120hz + vsync = 60 fps??

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sunchaser

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Hi all,

I recently bought a Asus VG236H 120Hz LCD screen and am content with it but confused at the same time.
With my 60hz LCD i like to turn on vsync to have a constant 60fps without tearing.
Now with the 120hz screen if i turn on vsync the fps cap is still 60.
I thought logically it would be 120 because of the 120 hz, otherwise what's the use, right?
I have Win7 and a hd 6950 and in catalyst control center the screen is listed correctly but with a max refresh rate of 75hz whereas windows lists a max refresh of 60hz which i find weird too.

Is all this normal or am i missing something?

Thanks!
 
Yeah, sounds like you're not actually running the screen at 120Hz. The screen didn't happen to come with a driver disc, did it?

The screen might need a custom monitor.inf installed on the system to be recognized properly.
 
Windows will default to 60Hz on any monitor. Unless you've gone into properties for you monitor and set it to 120Hz it's actually only running at 60Hz.
 
First, you'll only get 120 fps if your computer is capable of pumping out at least 120 fps and if there's no frame rate cap, otherwise the next highest possible value at 120 Hz is 60 fps.

Second, if Catalyst Control Center is reporting a max of 75 Hz, then either you're using the wrong connection or the EDID is wrong. The monitor only supports 120 Hz through dual-link DVI. You can't use HDMI for 120 Hz.

Third, you shouldn't need a driver to get 120 Hz, and Windows defaults to the preferred resolution defined by the EDID. You may have to change the refresh rate manually if the preferred resolution is 60 Hz.
 
ToastyX said:
First, you'll only get 120 fps if your computer is capable of pumping out at least 120 fps and if there's no frame rate cap, otherwise the next highest possible value at 120 Hz is 60 fps.

Second, if Catalyst Control Center is reporting a max of 75 Hz, then either you're using the wrong connection or the EDID is wrong. The monitor only supports 120 Hz through dual-link DVI. You can't use HDMI for 120 Hz.

Third, you shouldn't need a driver to get 120 Hz, and Windows defaults to the preferred resolution defined by the EDID. You may have to change the refresh rate manually if the preferred resolution is 60 Hz.
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what this guy said
 
ToastyX said:
First, you'll only get 120 fps if your computer is capable of pumping out at least 120 fps and if there's no frame rate cap, otherwise the next highest possible value at 120 Hz is 60 fps.
Click to expand...
Does this mean that if your computer can't maintain a constant (or near constant) 120 fps then there's no benefit over a 60 hz monitor? What's it like to game with an average fps of 110 with dips in to the 80s?
 
That only applies if you're using vsync, and 120 Hz monitors can usually accept lower refresh rates like 100 Hz if needed.

With vsync off, a higher refresh rate can reduce tearing and allows more of each frame to be displayed. Tearing is worst when the frame rate is close to the refresh rate, so 60 fps at 120 Hz will have less visible tearing than 60 fps at 60 Hz. Tearing also happens more often per refresh if the frame rate is beyond the refresh rate, so 80-100 fps at 120 Hz will be smoother and have less tearing than 80-100 fps at 60 Hz.
 
hi, all solved, thanks!
the cable of the 120hz lcd was connected to the single-dvi link of the vga card and the 60hz lcd was connected to the dual-dvi link.
after i switched the cables, i could select up to 120hz refresh rates in the game, before only 60hz.
strange because there is no mention of this in the manual of the vga card and in the manual of the lcd it is mentioned only very briefly as a footnote somewhere and easily missed.
in other words, i've been playing in 60hz ever since i got the lcd haha (only 1 week though).
i guess because of the change from a slow to a very fast system i thought it was 120hz but the 60fps cap got me thinking, hence.

120hz is smoooOOOoooth!
you could almost compare it to old-school CRT smoothness.
i mostly play with vsync on but since i've been playing with vsync off the last week i can say that tearing is less than 60hz but still noticeable, albeit a personal opinion.
also the smoothness in windows is noticeable when window dragging and moving your mouse over the screen but first you have to manually change the refresh rate from 60 to 120 in the display properties.

i love it.

ps: no driver is needed
 
there are two modes of vsync. First and mostly used by games is double buffering and it will divide framerate if it can't sustain full speed. So with 120Hz you get 120, 60, 40, 30, etc
Second mode is tripple buffering and it's much better as it's displaying full framerate your computer can handle.

Triplle buffering is said to increase input lag and it do most of the time. Somehow when forced with d3doverrider (just install newest riva tuner to get it and add game in d3doverrider) input lag is not increased but decreased. So 120Hz + forced v-sync via d3doverrider provide smoothest experience possible :)

ps. in network games it's best just to disable v-sync as tools like d3doverrider might be detected as cheating and you could get banned! also disabling vsync will give you least amount of input lag and that is important in such games
ps2. set desktop to 120Hz as many games just use refresh rate of desktop
 
sunchaser said:
i mostly play with vsync on but since i've been playing with vsync off the last week i can say that tearing is less than 60hz but still noticeable, albeit a personal opinion.
also the smoothness in windows is noticeable when window dragging and moving your mouse over the screen but first you have to manually change the refresh rate from 60 to 120 in the display properties.
Click to expand...

Welcome to my world

try capping your favorite game at 125fps, tearring will be much less, FUCK VSYNC, let it die :D
 
No, vsync is good. I can't imagie playing a game without it )) bf3 and 120hz monitor might be exception though.
There are 3 magical moves one should accomplish to significally cut the lag that vsync introduces or maybe even eliminate it completely.
(for nvidia users. I don't have an ATI card so I don't know what should be done when you use an ATI card, but it is also posssible - just google it):
1. Cap your fps to 58fps (use nvidia inspector to do it). If your screen is 120hz, then cap it to 118fps.
2. Enable Triple Buffering (use nvidia drivers or nvidia inspector for that)
3. Force Vsync from within the nvidia drivers (use nvidia drivers or nvidia inspector for that too)
Personally, I don't see any lag in games that would bother me after doing those steps with vsync enabled.. including the fast paced bf3...
 
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is 120hz more taxing on a video card? Or does it not even play a factor on card at all? the only reason i ask is I just bought the same monitor as the OP and hope it doesn't bring the performance of my card down. which is a gtx 580 matrix. I swear, i've spent so much money since joining this forum but I hope 120hz is a real big diffence from my 20wmgx2
 
When ever I can I play games with v-sync. I hate tearing. Now online FPS's I will try it with and without and which ever I like I will use that mode.
 
Pingis said:
is 120hz more taxing on a video card? Or does it not even play a factor on card at all? the only reason i ask is I just bought the same monitor as the OP and hope it doesn't bring the performance of my card down. which is a gtx 580 matrix. I swear, i've spent so much money since joining this forum but I hope 120hz is a real big diffence from my 20wmgx2
Click to expand...

Sustaining 120 fps is a lot more taxing on your video card, but this is true for some games more than others. For example, running Battlefield 3 at 120hz on Ultra setting is only going to be possible on a dual or maybe even triple gpu configuration using top of the line video cards. On the other hand, you should be able to maintain a constant 120 fps in The Darkness 2 with just a single decent gpu.

When your gpu can't sustain 120 fps, it's going to be running at full load at the highest fps rate it can sustain. A 120hz monitor is still beneficial in this situation. The screen will always be displaying at 120hz, it just won't be displaying 120 new frames per second. Since the speed at which your mouse input is recognized is tied to the monitor's refresh rate, things should still feel a bit smoother than a 60hz monitor in theory. To experience the full benefit of a 120hz monitor though, you really need to get as close to 120 fps as possible.
 
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