Vsync Tweak/fix: Gain the benefits without the input lag

[Phixsator]

I would like to share something i found to improve my gaming experience a whole lot. We all love the idea of g-sync but many of us cant afford it or cannot get the type of panel we want with g-sync so we are left with vsync and input lag. Apparently not, according to this thread i found right here, you can have the benefits of vsync without the exsessive input lag that usually follows it by following these very simple steps. Should work for pretty much all games.

1) Get yourself a framelimiter (etc afterburner can do this through RTSS) and set it to 1 less than the refresh rate active by your monitor
2) Enable vsync in your game and your golden. 99% of the additional vsync input lag is now gone.
2x) If the game is somehow limited to 60hz and you are running higher than this, enable fullscreen window mode otherwise know as borderless window mode and it defaults to your refresh rate set for your desktop.

Some of you may already know of this, i personally didnt until i read it so thanks to the OP at overclock.net for sharing it. Im now even more happy gaming on my new AOC 2963 21:9 IPS panel as it no longer tears like crazy and is pretty smooth to. Hope it helps some of you. Cheers

 

[Phixsator]

You still have the drawback of your framerate lowering by the amount of buffers you have available though if you cannot sustain the capped framerate. Stutter is often caused by extremely quick, fluctuating changes to framerate. An explosion goes off in a game that uses GPU phsyics calculations etc will definitely impact the smoothness of the game.

This is why gsync/project freesync exists as its a replacement to vsync as they are better in every single way to it.

Im sorry friend your are missing the point here. This was never meant to be a "as good an experience as gsync or freesync" but a solution to those of us who dont have that tech and want tear free and next to no input lag on top of that. I would say the main drawback of vsync is the input lag, as lowered framerate can be offset by feeding a game more raw power(as long as the game is somewhat properly coded) so the ability to remove the input lag or reduce it by 95% is a huge win for many of us.

 

[Phixsator]

You know AOC can do much higher refresh rates right? Mine does 96hz.

Mine only goes to 72hz any higher and i get frame skipping and the not supported message plasted all over my screen.

It doesn't work though, not really. G-Sync works by displaying the frame as soon as the GPU is ready. Setting the frame-rate below the refresh rate doesn't really solve input lag either as synchronisation is still occurring

Again missing the point. This is not an attempt to get people to ditch gsync but a way to enjoy tear free content when you dont have gsync as an option. I simply cannot understand why some of you keep bringing up gsync. Have you even tried this fix/tweak whatever you want to call it? I have on a few games and every single one of them have seen major benefits from this method. Couple this with some like adaptive sync if your unable to keep a steady fps and you have a pretty decent and good experience, while not perfect its certainly better than all out tearing that happens a lot on 60hz monitors.

You know a simple "thank you for sharing, but not good enough for me" would have been nice.

 

[Phixsator]

On a good server my minimum fps will be 90 Ono, max settings, x4 msas at 1920x1200. However on a server with bad lag it will drop into the 40's. That's without fps limit set, former result on 64 player Shanghai cq large.

i have no issue maintaining 120+ fps on packed 64 server regardless of ping and server performance. I find it a bit odd actually that your fps is affected by it. Granted im not running maximum settings across the board but thats for a whole different reason(with some settings low or off its easier to see enemies).

 

[Phixsator]

Its always been know that the server performance effects your frame rate. I found this out a while back on BF3 when the server had rubber banding everyone had massive frame rate drops.

In bf3 yes i had the same issues having trouble at times keeping a steady 60 fps spite packing 2x7950 in crossfire. Yet i never had these issues in BF4. Im not saying the issue is not there just that i never experienced it myself in the over 200 hours ive put into the game.

 

[Phixsator]

Ive tested Borderlands 2, Alien:isolation and BF4 so fare and it works like a charm so im baffled why some of you dont seem to get the benefits of this method as its extremely simple. Maybe its because im using nVidia and the effect is not the same on AMD hardware, maybe its because im using an already low input lag monitor(not to confuse with display lag, or pixel response), i dont know, im just guessing here. I do know that if those of you who are not seeing the benefits were able to take a game for a spin on my setup you would understand why im so cheerful. I still think this is an awwsome tweak for those of us stuck on 60hz panels for whatever reason.

 

[Phixsator]

Its not the case of AMD or Nvidia I have seen this method posted before and while most do agree with the reduced input lag, it doesn't stop the of bad effect of vsync like frame rate drops or frame stutter.

But it is true what you saying in the fact it does reduce input lag.

Well thats the thing i personaly dont get. I know how vsync is suppose to work, if the card cant keep an even framerate it should by design drop to half of that but my setup doesnt do that and im not using adaptive-vsync but only whatever the game itself is offering and i have no tearing and virtually no input lag. Perhaps im just lucky, perhaps the evilness of vsync will show itself in the next unknown game ill play but for now im seeing none of it.

 

[Phixsator]

Yeah it does improve input lag but doesn't eliminate it for me. Maybe our perceptions of the issue are different - for example in both BF3 and BF4 I can feel a level of input lag even with vsync off which I assume is inherent to the engine itself. Turning down HBAO seems to lessen the lag effect for me...

Ive had the same experience with some games such as post processing effects having some sort of input lag associated with them even though the fps has been rock solid above 60.