Stumped - Capped Frame Rates

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PornFlake

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
270
I picked up STALKER today and with my dual core AMD and a 7900GT it felt laggy and just not right.

So I fired up 3DMark05 and 06 and discovered the frame rate is capped at 30 FPS even at 640x480!!!

The monitor is a Samsung 244T and the info supplied by the monitor show 60Hz. Running FRAPS in a couple other games also show the frame rate capped at 30 FPS.

Any clue as to what is causing this frame rate cap in XP SP2?

-Flake
 
Um..Vsync syncs the refresh rate, the hertz...Like 60hz(60fps), 75hz(75fps) etc...No way he's running at 30hz. Newbie
 
No need to get hostile, he could have missed the actual rate that was noted.

There might be something in the games that cap it, but that doesn't make sense because you tried multiple games.

I'm thinking it's an advanced driver setting.
 
Newbie? Now that is funny! I cut my teeth on a TRS-80!

After more investigating I found that:

Vsync ON = 30 FPS
Vsync OFF = 60+ FPS

-Flake
 
TridenT_Boy3555 said:
Um..Vsync syncs the refresh rate, the hertz...Like 60hz(60fps), 75hz(75fps) etc...No way he's running at 30hz. Newbie
Click to expand...

VSYNC IS NOT REFRESH RATE 60HZ != 60FPS...

But i agree that either Vsync is on in the game OR in the driver's control panel.
 
RogueTrip said:
VSYNC IS NOT REFRESH RATE 60HZ != 60FPS...

But i agree that either Vsync is on in the game OR in the driver's control panel.
Click to expand...

QFT, Vsync just limits the FPS to no more than the refresh rate and some of the time in doing so will lower your FPS far below that. Turn triple buffering on if your going to use VSYNC it seems to help most of the time.

And only the true newbies even use the damn word against others...
 
pfunkman said:
Turn triple buffering on...
Click to expand...
Yeah, when vsync is exactly halving your maximum framerate, triple buffering will usually fix it. Been a while since I saw an nVidia control panel (Ti4400 to be precise), but you might need some third-party software to force it. This looks like it might do it.

pfunkman said:
...only the true newbies even use the damn word against others...
Click to expand...
No argument there...
 
Stupid question, did you accidently hit the hotkey for fraps to record a video?

Are the fraps numbers red or yellow.
 
The numbers in FRAPS are yellow. Triple Buffering made no difference.

After more testing here is what I know.

Americas Army (DX8) = 60 FPS

3DMark05 @ 640x480 (DX9) = 30 FPS

STALKER (DX9) = 30 FPS
STALKER (DX8) = 60 FPS

Seems something is broke with DX9. I reinstalled the full DX9 package and no change.

Any other suggestions?

-Funk
 
Im almost wondering if you are being forced into a limited OpenGL mode somehow. I have heard of problems of being capped to 30FPS because of that.
 
The saga continues.

I rolled back to DX8, reinstalled DX9c, reinstalled 94.20 drivers and the same shit.

If I force vsync ON I am capped at 30 FPS, turn it off and I get frames above 30. The strange thing is when sitting at the menu in STALKER FRAPS shows 60 FPS with vsync forced ON. When I load the game it drops to 30 and doesn't go any higher.

-Flake
 
TridenT_Boy3555 said:
Um..Vsync syncs the refresh rate, the hertz...Like 60hz(60fps), 75hz(75fps) etc...No way he's running at 30hz. Newbie
Click to expand...

Vsync means the frame rate is capped at the refresh rate or divisor of that refresh rate. So if he's getting 55fps it would limit it to 30 to keep it in sync, or if it was 25 it would go to 15. newbie.

Your problem is that in DX8 you're getting consistently above 60fps, so it just locks it at 60. In DX 9 your getting somewhere between 30 and 60 fps so it's locking it to 30. So it's working properly after all.

Basically what vsync does is it rounds the frame rate down to a divisor of the refresh rate. So you end up getting one refresh for every frame which would get you 60fps if your refresh rate is set to 60Hz. Or if your PC can't quite do a one to one ratio, it'll just have two refreshes to every frame (30fps) and on down. You're PC can't wuite handle a constant 60fps so it's rounding it down to 30 when vsync is on. It's not capping the frame rate, it it's syncing it.
 
Arcygenical: Tearing on the LCD drives me crazy.

Obi: I see where you are coming from but why are my frames capped at 30 when running 3DMark05 at 640x480 with Vsync forced on? Having partial dynamic lighting turned on and every slider set to it's lowest setting should at least push the FR above 30 with Vsync ON.

-Flake

Edit: I found a good read here. http://tinyurl.com/36sbos
 
PornFlake said:
The saga continues.

I rolled back to DX8, reinstalled DX9c, reinstalled 94.20 drivers and the same shit.

If I force vsync ON I am capped at 30 FPS, turn it off and I get frames above 30. The strange thing is when sitting at the menu in STALKER FRAPS shows 60 FPS with vsync forced ON. When I load the game it drops to 30 and doesn't go any higher.

-Flake
Click to expand...

Stop messing with your system it is working as it should be, nothings wrong. If for whatever reason you choose to leave VSync on you will have to deal with it.

What tearing could you possibly be getting in STALKER anyway... I dont think your system is going to be running stalker consistently over 60FPS if it even runs at 60 so tearing is a non issue.

Enable VSYNC on a game to game basis. Forcing VSYNC in a game you will be lucky to even hit 60 FPS in is ridiculous and an un-necessary performance hit. Remember tearing happens when your framerate is exceeding your refresh rate if your not exceeding your refresh rate enabling Vsync = useless performance hit.
 
Yep. After much playing around with different in game settings I see the error in my logic.

Thanks for the help guys!

-Flake
 
Aside from your terrible vstheme.. (its too damned dark!)

having VSYNC cap your framerate at 30 is unusual however it would never interfere with your gaming. The eye can really only notice something like 15-20fps and anything beyond that is pretty much perfect. If your machine was capped at at 30fps but you expect it to be something in the range of 90fps.. then your machine should never really have any time where it would go below 30.

Except.. your machine is just not that great. STALKER is not exactly a next gen game..but its notorious for really taxing even the most powerful machines. If you dont want to have slowdowns..get more and faster system memory + get an 8800 with 640mb VRAM + get a C2D and overclock it. It will still get hiccups on a system like that even with those specs according to reviewers... its just the game I think.
 
GEN3RIC said:
The eye can really only notice something like 15-20fps and anything beyond that is pretty much perfect.
Click to expand...

Not this again. Can't we make that thread that talks about perception of fps a sticky?
 
Well don't rag on me for trying to help. This is probably the 10th thread Ive read so don't expect me to have the board memorized like yourself. I, on the contrary, I have a life.
 
Full time career, fulltime-full credit classes, serious girlfriend..yeah, that's a pretty busy life :eek:
 
GEN3RIC said:
Full time career, fulltime-full credit classes, serious girlfriend..yeah, that's a pretty busy life :eek:
Click to expand...

Dont really give a shit...Good for you...Have the time to trash talk people on a forum your obviously not busy enough...

Want to feel like you have a busy life...have kids...

Nothing worse than the "I have a life, you dont" defense

Might as well have just called him a noob same effect in the end and less letters for you to type wouldnt want to take up too much of your busy life...
 
You're ridiculous. If that's trash talking then you need to wipe the sand from your bergina. I'm not going to search every detail of my posts to make sure it hasn't already been discussed once before. If he caught it, then good for him. I don't have that much time to devote to that.

:rolleyes:
 
GEN3RIC said:
You're ridiculous. If that's trash talking then you need to wipe the sand from your bergina. I'm not going to search every detail of my posts to make sure it hasn't already been discussed once before. If he caught it, then good for him. I don't have that much time to devote to that.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

pfunkman said:
Dont really give a shit...Good for you...Have the time to trash talk people on a forum your obviously not busy enough...

Want to feel like you have a busy life...have kids...
Click to expand...

pfunkman said:
Sure ya do :rolleyes:
Click to expand...


Calm down.

Good for you Generic for trying to help. We're all allowed to be wrong here.

Don't assume that none of us have lives just because we've been around here longer though.
 
Arcygenical said:
Calm down.

Good for you Generic for trying to help. We're all allowed to be wrong here.

Don't assume that none of us have lives just because we've been around here longer though.
Click to expand...
GO ARCY! IT'S YO BIRTHDAY! WE GONNA PAR-TAY LIKE IT YO BIRTHDAY! :p

pfunkman said:
Stop messing with your system it is working as it should be, nothings wrong. If for whatever reason you choose to leave VSync on you will have to deal with it.

What tearing could you possibly be getting in STALKER anyway... I dont think your system is going to be running stalker consistently over 60FPS if it even runs at 60 so tearing is a non issue.

Enable VSYNC on a game to game basis. Forcing VSYNC in a game you will be lucky to even hit 60 FPS in is ridiculous and an un-necessary performance hit. Remember tearing happens when your framerate is exceeding your refresh rate if your not exceeding your refresh rate enabling Vsync = useless performance hit.
Click to expand...
Agreed...

Obi_Kwiet said:
Vsync means the frame rate is capped at the refresh rate or divisor of that refresh rate. So if he's getting 55fps it would limit it to 30 to keep it in sync, or if it was 25 it would go to 15. newbie.

Your problem is that in DX8 you're getting consistently above 60fps, so it just locks it at 60. In DX 9 your getting somewhere between 30 and 60 fps so it's locking it to 30. So it's working properly after all.

Basically what vsync does is it rounds the frame rate down to a divisor of the refresh rate. So you end up getting one refresh for every frame which would get you 60fps if your refresh rate is set to 60Hz. Or if your PC can't quite do a one to one ratio, it'll just have two refreshes to every frame (30fps) and on down. You're PC can't wuite handle a constant 60fps so it's rounding it down to 30 when vsync is on. It's not capping the frame rate, it it's syncing it.
Click to expand...
Agreed...
My recommendation is VSYNC OFF. Additionally, I would recommend getting the most out of your system with a little overclocking? But that's another story. You really haven't given us the specs to you system for us to judge. A dual core amd can be anywhere from 1.8ghz to around 3?. So no real help there :/ . This just hit me, check to see if cool & quiet is not turning on when you playing. Sounds really stupid, but doesn't hurt to check. :D

And on the newbie comment, there are comments that are just uncalled for; that is one of them. Sum wordz of wizdom. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Peace :p Asalam-o-Alaikom
 
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