Does turning off vsync on a 120hz or 144hz monitor eliminate tearing?

[dn7309]

Since most games at ultra setting barely hit 90fps, does this mean you won't have any tearing on a high refresh monitor with out the aid of Gsync?

 

[Flapdrol1337]

it doesn't eliminate it, only mitigates it.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

It makes the tears less noticeable because the next refresh is coming must faster. Gives the screen less time to display a jump from a torn frame.

Say a 60hz monitor displays a torn frame shows a 1/4 inch jump between the two frames on the screen (meaning something vertical on the screen is in a different spot on the two different frames, but should be a straight up line). The faster refresh rate on a 120hz or 144hz monitor should in theory make that jump more like a 1/8in since it's twice as fast.

That's my understanding of it anyways. It's also a very simple example that doesn't take everything into account.

 

[BrightCandle]

Tearing happens when vsync is off regardless of frame rate. Its a myth that has been spread around for quite some time that if the frame rate is below the monitor frequency there is no tearing and its simply not the case.

What 144hz does do is reduce the amount of time a tear appears on the screen and that does reduce the problem. Even if the game is running at 72 hz or what will happen is the same picture will be displayed on at least 2 refreshes and the tear line will move on the same picture making it harder to spot.

 

[blackened23]

No.

 

[AtenRa]

Yes if you always have 120fps or 144fps (fps cap), same goes for 60Hz.

 

[Evilviking]

At 120fps on my 120hz monitor I still see tearing. It's just very minimal and I don't notice it unless I read these threads and look for it.

 

[ElFenix]

tearing happens because the frame buffer flips while readout is happening. the only cure is triple buffering.

 

[PPB]

Tearing without vsync or any sync for that matter will always happen. The catch with higher hz monitors is that if you are able to hit similar fps as your refresh rate allows, the tearing will be a lot less noticeable than on ~60fps range.

 

[tweakboy]

Hey eviliv turn vsync ON

for smooth no lag play...gl

 

[AtenRa]

My bad, i wasn't implying zero tearing at 120Hz 120fps. But it is becoming very rare at that conditions and harder to notice, almost non existence. You really have to watch for it to see it.

 

[bystander36]

My bad, i wasn't implying zero tearing at 120Hz 120fps. But it is becoming very rare at that conditions and harder to notice, almost non existence. You really have to watch for it to see it.

At 120 FPS on a 120hz monitor, tearing is at its worst. The reason is that there is no syncing, and because the hz and FPS match, the tear line will move very slowly, showing up as noticeable as it can. No other refresh rate is worse than matching your monitors refresh rate.

 

[bystander36]

tearing happens because the frame buffer flips while readout is happening. the only cure is triple buffering.

You mean v-sync or g-sync now, and maybe freesync in the future. Triple buffering has no effect without v-sync.

 

[toyota]

lol tearing at 144hz at well over 144 fps in Dead Space 3. and yes the tearing you see was actually happening on the Asus monitor. this is why vsync off cannot work for me because explosions or flickering lights can create insane tearing no matter what refresh rate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3T6chyW2Vo

 

[DominionSeraph]

You mean v-sync or g-sync now, and maybe freesync in the future. Triple buffering has no effect without v-sync.

This. The only thing that stops tearing is syncing the video card's output of a frame to the monitor's drawing of a full frame.

 

[BrightCandle]

Tearing is more noticable when it happens in the same place, especially on a higher refresh monitor. Any obvious harmonic (for 144hz that is 144, 72, 36, 288) is worse because it causes a tear line that appears in the same place on the screen. Honestly the real solution is gsync, I don't get tearing and I don't get lag and its so much smoother compared to vsync on or off. This move to vblank based GPU driven rendering is going to be a revelation for gamers, its a definitive fix to a long standing problem.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Why is there still so much misinfromation about vsync?

Since most games at ultra setting barely hit 90fps, does this mean you won't have any tearing on a high refresh monitor with out the aid of Gsync?

Tearing happens at all frame rates, whether that frame rate is below, equal or greater than your refresh rate. Vsync or a hardware equivalent like Gsync are the only fixes.

It makes the tears less noticeable because the next refresh is coming must faster. Gives the screen less time to display a jump from a torn frame.

Say a 60hz monitor displays a torn frame shows a 1/4 inch jump between the two frames on the screen (meaning something vertical on the screen is in a different spot on the two different frames, but should be a straight up line). The faster refresh rate on a 120hz or 144hz monitor should in theory make that jump more like a 1/8in since it's twice as fast.

This is true but you also get more tear lines per second so in that respect it's more noticeable.

tearing happens because the frame buffer flips while readout is happening. the only cure is triple buffering.

No, the only cure is Vsync, triple buffering simply helps eliminate some (not all) of the latency that regular double buffered Vsync produces. Triple buffering is an optional extra to compliment Vsync.