Fix screen tearing on programs that don't support VSync?

[Flak Beard]

Most games and emulators that run in lower resolutions than my LCD's native (1280x1024) suffer from screen tearing. The problem is usually resolved if that particular program or emulator has a VSync option. Unfortunately, this is not always available. Not to mention, sometimes VSync doesn't even help like in SNES9x.

Is there a way to configure my video card or some setting in Windows to deal with this issue? Or is this just the downside of an LCD display? I'm using a nVidia FX5700LE through DVI.

[PharmaceuticalCowboy]

Sometimes you can go into your card's settings and set vsync to be always on, or to have the program detect it. So I think if you go in and turn it on then it would work. It's under the advanced settings of the desktop properties on mine. Hope that helps a bit.

[Niode]

Going into your forceware/nvidia control panel and locate the advanced settings and it'll either be under refresh rates, Vsync or wait for vertical refresh. It's usually found in the same place where you can set forced anti-aliasing/anisotropic filtering/z-buffer etc settings.