120Hz Monitor + Crossfire 7970 = !!!!

[The2ff]

As many who bought crossfire 7970's and did not run with eyefinity, I was dissapointed in the choppyness (for lack of a better word) of the play with crossfire enabled while using Vsync. Using frame limiters in Afterburner didn't help much either and it bugged me to be limiting frames in the first place.

Without the limiters while using crossfire I would get an extreme amount of tearing while playing which also drove me nuts. SO, I figured it was time to try a 120Hz monitor to go with my graphics card splurge.

While adding another $300 to the price of the rig was not ideal, it is the second most awesome piece of new tech I have had the pleasure to use (#1 being SSD) that many felt was 'unnessesary at this time'. The gameplay is SO smooth! I play BF3, and I have it on ultra with everything maxed with the two cards and with the 120Hz, I can use all those extra frames being generated by the 7970's.

Do yourself a favor if you have a lot of graphics beef, go 120HZ!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Snowshredder102]

Now only if they made a 2560x1600 IPS 120hz monitor. Unfortunately for me my 6970 crossfire setup microstutters to hell in BF3 so it wouldn't be smooth even with a 120hz monitor :/

 

[nOOky]

Unfortunately 120hz monitors aren't available in the screen size/resolution I desire yet...

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Does a 120hz monitor help with just 60-80 fps as well?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Does a 120hz monitor help with just 60-80 fps as well?

It does.

 

[Annisman*]

A 120 hz monitor is the single best thing you can purchase for a gaming computer, I will continue to say it !

 

[aaksheytalwar]

And if I average say 50-55 fps, will a 120hz monitor still be smoother by a huge margin?

The problem is I just blew up a thousand grands on a dell u2711 so
1. There are no ips 120hz
2. I can't afford 120 hz ips if they were even more expensive
3. I can't change the monitor for a minimum of 2-3+ years and that too only if I get 40-60% cost back 2-3 years down with sub $1000 27" 120hz ips monitors
4. I can't go back to tn panels, perhaps to superb va gaming monitors but not back to tn after owning ips

 

[imaheadcase]

Depends on the person i guess, never noticed a difference in 60 vs 120 myself.

 

[railven]

Depends on the person i guess, never noticed a difference in 60 vs 120 myself.

Second.

In the games that I can render 100+ FPS, to me it doesn't feel any smoother, and in 3D games, personally I'm not liking the artifacting issues caused by shadows and other sparkles.

 

[Absolute0]

Maybe my eyes suck but I have trouble seeing any difference beyond 40 FPS

 

[railven]

Maybe my eyes suck but I have trouble seeing any difference beyond 40 FPS

Oh, man dipping below 40FPS is murder. It starts to look all jittery.

I remember they posted a video from Uncharted 3 at the native PS3 30FPS and then 60FPS. the 60FPS version of the video felt like a movie, the 30FPS felt like a PS3 game.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I find games unplayable below 50 FPS and good with a minimum of 60+ FPS, perfect with 100+ FPS. And this is with a 60Hz LCD.

 

[Smartazz]

But you can't perceive more than 30fps!/sarcasm

In all seriousness, I've used 120hz displays and they look very fluid both in games and even for everyday use on the desktop. Nvidia's 3d vision is pretty cool too, but murders your frame rates. Over 60fps looks very fluid, but a solid 60fps is nothing to scoff at.

 

[lehtv]

I find games unplayable below 50 FPS and good with a minimum of 60+ FPS, perfect with 100+ FPS. And this is with a 60Hz LCD.

How can 100fps on a 60hz LCD possibly be better than 60fps? 60 refreshes per second with a ton of image tearing is not better than without image tearing.

 

[Eymar]

Maybe my eyes suck but I have trouble seeing any difference beyond 40 FPS

This is true for lot of people. You probably could tell if running two games side by side (one running at 40fps and one 60fps). Hopefully some site in the future does some review/investigation with 120hz video comparisons (ex. 120hz video with 120fps gameplay (vsync-on/off, single vs sli, triple-buffer), 120hz with 80-60fps gameplay, 120hz with sub 60fps, etc.) so people can determine accurately if they can see differences or not.

 

[Olikan]

Maybe my eyes suck but I have trouble seeing any difference beyond 40 FPS

me too, also X2 to x4 AA, and 8x to 16x AF too XD

anyway, for me it don't matter... but some ppl realy have god like reflexes to QQ about some frames lesser than 60

 

[evilspoons]

FWIW, even super low framerates can be helped by a higher refresh rate panel. If you've got a 24 fps source (a lot of films), 120 hz is great because you just display every frame 5 times. On a 60 hz panel you'd have to display every frame 2.5 times, which is, of course, impossible. You then have to generate intermediate frames, which can look really weird. I think this is called 3:2 pulldown, or 2:3 pullup, or something.

This is really why 120 hz TVs were released; the "smooth motion" circuitry in them is just marketing.

You can imagine that the same would apply for a game. If you're unevenly producing frames at a low rate, having a screen with double the refresh rate means you're twice as likely to have a frame line up properly with a screen refresh, reducing tearing (or display lag, if you're holding the rendered frame until a screen refresh is available to paint it).

 

[Smartazz]

me too, also X2 to x4 AA, and 8x to 16x AF too XD

anyway, for me it don't matter... but some ppl realy have god like reflexes to QQ about some frames lesser than 60

You're lucky if you can't perceive <60fps and image quality. It's an expensive thing to notice haha.

 

[evilspoons]

You're lucky if you can't perceive <60fps and image quality. It's an expensive thing to notice haha.

Hahaha, tell me about it. I have the same problem with sound. My fiancée isn't terribly impressed that my stereo speakers cost $1000 (two bookshelf units, not surround)... and that's $1000 after working them down from the inflated original cost.

 

[amenx]

I've always had no problem playing games at 30fps and above. If there were issues, stuttering, lagging, whatever, I simply refuse to believe its from the fps, but rather issues in the game itself, texture loading, inefficient rendering, etc. I recall playing Halo many years ago and that was frame-locked to 25 fps. Didnt bother me at all, in fact it played quite well.

With regards to 120hz, I do see somewhat of a smoother, more fluid experience with it, but its not earth shattering.

 

[Absolute0]

Yeah different standards for all of us then. I can't imagine how people see a difference past 60 FPS. I bought a good GPU to avoid framerate drops and because I need to max games out with a lot of AA. I dont care if I'm getting a hundred FPS, if there's jaggies then they HURT MY EYES and make me mad.

I was planning to CF myself down the road, but I'm more interested in Eyefinity than trying to pump the frames that a 120hz monitor needs.

 

[flopper]

my 120hz eyefinity is lovely.
waiting a few months to buy cards playing golf now

 

[Annisman*]

I'll never disbeleive someone who says they can't see any change beyond 30 or 40 fps, but I wish those same people would understand that some of us (including me) need a much higher fps, and can discern a much higher fps than themselves.

I want my games at 80 fps or higher, anywhere in the 50 to 60 range, (depending on the game and engine) can get very distracting for me. It's quite noticeable.

 

[MrK6]

Depends on the person i guess, never noticed a difference in 60 vs 120 myself.

Thirded, although FPS sensitivity for me depends on the game as well. If they make a 30" 2560x1600+ monitor that's also 120Hz, sure, I'll pick it up, but it's literally one of the last things on my monitor "want" lists.

 

[Fallengod]

No offense to anyone who prefers the IPS monitors and is fine at 60hz but, I think you are missing something here.

The main reason to get a 120hz monitor is gaming. If you dont game then you wont notice it much and thus probably why you dont own one. It is true you do notice the difference even on desktop and it makes the computing experience that much more pleasurable, but its a minimal difference compared to gaming.

On the flip side of that, if you do in fact game often and have an expensive system with top end video cards still playing at 60hz, then id say you are either kind of stupid and "doing it wrong".... This is the 21st century. All monitors should be 120hz these days imo.

Anyone who says they cant notice the difference between 60hz and 120hz in games either has their resolution and details stretched so high that their FPS are super low or is blind. Whenever I game, I play at details and resolutions that give me 100+ fps.

Give your eyes some pleasure, buy a 120hz monitor.... 21st century guys, 120hz or bust. If you are a "gamer", run top tier video cards and still play on a 60hz monitor, you screwed up somewhere along the lines.