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VSync on or off?

OnlyAlex

OnlyAlex

OnlyAlex

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2 Jul 2021
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Hi everyone, my graphics card has GSync, but on a game I'm playing I notice in the setting there is VSync. My rig is an i9 and 4070 GPU with a 244hz 2560 x 1600 display. I note that when turning off VSync on a particular game it is a lot less jerky. Why is this? Is it better to leave it turned off or is it on a game by game basis?

Cheers!
 
If G-Sync is enabled in the nVidia control panel (you'll need it enabled for fullscreen and windowed games for many games which use borderless fullscreen modes) then V-Sync in theory only kicks in when the frame rate output exceeds your monitor refresh rate, at which point G-Sync no longer prevents tearing (at least not without other options). Using V-Sync + G-Sync will mean the frame rate will always be limited to the max G-Sync range. You can also play around with the low latency mode to compensate for latency when V-Sync kicks in with G-Sync enabled.

In some games G-Sync might not be working correctly and enabling V-Sync will revert to old V-Sync behaviour.
 
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Rroff said:
If G-Sync is enabled in the nVidia control panel (you'll need it enabled for fullscreen and windowed games for many games which use borderless fullscreen modes) then V-Sync in theory only kicks in when the frame rate output exceeds your monitor refresh rate, at which point G-Sync no longer prevents tearing (at least not without other options). Using V-Sync + G-Sync will mean the frame rate will always be limited to the max G-Sync range. You can also play around with the low latency mode to compensate for latency when V-Sync kicks in with G-Sync enabled.

In some games G-Sync might not be working correctly and enabling V-Sync will revert to old V-Sync behaviour.
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Thank you. On Nvidia control panel it says ‘let each application decide’ for GSync. So it’s okay to turn off VSync? I’ve noticed much better gameplay experience with it off, but that may be because GSync works instead?
 
Scratch that, the above is for VSync, it says let each application decide. I am using automatic select under Nvidia control panel, so GSync only works when I select Nvidia GPU display only. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to things like this.
 
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OnlyAlex said:
Hi everyone, my graphics card has GSync, but on a game I'm playing I notice in the setting there is VSync. My rig is an i9 and 4070 GPU with a 244hz 2560 x 1600 display. I note that when turning off VSync on a particular game it is a lot less jerky. Why is this? Is it better to leave it turned off or is it on a game by game basis?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

The amount of time spent researching this, with so little information. What I found works best for me, Nvidia control panel, "low latency mode" set to "Ultra", "Max frame rate" set to 3 frames below your maximum, which is "241". That way you never use V-sync, it wont be jumping between V-sync and G-sync, smooth as silk
 
Davidw said:
The amount of time spent researching this, with so little information. What I found works best for me, Nvidia control panel, "low latency mode" set to "Ultra", "Max frame rate" set to 3 frames below your maximum, which is "241". That way you never use V-sync, it wont be jumping between V-sync and G-sync, smooth as silk
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Thank you, really helpful! I’m still trying to understand why some games triggers a display change and can edit lots of settings in Nvidia control panel like Gsync, and why other games just load using the Nvidia GPU where I can’t change resolution or Gsync settings.
 
To be honest you have to mess about a bit to find what works best for you - some games just don't play nice with the "best" settings. Generally you want to avoid using game's built in V-Sync as they can do additionally weird things with CPU wait states and stuff so doing it through the nVidia control panel can be better but saying that I often leave it on use the application settings :s

Generally if you use ultra low latency, and even just on to an extent, you don't need to worry about capping FPS below the refresh rate slightly but then some games might not work well with ultra low latency - I dunno if they fixed it but Skyrim for instance you used to get intermittent black screens if you used it (I don't believe it is a problem with the SE version though).

The main thing really is to establish G-Sync is working - in the nVidia control panel select "Set up G-Sync" then the "Display" option should appear on the menu bar under which you can turn on the G-Sync indicator. Once you know it is working you can tweak V-Sync, frame rate caps and low latency, etc. until you get the best results.
 
If you have a G-sync monitor and enable G-sync then there are 2 main schools of thought: the Blurbusters group say to enable V-sync as well, since this reduces blur to a minimum. The low latency group say to disable V-sync with G-sync as it increases latency, but to set the max refresh rate in the Nvidia Control Panel to a few fps under the max (e.g. 116 for 120Hz, 140 for 144Hz.)

Either way you should have Nvidia Reflex on (ultra simply maxes out your GPU to 100% the whole time which can give a lower overall fps as it gets hotter than running a balanced load. I have heard to avoid this ultra reflex setting).

I personally use the second option without, as for me the mouse feels worse with V-sync on in CS2 and Destiny, which I attribute to latency. I set my max frame rate to 110 on my 120Hz panel as I still occasionally get screen tearing otherwise at 115-116 with V-sync off. Some rare games like Mechwarrior Online still have screen tearing with this setup though so I have to turn on V-sync for this title.

I have not heard before that you should set V-sync in Control Panel on but off in games. Can anyone explain further what the advantage of this is? Simply better Nvidia V-sync compared to the in game implementation?
 
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AStaley said:
As has been said, generally with GSync you want VSync on in NVCP, off in game and where you can cap the frame rate to 3fps below max frame rate. This article explains it in far more depth, https://blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-input-lag-tests-and-settings/
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Thank you :) To quote from the linked article:

"Upon its release, G-SYNC’s ability to fall back on fixed refresh rate V-SYNC behavior when exceeding the maximum refresh rate of the display was built-in and non-optional. A 2015 driver update later exposed the option.

This update led to recurring confusion, creating a misconception that G-SYNC and V-SYNC are entirely separate options. However, with G-SYNC enabled, the “Vertical sync” option in the control panel no longer acts as V-SYNC, and actually dictates whether, one, the G-SYNC module compensates for frametime variances output by the system (which prevents tearing at all times. G-SYNC + V-SYNC “Off” disables this behavior; see G-SYNC 101: Range), and two, whether G-SYNC falls back on fixed refresh rate V-SYNC behavior; if V-SYNC is “On,” G-SYNC will revert to V-SYNC behavior above its range, if V-SYNC is “Off,” G-SYNC will disable above its range, and tearing will begin display wide.

Within its range, G-SYNC is the only syncing method active, no matter the V-SYNC “On” or “Off” setting."

So V-sync on in the NV Control Panel is not really V-sync on, except if your framrate exceeds the monitor's max Hz. So with a frame limiter under the maximum it simply helps with frame pacing.

This explains why they advocate V-sync being "on" even when it typically would give significant latency disadvantages: it isn't really "on", just helping with the render queue.

I will give this a go and see how it turns out.
 
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Yup vsync needs to be on with gsync on for the smoothest experience.

Frame capping wise with in game, nvcp or rivatuner, you don't really need to do this anymore since reflex is generally in all games now (which acts as a FPS limiter) and the low latency option also acts as a FPS limiter (low latency option gets used in games that don't have reflex)
 
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