Advice needed! Thanks.

[Gorman]

Would this happen to have anything to do with why when I forced VSYNC on, in my nvidia control panel, fraps recorded my screen much much better with NO lag, than ever before? GPU was outputting 60fps max and had way more free time to deal with the screen capture maybe?

EDIT: Lewwoo, you wont notice the diff, as the monitor will display 60 frames per second, even though the GPU may be sending out many many more.

When the monitor and GPU are working in sync, everything seems smoother, although vsync can cause input lag as frames are buffered.

For Cod4 and many games on the quake engine, there are special FPS setting which improve fire rate of guns, hit registration etc. Check out this very intereesting article http://bashandslash.com/index.php?Itemid=63&id=51&option=com_content&task=view

Here the article is talking about a variety of things, none of which really relate to the fps your monitor can display. This Quake engine sweet spot is very very old and i prefer to get a balance between smooth gameplay and page tearing, i really really hate page tearing:

Also as a foot note, CoD4 is a long way off being a pure Quake 3 engine, its been modded far too much to go off that article alone:

Game engine
The visuals featured in Modern Warfare were highly praised.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare runs on the IW engine, featuring true world-dynamic lighting, HDR lighting effects, dynamic shadows and depth of field.[13] Bullet penetration is calculated by the engine, taking into account factors such as surface type and entity thickness. The game runs in a native resolution of 600p on the Xbox 360 and PS3.[14]

Certain objects, such as cars and some buildings, are destructible. This makes distinguishing cover from concealment important, as the protection provided by objects such as wooden fences and thin walls do not completely protect players from harm. Bullet stopping power is decreased after penetrating an object, and the decrease is dependent on the thickness and surface type of the object. The game makes use of a dynamic physics engine, not implemented in previous Call of Duty titles. Death animations are a combination of pre-set animations and ragdoll physics. Console versions of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare run at a consistent 60 frames per second, and the Wii version runs at 30 frames per second.[13] Code was included to determine spawning points based on the nearby weapons and the relationship between enemy positions and line of sight to the points. The various criteria are meant to minimize players dying immediately after rejoining a match, or being "spawn-killed" due to players simply waiting for others to "respawn".[10]

The game engine has also been used for the development of two other Activision games. An enhanced version of the original engine was used in Call of Duty: World at War, the fifth installment in the Call of Duty series after Call of Duty 4,[15] while a slightly altered version has been used for the James Bond video game Quantum of Solace.[16]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod4

The IW Engine is a game engine developed by Infinity Ward and was used in the highly successful Call of Duty series. The engine was first used with Call of Duty 2 in 2005 under a proprietary license, as well as using the source code of id Tech 3[1] released under the GNU General Public License (version 2) the same year. An Infinity Ward proprietary engine was once again used in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The engine did not have an official name until IGN was told at the E3 2009 by the studio that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would run on the "IW 4.0 engine".[2] Enhanced versions of the engine were used by Treyarch in their Call of Duty games (after Call of Duty 4)[3] and Quantum of Solace.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IW_engine

 

[Tom DWC]

I prefer to get a balance between smooth gameplay and page tearing, i really really hate page tearing.

You wouldn't want an Xbox 360 then lol, quite a few new games are being released without any kind of V-Sync enabled. I'd take inferior but smooth graphics over superior with screen tearing any day of the week.

 

[Gorman]

Thats what i mean, i hate page tearing and try to balance my systems to prevent it, be it through Vsync or other methods. Inferior graphics are going to make page tearing even worse as it occure when your GPU is throwing out frames faster than your monitor can support!

 

[Tom DWC]

Thats what i mean, i hate page tearing and try to balance my systems to prevent it, be it through Vsync or other methods. Inferior graphics are going to make page tearing even worse as it occure when your GPU is throwing out frames faster than your monitor can support!

I agree. It really is horrible and ruins what would otherwise be an immersive experience. When I say I'd take inferior graphics, I mean if I had a choice between a setup with mediocre graphical quality but a steady frame rate and no tearing, I would choose that over high quality graphics but with an inconsistent FPS and jaggies.

 

[lewwoo]

The sweet spot still applies in COD4. As the article says, 'you feel like your floating' when you go up from say the default capped at 85 to 125. Anyways, I know you say my screen won't show above 60 fps, but it doesnt actually lock the FPS ? Also I use a graphics config in COD4 to give me better visuals/ let me jump further, so graphics aren't to important in that aspect and neither is screen tearing. However for single player games I turn the graphics right up and love the visuals.

 

[Gorman]

Thats right, with vsync off the GPU will spit out as many frames as it can unless the game has a cap which your tinkering with. The monitor limit is the amount it can display, the GPU will still spit out as many as it can, theyre just lost is all. So from a perspective outside of going for the freak mutant q3 engine sweet point, the extra grunt is a bit pointless.

Man how can you play with page tearing, it makes me rage.

 

[lewwoo]

Forgot to add, thanks for your help. Very patient with me. I may just switch to my old screen if what you say is true. So everything is looking good, I will be ordering around Monday.

 

[Gorman]

This is why you see a lot of people still rocking upto the Iseries lans with huuge CRT monitors!

 

[Sleinous]

This is why you see a lot of people still rocking upto the Iseries lans with huuge CRT monitors!

Remind me how CRT works compared to LCD then? WHy is there no issue with crt

 

[lewwoo]

Hi guys,about to order. Anything I have missed out?
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE (£120)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost

Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
768MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

2nd Graphics Card
768MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

3rd Graphics Card
NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)

Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EXTREME DIRECT TOUCH COPPER CPU COOLER (£39)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Floppy Disk Drive
NONE

Firewire & Video Editing
NONE

TV Card
NONE

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Monitor
22" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (£119)

2nd Monitor
NONE

DVI Cable
NONE

GeForce 3D Vision
NONE

Keyboard & Mouse
NONE

Mouse
NONE

Speakers
NONE

Webcam
NONE

Headsets (VOIP)
NONE

Surge Protection
NONE

Printer
NONE

External Hard Drive
NONE

Home Installation
NONE

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Data Recovery
NONE

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days

Quantity


1

I am on live chat if any of the PCS reps are available.

 

[Sleinous]

Hi guys,about to order. Anything I have missed out?
Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING CASE (£120)

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost

Motherboard
ASUS® P7P55D-E PRO: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, CrossFireX™ / SLI SUPPORT

Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)

Graphics Card
768MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

2nd Graphics Card
768MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX460 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11

3rd Graphics Card
NONE

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
NONE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NONE

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT

Power Supply & Case Cooling
CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET (£88)

Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EXTREME DIRECT TOUCH COPPER CPU COOLER (£39)

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD

Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND

Floppy Disk Drive
NONE

Firewire & Video Editing
NONE

TV Card
NONE

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)

Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)

Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL

Monitor
22" Wide TFT Silver/Black 1920 x1080 2MS D-Sub, DVI, 21.6" Panel (£119)

2nd Monitor
NONE

DVI Cable
NONE

GeForce 3D Vision
NONE

Keyboard & Mouse
NONE

Mouse
NONE

Speakers
NONE

Webcam
NONE

Headsets (VOIP)
NONE

Surge Protection
NONE

Printer
NONE

External Hard Drive
NONE

Home Installation
NONE

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)

Data Recovery
NONE

Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days

Quantity


1

I am on live chat if any of the PCS reps are available.

Can't really find anything worth mentioning, except, obviously, if you had the extra budget, go for the 1GB GTX 460s, because, bear in mind, you will ONLY get 768mb of vid mem, not 1536mb. So, if you got the 1GB ones, you'd get 1GB of vid mem, only saying this because you MAY start to struggle with that 768mb when games start to say recommended 1GB vram etc etc

 

[lewwoo]

Okay, never mind I have ordered. I will amend the order if you guys find anything.

 

[Sleinous]

See above

 

[lewwoo]

So I have just done a sub order changing to a I7. However it says Change to Intel® Core™i7-870 Quad Core (2.93GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost from Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost. That reads as though I am being charged for 2 things.

 

[lewwoo]

So I have just done a sub order changing to a I7. However it says Change to Intel® Core™i7-870 Quad Core (2.93GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost from Intel® Core™i5-760 Quad Core (2.80GHz, 8MB Cache) + Turbo Boost. That reads as though I am being charged for 2 things.

 

[Sleinous]

nah, it says, Change TO Intel blah blah FROM Intel blah blah, so you pay teh difference