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[subversus]

I've been singing the praises of triple buffering and vsync for over a decade now, it's the biggest reason I could never get all that excited about the 360.

yes, 360 sucks in this department. I own only PS3 though, but still very few games on the platform use it.

I found out that games have become less... frustrating somehow. It's really strange, probably placebo effect.

 

[Durante]

No kidding, it became especially apparent to me when the so-called "HD" systems came out. I've been singing the praises of triple buffering and vsync for over a decade now, it's the biggest reason I could never get all that excited about the 360.

PC gaming in general is probably the reason I get so annoyed at things like tearing and jaggies, actually.

stuminus3
Never buying another
games console. Ever.

I feel the same way about the consoles though.

This thread sounds very interesting. Has anyone tried this with any of the 5XXX ATI cards? And if so, what version of Rivatuner? I'm interested to give this a shot if my 5770s are supported.

It has nothing to do with your hardware, and it also actually has nothing to do with Rivatuner except for being packaged with it for some reason (I don't have Rivatuner installed actually). D3DOverrider is simply a wrapper that overrides some Direct3D calls. So the answer is yes, it will work with your card.

 

[Stallion Free]

This thread sounds very interesting. Has anyone tried this with any of the 5XXX ATI cards? And if so, what version of Rivatuner? I'm interested to give this a shot if my 5770s are supported.

I have a 5850 and it works fine, I just used whatever the latest version of Rivatuner is.

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Is it possible to enable SSAA with catalyst on my 5770?

 

[PumpkinPie]

D3D overrider is an amazing app, I've been using for it for a long while now and it's helped to get games running near-perfect. It also fixes micro stuttering in Fallout 3 for me!

 

[Vic]

This thread sounds very interesting. Has anyone tried this with any of the 5XXX ATI cards? And if so, what version of Rivatuner? I'm interested to give this a shot if my 5770s are supported.

Works perfectly with the 5770 and the latest version of RivaTuner.

 

[mm04]

Thanks for all the replies, folks! I'm gonna give a whirl sometime this week.

 

[MoFuzz]

Will this work on something like VLC Player? I updated my old version and now I get tearing all over this bitch.

You running it on XP? I think it's a known issue with the newer versions of VLC. I guess they haven't got around to fixing it yet.

 

[AndyD]

What is there like Riva Tuner and ATI Tray Tools that works on 64bit Win 7? For a 4890?

 

[Stallion Free]

What is there like Riva Tuner and ATI Tray Tools that works on 64bit Win 7? For a 4890?

Riva Tuner will work just fine for you. It works fine on all modern versions of Windows and all Nvidia/ATI cards.

 

[Unregistered007]

Well they're on average 4x higher resolution than their console counterparts:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-360-vs-ps3-face-off-round-23?page=2

You have got 16xaf enabled/forced, right?

they both look like shit for a 2009 game.

 

[mm04]

So I downloaded it and tried it tonight, and oh sweet lord how I love this! It's so much easier on the eyes for me and it's just so nice to see screen tearing free gameplay. I sometimes feel nauseous when playing FPS games and sporadic framerates I think help contribute to that. Having everything so smooth and stable was fantastic.

One totally awesome and unexpected side effect of this was it completely eliminated the intermittent horizontal lines that sometimes appear in BFBC2 when my GPUs are in Crossfire mode. That's a pretty common complaint since the CCC 10.3 driver and Crossfire profiles came out, but D3DOverrider seemed to fix that.

Thanks to those who provided info in this thread and to brain_stew who started me on my way to piecing together my rig.

 

[AndyD]

Riva Tuner will work just fine for you. It works fine on all modern versions of Windows and all Nvidia/ATI cards.

Oh good. For some reason, I thought RivaTuner was Nvidia only.:lol

 

[Stallion Free]

Oh good. For some reason, I thought RivaTuner was Nvidia only.:lol

You were probably getting it confused with Nhancer which is Nvidia exclusive.

Spoiler

Oh how I miss it, I didn't think losing it would hurt this much.

 

[brain_stew]

Will this work on something like VLC Player? I updated my old version and now I get tearing all over this bitch.

Why are using VLC anyway?

Give me MPC-HC or give me death.

hm, can you use rivatuner instead of nhancer?

They're totally different applications.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

this makes BF: BC2 run ALOT better on my 5870.

I love this thing.

 

[Minsc]

Why are using VLC anyway?

Give me MPC-HC or give me death.

Is there really any significant difference? I have both installed and prefer VLC myself, only use MPC-HC .01% when VLC fails to render something, and then usually MPC-HC does as well.

 

[Stallion Free]

this makes BF: BC2 run ALOT better on my 5870.

You mean it removes the tearing right? The only way you will see performance increase is if v-sync had been struggling to maintain 60 fps, triple-buffering might help you gain a few frames towards 60. But v-sync doen't even function in BC2 so triple-buffering is really just lowering your fps to 60 and that isn't "running better."

 

[brain_stew]

Is there really any significant difference? I have both installed and prefer VLC myself, only use MPC-HC .01% when VLC fails to render something, and then usually MPC-HC does as well.

Yes, much better scaling and hardware accelerated decoding for starters.

 

[RavenFox]

With 1GB becoming standard on modern GPUs, it is a very, very small piece of the pie in the grand scheme of things. Yes, if the extra buffer causes your card to use more than its dedicated memory pool, it may not be worth it, but this will be a very rare example on modern cards. 512MB cards should be fine to enable tripple buffering as well, outside of Crysis and extreme resolutions perhaps.

This is the reason why its not widespread on the console side, any spare chunk of memory is precious when you're in a RAM starved environment like that. However, the hit is in the single digits at 720p, and personally I feel that is more than worth the tradeoff. RE5 is one example of a PS3 game confirmed to be using triple buffering and it has some very high resolution textures. Its also believed this is what Naughty Dog is doing with Uncharted 2, and that game has the best textures on consoles, so if this is indeed the case it proves that enabling triple buffering on consoles doesn't have to mean compromising your texture budget to any noticeable degree.

I hate, hate, hate tearing, so I would like to hope more console developers (at least on the PS3 side where implementation is straight forward) give it a go.

Yup good info Brain Stew and one of the reasons my next card is the Radeon 5870 2GB

 

[brain_stew]

You mean it removes the tearing right? The only way you will see performance increase is if v-sync had been struggling to maintain 60 fps, triple-buffering might help you gain a few frames towards 60. But v-sync doen't even function in BC2 so triple-buffering is really just lowering your fps to 60 and that isn't "running better."

Well I can't speak for him, but you might as well chalk up a torn frame as a dropped frame for me, it totally disturbs any sense of consistent motion. A game that's tearing every frame never feels smooth to me no matter how high my FRAPs counter may be.

 

[subversus]

They're totally different applications.

yes, but I can set some things there like transparency antialiasing, anysothropic filtering and something else, I don't remember what.

 

[Stallion Free]

Yes, much better scaling and hardware accelerated decoding for starters.

Oh god, the scaling in VLC was one thing that always bothered me. It looked so terrible.

 

[Minsc]

Yes, much better scaling and hardware accelerated decoding for starters.

Oh god, the scaling in VLC was one thing that always bothered me. It looked so terrible.

Maybe it just never worked right on your cards. I get hardware accelerated decoding (I can playback 1080p h264 with ~1% cpu usage), and scaling looks perfect. That would be a good reason though, if it were applicable.

 

[jett]

I've always liked VLC, it's what I'm used to. I use MPC-HD for DXVA...but I still get some issues with 16:9 1080p videos(a grey line at the botton of the screen).

You running it on XP? I think it's a known issue with the newer versions of VLC. I guess they haven't got around to fixing it yet.

yeah... :| Using OpenGL to render fixes things, but that makes 1080p videos unplayable.

 

[jett]

Maybe it just never worked right on your cards. I get hardware accelerated decoding (I can playback 1080p h264 with ~1% cpu usage), and scaling looks perfect. That would be a good reason though, if it were applicable.

Huh, how do you enable hardware accelerated decoding in VLC?

 

[M3d10n]

D3DOverrider is the only way to make Dead Space PC playable.

The in-game vsync option is TERRIBLE, causes massive input lag and actually limits the game to 30fps on my PC. I thought for a moment the game was too GPU intensive or something. When I disabled v-sync, the game ran at 150+fps, but the tearing was off-the charts and the mouse input (which is *gasp* framerate dependent!) becomes absurdly slow.

D3DOverrider allows me to play it at butter-smooth 60fps with no tearing, no retarded input lag, and stable mouse control.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Well I can't speak for him, but you might as well chalk up a torn frame as a dropped frame for me, it totally disturbs any sense of consistent motion. A game that's tearing every frame never feels smooth to me no matter how high my FRAPs counter may be.

This and with Vsync on in game framerate would fluctuate between 40-70 now keeping vsync off in game and using the overrider i get 60fps constant. Makes a huge difference to me.

 

[Minsc]

Huh, how do you enable hardware accelerated decoding in VLC?

I think it's just enabled by default from the Avivo drivers from install the full CCC suite? I watch watching a 1080p movie just yesterday and noticed my CPU usage was about 1 or 2%, which really stood out, because on my last machine, I couldn't play a 1080p without my CPU hitting 100% and dropping 75% of the frames.

 

[jett]

I think it's just enabled by default from the Avivo drivers from install the full CCC suite? I watch watching a 1080p movie just yesterday and noticed my CPU usage was about 1 or 2%, which really stood out, because on my last machine, I couldn't play a 1080p without my CPU hitting 100% and dropping 75% of the frames.

Huh? That doesn't work like that for me...

 

[Minsc]

Huh? That doesn't work like that for me...

I think two or three times in the past I've had problems with VLC, where you can tell it's not hardware accelerated (colors look dull/muted, blacks look a little grey, and you get tearing, and the smoothness is wrong). It always went away with an uninstall and reinstall though. You may want to try using one of the nightly builds if you can't get the most recent version to fix your problems, or of course, switching to another player.

 

[Inkwell]

I've been using d3doverrider for the past few days. For some reason it didn't seem to work in tf2. I still had tearing, so I just turned the in-game vsync on. It seemed to work in portal though.

 

[subversus]

it also doesn't work in Doom 3. I ran the game and almost immediately felt that something is not right. I kept playing, then turned off v-sync in options menu and here we go - screen tearing in full force. Then I recalled that Doom 3 is an opengl title. And D3D is direct x thing as I understand.

Damn, Rage is an opengl title too. I hope they'll include triple buffering as an option. Because I know it's stupid but I can't play without it anymore. It really irritates me. Damn.

 

[brain_stew]

it also doesn't work in Doom 3. I ran the game and almost immediately felt that something is not right. I kept playing, then turned off v-sync in options menu and here we go - screen tearing in full force. Then I recalled that Doom 3 is an opengl title. And D3D is direct x thing as I understand.

Damn, Rage is an opengl title too. I hope they'll include triple buffering as an option. Because I know it's stupid but I can't play without it anymore. It really irritates me. Damn.

No shit! Unsurprisingly D3DOverrider doesn't work with OpenGL games The triple buffering setting in your drivers will work for Doom 3 and any other OpenGL title.

Works fine in all Source games for me.

 

[Minsc]

it also doesn't work in Doom 3. I ran the game and almost immediately felt that something is not right. I kept playing, then turned off v-sync in options menu and here we go - screen tearing in full force. Then I recalled that Doom 3 is an opengl title. And D3D is direct x thing as I understand.

Damn, Rage is an opengl title too. I hope they'll include triple buffering as an option. Because I know it's stupid but I can't play without it anymore. It really irritates me. Damn.

There's a setting right in ATi's drivers to enable triple buffering in OpenGL games I thought.

 

[Stallion Free]

There's a setting right in ATi's drivers to enable triple buffering in OpenGL games I thought.

Yep, and there is one in Nhancer (I can't remember if it's easily found in the control panel) for Nvidia.

 

[Inkwell]

I take back what I said. It's working in tf2 now.

 

[subversus]

No shit! Unsurprisingly D3DOverrider doesn't work with OpenGL games The triple buffering setting in your drivers will work for Doom 3 and any other OpenGL title.

Well, it didn't work for Gears of War. I remember enabling it (v-sync override didn't work, so I ahd to try this), but there was still a lot of tearing.

I haven't tried it with Doom though.

 

[loganclaws]

I'm glad this thread resurfaced. I have a Radeon HD4870X2, so basically I can't use this technique in full screen (crossfire enabled) correct? I play Street Fighter 4 all the time and I have VSync enabled in game, minimizing latency is obviously critical in a fighting game, I guess I can try this technique in windowed mode where Crossfire doesn't work.

 

[mm04]

I'm glad this thread resurfaced. I have a Radeon HD4870X2, so basically I can't use this technique in full screen (crossfire enabled) correct? I play Street Fighter 4 all the time and I have VSync enabled in game, minimizing latency is obviously critical in a fighting game, I guess I can try this technique in windowed mode where Crossfire doesn't work.

Is that 4870X2 issue only? I have 2 5770s Crossfired and it works just fine in full screen.

 

[loganclaws]

Is that 4870X2 issue only? I have 2 5770s Crossfired and it works just fine in full screen.

No, in the first post, brain stew says that forcing triple buffering with vsync won't work with crossfire/sli... Just want a confirmation.

 

[derFeef]

No, in the first post, brain stew says that forcing triple buffering with vsync won't work with crossfire/sli... Just want a confirmation.

I am using d3doverrider with my 4870 X2 - works really well with lots of games. Crossfire enabled of course. Do not know why it should not.

 

[pilonv1]

Here's a stupid question - does enabling triple buffering from the CCC tray icon do the same thing?

 

[mm04]

Here's a stupid question - does enabling triple buffering from the CCC tray icon do the same thing?

No, because it's OpenGL only in CCC.

I tested it last night with Bad Company 2, Metro 2033 and The Witcher and it worked really nicely for a smooth 60 fps. I can't reach 60 fps consistently with a single 5770 using the video options I've been using for BFBC2 and Metro 2033, but I can with Crossfire. Will do some more testing tonight, but I really liked what I initially experienced.

 

[pilonv1]

No, because it's OpenGL only in CCC.

Makes sense, it gave no improvement in Just Cause 2 for my 5850.

 

[Xavien]

Here's a stupid question - does enabling triple buffering from the CCC tray icon do the same thing?

The DirectX API doesn't allow the option to force Triple Buffering in the Drivers, only OpenGL does. That's why you have to use d3DOverrider, which intercepts the Direct3D calls and embeds triple buffering within them.

So, in essence the option in the drivers is for OpenGL games only sadly.

 

[luka]

D3DOverrider is the only way to make Dead Space PC playable.

The in-game vsync option is TERRIBLE, causes massive input lag and actually limits the game to 30fps on my PC. I thought for a moment the game was too GPU intensive or something. When I disabled v-sync, the game ran at 150+fps, but the tearing was off-the charts and the mouse input (which is *gasp* framerate dependent!) becomes absurdly slow.

D3DOverrider allows me to play it at butter-smooth 60fps with no tearing, no retarded input lag, and stable mouse control.

Oh crap. I had written this game off long before I started using D3DOverrider because of this and totally forgot about it. I'll have to pop it back in and give it another go. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[pilonv1]

Works well for me - getting virtually constant 60fps with max everything in Stalker, Dirt 2 and Just Cause 2 (except for the city ). Only issue is that Dirt 2's vsync sucks and I get a dip in fps it wants to cap it at 30 until it can get back to 60.

Not sure if I'm a fan of it for TF2, I didn't notice any input lag but I do miss the higher frame rate there.

 

[AndyD]

Nice, triple buffering and vsync make a good difference in BFBC2. So much smoother.

 

[Stallion Free]

I wish I couldn't feel input lag with triple-buffering in shooters like you guys

I do use it for every other genre though.