PC games- screen 'tearing' problems

Hello

Im having a bit of a nightmare getting pc games to work.

Im new to pc gaming, as of this month.

Some games I play have these clear horizontal lines moving on the screen. Ive been told its called 'screen tearing'.

It happens a lot in Tomb Raider Anniversary which I got off steam.

I was reading that enabling 'v-sync' helps.

i enabled v-sync in the TRA setup options and it seems to have fixed the issue completely....BUT it introduced a new problem- the game now runs ultra slow, the tearing is gone but its like the character on screen is walking through invisible grease ( if you know what I mean)


Does anyone have any advice?

has anyone here had the problem?

What causes screen tearing?


Im a bit irritated about pc gaming, for this reason, consoles have always played perfectly with zero drama or configuration needed for me.

Thanks

Update the game, the drívers on the gpu, mobo bíos, etc and try again

What causes screen tearing?

It's because the game is sending images to the monitor as soon as it can. So if the game is part way through sending an image when the monitor refreshes, it displays part of each frame.

Turning V-sync on forces the game to wait until the monitor has refreshed before generating the next image. So it locks the frame rate to the refresh rate of the monitor.

It can happen with console games as well, but most console games have v-sync on.

What is your hardware? You may not be well equipped to play at the settings you choose. Also I'm looking forward to Gsync next year!

Also your monitor is capable of at least 60Hz correct? If not, then that could also explain why you get a lot of screen tear and seemingly lag when you turn on vsynch.

but why does v sync make my game go really slow? (it completely fixes the tearing though)

That will be because the game is now tied to the refresh rate of the screen. For example if the game was running at 45fps and the screen has a 60Hz refresh rate (which is normally what they are), turning v-sync on will force the game to run at 30fps so it will send a new image to the monitor every other refresh.

windows 8
intel i5 3.0GHz
1TB hard drive
8gb RAM

Nvidia Geforce GT 620

ok

what is your recommended solution to my issue?

I'm afraid this is the problem. That card is really low end and not for any serious gaming. You need to replace it with a better card. Make sure your motherboard and Power supply unit can accommodate it before buying though, you need a PCI-E slot on the board and a PSU unit capable of at least as many volts as the card requires.

I know that this card is not good, BUT

Im not playing new games

I didnt get this pc for gaming, I got it for other reasons, but just took a notion to use it for gaming this month as I wanted to play some classic games

The game I'm refering to in this thread which I really want to play is Tomb Raider Anniversary which was released in 2007. Im not trying to play skyrim/crysis 3 or anything that new.

surely my GPU can handle that?

There is no solution without compromises. You could turn down graphics settings so the game can run at 60fps. Otherwise you've got no choice but to pick between screen tearing or a lower frame rate.

Or upgrade your PC as suggested above.

Evidently not. That card is the sort they fit into cheap laptops. Try scaling down the settings and see if it makes a difference. It probably will and this would prove that your GPU is just not up to scratch.

To use a console analogy, it's like trying to play The Last of Us with a PS2.

I find that hard to believe, I played this game (Tomb Raider anniversary) on ps2 (yes, ps2 not ps3!) when it came out in 2007 and it played well with no tearing or slowdown

Is my pc lower spec for games than a ps2?

I find that hard to believe, I played this game (Tomb Raider anniversary) on ps2 (yes, ps2 not ps3!) when it came out in 2007 and it played well with no tearing or slowdown

Is my pc lower spec for games than a ps2?