V-sync...disabled or enabled in games?

[zippy]

Well, I was playing NBA Live 2ooo today on my p3 450@515 (damn ram won't do higher than 115 and my p3 is an sl35d!) and g400 max. It was running at 1024x768 at high detail mode and I wanted Maximum detail mode, not high detail, not very high detail, but MAXIMUM. So I turned off V-sync and i think it ran better, FPS was a little choppy so i put it to very high.
Is there any reason to use v-sync then if it is just slowing down the game?

Thanks!

[zippy]

thanks Rik!
Ya my monitor is running at a 100Hz refresh rate! I didn't notice any difference other than more FPS when I turned off v-sync.

[Rik]

Thanks for the thanks!

I've just remembered another drawback to disabling V-Sync: If you output to a TV when V-Sync is disabled the TV picture will be REALLY flickery, with parts of it disappearing.

[Rik]

It's a matter of personal preference.
With V-Sync on you won't see 'tearing' across the screen (where the top part moves sooner than the bottom part of the screen), but your frame rate will be fixed at any one time to an exact fraction of your monitor's refresh rate (eg: 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 2/3, 3/4....etc).
With V-Sync off your frame rate is free to be any value at all, but you will experience the ugly screen-tearing which can make a game seem less fluid (although it is less apparent at a higher refresh rate such as 100hz).