RivaTuner Statistics Server (generally abbreviated as RTSS) is a hardware monitoring application whose main characteristic is that it allows an on-screen display of the frame rate per second (FPS) and other performance metrics even while we are playing (with a Cover), including GPU usage and temperature, very useful settings for all cases. However, with or without Afterburner, RivaTuner is able to apply FPS limits and activate Scanline Sync in any monitor and we’ll tell you what you need to do to make it happen.
What is Cap FPS?
In this answer, FPS is the frames per second that the graphics card sends to the monitor, and on PCs where the FPS exceeds the monitor’s refresh rate (like having 100 FPS on a 60Hz panel) this can give you problems heartbreaking screen and a highly variable FPS rate which can spoil the gaming experience and even be a competitive disadvantage, especially in eSport type games.
In most games, the best way to solve this problem is to enable vertical sync (V-Sync) or to have a monitor compatible with a variable refresh rate, although it is true that enabling V-Sync in games can cause quite a lot of input latency.
With Cap FPS, we can set the frame rate per second just to the refresh rate of the screen, which keeps them in sync. If the game you are playing has an FPS limit, it is very likely that you want to use it instead of Cap FPS in RivaTuner, but the benefit of doing it with RivaTuner is that you will set it up that way. universal, for everything.
What is Scanline Sync?
Scanline Sync, coming soon FreeSync from AMD and G-Sync from NVIDIA, is a technology that seeks to replace the V-Sync standard. However, FreeSync and G-Sync are hardware functions while Scanline Sync uses software for the same purpose. It is especially ideal for displays that do not have FreeSync or G-Sync (for example, the television in the living room if you are using it with the PC connected).
Where Scanline Sync differs from other V-Sync alternatives, the name suggests: unlike other techniques that work as much as possible with full images, Scanline Sync allows you to choose a specific scan line, one in of the screen is almost guaranteed and yet contained. With the correct settings, this scan line can be moved virtually off the screen and provide a tear-free alternative and without the latency of V-Sync.
When should you use Cap FPS or Scanline Sync?
While RivaTuner does offer FPS limitation with Cap FPS and Scanline Sync, you actually won’t be able to use both simultaneously, so that’s something to keep in mind to start with: you have to choose one or the other. other. The main way to choose between the two features is to take a look at your hardware:
FPS limits will work on most systems with the fewest problems, and Scanline Sync is best if you already have a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor. In this case, the Scanline Sync job is already done by the monitor and GPU, so it does not need to be enabled.
Scanline Sync is best used to compensate for the lack of FreeSync or G-Sync, but it also has a downside – it increases GPU usage to reduce FPS. Moreover, it can cause tears on the screen, although since it can be “moved”, in principle it should not disturb; If you’re looking to run games on a 60Hz screen and your GPU has plenty of power to spare, this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you do, we highly recommend lowering the settings or turning it down. use Cap FPS instead.
How to limit FPS with RivaTuner
The first thing you should obviously do is open the RivaTuner server; You’ll find the icon in the Start menu, via an icon next to the system clock. From the main window, click on the “Global” profile and set the FPS limit of your choice under the “Frametime Limit” parameter, ideally corresponding to the refresh rate of your monitor (that is, if your monitor is at 60 Hz, put 60 FPS).
Make sure the “Application Detection Level” setting is set to “Low” or higher (ie “None” is not selected) and voila, you have set an overall FPS limit. . If you ever want to remove it, you can simply turn off RivaTuner or come back here to change this setting.
You can also click the green “Add” button at the bottom left to set different FPS limits per app. You will need to select the executable of the app or game you want to limit and simply reconfigure the Frametime Limit setting to your liking.
How to configure Scanline Sync in RivaTuner
To use Scanline Sync in RivaTuner, the Cap FPS limit must be set to zero, because as we have seen before, the two functions are mutually exclusive. Don’t worry as this won’t zero FPS but will disable the feature.
Now that Cap FPS is disabled, it’s time to configure Scanline Sync: the number you will see (default is 0) is not a frame limit but the coordinates of the cut line. Your exact results will depend on your screen size and resolution, so you will need to manually adjust this value in 10 out of 10 increments as there is no universal option.
The best place to start is to take your vertical resolution (for example, 1080 pixels on a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen or 1440 pixels on a 1440p monitor) and subtract that number from 150 to 200. For a standard 1080p screen, we will tell you. recommend starting at 930 as a baseline and reducing the number if necessary until you have achieved a result that you are satisfied with.
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