Driver Settings Poll (forcing vsync)

[DerekWilson]

Do you force vsync off in the control panel?

That's it ... I know it's lame, but I still want to know what you guys do in your drivers ...

I'm looking for feedback so I can adapt the way I test in my articles if necessary.

::EDIT:: This pertains to driver control panel settings only. I don't care what you do inside a game. This is also important for something I'm working on ... I'd help me out if you can answer.



Click Here to find out why I wanted this info.

forcing VSYNC off on NVIDIA cards in DX10 games can have ~25% negative performance impact. It's high in nearly CPU limited situations and lower as you move toward a GPU limitation, which implies to me that it's a driver overhead issue (and a pretty freaking big one at that).

NVIDIA is aware of this issue, and I only found out about it shortly before I posted this poll. Don't hate me for delaying the info a couple days -- I really wanted some good information on this problem really impacted people.

 

[CP5670]

Force it off? I always force it on.

 

[apoppin]

off always

 

[BFG10K]

I always force it off except in rare games that need it for compatibility reasons (e.g. NOLF).

During actual gaming I seldom if ever notice tearing, but I usually spot input lag immediately.

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: CP5670
Force it off? I always force it on.

what that sarcastic? if not where's my vote for no, never

 

[humanure]

off

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: DerekWilson

Originally posted by: CP5670
Force it off? I always force it on.

what that sarcastic? if not where's my vote for no, never

I thought you meant to say on and made a mistake. Most games have it off by default anyway.

 

[DerekWilson]

nah, i meant what i said

default cp for amd and nv is to either default off or let the app decide.

i'm asking if you change that to always force vsync off ...

i've got a reason too ... just gotta give it some time before you find out why though.

note that i don't care if you do force it on ... thats actually not an option in my poll at all ...

 

[nevbie]

I installed "driver only" for my radeon 9800, and never tried checking any GPU related options in windows. I suppose that translates to "no, never". When it comes to ingame settings, I turned it off in quake 3 (and other multiplayer FPS games) and probably didn't touch it in other games.

 

[Engineer]

I forced it off just because of this thread. Not sure what it did for me though (yet)! I just wanted to vote and have a few smilies!

 

[AzN]

Not always but in first shooters I like it having it off to give it more boost.

Vsync hampers performance if some of you didn't know.

 

[Sylvanas]

Off always.

 

[SniperDaws]

For best picture quality without tearing you should turn it on along with Triple buffer to improve frame rates.

Obviously if you want fast as poss then turn it off, but depending what game it is you might see a lot of screen tearing.

Crysis has very bad screen tearing without Vsync enabled.

i usually leave it set to application instead of forcing

in World in Conflict i have everything maxed out with 4xAA and 16xAF with Vsync turned on and tripple buffer enabled in the nvidia control panel and its amazing.

 

[Jaskalas]

I leave it default, always.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

OFF, on a side note i was getting haveing a problem with Vsync OFF on my 9800 GX2 "Hellgate" and a old Samsung LCD "The frames seemed to skip" but truning Vsync ON fixed this... Hellgate Forum was a great help... !!

 

[CrystalBay]

On for games like UT3 , the tearing is so awful with it off, but with other games off...

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: CP5670
Force it off? I always force it on.

Same

The poll is REALLY biased. It should have been:
1. Forced Off
2. Forced On
3. I left it at the default (Application controlled)
4. I force it on or off depending on the game I want to play.
5. What?

Sometimes force it off? you force it off and then you dont force it off? well, maybe if you had a game where it was on by default and cannot be disabled in game, and another game where it was off by default and needed it badly, you could switch from force on to force off.

 

[DerekWilson]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: CP5670
Force it off? I always force it on.

Same

The poll is REALLY biased. It should have been:
1. Forced Off
2. Forced On
3. I left it at the default (Application controlled)
4. I force it on or off depending on the game I want to play.
5. What?

Sometimes force it off? you force it off and then you dont force it off? well, maybe if you had a game where it was on by default and cannot be disabled in game, and another game where it was off by default and needed it badly, you could switch from force on to force off.

lol ...

my poll is not biased wrt to the data i am trying to obtain.

i'm not interested in whether or not people use vsync either in game or forced on in the driver -- that is irrelevant to issue i am trying to address.

the only thing i care about is what percent of people force vsync off in the control panel all of the time and what percent of people never force it off in the control panel.

no matter what you do with the setting, there is an option for you:

1) yes, always: when you install a new graphics card you flip it to force vsync off and forget it.

2) yes, sometimes: you change the driver settings on a per game or some other basis or it's just not always set to one thing or the other on your system. but sometimes you do force vsync off in the control panel when playing games.

3) no, never: you either: leave the setting default (app controlled) or force vsync on. but you never force it off in the driver.

4) cause who doesn't like a funny nonsense answer.

for my data collection purpose and focus, there is no bias here.

 

[error8]

Ok, even though I've voted the first option, because I'm stupid or something, I'm always forcing vsync ON from the driver. There are games that I found that can't be played because of the tearing effect (Doom 3 or Test Drive Unlimited). For me the vsync is a must, and I never noticed any performance decrease when using it.

 

[hclarkjr]

i usualy leave things at default settings unless a problem creeps up.

 

[Ika]

I had bad experiences with vysnc in the past, but nowadays I rarely bother with it. I sometimes want to turn vsync on when a game hits 100+ FPS for the fun of it, so I don't force it off in the panel.

 

[n7]

Default.

 

[ronnn]

Can't even find vsync on the ccc. Used to there, must be blind or something. Maybe time to install the latest drivers.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Never, in fact I force it ON, along with tripple buffering.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
i usualy leave things at default settings unless a problem creeps up.

Ditto, i forced it off for a game a couple years back (many reinstalls/video cards ago), havent really had a problem that would cause me to change it from default since.