Monitor drivers ?

[soberllama]

Hello.

Is it a good idea to download monitor drivers, will it even improve anything ?

 

[Supernova1138]

It depends on whether the generic Windows driver is providing all the functionality of the display. If you are getting all your resolutions at the appropriate refresh rates, you don't really need to get the specific monitor drivers. If you are restricted only to 4:3 resolutions on a widescreen display, or your monitor can only go up to 1024x768 when its maximum resolution should be higher, then yes you should download the specific drivers for your display.

 

[soberllama]

The resolution is correct, although I'm not so sure about the refresh rate. I mean I'm seeing quite a bit of screen tearing during games. The monitor is specified at 60hz (if not more) and the game is running at 60fps should I really be seeing this? Is the monitors refresh rate supposed to be unsteady?

 

[scout_03]

go to windows update and i will tell you if there needed and suggest them to you

 

[Supernova1138]

Tearing is common if you don't have Vsync enabled on your games. The graphics card pushes out more frames than your monitor can display, causing the tearing effect. For games that don't have a vsync option, you can use D3DOverrider to force it. If you still see tearing even with Vsync on, then that is a problem.

 

[soberllama]

Is it common to see a decries in performance and or somewhat unstable FPS with Vsync enabled ?

 

[Supernova1138]

It can happen in some games, it varies. The Assassin's Creed games don't handle Vsync well and suffer from some pretty bad stuttering when it is enabled. The vsync option in the Dead Space games is completely broken, resulting in a framerate cap of 30FPS, and lot of mouse lag. In Crysis, Vsync drops your framerate to 25FPS in most areas unless you have a GPU that can deliver at least 50FPS consistently, which on the very high settings is still pretty tough to do.

Most other game I've played haven't had any issues with vsync. If you want to get rid of screen tearing, that is pretty much the only way to do it.