VSync, or vertical sync, is a graphics technology that syncs up the frame rate of a game and the refresh rate of a gaming monitor. VSync was first developed by GPU manufacturers as a way to deal with screen tearing. The screen tearing occurs when two different “screens” of an image crash into each other because the game FPS (frames per second) is delivering information that the monitor’s refresh rate can’t keep up with. The results are glitchy images where objects appear fragmented, or part of the screen looks dislocated — annoying stuff.
This happens most often in advanced games with 60 FPS or beyond, paired with monitors that don’t go beyond a 60Hz refresh rate, although it can happen with much higher refresh rates if you are playing a particularly demanding game or are making things more complicated via overclocking, etc.
VSync comes along and gets everyone on the same page by imposing a strict cap on how high the game’s FPS can go. It says, “Hey, this looks like a 60Hz monitor that’s struggling to keep up, so you’re not going to go above 60 FPS, all right? Now sync up your refresh rate and image data”. The result is a smoother gaming experience that no longer struggles with screen tearing — at least, that’s the goal.
What Is Adaptive Vsync
Nothing is more distracting than frame rate stuttering and screen tearing. The first tends to occur when frame rates are low, the second when frame rates are high. Adaptive VSync is a smarter way to render frames using NVIDIA Control Panel software. At high framerates, VSync is enabled to eliminate tearing. At low frame rates, it’s disabled to minimize stuttering. For a superior solution, which eliminates stuttering, tearing and the addition of VSync-related input lag, see our G-SYNC technology page.
Lots of gamers tend to set vsync (vertical synchronization) wrongly on their PCs and then wonder why their games look all stuttery instead of animating smoothly, ruining their gaming experience. I see this on tech and gaming forums all the time, with plenty of bad advice being given out to fix it too, so this guide aims to help them get it right and enjoy their games more.
This guide applies to all* games and graphics cards since they all work the same way. There might be individual situations where certain games and/or graphics cards have weird results, but that’s just that particular hardware and/or software not working quite right, or system performance is too low.
How VSYNC Works
To set vsync properly, one must understand what it does: synchronize the graphics card with the monitor.
The monitor refreshes at a fixed frequency, which is typically one of these frequencies: 60Hz, 100Hz, 120Hz, or 144Hz, with higher being better. So, to produce perfectly smooth, stutter, and tear-free motion, the GPU has to draw a new frame at the same rate as the monitor’s refresh and those frames have to be synchronized to the monitor’s refresh, or stuttering and tearing will result. The higher the refresh rate of the monitor, the faster and more expensive the PC must be to ensure this, especially the graphics card, so come on down, NVIDIA’s new $1200 RTX 2080 Ti !! Nah, I’m kidding, spend something reasonable.
Since I’ve got an NVIDIA GTX 1080 in my system, the system-specific advice here will refer to NVIDIA. AMD users, you might have an equivalent function for your card, in some cases. Have a look around the driver settings, or Google for it.
What Is Vsync In Games
Vsync synchronizes your frames per second with your monitor refresh rate. It is not bad for any component and can reduce tearing in some instances. The problem is that it reduces your FPS rate if it is higher than your refresh rate.
If you’re new to PC gaming, then you are undoubtedly confused about all the graphics options found in nearly every PC game’s options menu. Among those options is usually a checkbox with “V-Sync” written next to it. So, what exactly is V-Sync and what does it do? How does it work? Will, it hurt your frame rate? Read on and find out!
What Is Vsync Mode
Short for Vertical Sync, Vsync is a display option found in some 3-D computer games. It allow the gamer to synchronize the frame rate of the game with the monitor refresh rate for better stability. If the Vsync is turned off, gamers might obtain a higher frame rate. This action introduce artifacts in the game.
What Is Vsync Overwatch
Vsync can invoke triple buffering which can “improve” frame rate while at the same time increasing input lag, sometimes severely. It’s typically recommended that you run with it disabled. However, if your experience is overall better with vsync, then it’s down to personal preferences. A lot of players dislike the tearing and rapid climb/cratering of frame rates while gaming. The vsync will tend to take care of that. It can also cause some other unintended issues too, as I said, test it out and see what you find.
Many people are now focusing on using free sync options since they have all the benefits of v-sync and none of the cons… in fact, it actually improves significantly on it as input lag is definitely eliminated and on AMD graphics cards, using Chill with overwatch reduces the input lag potentially further while lowering frame rates when it’s not required, the result of which is basically the equivalent of running 300fps all the time (pros usually always want ultra-high frame rates well beyond their displays capabilities to ensure the lowest input lag possible, Radeon chill takes care of that making even a lower-end graphics card capable of producing the same level of input lag or at least very close to the same level).
