Turning off G-Sync makes no difference

[R4k4n0th]

I have a PG279Q and GTX 1080 Ti. It's an 144 Hz, IPS Panel, 2k monitor. For a while ago I turned off G-Sync, because I wanted to see what difference it really makes. I changed game settings in way that I always get over 144 fps. In almost all of the games I rarely drop below 250 fps. In only a few of them between 150-200 fps.

But although v-sync and g-sync are turned off (both in game's settings and nvidia control panel, I still see no tearing. This has extremely confused me. Back when I had a 60 Hz monitor, the tearing would be so obvious.

So, I think whether or not you will experience tearing will depend on the following factors:

1.) Higher the refresh rate, the less visible the tearing will be.
2.) Video game's graphics engine: some games will have a tendency to display tearing.

The games tested:
Rainbow Six Siege
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 4
Battlefield 5
Bioshock Infinite
Witcher 3
Sniper Elite 4
Dirt 4
Dirt Rally
Ashes of Singularity
Diablo 3
Starcraft 2
Dark Souls 3
CS GO
Metro 2033 Redux
Watch Dogs 2
GTA 5
Doom 2016

Really, I have experienced tearing in none of them although G-sync and v-sync are turned off.
So, does G-sync only help with 60 Hz monitors? I have no idea and I am curious to learn what they put a g-sync in those monitors.

 

[Super XP]

You won't see tearing because your actual display monitor is 144 Hz regardless whether you have v-Sync or g-Sync enabled. Now if you had a 60 Hz monitor with say v-Sync disabled, you may see some screen tearing.
For example, my ASUS 75 Hz monitor had screen tearing in some games, as soon as I enabled v-Sync, no more tearing. But my other ASUS 144 Hz 2K monitor does not show tearing regardless if v-Sync is on or off. So I believe your assessment is correct.

Perhaps somebody else has an opinion on the matter.

 

[the54thvoid]

You'd get tearing if the fps ran higher than your refresh rate but I think it's much more noticeable on lower refresh rates. So, a game at 180fps on a 144hz should still show some tearing. VRR technology helps to keep things smoother still.

But given a choice of 60hz g-sync or 144hz, no gsync (or freesync), I'd go 144hz.

 

[Space Lynx]

You won't see tearing because your actual display monitor is 144 Hz regardless whether you have v-Sync or g-Sync enabled. Now if you had a 60 Hz monitor with say v-Sync disabled, you may see some screen tearing.
For example, my ASUS 75 Hz monitor had screen tearing in some games, as soon as I enabled v-Sync, no more tearing. But my other ASUS 144 Hz 2K monitor does not show tearing regardless if v-Sync is on or off. So I believe your assessment is correct.

Perhaps somebody else has an opinion on the matter.

yep. i have a 240hz monitor, and i never see screen tearing ever. its amazing

You'd get tearing if the fps ran higher than your refresh rate but I think it's much more noticeable on lower refresh rates. So, a game at 180fps on a 144hz should still show some tearing. VRR technology helps to keep things smoother still.

But given a choice of 60hz g-sync or 144hz, no gsync (or freesync), I'd go 144hz.

thats right senpai!!! 144hz MEOW MEOW

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Nice thread... Thanks for your experiences.

 

[John Naylor]

I have a PG279Q and GTX 1080 Ti. It's an 144 Hz, IPS Panel, 2k monitor. For a while ago I turned off G-Sync, because I wanted to see what difference it really makes. I changed game settings in way that I always get over 144 fps. In almost all of the games I rarely drop below 250 fps. In only a few of them between 150-200 fps.

But although v-sync and g-sync are turned off (both in game's settings and nvidia control panel, I still see no tearing. This has extremely confused me. Back when I had a 60 Hz monitor, the tearing would be so obvious.

I don't think you quite understand how G-Sync cards / monitors are intended to work .... G-Sync provided 2 technologies ... synchronization for basically under 60 hz and MBR (Motion Blur reduction) for > 60 Hz. Yes, G-Sync (and Fressync to have a measurable impact beyond 60 fps ... the visual impact just diminishes more and more the further you pass 60.

a) Freesync provides synchronization from 40 fps on up; it has a dramatic effect on the user experience from 40 thru 60 fps but the impact trails off after about 70 fps.

b) G-sync provides synchronization from 30 fps on up; it has a dramatic effect on the user experience from 40 thru 60 fps but the impact trails off after about 70 fps.

c) When G-Sync came out, higher Hz monitors were already "a thing". So nVidia's approach was two-pronged 1) provide G-Sync targeted primarily at usage between 30 fps and 70 fps and 2) provide ULMB targeted primarily at usage between 60 fps and 144 fps. That 2nd part ULMB stands for Ultra Low Motion Blur which is a strobing feature requiring a hardware module or stobing utility like toastystrobelight. Free-sync has no corresponding technology. Some monitor manufavturers provide strobing MBR technology themselves (see blurbusters site)

d) When using your G-Sync card and your G-Sync monitor, most folks w/ big time GFX card horsepower are not using G-Sync.

Game providing 30 - 70 fps - use G-Sync
Game providing70 + fps - Tun OFF G-Sync, switch to ULMB.

Your monitor has 3 ULMB setting options ... 85, 100 and 120 hz... use 120.

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_rog_swift_pg279q.htm

As well as G-sync support, the PG279Q features NVIDIA's Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) blur-reduction backlight system. This allows for a strobing backlight to reduce perceived motion blur in dynamic content. Have a read of our blur reduction backlight article which talks about the benefits of these kind of technologies in more detail. It's a feature some people really like when it comes to dynamic content, primarily gaming. It can really help reduce the motion blur you see on the screen due to the way LCD technology operates. As with other screens which support ULMB, it cannot be used at the same time as G-sync since that operates with a dynamic refresh rate by its nature. You can enable ULMB if you would rather use that to G-sync when your screen is set to 85, 100 or 120Hz refresh rates. We will look at the ULMB operation in more detail later.

More here...
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_rog_swift_pg279q.htm#ulmb
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/variable_refresh.htm

https://www.blurbusters.com/faq/motion-blur-reduction/

Notice the ghosting on the alarm clock video

 

[Wavetrex]

You don't see the tearing because it happens so fast at 120Hz and up that you will not notice it.
Tearing is not in a fixed position, unless the FPS is VERY close (like 1hz difference) to the screen refresh.

If the difference is anything bigger than single digit, the tear line jumps all over the place. And when it jumps 120 times per second, the eyes do not perceive it.

But if recording your screen with a high-speed camera and go frame by frame (stopped), you will find it's still there.

 

[trog100]

i have run my asus monitor with and without g-sinc and 100% agree with the op no visible tearing g-sync on or off..

i think once the frames rates go higher it dosnt do much.. least not as far as the human eye is concerned..

trog

 

[John Naylor]

From above linked article...

It should be noted that the real benefits of G-sync really come into play when viewing lower frame rate content, around 45 - 60fps typically delivers the best results compared with Vsync on/off. At consistently higher frame rates as you get nearer to 144 fps the benefits of G-sync are not as great, but still apparent. There will be a gradual transition period for each user where the benefits of using G-sync decrease, and it may instead be better to use the ULMB feature included, which is not available when using G-sync. Higher end gaming machines might be able to push out higher frame rates more consistently and so you might find less benefit in using G-sync. The ULMB could then help in another very important area, helping to reduce the perceived motion blur caused by LCD displays. It's nice to have both G-sync and ULMB available to choose from certainly on these G-sync enabled displays. Very recently NVIDIA has added the option to choose how frequencies outside of the supported range are handled. Previously it would revert to Vsync on behaviour, but the user now has the choice for Vsync on or off.

 

[Gasaraki]

I have a PG279Q and GTX 1080 Ti. It's an 144 Hz, IPS Panel, 2k monitor. For a while ago I turned off G-Sync, because I wanted to see what difference it really makes. I changed game settings in way that I always get over 144 fps. In almost all of the games I rarely drop below 250 fps. In only a few of them between 150-200 fps.

But although v-sync and g-sync are turned off (both in game's settings and nvidia control panel, I still see no tearing. This has extremely confused me. Back when I had a 60 Hz monitor, the tearing would be so obvious.

So, I think whether or not you will experience tearing will depend on the following factors:

1.) Higher the refresh rate, the less visible the tearing will be.
2.) Video game's graphics engine: some games will have a tendency to display tearing.

The games tested:
Rainbow Six Siege
Battlefield 1
Battlefield 4
Battlefield 5
Bioshock Infinite
Witcher 3
Sniper Elite 4
Dirt 4
Dirt Rally
Ashes of Singularity
Diablo 3
Starcraft 2
Dark Souls 3
CS GO
Metro 2033 Redux
Watch Dogs 2
GTA 5
Doom 2016

Really, I have experienced tearing in none of them although G-sync and v-sync are turned off.
So, does G-sync only help with 60 Hz monitors? I have no idea and I am curious to learn what they put a g-sync in those monitors.

There's no difference because g-sync never worked for you. G-Sync and Freesync only works when the FPS is under the max frame rate of the monitor. So g-sync and freesync only works under 144FPS when you're gaming. So many incorrect info here.

Don't use v-sync, use an in game frame rate limiter if available (limit to 142fps) if you want to use g-sync, really high frame rates will also hide tearing so if you can run your games 200+ fps maybe you don't need g-sync to be active.