bioshock for mac (question)

[BaBayOOsa]

hi i've been playing bioshock again recently and was just messing around with my gfx setting and was wondering what does vertical sync do? if i have it on or off will it boost or lower performance?

and hell for that matter i see it in a lot of video games what does it do? and is it better to have it on or off for performance?

 

[Ungibbed]

enabling VSYNC removes the horizontal screen tearing that is seen in some games but can lower your overall frame rate. If you're willing to sacrifice some visual quality, you can disable it for a small performance gain.

 

[PowerGamerX]

enabling VSYNC removes the horizontal screen tearing that is seen in some games but can lower your overall frame rate. If you're willing to sacrifice some visual quality, you can disable it for a small performance gain.

And to be more technical.

It syncs the frames of the output to some fraction of the refresh rate of your monitor (usually 60hz). So it will never go higher than around 60-70 depending on the computer monitor you use. This eliminates any tearing.