Double your FPS with Vsync!

[D.Va]

Hey, I was just checking out the NVIDIA Control Panel options (apparently, it's not worth changing anything in there) when I came across this:

 

Vertical sync: Fast

 

WOW! As you probably know, playing with Vsync Off creates screen tearing when your framerate is higher than the refresh rate of your monitor and when playing with Vsync On it may limit your framerate to only half your refresh rate if your graphics card cannot keep up. The "Fast" option will override your in-game option and kills screen tearing without affecting the framerate. Apparently, this was quietly introduced in the GTX 750 and newer graphics cards and as far as I know it's only available for NVIDIA graphics cards. The NVIDIA Control Panel option will OVERRIDE the in-game option, irrespective of current choice. If you can activate this, it's a given that you should, and it increased my FPS from 30 to 55 FPS in one example.

 

I recommend all other NVIDIA Control Panel options at default.

 

The technology is explained here:

 

Edited March 18, 2019 by D.Va

[Neuse]

You have something set wrong if your vsync halfs the framerate. Even the build in vsync doenst do that. In the nvidia driver the half framrate vsync is an option for itself as well.

[Mustang]

Yep, been running DCS with vsync off in options and using nV Fast Sync with a 59fps cap (v2) in nVidia Profile Inspector for well over 6 months now.

[D.Va]

You have something set wrong if your vsync halfs the framerate. Even the build in vsync doenst do that. In the nvidia driver the half framrate vsync is an option for itself as well.

Wrong. That's exactly how Vsync works (unless it's Adaptive, in which case it won't do anything against screen tearing under the refresh rate) and that's exactly how the DCS Vsync works, benchmarked!

 

Also, Vsync causes significant input lag and can probably cause other problems. I played Overwatch today and I felt like it was running in 120 Hz, because no input lag, that's amazing.

[Mustang]

Just so you know, if you have vsync turned on in your game options it will override fast sync.

[D.Va]

Just so you know, if you have vsync turned on in your game options it will override fast sync.

Works oppositely on my system, as described above. I don't know what affects this, but I'm running DCS OB 2.5.4 (unupdated) with Windows 10 64-bit and an MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z.

[Dudikoff]

Yep, been running DCS with vsync off in options and using nV Fast Sync with a 59fps cap (v2) in nVidia Profile Inspector for well over 6 months now.

 

AFAIK, Fast Sync only helps when the FPS goes over the monitor's refresh rate (i.e. it helps gamers who play without VSync On to minimize the latency).

[Dudikoff]

Wrong. That's exactly how Vsync works (unless it's Adaptive, in which case it won't do anything against screen tearing under the refresh rate) and that's exactly how the DCS Vsync works, benchmarked!

 

What happened here probably is that your system cannot support 60 FPS so I guess half-VSync was active capping the FPS at 30 so that you don't have screen tearing. With it off, you have less lag, but have tearing and if you actually had the FPS to actually use the FastSync (e.g. 75 FPS), you'd probably have noticeable micro-stuttering as well..

 

Fast Sync does nothing for you unless your FPS is over the refresh rate of your monitor (60Hz here I guess) AND it's actually useful only when your FPS is a multiple (like 3-4x and more) of your refresh rate.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Dudikoff