New monitor

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I think if you're in the market for a higher end monitor, you're wasting your money if you don't get Free/GSync. Especially FreeSync since it's usually a very small price hike if at all.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
Well I love my framerates even more than graphics, so I've always made sure I've been getting at least 60fps on my 60hz monitors. When I get a new game I record the framerates and adjust the graphics until I see around 80fps minimum, so I have a bit of a buffer to make sure I don't ever fall below 60fps. This means I'm often averaging well over 100fps in most games and because of this I get constant 16ms frame times, +/- about 0.2ms of max variance, also means my heavily OCed strix 1080 running about 10% faster than stock can only run fortnite at medium settings, but I don't mind.
If I get a 144hz monitor, then I want 144fps, so I guess I would be looking at a minimum framerate of around 170fps and constant frame times of about 7ms, I may even get a lower variance than -/+ 0.2ms which I get now.

I thought the main purpose of free-sync and g-sync was to reduce frame time variance to avoid things like stutter?

I can just tell at 16ms frame times that I'm not watching true video, which does bother me, but I imagine that over
halving the frame times will go a long way to convincing my brain that what I am looking at is true video, so why do I need something to fix a tiny 0.2ms variance that I can't even notice or am I missing something?
 

Intel_man

VIP Member
input lag has to do with the response time of the panel and not the refresh rate. You can have monitors with the extremes of both response time and refresh rate.

The higher end TV's that have high refresh rate typically still have poor response times.
The high end monitors can have low response times and high refresh rates OR low end monitors can have high response times and low refresh rates.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
As far as I understood v-sync causes input lag when the monitor has to wait too long for an entire frame to be completed before displaying it, which results in delayed frames being displayed, but as I always have more frames than the monitor can cope with, then I assume it won't be displaying delayed frames.

I believe most monitors usually have a response time of under 5ms and this is why input lag is not detectable.

So surely this is why I have never had input lag, I always buy displays with less than 5ms response times and I always have more frames than needed ready for the display.

As far as I understand it, free/g-sync Is only beneficial to those running at lower frame rates as it helps them to get more consistent frame times, so they can avoid stutter.
 

OmniDyne

Active Member
but as I always have more frames than the monitor can cope with, then I assume it won't be displaying delayed frames.

I think this has to do with games and graphics cards, too. My monitor is 1ms 60Hz, I can run Rocket League well above 100 fps, and I get screen tearing. Same with GTA V and Overwatch.

As far as I understand it, free/g-sync Is only beneficial to those running at lower frame rates as it helps them to get more consistent frame times, so they can avoid stutter.

Freesync/ G-Sync (Adaptive Sync) is mostly on higher frame rate monitors.

If you're running a 144Hz or above monitor and can't maintain 144Hz, Adaptive Sync is hugely beneficial.
Adaptive Sync eliminates stutter and screen tearing.

If you're purchasing a high refresh rate monitor, make sure it has Adaptive Sync.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
I get screen tearing

I always play with v-sync as I can't stand tearing, its just unplayable to me, fortunately I've never had input lag with high frame rates, is v-sync locked to 60 and 120fps?

If you're running a 144Hz or above monitor and can't maintain 144Hz, Adaptive Sync is hugely beneficial.
Adaptive Sync eliminates stutter and screen tearing.

So let's say I have a 120hz or 144hz panel and v-sync enabled, so no tearing, but I guess this will lock it to 120fps. Also if my minimum frame rate never falls below 120fps then it's very unlikely I will notice any frame time variance, even at 60fps I'm unable to see any frame time variance, so no stutters.
It seems that free/g-sync fixes issues that I don't have, I guess I can get it and test it out for myself, but I don't expect to see any difference.

Instead of buying a 1080ti and new monitor, I might just put the money towards getting a stage 2 fitted to the golf, an extra 100bhp sounds like a whole load of fun :cool:.
 

Shlouski

VIP Member
I bought this monitor last week: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-32UD99-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor

I have been testing out a few different genres of games on this monitor, with and without freesync and v-sync, below are my personal experiences, others may vary.

When achieving a framerate close to or higher than 60 fps on this 60hz monitor there isn't a distinguishable difference in input lag, irrespective of what setting are turned on or off. Freesync does not reduce screen tearing as much as v-sync, but it does seem to reduce it. Graphics do seem to be a little more fluid when freesync is enabled, but the difference between enabled and disabled might not be quite so noticeable when you are not actively comparing them, meaning if for some reason freesync was turned off without my knowledge there is a good chance I would not notice. Freesync and v-sync enabled together seem to give me the best results, no input lag and no tearing.

I'm currently reading up on how these technologies work and how they work together.
 
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