What is VSync, and should you enable it in games? (2024)

VSync is a popular video game technology that's been around for many years, and there's a good chance you may have seen it in the settings menu of games or 3D applications. It's a setting that's said to make your games look much smoother, and it's also usually on by default in most games. But what exactly is VSync, how does it work, and should you enable or disable it in games?

What is VSync?

Keeps your monitor in sync with GPU

VSync is short for vertical synchronization, and it's a graphics technology that keeps your game's frame in sync with the refresh rate of your gaming monitor. The vertical sync technology was originally introduced by GPU makers to address the issue of screen tearing, which is a visual artifact that creeps in due to incorrect rendering of fast-changing images.

Screen tearing essentially splits the displayed frame with one or more horizontal splits, resembling the one in the example shown above, with each frame within those splits lagging behind the other. It's not very pleasant to look at and can get quite distracting while gaming. It happens when the GPU that's installed on your PC churns out more frames than your monitor can handle, meaning the in-game fps exceeds the maximum refresh rate of your monitor.

Vertical synchronization technology was introduced to eliminate this particular issue, and it gets rid of the artifacts by limiting your GPU's frame rate output to match the monitor's refresh rate. Additionally, it also synchronizes GPU frame pacing to ensure the generated frames are displayed in sync with the monitor's refresh cycle. Simply put, this technology prevents the GPU from feeding any information to the display memory until the monitor has finished its current refresh cycle and is ready for the next one.

Should you enable or disable VSync in games?

To sync or not to sync, that is the question

A technology that's built right into the games and is guaranteed to fix screen tearing sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, yes, but it's not a magical tool that gets everything right. I say that because the gameplay improvement you get with VSync comes at the expense of performance and responsiveness. It's easy to see why that's the case because VSync — be it for slowing the frame rate down or synchronizing frame pacing to match the monitor’s refresh rate — involves slowing the GPU output.

Making the GPU generate fewer frames and forcing it to synchronize its frame pacing with the monitor refresh rate essentially means you are leaving some performance on the table and are also keeping it from relaying the most recent frame to the monitor. The latter results in input lag, which is more noticeable in fast-paced first-person shooters in which you may have trouble hitting your targets.

VSync is essentially a double-edged sword, which, while guaranteed to fix screen tearing, also reduces performance and introduces input lag in games. Deciding when to enable or disable VSync comes down to your preferences, in my opinion. It also largely depends on the type of game you're playing and how much of a difference there is between the number of generated frames versus your monitor's maximum refresh rate. Everybody has a different appetite and tolerance for the level of apparent screen tearing, so it's best to try each game with the feature on or off.

I personally prefer turning VSync off while playing fast-paced competitive FPS games like Apex Legends or Valorant, in which I can't risk experiencing input lag or other system performance issues. I recommend enabling VSync in single-player and other casual games, though, as they don't depend on low levels of input lag. Also, pick triple-buffered VSync or Adaptive VSync over double-buffered VSync wherever possible for a better experience with minimal latency issues.

What are Adaptive VSync and Fast sync?

Different flavors of VSync

Both Nvidia and AMD took it upon themselves to solve VSync's shortcomings and ended up launching their version of VSync. These include:

• Adaptive VSync: This particular technology is developed by Nvidia, and it largely eliminates the input lag and performance issues that VSync introduces. Adaptive Sync dynamically enables or disables VSync based on the generated frames. It enables VSync when the fps of the game you're playing is higher than your monitor's refresh rate and automatically disables it when the fps dips below.
• Fast Sync: This is an advanced version of Adaptive Sync that enables VSync whenever necessary and adds automatic triple buffering. The GPU essentially renders an additional frame with triple buffering, which can be sent to the monitor while waiting for its refresh cycle to complete. This technology can greatly reduce input lag, but it also demands a lot of GPU power.
• Enhanced Sync: This is AMD's version of Fast Sync, which disables VSync when the GPU lags behind the monitor refresh rate and also uses multiple buffering to reduce input lag when VSync is enabled.

VSync and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) Displays

In addition to the VSync technologies highlighted above, you can also use variable refresh rate (VRR) displays to improve your experience. VRR displays on the market that use G-Sync, FreeSync, or HDMI VRR can dynamically change their refresh rate to match the frame rate of the graphics card. Think of both G-Sync and FreeSync as a more advanced version of VSync that eliminates many of the problems that I discussed above.

Unlike VSync, which is available to pretty much everyone as most PC games support, both G-Sync and FreeSync technologies demand dedicated hardware. To use G-Sync, for instance, Nvidia users will need at least a GTX 650 Ti Boost GPU and a GTX 1050 GPU for basic G-sync and HDR G-Sync, respectively. AMD's FreeSync, on the other hand, is a bit more accessible as it's supported by both AMD GPUs and some Nvidia GPUs. AMD GPU users will need at least an AMD Radeon RX 200 series GPU.

Closing thoughts

That's all there is to know about VSync and how it affects your gameplay experience. It remains a key setting in games, despite the arrival of new options like G-Sync and FreeSync, as it is fairly simple to use and works as advertised to reduce screen tearing. Yes, it's not without its flaws, as you do leave some performance on the table while also experiencing input lag, but some new versions of VSync and other supporting technologies out there will help you get a better experience overall.