# [SOLVED] Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS



## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

Hey all, 

I got my card back around April or so when it was one of the newest on the market, and I immediately had problems with horizontal screen tearing in WoW when I turned the camera rapidly. It was resolved if I played in full-screen mode (I had been in windowed mode) and turned on vsync, so no biggy. 

I finally got around to playing Heroes of Might and Magic V and Half-Life 2 within the last month, and the same issue as occurred. Turning on vsync in the game's options hasn't helped, and forcing vsync on in the nvidia control panel MAY have made it a little better, but it's still happening. A friend of mine thought it might be bad video memory, but my understanding is that the graphical artifacts I would see in that case would be far more severe. As it is, the tearing only occurs when moving the camera rapidly over the map (HMM) or turning around rapidly (WoW, HL2). Some games, like company of heroes, I didn't notice any difficulty with. 

Can anyone help? Thanks!!
Jesse


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

Can you post a screen please and what psu do you have? WHat are your temps and voltages check using speedfan in my sig.


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

So it says my fan speeds are...
F1: 2473
F2: 1160
F3: 0
F4: 0
F5: 0 
F1: 1118
F2: 1969
F3: 0
F4: 0 (why would it repeat 1-4 twice?) 

Temps:
T1 38C
T2 43C
T3 35C
CPU 0C
Internal 101C
Remote 0C
HD0 33C
HD1 32C
Temp1: 40C (again, why does it repeat temp 1?)

Voltages: 
Vcore1 - 1.30
Vcore2 - 0
+3.3V: 3.25V
+5V: 4.87V
+12V: 12.03V
-12V: 1.71 V
-5V: -8.78V
+5V: 4.76V
Vbat: 3.02V
Vcore: 0.00V
+3.3V: 3.21V

The program thinks my internal temp is hot, though I've never had other diagnostic programs detect any heat problems, and I have an extra fan in there that I purchased with the computer. I'll edit this post after I do the PSU thing. 

Also, I'll TRY to get a screenshot, but it's tough because it's such a momentary artifact.

Edit: I feel silly asking this, but how do I tell exactly what power supply I have? I don't remember which kind I bought off the top of my head.

I'm having trouble capturing it in a screenshot. It's like discontinuities along a perfectly horizontal line in parts of the picture as I turn. I'll keep trying.


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

what is the framerate when this occurs?it normally happens when the framerate exceeds the monitors refresh rate.


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

How can I check my current framerate in HL-2?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

A program called FRAPS


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

that will work http://www.fraps.com/


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

FPS is running between 100 and 250, entirely dependent on where I'm looking in the game, and not on whether I'm in the process of turning. For instance, it's ~100 if people are on the screen, about 180 looking at detailed surfaces, and 200+ looking at dark walls.


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

what is your monitors max refresh rate?sounds like the fps is higher than that id say.that is what is causing the screen tearing.


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

The monitor itself says 2ms, but that's got to be resolution dependent, I would imagine?? Or is that even the right statistic?

It's a Samsung Syncmaster 906BW

There's also a page online that says its refresh rate at max resolution is 60 mHz, whereas the monitor's response time is 2ms.


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

you can look under display,and find what the monitors refresh rate is set to.


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

It's at 60 right now, then. I can increase it to 75, but since I'm in max resolution, I guess I'm supposed to keep it at 60...?

Edit: Is it relevant that I have a LCD monitor?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

Yes it is (my friend has the same monitor is the screen tearing very slight or the whole thing? his has a veyr small amount because he gets even higher fpsthen you)


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## Aus_Karlos (Mar 10, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

To fix tearing in Source games like Half-Life 2, open the console and set the maximum frame rate the game is allowed. Type in "fps_max" without the quotations.
First make it the same as your monitor refresh rate to see if the tearing stops. If it does you can leave it at that as your eyes wont notice the difference between ~30fps-75fps or greater. If tearing still occurs go lower than your refresh rate. Say about 5 under.
See if this helps


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

Frustratingly, changing the fps didn't help. 

It's hard to say if it's very slight because it's subjective, but it's serious enough to be extremely noticeable when playing. The game is nowhere near unplayable, but that it's happening first with HMM, now with HL2, and before with WoW is really really frustrating given the amount of money spent. I may borrow a friend's monitor to see if it has the same trouble, if the LCD might be the problem...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'the whole thing' though?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

can you get someone to check the card in their computer,the ram on the card may be gone


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

God I hope not. If it is, I got it that way (since I had this problem on WoW), but I was gone on vacation for a few months and never got to try it on other games until now, and it's almost certainly out of warranty. I can try, I'll see if I can find someone with a CRT monitor, just in case.

If the card's RAM was gone, wouldn't I see more severe artifacts?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

not if it is just going


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

It'll be a while before I get a chance to test it in a different machine. 

Are there any other things I can try? It's very frustrating.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

post what is on the label on the side of the power supply
brand
watts
12v+ line amps


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

Okay, for some reason, the artifacts have now gone away upon switching to full-screen. I'm not sure why. It may have been that I didn't try full-screen since forcing VSync on in the nvidia control panel? 

Is there any reason why I shouldn't be able to run these games in windows?


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## jadamsuw (Dec 7, 2007)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

For some reason, it now works in full-screen mode, whereas it didn't before. I'm not sure why, though maybe it's because of forcing on the V-sync? 

I'm happy that it works full-screen, but is there any particular reason why it shouldn't work in windowed mode? And I'll get the power supply numbers for you just as soon as I find my screwdriver.

One way or another, thank you guys so much for the help.

Now if only I can find out my sound quality issues... :grin:


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## pharoah (Aug 28, 2006)

*Re: Screen tearing with Geforce 8800 GTS*

glad ya got that fixed.as for the sound have you updated your drivers?you could also get a dedicated sound card if that doesnt help.


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