You should have swapinterval 0, always. Vsync always off.
And you don't have to make any compromise, if you know how to set stuff up properly. There is a lot of misinfo in this thread. I have d3d9, no screen tearing, ut runs great, no input lag.
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1608 is my ut setup guide.
In general, I think what you're after is this:
d3d9, directinput on or off, whatever you prefer
swapinterval = 0, refreshrate = monitor refresh, frameratelimit = same as refresh rate or slightly higher
ACE highperftoggle on - note that single player (without ACE to correct the cpu timing) will not have your fps capped properly, so judge in a server, not in practice mode.
In vid card driver settings, vsync to "use application setting". Don't use vid card drivers for frame capping or anything else