CRTs (apart from some exceptions) did not have a display buffer. The analog display signal is used to directly control the output of each electron gun in the CRT, without any digital processing happening in-between. The computer on the other end however does have display buffers, just like they do now; however eliminating extra buffers (like those used by modern monitors) does reduce latency.
Comment on Anon reflects on e-sports
frezik@midwest.social 2 weeks agoOf course there’s buffers. Once RAM got cheap enough to have a buffer to represent the whole screen, everyone did that. That was on the late 80s early 90s.
There’s some really bad misconceptions about how latency works on screens.
__dev@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
frezik@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
Doesn’t matter. Having a buffer means either the buffer must be full before drawing, or you get screen tearing. It wasn’t like racing the beam.
HackerJoe@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Those are on the graphics adapter. Not in the CRT.
You can update the framebuffer faster than the CRT can draw. That’s when you get tearing. Same VSync then as now.