Refresh rates

[Jesse_Dylan]

All right, guys, while I am pretty good at all this PC stuff... I mean, like, compared to my Gramma (heh)... there are some things I just don't know. Lack of education, really. My PC hayday was in the past, when I was a teen and pre-teen, flying through DOS-based computers (what a pain that was at times). All this newfangled stuff sometimes confuses me. :)

 

Refresh rate. If someone wants to give me a detailed explanation, that would be cool. I think I kind of have a precursory grasp of the concept. However, what I really want to know is what the heck should I set it at? We're talking Oblivion here, and I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck out of the graphics.

 

I had my refresh rate at 75 Hz. This appears to be the maximum for my Radeon X 1950 Pro. I mean, most of us think "maximum" means "prettiest". But I started to think about it. I'm using an LCD monitor. I might not need 75 Hz. 60 Hz might be just fine.

 

What are the implications either way when it comes to performance?

 

I'm going to try 60 for a while and see if I notice any difference. So far it kind of hurts my eyes! Is it in my head? Is 75 Hz gentler? I care about my eyes, too, not just my hardware and gaming experience. :) Also, if it matters, I think I'm connected via DVI. About 90% but don't want to dig around behind the PC and find out. It's dusty back there. :(

 

Thanks in advance. You guys are gurus, brilliant when it comes to both the software and hardware side of things. I've already learned a ton. The only thing better would be to have someone across the street who I could yell out my window at for Oblivion and PC advice. :)

[IndorilTheGreat]

All right, guys, while I am pretty good at all this PC stuff... I mean, like, compared to my Gramma (heh)... there are some things I just don't know. Lack of education, really. My PC hayday was in the past, when I was a teen and pre-teen, flying through DOS-based computers (what a pain that was at times). All this newfangled stuff sometimes confuses me. :)

 

Refresh rate. If someone wants to give me a detailed explanation, that would be cool. I think I kind of have a precursory grasp of the concept. However, what I really want to know is what the heck should I set it at? We're talking Oblivion here, and I'm trying to get the best bang for my buck out of the graphics.

 

I had my refresh rate at 75 Hz. This appears to be the maximum for my Radeon X 1950 Pro. I mean, most of us think "maximum" means "prettiest". But I started to think about it. I'm using an LCD monitor. I might not need 75 Hz. 60 Hz might be just fine.

 

What are the implications either way when it comes to performance?

 

I'm going to try 60 for a while and see if I notice any difference. So far it kind of hurts my eyes! Is it in my head? Is 75 Hz gentler? I care about my eyes, too, not just my hardware and gaming experience. :) Also, if it matters, I think I'm connected via DVI. About 90% but don't want to dig around behind the PC and find out. It's dusty back there. :(

 

Thanks in advance. You guys are gurus, brilliant when it comes to both the software and hardware side of things. I've already learned a ton. The only thing better would be to have someone across the street who I could yell out my window at for Oblivion and PC advice. :)

 

Hmmm... Well, I've got the same graphics card as you, and an 18.5 in. LCD Monitor. I have my graphics set to medium quality, with a resolution of 1024x780 (I think. I'll need to take a look again). I have my Refresh Rate set to 60 Hz and it's fine for me. You don't want to push your graphics card to the limit. Even if you have a high refresh rate, your card might not handle it, and the game will run slower (I know, ironic isn't it? :P ).

 

 

I think you should be fine at 60 Hz. Come back if you need any help! :yes:

 

Have fun! :D

 

 

Cheers,

gman021

[Jesse_Dylan]

Will do! Thank you, sir. Yes, I'm going to try out the 60 Hz for a while.

 

You know, I used a few tweak guides and edited the heck out of my oblivion.ini file, not to mention using overclocking on the Catalyst control center (automatic so I never overheat), and I'll tell you, I really think you're missing out if you're just going with medium details! I have my resolution a lot higher, too--1440x900. So if you're sticking with the lower res (which is fine), at least juice some more detail out of the engine maybe?

 

Then again, maybe you have stuff turned up higher in Catalyst, in which case medium on the Oblivion settings would be about right. I turned my Catalyst stuff down, or off, so Oblivion was in control (although I forced a little anisotropic filtering and turned mip mapping detail up some).

 

Just some suggestions. Sometimes it's better just to play the game. I've spent way too much time diddling with stuff. lame...

[nosisab]

Will do! Thank you, sir. Yes, I'm going to try out the 60 Hz for a while.

 

You know, I used a few tweak guides and edited the heck out of my oblivion.ini file, not to mention using overclocking on the Catalyst control center (automatic so I never overheat), and I'll tell you, I really think you're missing out if you're just going with medium details! I have my resolution a lot higher, too--1440x900. So if you're sticking with the lower res (which is fine), at least juice some more detail out of the engine maybe?

 

Then again, maybe you have stuff turned up higher in Catalyst, in which case medium on the Oblivion settings would be about right. I turned my Catalyst stuff down, or off, so Oblivion was in control (although I forced a little anisotropic filtering and turned mip mapping detail up some).

 

Just some suggestions. Sometimes it's better just to play the game. I've spent way too much time diddling with stuff. lame...

Refresh rate is not a minor issue at cathodic monitors, The flickering is health killer to the eyes. At LCDs like monitors this isn't an issue in this sense and become just a parameter at limiting resolution (mostly concerns with retroactive compatibility).

 

It was a problem with the firsts LCDs with a high recover time, Almost all nowadays monitors are quick enough so this is not an issue anymore

 

And will not affect performance, except where vertical synch is set on and such.

[IndorilTheGreat]

I really think you're missing out if you're just going with medium details! I have my resolution a lot higher, too--1440x900. So if you're sticking with the lower res (which is fine), at least juice some more detail out of the engine maybe?

 

Our computer is over 4 years old. In fact, Morrowind came free with the graphics card (my introduction to the TES Universe! :D ). I live with my parents (not out of High School yet). I most definitely WILL get a better computer when I graduate. :yes:

 

Medium quality is fine for me, because at a higher quality it causes the game to lag too much, and when I set the resolution to 1024x768, it looks just as good as it does at High settings, with out the lag! :D

 

Plus, I have Anti-Aliasing set to 2x.

 

My computer set it at Medium when it installed, so I decided not to change it.

 

Cheers,

gman021

 

 

P.S. W00t! My 500th post! :P

[Jesse_Dylan]

Yeah, I take back what I said anyway, gman. My computer can't run it either. :) ha. Not at high detail anyway. I tried reducing my resolution, but strangely it has no effect. I get the same frame rate at high res as I do low res. I wonder if my processor is bottlenecking or something....... It shouldn't be, though. Hmph.

 

Morrowind is a good intro. I played Daggerfall before that, long ago. heh... I would not recommend it today. Great music, though! There were a lot of cool things about it, but it sure was buggy. Never lived up to their promises for it, either. Oblivion, on the other hand, did. And Morrowind before it, while also buggy (but not as buggy as Daggerfall!), was certainly a treat. I still want to play through the whole thing sometime. I never did do I bet even 25% of all the game had to offer.