GPU Capping

[jamesriley94]

Hi,

I got a 670 yesterday, been playing around with overclocks and everything, and been running thinking - this is very quiet, and the temps are great, only like 61 degrees after maxing the OC...
But why is it only running unigine at 60fps on most frames, and dropping down to 30fps on other clips. My old 7950 was going at like 135fps, so why's this capping itself to 30 and 60?

Is there some setting with nvidia? I have no experience using nvidia cards, so will probably need educating

Thanks

 

[MadMarc]

I think it's because vsync is enabled, it makes that the GPU is outputting 60Hz, which is the refreshrate of your screen, even if it could render more frames, or half of that if it's not able to do 60.

 

[Lollipop]

Sounds like VSync to me.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Yea i agree. Nothing wrong with having vsync enabled though. Saves on hardware!

 

[jamesriley94]

It was that, thanks! What even is vsync? Does it just stop your card from performing more than 60fps?

 

[Josh Weston]

It's meant to stop screen tearing, I believe.
The GPU is told only to buffer a new frame when the monitor is ready for it. It stops half a frame being spliced onto another when it's pushed to the monitor, which is how screen tear occurs.

 

[Lollipop]

Vertical sync is there to stop screen tearing, if a monitor is capable of max 60 FPS and you get 120 from X game, when the monitor reads frame 1 and then halfway thru reads frame 2, you're going to see 2 different frames in the same image.

Notice how in the middle of the screen, it seems to be out of place.

 

[jamesriley94]

Hmmm, so it's better to enable it?

If there any benefit of letting it run free?

 

[Lollipop]

I get mouse lag in some games with VSync on, so I usually leave it off unless the screen tearing is very bad.

 

[Josh Weston]

Well, you get the epeen bonerification whenever you run fraps and see your monster FPS, but other than that, no.
I think it can make some things seem unresponsive, but Lucid Virtu, I thought, deals with that.

One all, Lollipop!

 

[jamesriley94]

Lucid virtu? I should probably install the crap ASUS told me to...

Been running for the last couple of weeks without Z77 chipset drivers...
I did think Lucid Virtu only worked with integrated graphics, thats why I never installed it

mmmm. I like e-peen.

 

[Josh Weston]

At least, I thought that was part of what Lucid were up to.

 

[yassarikhan786]

VSync basically matches FPS with your monitors refresh rate

 

[Master&Puppet]

I love vsync. Not because it solves screen tearing (because I rarely get that) but having it enabled lets your hardware relax. After all, if you screen refresh is 60Hz then essentially you are visually limited to 60FPS, even if your pc is pumping out 200.

I have vsync enabled on every game I can so that the gpus don't have to work hard to produce 200 fps which I'll never see when they can work easy and give 60. I'm unsure about the effects on CPU load. In the past vsync has caused higher cpu load in machines with nvidia graphics. This sounds like another experiment I'll have to look into...

 

[Perturabo]

I thought the 670 has adaptive Vsync so it turns its self off if you dont need it and on if you do?

 

[Lollipop]

I don't know where the option is, but it seems like it's enabled for me. I haven't gotten any screen tearing with Blacklight.

 

[jamesriley94]

I have the option, last option on the nvidia control panel

 

[Josh Weston]

I think the adaptive vsync is to do when the frames dip below 60fps.

 

[jamesriley94]

Ok, 1 more small issue.... The fans.

They do keep the card very cool, but unless I have afterburner or some other software on they dont increase speed with rising temps. How can I control the fan speed? It's just awkward remembering to open a program every time I load the PC so the fans work.

I'd even settle for just setting it to auto, but I cant seem to get that to work either

 

[Josh Weston]

What temps are reached under load when the fans aren't spinning up?