Chapel,
do a search with the Search feature for these boards ( at the top left row of navigating buttons ) search for info on VSYNC........
you mention showing vertical refresh off, I have not seen it posted like that on ATI cards in the catalyst drivers or the CCC...... I have always seen Wait for Vertical Sync
what drivers are you using?
you should use the ATI Cat 4.12 drivers or the Omega equivalent Cat 4.12 Drivers ( is a different # for the Omega version, which I have never found much difference performance wise )
if Vertical refresh is same as VSYNC ( more than likely ) then it is recommended it be turned on ........you are only getting what your monitor can do anyways not what the video card can do if I remember correctly.....your card might give 200 FPS, but the monitor refresh might max out at 80, so 80 is what you going to get regardless if it says you getting 200 when viewing the info by way of Ctrl-I toggle in game.....
I have the following:
Dell 19" LCD Ultrasharp monitor & most current monitor driver
ASUS ANE-X Deluxe MB / stock speed Athlon 2800 XP Socket A processor ( non OC'ed )
(2) 120/160 gig SATA HD's running in RAID 1 config
ATI Radeon X800 Pro 256meg DDR3 AGP videcocard
1 Gig PC3200 Ram
using Cat 4.12 drivers
Direct3D is set to custom settings
Anti-Aliasing 4x
Temporal Anti-Aliasing set for Quality
Anisotropic Filtering 2x
Texture Preference: High Quality
Mipmap Detail Level: High Quality
Wait for Vertical Sync: ALways On
TRUFORM: Always Off
Smartshader Effects: No effects
directx 9.0c version
in game video settings :
Video settings in AH:
1280X1024 at 70 Hertz ( be sure to check the box, to hide all screen res modes your monitor can not display , if you uncheck it and pick a higher res, you could possibly damage your video or monitor )
* I have the High Res 1024 texture pack installed ( the new one that came out with the last update )
all in game video sliders are slid all the way left for Detail and distance etc....
Textures and Skins preloading
Hardware Vertex Processing is Checked
Optimize Objects and Terrain
Frame Rate - Unlimited
mine stays pegged at 70 90% of the game unless is a multi player launch for missions FSO/etc.... then she will dip a bit......
if I turn VSYNC to ALways off, my monitor is going to go up to around 132 to 138 FPS.......edit: not my monitor, but what it says on my monitor in game !
also, I am running Win XP Pro SP2, and I have 28 processes running ,
am sure you will here the same from others..
#1- what drivers you using?
#2- how many processes you got running in the back ground
#3- what OS are you using
#4 - have you checked for spyware/malware?
#5 - have you run a DirectX diagnostic test
oh, I do have a large page file reserved also set manually to help with the skins ( least I think it does )
I also have enable others skins to be viewed as well.....when playing in game.....
hope this helps,