try

another thing make a custom profile for it (in your driver cp) and see if you can force it that way , d3d overrider is the best option so try that first

 

[Wishmaster]

Thanks archie. Ill give that a shot and see if it helps. That image tearing just drives me nuts