Why do a lot of PC games deny frame rates between 30 and 60?

I'm one of those guys who doesn't mind if the frame rate is a little under 60, but it's become an annoyance of mine that many PC games will limit you to either 60 frames or 30 & below. When my 680 isn't able to fully give me 60 frames in any given moment it doesn't dip slightly, but rather immediately switches from 60 to 30. It looks really choppy and jarring, and it sometimes makes the game unplayable for a second. If my card can do 55 frames, why does it have to go all the way down to 30 and look really gross in the process? I don't want to turn down the settings if it's 60 frames 99% of the time, but then for those few certain moments it hitches from 60 to 30 and then back to 60.

I'm getting a little repetitive here, but I just want to ask why PC games do this. Is it something to do with how VSync works? There are some games I've played where VSync was enabled but it allowed me to have frame rates in between.

You could always head to the console commands as well. Depending on the game of course. I am a bit annoyed by this at times but in a lot of games it lets you edit it with a simple command. That or just turn your tessellations or something down or off if it is really a huge issue for you.

Its because of v-sync. it has to be a division or multiple of 60. read this post its great and explains it all. http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=358751

The games that allow for those intermediate values use triple-buffering v-sync. The reason your fps switches between 30 and 60 is because you're using in-game v-sync, which is usually double-buffered. I won't go into the explanation of buffers here because I'll probably make a fool of myself, but if you have a 680, go into the nvidia control panel and set v-sync to adaptive in global settings (or on a per-game basis). That will only turn v-sync on when you\re getting more than 60 frames, and allow drawing of the actual amount otherwise.

@6n00bkilla9: Ok, that makes a lot of sense. That would explain why it happens in some games but not others. Thanks.

Not sure if you know about EVGA's Precision X (or MSI's Afterburner, or something similar), but I've found that I can set a frame rate target using the program.

If you have a recent Nvidia graphics card then I'd recommend using their adaptive V-Sync if you'd like to sync your games. You have to do it in their control panel and not in the game itself. It basically will V-Sync the game to either your monitor's refresh rate, or half of it, and if the game can't keep that rate it will drop V-Sync and then turn it back on when the game can handle it again. Basically it fixes the tearing you'd get from a super high framerate, while letting your frames drop below 60 or 30 when it needs to. Give it a whirl.

Turn off V-Synch. Problem solved.

Fuck V-synch!