Refresh rates > Improving FPS on older systems.

[brianfantastic]

First of all, a little bit of housework.
Q: What is my refresh rate?
A: Probably between 60Mhz ~ 75Mhz

Q: What does "refresh rate" mean?
A: The amount of times your monitor re-draws or "Refreshs" the image you see on the screen a second.

Please remember that this information is intended for users with older computers and it will improve your FPS.

I heard refresh rates don’t effect LCD’s?

This is simply untrue. An LCD screen will not suffer any flickering effects from having a low refresh rate. Instead, it will suffer through a limited frame-rate. Because of the way video cards render images to the screen. LCD’s are effected by refresh rates mostly in the same way CRT's are. The biggest problem with LCD’s is that they will not allow you to go past 60hz ~ 75hz in any resolution. This means that some older systems will only be able to produce a limited amount of FPS. However, CRT’s have the ability to go as high as 150hz in lower resolutions(640x480, 800x600 and occasionally depending on your GFX card and monitor type 1024x768) making them better for gaming in conjunction with an older system. To test this theory, enable V-Sync in game (Counterstrike: source > Options > Video > Advanced > Wait for vertical sync > Enabled) Once enabled, v-sync will render exactly what your monitor is capable of displaying, and depending on the make of your LCD, your frame-rate will be produced accordingly.


Am i the only one who doesn't know about this?

Believe it or not a whopping 64.92% of all gamers on Valve’s Steam network have their monitor’s set to 60hz. This means that the vast majority of gamers are only getting 60 frames per second in their games. In fact, CRT users that fall under this category may even be damaging their eyes due to visible screen flickering. If you’re a CRT user, make sure your monitor is set to at least 75hz to reduce eye strain and improve your fps in games. The stats below were taken directly from valve's stats page...


Maximise the results of your refresh rate.

Optimal Refresh Rates

The best way to optimize your refresh rate in Counter-Strike or any other first person shooter is to match your refresh rate to your frames per second (FPS). For example, if your monitor limits you to 120hz in 800×600, you should use a console command to cap your frame-rate in game to 120 fps. In Counter-Strike Source the command is fps_max 121 (use 121 to get 120). I also have this command in my autoexec.cfg Config file just to be safe.

Ok brian, i did this and it doesn't work. Your full of it...Aren't you?

Would i lie to you? Sometimes windows doesn't like the fact that you may know more about something like this than it does, so it doesnt let you change the settings. Perhaps for security or computer health reasons. But really for reasons only known to microsoft. The point is, there is a handy little program that allows you to bypass this inbuilt annoyance called 'RefreshLock' and you can get it here.

What is refresh lock, exactly?

Refresh-lock is a neat little background program that prevents windows from setting your refresh rate to a lower value when switching in and out of resolutions. Windows will commonly switch your refresh rates anytime you change resolutions (see above). That’s where refresh-lock comes in handy; it automates the process of setting your refresh-rates at any given resolution.

Another reason Refresh-Lock is used commonly instead of windows to set your refresh rate by people 'In the know' is due to convenience. Most people don’t like to browse around windows on their desktop in 800×600 all the time, so that would mean to set your 120hz refresh rate, you would need to fiddle every time prior to playing, Which lets be honest, is a pain in the neck. Refresh lock allows you to set it so when your monitor switches to 800×600 it automatically knows to use 120hz!

Points to take away from this 'how to' if your going to fiddle with your Refresh-rate...

-Make sure you don’t go exceed your monitor’s maximum refresh rates. If you are using refresh-lock and are unsure what your maximum values are feel free to PM me. Don't tinker if you don't know!

-Make sure to test your settings in game in conjunction with the V-sync and frame-rate commands (like fps_max), to make sure your getting your maximum Frames Per Second.

-If on an LCD do no exceed 75hz unless you know without a shadow of a doubt what you are doing.

This guide was put together from sources all around the internet and is intended to help with people on older systems using CRT monitors with FPS, but its only advice. If you are unsure about anything in the 'how to' feel free to PM me ill be more than happy to help. But please don't mess around if you dont fully understand anything here.