9700 pro questions ....

[Conceptor]

1. i was wondering if my video card is the reason i cant choose the vsync option for planetside ... i mean.. i can choose it under the video options, but when i come back on the game again the vsync's turned off. What does vsync do anyway, is it something that i want on at all?

2. And what about forced buffer depth.. would i want that disabled in my video options or set to 24bit?

3. I have my AA on max and my AF on application preference (but before i clicked on app. preference i put it on 16x) so is there a chance that it will go for 16x anyway even though i put it under app preference? i left the option under quality NOT performance btw...

4. and my last question, my game runs a little slow when i dont have AA or AF under application preference (and looks plain ol crappy) and i have latest drivers, and Directx9.0 any tips?

p.s. i have 2.4ghz P4, asus p4s8x motherboard, DSL, 9700 pro (obviouslly 1gig pc-2700 ram, SB audigy soooo i dont think these things should be choppy even in the slightest.

[Conceptor]

so many veiws, so little replies lol.

[Hexen]

Hehe well, I don't think many people have really tinkered with those graphics settings all that much. Alot of people tinker with them to adjust performance, but I doubt many people actually know what all of it does and how much it impacts your visual quality and performance.

All I can say myself is, I heard vsync simply causes your graphics card to never try and exceed a framerate higher than that of your monitor's refresh rate. So I guess it doesn't matter either way what you set to to, but most people say to keep it off.

About the drivers, I've been told that getting the latest drivers for your graphics card as soon as they come out is not always the best choice, and can sometimes cause games to not be quite as compatible with your graphics card as before. I dont have the latest dets loaded now because I had a weird graphics problem when trying to play Freelancer, IMO you shouldn't update your drivers until you start playing a new game and your drivers dont seem to work very well with it.

Tho btw, Anti-Aliasing is probably the biggest framerate eating bastard out of all those settings. Even with the comp you have I wouldn't be surprised if it caused a bad framerate, especially on max setting.

Keep in mind btw that i'm no expert and this is just stuff I've picked up over time. :P

[ajohn505]

These kinds of questions are difficult to answer

1. The vsync option thing I believe is a bug. I have a Gf4MX440 and it resets on me as well. VSync syncronizes the refresh rate of your graphics card to that of your monitor, so don't get a 'tearing' effect if the graphics card pumps out more frames than your monitor is refreshing at the time.

2. Higher bit depths can cause slower performance. Choose a depth that looks 'right' to you.

3. AA and AF options set in your graphics card control panel should override any settings you have in-game.

4. Application preference? I have no idea. Just run it on whatever option that makes it run fast Though that's always good advice I guess.

[Conceptor]

thank you guys for your advice 5 points for both of you OR a gold star if you choose