Nvidia Control Panel Settings

[Fakum]

I don’t see that this has been discussed, but I would like some feedback. For those who are knowledgeable with Nvidia settings in the control panel, what are the best settings to get the biggest bang for the buck? There are many settings that can be changed, triple buffer this, 8x vs. 16x that,,, its all pretty much a mystery to me. Any advice would be appreciated on these settings. I know that setting the water to “low” in the game really increases frame rate, but I don’t know if my current settings in the Nvidia control panel are helping or hurting? I’m doing about 50 FPS with everything on high in the game options, I do get occasional frame drop depending on circumstances. I would like to keep as much quality as possible with a comfortable frame rate. My current resolution is 2560 x 1600 @ 60hz (60hz is max on this monitor) I am not interested in decreasing the resolution, simply because it looks great. Any advice would be appreciated for Nvidia settings. By the way, I have Vsync forced off. Thanks,

My Specs:

Tower = LIAN LI PC-61

Mobo = GIGABYTE GA-X38-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Ultra Durable 2(BIOS F7)

Power Supply = Thermaltake Purepower TWV 500W

CPU = Intel Core 2 Q6600 GO Stepping (Over Clocked to 3.6)

CPU Heat Sync = Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler Model U-120E

CPU Heat Sync Fan = Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Case Fan, 1600 RPM Model SFF21F

CPU Heat Sync Thermal Paste = Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Memory = Crucial Ballistix 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 (PC2 6400) (4-4-4-12 @ 2.2v)

Hard Drive 1 = Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB WD5000AAKS SATA 2 (Windows XP Pro 32)

Hard Drive 2 = Hitachi 160 Gig SATA 2 (Vista Ultimate 64)

GPU = EVGA GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

DVD/CD Burner = Asus DVD Burner DRW-2014L1T SATA 2

Sound Card = Razer Barracuda AC-1 Gaming Sound Card

Monitor = Gateway XHD3000 30" Widescreen (2560 x 1600 resolution)

OS = Win XP Pro 32 Bit & Vista Ultimate 64

Fantom G-Force GF500EU 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache USB 2.0 / eSATA External Hard Drive

Cougar HOTAS & Rudders

TrackIR 4 Pro

[S77th-RYKE]

personnally I see no difference in framerates by lowering the AA and AF settings , running at 16x and 16Q

 

BS is CPU dependant but it is seeking help .

[BTTW-DratsaB]

Not really frame rate related but you say you have Vsync forced off, this is ok for benchmarking to see maximum fps available when tweaking settings. But for normal play in would leave it On. If you have it off you will notice "tearing" of the screen when you pan left and right with your view.

 

Anisotropic Filtering can be set to max (16x) for your rig (and most everybody's), it causes no drop in FPS and really sharpens up the ground textures. I leave AntiAliasing on 2x on my rig, should be fine for you too. Given the res you run at any more would be a waste. I think full AA (x16) will cause a FPS drop for you at the Resolution your running.

 

You could turn on "AntiAliasing- Gamma Correction", supposedly it "improves the quality and color of 3D images". I have it on but I cant say I notice much visual or FPS difference.

 

You can set the option "Texture Filtering -Quality" to "High Quality", this will improve textures again.

 

I would leave all other settings at their default.

Edited March 14, 2009 by BTTW-DratsaB

[Fakum]

Thanks for the info so far. Maybe others will also chime in as well? I forced vsync off due to a thread I was reading some time ago (cant remember where it is I have read so many) that this is the best thing to do for refresh rates such as mine. Cant remember the details though? I do appreciate the feedback though,,, I might have a go at experimenting with that some day,,,

[BTTW-DratsaB]

No problem, here's a bit more info. Because your highest refresh rate is 60 that means that is your highest FPS available also. If you switch Vsync off, you are allowing the game to run at more than 60fps. This is where the tearing problem comes in. For example: although fraps might be displaying 70fps with vsync off, your monitor is not able to properly display this frame rate. The result is you get this annoying tearing affect when you pan your view around the screen. I guess some people might not mind it that much, but to me it was very noticeable

[Shrubbo]

Yeah in reality vsync off is great for benchmarks but it is crap for games. What is the point of having good hardware to get a great image and then rip it in half?

 

But back to the original question. Settings are very subjective. Person X can say this is sweet on their system and the same setting can blow goats on yours so the best way to do it is learn yourself.

 

Too hard? Yeah agreed... but wait...maybe not.

 

I highly recommend this program for gforce cards, i love it...

 

http://www.nhancer.com/

 

Advantages.

A: It tells you exactly what each setting does when you click on it with detail description so you can go "Oh is that what that does".

B: It works on the fly so you can tab in and out of games and see what effect is has on fps right there and then and then have those specific setting activated every time you fire up that specific game.

C: It works.

D: It's free.

E: No I have nothing to do with it but it's cool and you did ask for help :)

[GuntiNDDS]

Yeah in reality vsync off is great for benchmarks but it is crap for games. What is the point of having good hardware to get a great image and then rip it in half?

 

But back to the original question. Settings are very subjective. Person X can say this is sweet on their system and the same setting can blow goats on yours so the best way to do it is learn yourself.

 

Too hard? Yeah agreed... but wait...maybe not.

 

I highly recommend this program for gforce cards, i love it...

 

http://www.nhancer.com/

 

Advantages.

A: It tells you exactly what each setting does when you click on it with detail description so you can go "Oh is that what that does".

B: It works on the fly so you can tab in and out of games and see what effect is has on fps right there and then and then have those specific setting activated every time you fire up that specific game.

C: It works.

D: It's free.

E: No I have nothing to do with it but it's cool and you did ask for help :)

 

just wondering, i remember nhancer has an option to force hdr lighting. does this actually work with blackshark ?

[Shrubbo]

Doesn't seem to make a difference as such. Not that I can see anyway. Are we talking about getting the bloom effect? If so there is a mod somewhere that does that.

[Fakum]

Awsum feedback!!! Thanks guys, just what im looking for for responses,,,

[Jack57]

Not really frame rate related but you say you have Vsync forced off, this is ok for benchmarking to see maximum fps available when tweaking settings. But for normal play in would leave it On. If you have it off you will notice "tearing" of the screen when you pan left and right with your view.

 

Anisotropic Filtering can be set to max (16x) for your rig (and most everybody's), it causes no drop in FPS and really sharpens up the ground textures. I leave AntiAliasing on 2x on my rig, should be fine for you too. Given the res you run at any more would be a waste. I think full AA (x16) will cause a FPS drop for you at the Resolution your running.

 

You could turn on "AntiAliasing- Gamma Correction", supposedly it "improves the quality and color of 3D images". I have it on but I cant say I notice much visual or FPS difference.

 

You can set the option "Texture Filtering -Quality" to "High Quality", this will improve textures again.

 

I would leave all other settings at their default.

 

This is good advice :thumbup: