Triple Buffering question

[Keptron]

I actived it on my L4D and now it seen to be running at better performance compared to before, I even played with 1400x900 with 16x Antialising + 2x Anisotropic filtering with some lag, but it was still playable ( of course it lagged, as my video card is a 256mb 8600GT Ultimate Overclock Edition ) .... Before using Triple Buffering it was lagging way more, I will try playing for today with 1400x900 2x Antialising + 2x anisotropic to see it it made my performance better

It is supposed to give better performance?

[Zidane]

When it's forced in your driver's control panel, the difference between Double and Triple Buffering can be enormous. I have the same increase as you do when activated.

[darkmessiah]

For an 8600 GT, I'd recommend:

V-Sync off
All settings Medium-High
16x Anisotropic, or 4x
8x CSAA, I think 16x is way overboard.

[Keptron]

I am playing now with all graphics maximum + max resolution || antialising 2x and anisotropic 2x|| Triplle Buffering option .... lag is rare, I will let Triple Buffering actived forever o_o

I allowed in driver control to use Triple Buffering

[darkmessiah]

I hate V-Sync, I'd rather use a max_fps kind of option but they took it away...

Also, V-Sync causes not lag as in low framerate, but lag as in .2 second response time. It's really not that slow, but it feels weird.

[Apex_]

If you've ever run SLI you'd have a profound appreciation for VSync, since without it many (if not most) games that utilize split-frame rendering will have awful tearing constantly.

If your framerates exceed your monitor's refresh rate (e.g. you have a 60hz widescreen LCD and you get 60+ fps) you'll notice absolutely no difference in response time.

Triple (or double) buffering simply prepares video frames for display ahead of time. It's mostly used to prevent tearing, artifacts or other graphical glitches when rendering moving objects and the like. Not sure why it'd give you a boost in framerate, but there's no harm in keeping buffering enabled whenever possible anyway.

[darkmessiah]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=928593

Very great intro into V-Sync, this guy did well.

[Apex_]

It's well written, but still doesn't really change the fact that if you can utilize both triple buffering and Vsync you're golden. He does raise a solid point about the misconception that capping the framerate equal to your refresh will solve tearing, which I've known about for awhile having an SLI setup where tearing is a serious issue between dual cards.

But back on topic, I usually subscribe to the "whatever works" methodology. If triple buffering somehow gives you better framerates, Keptron...keep it enabled!

[darkmessiah]

Oh, I wasn't trying to disprove anything, just give light on Vsync with that article.

I can usually ignore tearing as it is very subtle in a noticeable kind of way.

If dual cards is THAT bad and Vsync needs to be needed, fine. I'm pretty sure any Sli'd cards would handle Vsync just fine anyway.

[Apex_]

I can usually ignore tearing as it is very subtle in a noticeable kind of way.

This is a quote for the ages my friend.

If dual cards is THAT bad and Vsync needs to be needed, fine. I'm pretty sure any Sli'd cards would handle Vsync just fine anyway.

Yeah, if you use split-frame tearing is especially bad since card 0 is drawing the top half of the screen and card 1 is drawing the bottom. It's not as bad with alternate-frame mode but still pretty noticeable, to me anyway. I don't know why tearing bothers me so much, but I never fail to notice it when it's there.

I'm just saying overall the answer is pretty much: use triple buffering with vsync or don't use vsync at all. The in-between gets kind of wonky.

[darkmessiah]

Split-Frame has best performance, doesn't it? I can't imagine how alternate-frame would be a good solution.

The only things that REALLY gets me is AA. No AA hurts my eyes.

[Deadly]

What does anisotropic filtering do? I know everything else but never found out about anisotropic

[Apex_]

Split-Frame has best performance, doesn't it? I can't imagine how alternate-frame would be a good solution.

The only things that REALLY gets me is AA. No AA hurts my eyes.

Yeah, split-frame is the best performance wise, but alternate-frame (AFR2 specifically) is best for compatibility with games that don't expressly support SLI. I get mixed results, some like split and some like alternate. Some games get little to no boost from SLI at all (Crysis comes to mind) while others like STALKER absolutely hate SLI and run better with it forced off in the driver profile.

What does anisotropic filtering do?

Basically, AF is a method to improve textures when they're viewed from a distance, or at an angle. It also helps bridge gaps between mip-map levels (where after a certain distance mip maps with very low detail kick in and make everything beyond X look really bad). If you enable AF, textures like cliff faces, rooftops and other oddly angled objects will look sharper and have less jagged edges in them. It's kind of like anti-aliasing and sharpening combined, for textures instead of object edges.

[darkmessiah]

Have you seen a performance impact with Ambient Occlusion? Subtly, it greatly enhances the atmosphere, but I don't want to lose more than 2 FPS on that.

[Deadly]

Thanks apex!

[Keptron]

After I did today the Driver update, I can play Left 4 Dead with 1400x900 + 4x Antialising + 4x Anisotropic. I was playing with 16CSSAQ Antialising but it was getting some small lags ( tested in single player throwing molotov everywhere with infinite horde attack ), this new driver update made a good perfomance for L4D O.o

Edit:
Also, what is SLI? Dual video card working together?
What is Split-frame too?

[darkmessiah]

8xCSAA has the same performance impact as 4xAA, I suggest you change...