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Is there anyway to avoid screen tearing without V-sync?

kissenger

kissenger

kissenger

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I just set up my new monitor (a Dell U2312HM) and now I'm testing out how well it performs in gaming scenarios. I've limited the frame rate to 60FPS using Afterburner, and the OSD shows in-game that that's what I'm getting. My monitor is also set to 60Hz, but I'm getting quite noticable screen tearing?

I thought that wasn't possible if you're refresh rate and FPS are the same?

I could just enable v-sync, but that kind of defeats the purpose because I heard it can cause lag.
 
V-Sync can cause lag reportedly but I have never tried this myself. Why not enable V-Sync and see bud? Worth a shot.
 
im not sure of the technical reasons behind it but i also dont use vsync cause of the lag however limiting the framerate via afterburner does cause really bad screen tearing for me aswell.

The best workaround ive found is to framelimit in the games config itself, it causes much less screen tearing for some reason, also try 59 or 61 fps as some games react differently.

I currently have bf3 @ 91fps for best image quality but 60 is fine for borderlands 2.
 
james_2k said:
You 'heard' it can cause lag so you don't use it?? How about try it for yourself. I don't notice any problems with it on
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Fair point, but I don't agree. Even if it's not immediately noticable it can still have an effect, especially on games like SFIV where one frame lag can be all the difference.

Flawless, what should I put in the config file to limit the frame rate?
 
arknor said:
me neither theres another rumour going around that vsync limits your fps to 30 which a lot of people take as gospel
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Well if your frames drop below 60 (60hz panel) then it does cap you at 30fps until you have 60+ frame potential again

Unless you're using nvidia's adaptive vsync.

Vsync does also introduce input lag. Whether a user perceives the input lag or not is down to them.

edit: this is v-sync without triple buffering.

Either way I don't use all these options and just limit my fps to 120 with afterburner.
 
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Each game is different dependent on engine, what games you play and ill try to help?

Bf3 is a User.cfg file in the installation folder, typing off my iPhone here so don't have access to exactly what the command is but I'm sure a quick google search will shed light
 
Been using vsync since built this system couple months back. I dont notice any different with it disabled or enabled lag wise.
I think most people that do notice it have a slow screen response time, I bought my HDTV based on the reviews around gaming and it was the fastest TV in 2010 for input lag with a response time of 2ms.

Having a display with high response time gives massive input lag, mainly on HDTV's not sure on Monitors where you should be using settings called game mode etc to switch off all image processing.

If you have an AMD card or nvidia you could also try adaptive vsync Nvidia has this built into the drivers, for AMD you can use RadeonPro witch has lots of options for vsync Adaptive, Triple buffering, Double vsync, etc.
 
For BF3, download the BF3 settings editor and spare yourself the hassle of console commands unless they're really obscure :)

Never noticed an issue with v-sync enabled personally.
 
Westie said:
Best way to stop screen tearing without using vsync! 120hz monitor! Problem solved!
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This is wrong LOL even if you have 120FPS on an 120hz you still get screen tear why? you my ask because the Monitor and GPU are not in sync with each other, Thats why even when you limit the FPS to 60 on a 60hz screen you still get screen tear.
Vsync stops the screen tear because Both the Display and GPU are linked (synced) with each other.
 
OptimaLnrg said:
Well if your frames drop below 60 (60hz panel) then it does cap you at 30fps until you have 60+ frame potential again
Click to expand...

However, the experience most people will get is not a sustained 1+ seconds of less than 60fps, so if it's only less than 60fps for about 1/100th of a second, you won't be stuck with '30 fps' for a second, you'll get 59. Hence why to many people the 'capped at 30 fps' is a myth/nonsense.
 
Rendering as fast as possible on a 120Hz panel will reduce the amount of perceived tearing a LOT even if your not hitting 120 constantly - tho you will notice it still in areas with lots of parallel lines i.e. radiator or blinds, etc. and even vsync on at 120Hz the input latency is good enough for all but the fastest paced FPS games.

Adaptive vsync does help to reduce the rubber band feel to input a lot and that choppy feel as the framerate drops out when it can't hit 60 constantly but again still not good enough for fast paced FPS games tho its fine for most other gametypes.

EDIT: In a lot of games if you can't hit 60 constantly with vsync on at 60Hz you will get sustained periods capped at lower framerates including sustained periods at 30fps and even very brief drops to 30fps are noticeable as you get a choppy feel to input for a moment - this is somewhat complicated by things like triple buffering, some games using their own vwait code to insert extra duplicate frames or their own versions of adaptive vsync and so on tho.
 
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