60Hz Refresh Question

[ezdriver]

I have heard so many people making reference to the 60Hz refresh problem, and I was wondering if there's a way I can tell if it affects my system. I have a GF4 Ti-4600 card running the 30.82 drivers. Desktop is set to 1024x768 @ 85Hz. My OGL and D3D games seem to run fine with high frame rates (30-120fps with vsynch off), depending on the game and environment. I don't experience the flicker that seems to go along with a low refresh setting, so I believe that I am not affected. But I read that this 60Hz problem is fixed in the 41.09 drivers, so is it a hit or miss problem for random computers running less than the 41.09's? I also see that RivaTuner has the Fix as part of it's program, but I have never used it since I don't seem to be affected. How do you actually know if you have the problem?

 

[Lonyo]

I have 60hz in OpenGL, but when I'm playing UT I don't notice it. I think you only SEE it when there's a "static" screen, like the windows desktop, or the main menu on UT, but when you have the game going it's not really noticeable. You should only really worry if you get headaches or things like that though. I personally don't see it as a big problem if oyu run with v-sync off, if you rn with it on then it becomes a big limiting factor though, and if oyu get headaches then you might need to sort it.

 

[Davegod]

easy, go though the monitor's controls - there should be one called "display timing".

its not exactly "hit and miss". All windows XP using nvidia drivers prior to 41.09 have refresh rate problem in all openGL games, unless they have taken steps to fix it.

 

[BFG10K]

While your desktop may seem fine it's usually fullscreen 3D games that switch to lower refresh rates. The easiest way to tell is to simply use your moinitor's OSD to see what the refresh rate is after you launch a game.

The best way to fix the issue is to use Refresh Force which works on any video card and with any driver revision, is not memory resident, and only needs to be run once.

 

[Goi]

Well, if you don't see any problem, then even if you have the problem, I guess it doesn't matter right?

As for making sure, the other guys have already mentioned it. Just go to your monitor OSD to check. Or, if your monitor doesn't have any information, try switching to a low resolution such as 640x480, then switch between 60Hz and say 160Hz. You should easily be able to tell the difference between the 2 if they're working correctly. If you don't. wave your fingers in front of the screen quickly and see if you notice any difference. With 60Hz, your fingers will break up, but with 160Hz, it should be a pretty smooth motion...

As for fixes, there's no one fix that fixes all. Many have had success with RefreshForce, RefreshLock, RivaTuner, or other software. Personally RefreshForce only worked in 1 of the 3 systems I had, which is one with a GF4MX440 card. It didn't work on my Voodoo3, neither does it work on my Radeon 9700 Pro. RefreshLock worked on the V3, my Radeon 9700 Pro currently has no OGL fix other then setting the Q3 engine based game manually with a command line parameter.

 

[ezdriver]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Another question.....is this problem only on WinXP machines and does it only effect Nvidia-based cards?

 

[Mem]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Another question.....is this problem only on WinXP machines and does it only effect Nvidia-based cards?

It`s really a Win2K and WinXP problem,since 98/ME don`t have the problem.However both ATi and Nvidia have released drivers that go some way to fixing the problem in D3D,you still need a third party refresh fix program for OpenGL like below( one below is for for Nvidia cards only).

I would recommend you download and install RefreshTool V2.1 from here .

NVRefreshTool is a utility used to fix the problem in Windows 2000/XP that sets your refresh rate to 60Hz when you play ANY game. This problem occurs whether or not you have a higher refresh rate set in your Display Properties of Windows.

NVRefreshTool is simple and easy to use. Just load up the NVRefreshTool program and it will automatically detect the maximum refresh rate at each resolution that your monitor supports. If you're an advanced user, you can customize each refresh rate at each resolution.

From the author:
Quite a few new features in this version--Most importantly 41.xx driver support, the addition of Horizontal and Vertical spanning support(there are some limitations to this), updated the installer, packed the nvrt.exe to use a smaller size, updated the help file with some new information(such as Battlefield 1942 refresh rate problems), a few coding updates, and a number of slight UI changes that just seemed as eyesores to us now.

 

[BFG10K]

Personally RefreshForce only worked in 1 of the 3 systems I had, which is one with a GF4MX440 card. It didn't work on my Voodoo3, neither does it work on my Radeon 9700 Pro.

Interesting, I've tried Refresh Force on at least half a dozen different video cards and it's always worked perfectly. The only time it might not work is if your drivers are using DDC information - turn that off and it should work.

 

[Mem]

Interesting, I've tried Refresh Force on at least half a dozen different video cards and it's always worked perfectly. The only time it might not work is if your drivers are using DDC information - turn that off and it should work.

I too tried RefreshForce awhile back,it never worked for me and yes I had DDC off and read all the FAQ problems etc,ironically the other one " RefreshLock" did work for me but uses some memory,anyway since then I`ve gone over to NVRefreshTool & have been very happy with NVRefreshTool which is one of the best ones for Nvidia cards IMHO.