FPS locked on games, New Radeon 6950

[Joab4652]

So yesterday I received my new "SAPPHIRE Radeon 6950 OC Edition" this is the first major upgrade to my graphics...WOW this thing is incredible. So I use FRAPS to check the frame rates on all my games. Skyrim and Dirt 3 lock to 60 FPS on both low and ultra high settings and sometimes "twitch" to 59 lol, not that im complaining about 60 FPS but I feel like Im not getting the best out of this card. Battlefield 3 gets 😱 90+ on ultra for some reason (without AA), I even tried lower end games, even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 locks at 45 with the settings set to both low and high and Diablo II locks at 25? wtf? Grand Theft Auto San Andreas locks at 60, So why does this happen, I have already updated all the drivers off the AMD website, it automatically detected and installed them.

Is there any thing I can do about this?

Thanks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

Specs:

ASUS M4A88T-M Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Editon 3.4Ghz
8GB Kingston RAM
Windows 7 Ultimate X64

 

[Justgotowned]

What are your settings on anyone of the 'locked' games?

 

[Joab4652]

it doesnt matter what they are on high,low,ultra its the same

 

[RyQril]

disable Vsync in game / CC
chk the lock frame rates in fraps

 

[ilysaml]

For the games looked @ 60, make sure you don't have V-Sync enabled. V-Sync synchronize the FPS to your monitors refresh rate. MW3 I had the same issue, didn't figure out why I have HD 6950 too. For D3 there's some bugs being solved right now with Blizzard a member here reported 35 FPS with GTX 670.

 

[Joab4652]

Ohhhh I assumed everything on was better. V-sync is just another word for frame limiter. im getting 80 FPS + thanks for your help 😀

 

[Joab4652]

Best answer selected by Joab4652.

 

[ilysaml]

If you got MaX Payne 3 it would be nice if you report your feedback here
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/119771-13-payne-feedback

 

[13thmonkey]

creating frame your monitor can't display is pointless however, so its not really a frame 'limiter' get a 120Hz monitor and then you'll max out at 120.

 

[Joab4652]

creating frame your monitor can't display is pointless however, so its not really a frame 'limiter' get a 120Hz monitor and then you'll max out at 120.

What does that mean exactly, my screen is an old HP 20' 16:9 , but I plan on getting a 27' in a while when I get the money

http://www.amazon.com/HP-2711x-27-Inch-LED-Monitor/dp/B004G8QO8O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338662811&sr=8-1

 

[13thmonkey]

ok, if you monitor can do 60Hz, that means it can refresh the image 60 times per second. if your gpu is doing more than that it may create tearing (where the screen is trying to show two images at the same time).

You can get 120hz monitors (that are meant to be a lot smoother even in the desktop) here every frame up to 120fps will be shown.

120hz monitors are also typically 3d capable.

Your proposed monitor is 60hz regardless of resolution (often lower res support higher res, mine hits 75hz at lower res for instance)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007617+600255030&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=20&description=&hisInDesc=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

this isn't the best example of screen tearing but you'll get the idea, imagine it on an fps, where would you aim? some games don't suffer as much as others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

 

[Joab4652]

So... my monitor is 60hz, if my gpu is putting out more frames than the 60 I wont notice it? and it will "tear"

 

[Joab4652]

But none of that happens... I play the campaign on battlefield 3 on ultra settings and get 90 FPS + and it looks flawless

 

[13thmonkey]

that's fine then, be prepared for it in other games. If you v-synched it then you'd get what your monitor can display and no more, and probably maintain cpu resources free for when it does need a frame. There is no harm in v-synch if you can maintain 60. if you are always below 60 then turn it off. Nvidia's adaptive v-synch solves that problem.

 

[Joab4652]

Ok then... thanks for your help 😀