Spiral Knights - Performance / Overheating / FPS / VSync

Performance / Overheating / FPS / VSync

7 replies [Last post]

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 09:11

Ewbte

So currently game runs great on High settings for me, but sometimes it goes far from 60fps and then it start to overheat my computer, as soon as I turn on VSync to cap at 60fps I get huge loss in performance, so I must change settings to Low, to be able to play smoothly.
I did talk about it with my friends and guildies in the game, many of them experience the same overheating issue.
VSync is not a solution a tall, because it is a minor cosmetical change which cost a lot of resources. Sometimes I have even worse performance at Low settings with VSync, than at High settings without it.

As I know 60fps is already too much for regular player, 50 is enough smooth, and most wont notice difference between it.
I wish there was an option to set fps limit, for example by steps "50–60–off" this could be in advanced video options and set at 60 by default.

Not much players talk about this here, since there is not a lot people who understands in hardware.
Different situation with other java based game called "Minecraft", its community is mostly of hardware geeks and it had tons of topics with same request, feature was added to the game after some time. Because nobody needs over9000fps and fans at 6000rpm.

ps. at pc I would be able to use MSI Afterburner and force fps limit for any app. But sadly, there is no solution for a mac users (can't say anything about linux users).

Best regards,
Ewbte

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 17:17

Zaffy-Laffy

VSync is not a minor cosmetic change, however it does cost some resource albeit not a lot. Vsync basically caps your game's frame rate to your screen's native refresh rate ie 60/120 fps. It is more recommended to have it off regardless of computer status.

The game itself is already cpu intensive, and it's already full of potholes known as memory leaks, so it isn't exactly a very computer-friendly game, so be prepared for some heat.

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 02:01

Ewbte

I know how VSync works, and

I know how VSync works, and its main goal - remove screen tearing, which is cosmetic change. Also known, it cause FPS drop.

Google is full of information about how VSync affect FPS, just spend a bit of time. Or you can just try it with any game you have, start it with settings that will give you only 50fps average, then turn VSync on and measure your new average fps.

For example in places where I had minimum 40fps without VSync, I will have 30 with it (10fps between 30fps and 40fps is a lot more noticeable, than 10fps between 40fps and 50fps).

VSync is a solution only when you have more than 60fps even on maximum settings.
Diablo 3 has FPS cap option too and because of reason, isn't it?

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 13:02

Momofuku

Ewbte, what Macbook specs do you have? If you have one with an external GPU, it is possible you are experiencing the GPU throttling which is occurs in all Macbooks (I've monitored this with a 2012 rMBP myself). After a period of time, the GPU power demands combined with the CPU power demands start to exceed the 85W power adapter that comes with Macbooks (and possibly sooner with a 60W supply for the smaller models). The good people at Anandtech explored this issue quite a bit, and I don't know if this is addressed with the newer Macbooks. Although I assume if they are using nVidia cards newer than GTX 750 Ti it should be fine since those have a smaller power draw.

I first noticed this when I was running Windows on my Macbook and monitored the graphics card there. Not sure what OSX options there are to monitor and confirm this. iMacs most likely would not have this problem (I would expect their PSU to be greater than 85W), but Macbooks most likely will.

A potential workaround to "reduce the time before throttling occurs" is to actually underclock your CPU. ThrottleStop is what I used when I was running Windows in OSX. I don't have an OSX option for underclocking your CPU, but it's a potential solution to your overheating issues.

But I would first recommend finding an option for monitoring your graphics card clock speeds and see if it's being throttled while Spiral Knights (or any game, for that matter) is running - I found throttling to typically happen within a few hours after the game was running (from a cold boot) or within half an hour if the laptop was kept asleep for days on end.

Fri, 11/07/2014 - 06:20

Ewbte

Thank you Momofuku, yes I've

Thank you Momofuku, yes I've heard about this, none of my macs has throttling issue.

FPS limit feature can help with overheat and can prevent game from using more resources than it is actually needs to work smoothly. This is very useful when you play on battery because standalone time will be greatly improved!

Sat, 11/08/2014 - 09:06

Ewbte

As I just found out there is

As I just found out there is presently no triple buffering support on OS X, this explains why VSync reduces performance a lot bigger than on Windows.

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 01:09

Ewbte

Found out how VSync works,

Found out how VSync works, seems like SK use double buffering. Here is an example for most common 60hz display:
So if in heavy situation you somehow less than actual 60fps (even if 59fps), VSync will cap fps at constant 30fps to be able to buffer additional image for tearing remove. This is ugly and very noticeable change.
While without VSync you could have 59fps in same place.

So option to cap fps will do the work a lot better.
Constant medium fps is a lot less annoying than instant jumps from 60fps to 30fps and back to 60fps and loss of overall performance.

Or tipple buffering.. /sh

Tue, 12/02/2014 - 01:13

Ewbte

Found a kind of solution.. I

Found a kind of solution.. I forced my display to use 50hz refresh rate, so my max fps with VSync is 50 atm. Laptop is so quiet now.
But triple buffering is still needed or frame limit option, because players don't mind about screen tearing when it comes to performance during fight.

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