Enabling vsync when fps dips below 60 fps

[addictedto60fps]

Are games supposed to appear smoother when you enable vsync and your fps dips under 60 fps? I was playing Crysis Warhead last night and with vsync enabled, when my fps dropped to between 40 and under 60 fps, gameplay was still pretty smooth. However, when I disabled vsync, gameplay seemed to be a lot choppier, even though the game was still running at the same 40 and under 60 fps. Is the choppiness the result of microstutter and/or crossfire?

 

[phide]

Unless the internal workings of the renderer are glitchy, frame tearing is what makes for the choppiness when vertical sync is disabled. Some engines don't decouple the rendering component from the simulation component (so simulation starts acting iffy if the frame rate is too high or too low), so that's sometimes a part of the problem as well.

When vertical sync is enabled, and if the GPU is able to render every frame in the limited amount of time it has before the buffers are flipped, then you'll experience the smoothest possible rendering (though it may not always be perfectly smooth). Usually the rendering gets pretty jumpy at 30 Hz, but Crysis also makes effective use of motion blur to help 'smooth out' low frame rates, so the frame rate being momentarily halved (effectively) due to double-buffering doesn't have as major an effect as the tearing you'd otherwise have with vsync disabled.

 

[addictedto60fps]

Ah, thanks for the explanation. I have motion blur turned off, as I find that annoying more than helpful. While motion blur does make the game appear smoother, I just can't stand it, so I have it turned off.