Guys i'm just curious why on higher refresh rates, the framerate seemingly gets choppier but according to FRAPS, it's not changing?

I'm trying graphics tweaks in the Tomb RAider Underworld demo, overlooking the Thailand temple-type structure where the framerate is lowest, using FRAPS to measure. And i noticed that when i increase the refresh rate in the in-game options, FRAPS still reports the same framerate, but i'm pretty sure my own eyes don't deceive me when onscreen, the framerate is choppier.

I was wondering what causes this? limitation of the monitor? video card?

I'm using windows XP, and the refresh rates i can choose for the desktop range from 60, 70, 72 (not quite right though), 75, and 85.

I think there's not much difference between 60 and 70Hz, but when i increase to 75 or 80 that's when things get choppy.

my specs:

monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 753S

videocard: Geforce 8800GT 256MB.

From a photorealistic standpoint, does anyone think Crysis looks more photoreal when seen through Medium shader settings rather than High? (assuming everything else is set to high).

Personally i think that even with the bloom, volumetric, and fog/haze effects that high shader settings adds, it doesn't quite place them at the exact right levels to make them look like something out of a photo. On the other hand Medium shader settings, especially when running the game at 1280 x 960 or higher resolution, captures the crispness and solidness of a photo.

Set the game at a low resolution (eg. 800*600), run a benchmark to measure the fps

Increase the resolution (eg. 1024*768), run the same benchmark again

Do you get lower performance the second time? Your GPU is the limiting factor.

Do you get about the same perfromance? The CPU is holding you back.

Gog

Thanks, i think this is pretty much what i needed.

BTW after much testing with my 8600GT, i discovered that it's quite hard to get playable framerates above 1024x768 for current gen games. So i set my ceiling to 1024x768. And in games like COD2, 1024 is playable but i still set it to 800x600 because that gets it up to about 50 to 60fps.

Thanks. I like how it's 45nm. Anyway, i was just curious, so that i'd know what to upgrade first in the future.

Your new supply has a 24 pin connector and two 4 pin connections, but your mother board only has a 24 pin connection and one 4 pin connection correct? If this is the case, don't worry about your power supplies 2nd 4 pin connector. Some newer mobo's require two 4 pin connections to the board this is why your supply has them.roulettethedog

Wow thanks! i guess that's all i need to know. I just wanted to make sure i don't fry my investment. :)

It's an ACBEL iPower 560

Here it is, i can't seem to find this model on it's own website, but here's it's specs from another site:

http://www.extremepc.co.nz/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3461

thanks!

ok maybe i got confused, the PSU advertises that it has dual rails +12V1 and +12V2 output. I'm talking about it's 4-pin 12V connector, which the new PSU seems to have two of, while my old PSU only has one of. So i don't know if my motherboard needs another socket for the second 12v connector. Here's a photo of my mobo: ECS 945GCT-M2

To the bottom left of the CPU socket is a square white 4-pin socket that has the label "ATX 12V1" right under it. That's where the old PSU had a wire connected to. The new PSU has one wire with two 4-pin connectors branching out of it. I'm guessing those are 12V connectors, but again i don't know if they both need to be connected, because my mobo only has one 12V socket.

Guys i just bought a 560W power supply and am trying to connect it to my motherboard, but i noticed that my old power supply has just one connector for +12V and the motherboard only has a single +12V1 slot to accept it. But my new power supply has 12V1 and 12V2 connectors. The PSU has a wire with 2 identical 4-pin connectors that each seem to fit in the 12V1 slot but don't quite lock in place. I was wondering if those are the 12V1 and 12V2 connectors... and am i supposed to be able to safely connect just one of them to my motherboard's 12V1 slot. Is that how it works?

My motherboard is an ECS 945GCT-M2 / 1333 with a core 2 duo E7200 processor.