Capping games to 30fps on 60Hz displays

Fellow gurus.

Generally I game at 1920x1200 @ 60hz with VSYNC and Triplebuffering (using D3DOveride/RadeonPro) or whatever works with the specific title.

Occasionally I like to dial up the DSR and then limit some games to 30fps. I know its terrible, and I should be playing at 144Hz, etc., but thats the distant future for me at the moment. Saving pennies for a new car, so a new monitor has to wait.

Anyhow, I can lock to 30fps using the Afterburner Monitoring Tool, but subsequently any game feels choppy and distinctly sluggish, and doesn't feel like 30fps, even though I am sure it is capped successfully.

So my question is: Is there some technical limitation or caveats to gaming at 30fps on 60Hz PC graphics somewhere? Is there a VSYNC setting causing this?

Many thanks in advance.
I would have thought 30fps would be smooth and consistent, if not fast.

 

Unless you're using mouse smoothing/frame smoothing and/or motion blur like the Crysis series uses, 30fps on pc is not going to be smooth unlike on consoles that keep a constant 30.

What you're experiencing is you simulating an artificial lack of powerful enough hardware that cant reach 60+, resulting in stutter that is the same as not being able to draw enough frames.

Mouse smoothing/frame smoothing and motion blur in some games allows us to hide that stutter unlike in other games.


If you have it, load one of Crysis games and cap the fps at 30, turn on mouse smoothing and motion blur. The fps isnt stuttering, but the mouse movement and walking feel almost slow motion, but completely playable.

 

Here is what i do to get a smooth 30fps. Use nvidia inspector and change vertical sync to 1/2 refresh rate, change vertical sync tear control to standard. Change maximum pre rendered frames to 1. Use rivatuner statistics server and limit the frame rate to 30fps.

 

Thanks Ribix. This works an absolute treat! Not perfect, but way way better than before.

 

huh, ill have to give this a go. Thanks for the info.

 

Yeah, I find 30 FPS absolutely fine on consoles (provided they are locked to that framerate) but generally sluggish/laggy on PC when played with the same controller. Seems that many PC games suffer from frame pacing issues that produces inconsistently delivered frames at 17ms, 33ms or 67ms and this is what adds to the feeling of wading through treacle. Using framerate limiters can help via RTSS though if the game does not have correct frame pacing.

 

Nope, didnt work for me. Just completely stuttery,

 

I do the following:

1. In-game, set vsync to off + (exclusive) fullscreen
2. In RTSS, set 30 fps

From my experience, screen tearing with these settings are minimal and in most games after a while barely noticeable.

I concur with the above stated that in games that have no motion blur, 30 fps still looks too choppy, but mind you - with RTSS limiter and no vsync, frame pacing is actually perfect.

 

Your specs list:

Videocard: 2x GTX 970 SLI
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700k
Mainboard: Asrock Extreme4 Z170
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB
Soundcard: Sound Blaster Zx
PSU: Corsair RM 750 (80+ Gold)

?

 

Been waiting for this. Not all games support SLI so in single GPU configs the GTX 970 wont do 60fps at say 1440p, so instead of super fluctuating frames, I like to limit to 30fps. I cant be the only one surely? Guys?...

 

Nah, I get it and have the same GPU setup.

I do 4k DSR at 60fps for older games, but when I get to newer games i can easily see me picking 4k/30 over 1080/60.
Obviously it could vary in a fast paced fps (don't like that genre) or a racing game, but having settings do a capped 30fps is handy and a very PC gamer thing to do.

Saying that.. I don't have any suggestions lol.

 

30 is horrible on PC, you need at least 37fps/74hz for console like smoothness with a pad.

 

Interesting. This is the first I have heard of this. 74Hz might be achievable if I overclock my panel. I will look into it. Thanks.

 

i have problem with vsync in bf1 and a few other games like cs go, how can fix this once and for all?

 

Monchis is right but go for 36fps.

You said you have a 144hz monitor right?
so 144/2=72hz
72/2=36fps

 

Easiest way to achieve good 30 fps pacing is to use a 30 hz resolution.

 

30fps does not look smooth because PC's does not use "motion interpolation" or "inter frames". So if you are playing on 60Hz monitor, you get 2 frames which look the same and your brain still recognises those two frames and difference between them, especially on fast paces games where every other frame is very different. It looks like you didn't see a difference in screen but you feel this jagging or shuttering that is very uncomfortable.

Most modern TV's use motion interpolation and thus video becomes a little bit blurry but it feels smooth since TV preprocesses all frames and insert extra ones if needed to match refresh rate of TV screen. I think that is why most people say that they can't see a difference between 30fps on consoles, because their TV makes them think that they have smooth gameplay.

You can easily test this out if you have a decent TV or Monitor with HDMI input, since those tend to have something called "TV mode" and/or "Monitor mode". Sometimes they called Hybrid TV Monitors. I had one before and used for my PS3 back in the day. Nice thing to have if you're gaming on PC and Console on the same panel.

 

You need to try at least 35fsp/70hz, you´ll see that something is wrong with 30fps on pc.

 

So that what it is. Thanks for explanation.