Significantly increasing your FPS.

[Screenor]

Alright, this method takes some tinkering with your graphics card, if you feel like "risking" it, feel free to edit it's settings, but don't attempt if you don't know what everything does, I'm not holding myself liable for anything YOU might fuck up, these instructions are way too simple.

Alright, so first off, you're probably wondering "How much will this actually increase my FPS rates?":

Well, let me start off here, how it works is simple:

Every game has a default FPS to run at, wether you have a shit GC or a 7800, it's going to cap you off at the default FPS of the game. i.e. CS is 60, DoD:S is 40, GW is 50, etc.

Now if you're like me, you'll dislike those rates (FPS/loss/choke) that you get while playing. There's a simple way to fix this, it's a setting on your Graphics Card called 'vsync', 'what does this do' you may ask? Simple, vsync is basically what reads the defaults from the game on what FPS to cap off at, now, by default, it should be set to 'Automatically Read From Game', this is exactly what you don't want, so uncheck it and make sure the scroll bar (or option) is set to 'Off'. Apply the settings and close out of the thing. This will not take effect emedietly, you need to first restart whatever game you're playing for this to kick in. Now, based on what card you're using, your rates should increase a very, VERY huge amount. This is what I got in some games after applying this:


Kal Online:
http://www.thesickempire.net/screenor/YESFPS.jpg
(Note: My FPS used to be 10-20, now it's a steady 80+)

CS 1.6 (With a hack on, to put as much stress on the FPS as possible):
http://www.thesickempire.net/screenor/YESFPS2.bmp
(Note: My FPS used to be 60, now stays a perfect 99-100)

Same goes with CZ, Source it goes to 150.

GW now hits 120 steady.

Again: This relies on how good your graphics card, if you're using an old 5200 or something of the sort, chances are this wont improve much, sorry.

[Ergot]

Sorry, but no.
vsync waits for vertical sync so that everything run smoothly. It usually lowers your fps by a bit but keeps it steady.
Most games cap your fps. You have to uncap it... Like in Quake 3 and Doom 3... com_maxfps 9999 or 125 for multiplayer.
Just turn vsync off for higher fps, but you may notice some jerkyness.

[Sidoh]

Yeah, my framerate is way lower with vsync on while playing WoW.

[Joe]

Hi screenor. I don't have a graphics card and I get 0.4fps while playing wow plz hlp.

[Sidoh]

Hi screenor. I don't have a graphics card and I get 0.4fps while playing wow plz hlp.

Joe, I'll give it to you.  Sometimes... sometimes you're funny.  This was one of those times.

* Sidoh pats Joe on the back.

[Blaze]

I get 30fps in WoW on highest everything.  Its not choppy and it looks nice, why do I need a higher fps?

[Sidoh]

I get 30fps in WoW on highest everything.  Its not choppy and it looks nice, why do I need a higher fps?

Yeah, 30fps isn't bad for WoW.  I usually get ~70 with graphics cranked, but I got a free nice graphics card:)  (6800GT 256MB).

[Blaze]

I have a Radeon 9800XT All in Wonder (256mb DDR), which I think is a good card. :)

[Screenor]

Sorry, but no.
vsync waits for vertical sync so that everything run smoothly. It usually lowers your fps by a bit but keeps it steady.
Most games cap your fps. You have to uncap it... Like in Quake 3 and Doom 3... com_maxfps 9999 or 125 for multiplayer.
Just turn vsync off for higher fps, but you may notice some jerkyness.

That's what I said, you HAVE to turn off vsync so it's not going by the game's default cap off.

Joe: Mac sucks, period.

[Sidoh]

Sometimes a lower, stable framerate is better than a higher, spastic one.  That's why vsync exists -- it's not a cap, it's a stability agent.

[Towelie]

Yeah, I was just thinking that. If you didnt have a cap, your fps would be jumping everywhere.

[Ergot]

Sometimes a lower, stable framerate is better than a higher, spastic one.  That's why vsync exists -- it's not a cap, it's a stability agent.

Ok... here's the difference for you:
On Quake 3 there's a multiplayer default cap of 80 fps.
You can raise it to 125 fps. Doesn't mean your card can hit it, but if it can it will.
For my card with vsync off it'll be 125 and choppy... with vsync on it'll be 125 and smooth.
Now let's say you uncap it all together (single player). You put the max fps to 999999.
Now you are able to go as high as your video card allows. For me... it's 400 fps with vsync off, but it's quite choppy.
I turn vsync on and it drop to around 350-375. It's now smooth.

[Screenor]

I said this is for graphics cards that can actually take it to that limit, if it can't this isn't for you.

If your FPS jumps around a lot, you obviously have a shitty card. I have yet to see a problem myself.

[Sidoh]

Play a game who's graphics are more intense and you'll be screaming for vsync to come back.  :]

[Joe]

Joe: Mac sucks, period.

I'm sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong. I'm running WoW under Ubuntu Linux on an x86 machine with an integrated graphics card.

EDIT -
Flame burned at the stake because I'm not that mean.