Who runs with Vertical Synch = Half ?

Since I purchased my i7/1070 TANE desktop two months ago I have been reveling in the freedom of being able to run with Vertical Synch set to 'none', as all my previous Trainz/HW combos have been framerate constrained. However, yesterday I installed a system temperature monitoring app , and was disturbed to see the 1070 running at 82 degrees C. And that was only achieved because the fan was apparently quite busy (I hadn't noticed). Setting Vertical Synch to 'full' made no real difference, as I was typically getting about 60 fps anyway. However, setting VSynch to 'half' dropped the graphic cards temperature by 8 to 10 degrees. My senior's eyes can not really see much of a difference in image quality between the three settings (and there may even be a little less lag at the 'half' setting). So for now I a going to keep running at 'half'.

From a bit of googling a I see that 82C is not out of line for a 1070, but I wondered if the cards longevity is being compromised.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? What do you use?

Phil

FootplatePhil - I have a similar PC spec to yours and also revelled in having Vertical Synch set to 'OFF' until I discovered (several months later, on a later build) the 'runaway sequence' of CPU and GPU trying to outdo each other and with consequent thermal issues and suddenly louder cooling fan effort. The triple-digit frame rates were sensational, but ultimately I decided that they were unsustainable if I wanted longevity of my GTX 1070 and i7-4790K.
So I dialled it back to VS 'FULL' where it has remained ever since.
Now I get a steady 60FPS at temps under 55C for both CPU and GPU in most scenarios.

If your GPU has a blower style cooler (e.g. like the nVidia Founders Edition cards) where a single high speed fan expels hot air out the back of your case, then 80-odd degrees is quite normal. When you say the fan was quite busy, what was the % fan speed? I ask since the raw RPM figure can look high compared to say a case fan, but these GPU fans operate at much higher speeds. If you are not noticing the fan noise, then chances are it is not working particularly hard.

If the card were to get too hot, it would automatically throttle back or in extreme circumstances shut down, so you are very unlikely to cause any damage. Having said that, it is your PC and if you are more comfortable running at a smooth 30 fps, which works fine for most simulation type applications such as Trainz, I'd say go for it.

Vostrail, thanks for your thoughts. Yes, I believe I have the Founders Edition card installed (its an off-the-shelf @ell desktop). GPU clock speed varies, but usually around 1650, load 99%, fan speed about 2200 rpm (not sure of %), room a/c set to 24C. While the jury is still out, I am still running at 30 fps today. I am conscious that heat and longevity don't usually go together with electronics in general.

I had a second reason for posting, and that was curiosity about what other people find satisfactory in terms of frame rates with Trainz. For myself, I had expected more from the 60 fps experience. But then again, my eyes are not what they used to be.

Phil.

I have tried adjusting VSync, and have not noticed not one single difference of better framerates ... None at all !

I do and I have noticed no ill effects.

Your video hardware "paints" or scans the image onto your screen at a certain rate. Vsync will only allow a frame to be sent at the same rate as this V clock speed set by your monitor. So if you monitor is 60hz then you will get maximum 60 frames per second timed precisely to the number of monitor resfreshes. It makes sense then that if you set Vsync to half rate, the hardware will only generate a frame at half of the V clock. So then on a 60hz monitor you will get max 30 frames per second.

Vsync is useful because with some display types you may notice an annoying "torn" look to the image as it scans over the screen where the scan took place in between a rendered frame from the hardware. Vsync not only caps your maximum frame rate it makes sure that the monitor would only change the image if it can change the whole frame at once therefore eliminating the appearance of tearing.

If you do not notice any difference with these turned on it is because you likely never reach that frame rate anyway but it will still synchronize frames to your screen refresh.

Me, Superfudd.

Good information here. I never knew what Vsync did or meant. I will check my settings. Thanks.

my Vsync is set at Auto

My V Sync is set to 1/2 on HP Envy with builtin GPU, from what I can tell, this runs the best do to be hamstrung with Builtin rather than Dedicated NVidia or similar painful lesson learned the hard way, next Laptop will be Dedicated.........Grrrr.

Whilst certainly not T:ANE footage, this YouTube video simultaneously showing CPU and memory utilisation whilst running the same video card on a game benchmarked at 30FPS Vs 60FPS illustrates the benefits of using Half-Synch for certain cards and hardware combinations @ 1080p. Note the reduced load on memory and CPU at half-synch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7MZOL2v7Gk

PC_Ace... thanks for that. My observation is that the load on the Graphics card (and its temperature) is also considerably reduced with vsynch=half. Maybe in other (1st person action) games, and/or with other(younger) eyes, 60fps+ is worth obsessing over. However I'm thinking that with TANE maybe a consistent fps of 30, and a lower temp (and hopefully less GPS stress and better longevity) is the way to go.

With a nod to Monty Python.... "I have a theory, and my theory is this".

Phil

I find it virtually impossible to see any difference between 30 and 60 (actually 75 here as 75Hz monitors) or for that matter any higher, may vary depending on the size / resolution of monitor I suppose.

I use my MSI Gaming laptop on HalfSync.

My specs are Intel Core I7 6700HQ CPU @ 2.60Ghz with 16.0Gb Ram With Windows 10

I've got no problems running Tane and play other games like Euro Fishing FarmingSimulator and the other Train Simulator as well

Michael

Assume that with my 144Hz monitor, I'll get up to 72fps on half v-sync? Which seems more than enough!

Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your input. For the record, what card are you running? What temperature is it running at? Have you monitored the FPS to see if its delivering a consistent 72fps at half v-sync?

Phil