Overriding refresh rates in vista

[jaythreee]

Hi just found about this site and very happy to have found it. Anyways I just purchased a laptop with vista home premium 32bit and a geforce go 7600. Is there any way to override refresh rates in vista? I mostly play Counter-strike 1.6 and TFC. My preferred settings are having vSync on and forcing my refresh rate to 100mhz so that I don't get vertical tearing AND have 100fps. Now I ALREADY KNOW that 60 mhz isn't as bad on an lcd, etc etc etc. I've been looking for about a week now, posting on various forums and can't get an answer. Is there currently a reg entry or program I can use to force a refresh rate in vista? Thanks in advance =)

[Ice-Tea]

LCDs refresh at 60Hz, period. Getting it to 100 is simply not possible.

[jaythreee]

No that's not true. I've overriden refresh rates several times on LCD's. Not to 100 but up to 85 mhz.

[Ice-Tea]

No that's not true. I've overriden refresh rates several times on LCD's. Not to 100 but up to 85 mhz.

*shrugs*

It's not because windows says you're at 85Hz that is actually the case. You can set your resolution to a non-native one but what actually gets to the screen is still native, albeit scaled.

There's a minor chance your screen refreshed at 85Hz, but I wouldn't put money on it.

[Keith]

*shrugs*

It's not because windows says you're at 85Hz that is actually the case. You can set your resolution to a non-native one but what actually gets to the screen is still native, albeit scaled.

There's a minor chance your screen refreshed at 85Hz, but I wouldn't put money on it.

You're bang on the money - here's Wikipedia's discussion on the matter:

On smaller CRT monitors (14") few people notice any change above 60?72 Hz. On larger CRT monitors (17", 19") most people would experience mild discomfort unless the refresh is set to a more comfortable 85 Hz or higher. 100 Hz is comfortable for most people. However, LCD monitors do not suffer from the same problems as their CRT predecessors and the refresh rate simply does not mean the same. LCD or TFT monitors will provide excellent quality and resolution at 60?Hz. The more important issue for a TFT or LCD monitor is its Response Time, Image Brightness and Image Contrast Ratio.

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

As you said, there's a small chance that this guy has a higher than 60hrz rated lcd screen, but as yet, I've only seen expensive TVs used as laptop monitors that can make use of that.

K

[jaythreee]

@ ice-tea

LCD's can refresh at 75 easily. I know that I was actually viewing 85 due to the fact that vSync was on and vSync will limit your FPS to the refresh rate. In game I would get exactly 85 fps meaning that was the refresh rate. At the moment with vSync on I get 60fps because my refresh is 60.

@Keith

It does not take an expensive LCD at all to reach higher than 60. I almost guarantee you that you can get any LCD up to at least 75mhz in 1024 x 768. That wiki article is talking about your desktop rather than games and also does take into account having vSync on. If you do not have vSync on as well as a good enough computer to get 100fps, you aren't going to notice the difference anyways because your other settings are hindering performance. There is a very big difference in game with 60mhz or 100mhz, LCD and CRT. In both cases with 60mhz and vSync the mouse will have a considerable amount of drag. Many people do not use the best settings to achieve the smoothest game play so therefore do not notice whether the screen is at 60mhz or 100mhz.

If you have an LCD and Windows XP try this:

1.)Download an nvidia driver version WITH the option to override refresh rates or the reg fix for it.

2.)Set your LCD to 75mhz in 1024x768 in the override refresh rates section

3.)Turn vSync to Always On.

4.)Open some type of first-person shooter and see if your fps is locked at 75. If it is that would mean that your refresh rate is actually running at 75mhz.

enable_refresh_rate_override.zip

Edited April 28, 2007 by jaythreee

[Keith]

@ ice-tea

LCD's can refresh at 75 easily. I know that I was actually viewing 85 due to the fact that vSync was on and vSync will limit your FPS to the refresh rate. In game I would get exactly 85 fps meaning that was the refresh rate. At the moment with vSync on I get 60fps because my refresh is 60.

Unfortunately, that's not a very scientific approach. DirectX relies on interrogating the operating system to find out what refresh rate your monitor is running it - Due to the architecture of the DirectX model, it's hardware independent, and not hooked in to what the monitor is ACTUALLY doing at all. If, for instance, you plugged a VGA monitor in that worked at 80hz, started the game running, with your fps in the corner, you might see 80fps (presuming, as you say, that your computer was capable) - However, lets say you unplugged the original monitor, and plugged in a different VGA monitor that only displayed at 60hz while the game was playing, the monitor would say "Display out of range", but the game would still be running at 80fps in the background, because Direct X would still be reporting (quite correctly) that the display adaptor was displaying at 80hz, because that's the frequency it's pumping down the cable.

Note that with DVI, this changes slightly, since the standard for this port allows bidirectional information support.

So, basically, if the operating system is forced in to thinking that the display is displaying at 80hz, you'll get 80fps with Vsync.

K

[jaythreee]

So I take it there is no way to override refresh rates in vista yet?