Ah yes, nothing like waking up and learning about V-Sync.

20 years of tearing, hopefully my grandchildren won't face this monster.

It’s shocking how many last-gen games suffered from screen tearing and the average person had no idea it was a thing

Loving the pc focused content keep up the good work DF.

I had to explain VSync & triple buffering to a developer the other day when they were perplexed about their engine not exceeding 60 FPS and their profile tools reporting a mysteries chunk of CPU activity that took up more than 12 milliseconds in their 16.666ms frame. Was a bit of a weird conversation to have with someone who was in charge of a game's development.

This was explained very well. I’m someone with a rather limited knowledge of these behind the scenes type of information, and I found this easy to digest. Good job Alex!

I'm a PC gamer who pretty much *always* turns V-sync on no matter what simply because I legitimately *despise* screen tearing (it actually legit hurts my eyes)! I know it adds input lag but honestly, I don't really care too much about that because since I'm not at all interested in speedrunning or competitive online multiplayer, my gaming tastes are such that the lag V-sync adds doesn't really affect me all that much.

I love that you're using Serious Sam games in the background. Criminally underrated gems! SS3:BFE alone was like the FAR superior, less casual nu-DOOM.

I’m surprised this video was only made now

Should have mentioned the new screen tear eliminating feature of Riva Tuner Statistics Server called "Scanline Sync". Works wonders, especially for older games!

I'm loving those Serious Sam tracks.

It would to be great to have an updated video on this topic, since now we have things like Fast Sync and RTSS Scanline Sync. Both options are great to use with motion blur reduction (that can't be used with Freesync/Gsync).

Alex this was an absolutely awesome video! This will be the definitive video I lead people to so they can better understand what V-sync is, its variations, and how they should be used. V-sync has to be the most misunderstood aspect about PC gaming because it's believed by many to be the enemy or just something that caps your frame rate. Great job again, Alex.

On my pc, if I can reach over 90 fps I just disable vsync entirely as it generally doesn't distract me on the games I play. If I play a game that runs at 60-70fps on average with the chance of it going below that, I use adaptive vsync. If a game goes below 60fps, I care more about maintaining the best input latency I can rather than if there's tearing or not. My PC currently has a gtx 980 in it, and since Nvidia seems to not want to make gsync affordable, I'll probably switch to an AMD gpu on my next PC so that I can get variable refresh rates without having to destroy my wallet.

Visiting in 2024 - this video answered sooo many questions I had. You covered all the bases - VSync AND adaptive sync/VRR. An evergreen video. Great job on this one, Alex!!

Input latency with VSync happens when the input polling is blocked on the same thread as the rendering (inputs during Vsync are held until the start of the frame). id Tech 5 is a good example of an engine that moves the input polling onto its own thread; inputs are consumed the moment they happen rather than the start of the next frame, so there should be less perceived input latency. Another cool thing I was investigating a couple of years ago was using late-frame re-projection with mouse-input to have absolutely, incredibly smooth first-person mouse-look - but this came at the cost of some subtle pixel smearing and increased GPU work-load, but it's something I think competitive FPS games should consider as an option - poll mouse input at the start of the frame, then poll a second time just before VSync and do re-projection. VR games use this technique (as does the PSVR). Personally, I can't stand the input delay of VSync. It just absolutely ruins FPS games for me; as much as I hate tearing I will live with it for the sake of avoiding weird floaty mouse input.

ive used gsync for the past 3 years and never looked back.

Really hope television sets with VRR become commonplace soon. AMD freesync on some Samsung TVs is a start but it's nowhere near as polished as PC freesync/gsync yet. HDMI 2.1 was supposed to lead the way but the industry is dragging its collective feet on it.

awesome work Alex, this year i started using G-Sync on 144hz display, its glorious.

Yes DF, educate the masses! You're doing a great thing for every video game fan curious about the technical side of their in-game settings or why certain things are the way they are.

G-Sync & Free-Sync. Thank you.

I've always been using V-sync, whatever the outcome. Tearing is an absolute no-no for me.

Great video! I didn't know how Triple Buffering worked before - it's great to know how it works

Rivatuner Statistics server has now an option to control the tearline, it's quite interesting.

Alex, you continue to impress me with your knowledge of the topics you discuss.

My gaming experince totally changed since I got my gsync monitor. No more tearing or shutering when I am below my refresh rate. I would not go back

I think the video should have included more timeline graphs of the time it takes to render/refresh, to make it easier to understand. Also for people that are not familiar with this stuff, it should have been pointed out, that higher refresh rates significantly reduce tearing.

Variable refresh rate is the way, G-sync cost a lot but damn it's good !!

a noteworthy disadvantage when using variable refreshrates (g-sync, free senc) is that you can no longer use backlight strobing / motion blur reduction.

what i still dont fully understand is why i get tearing on my 144hz screen even when i have constant 144 fps. no matter if vsync is on or if i use a framelock

i wish they would teach us cool stuff like this at school

More tech focus videos please. Let's go through the entire graphical settings menu.

Hey Digital Foundry can you do a video on the new Scan Line Sync in Rivatuner Statistics Server?

HOLY SHIT. SOMEONE FIXED THE ANIMATION INTERPOLATION IN HALO PC????

This is a tearable video. 2020 represents.

Whoa, yesterday i was looking for a video explaining v-sync and couldn't find anything that helped. Crazy timing.

I usually turn on v-sync to get rid of screen tearing.

I find screen tearing, frame pacing stutters incredibly distracting. Years ago got a G sync but i dunno if its because the frame rates are not right for the G sync but i really do not notice a difference compared to v sync or adaptive V sync

V-SYNC has been a mystery to all of us for over 20 years. We all know the basics but we never fully understood how it works. After watching tons of videos, reading articles for years after years, still a mystery. Then this video comes and voilà, we finally know.. thanks for the video bro.. nice work

Wow I've been into technical gaming for about 6 years and this is the best video I've ever seen explaining vsync.

Frame limiting with MSI Afterburner works best with vsync, cuz it's smoothens frame time.

Digital Foundry: "[...] und auf Wiedersehen." Me, a german: "Wait a minute"

These are great. You’re an awesome addition to the DF team, Alex.

Long overdue. Fantastic video. Thank you, DF.

im using fast sync for all my games and after that never used vsync... pls do a video on fast sync vs free sync and g sync...

freesync master race (30-144hz range

Digital foundry never misses a bear with their videos explaining technology. Great video and thank you very much.

I'm just at 1:22 and I already noticed the Condemned Theme Main Menu soundtrack and Serious Sam The first Encounter first mission sound. I love this soundtrack already and there is still 17 minutes to go with a full explaination of Vsync. My Saturday can't be better now XD

Yay, finally another Tech Focus video :d

The clips with tearing were painful to watch

Hi, Alex & team. A long-time subscriber of the Channel here. Already watched this video months ago, but I just wanted to clarify a couple of things (a bit of an OCD person when it comes to these things,lol). So in summary, not counting "No VSync" of course, your video basically presented us with FIVE "kinds" of VSync or syncing solutions or whatever you wanna call it. 1) Double Buffer VSync 2) Triple Buffer VSync 3) "True" Triple Buffer VSync (aka Enhanced Sync/Fast Sync) 4) Adaptive VSync 5) Variable Refresh Rate (aka VESA Adaptive-Sync/FreeSync/G-Sync). So based on that summary, are you saying that "Adaptive VSync" is actually different from VESA's "Adaptive-Sync", despite being nearly identical in their names (literally just missed each other by ONE letter)? If so, where else is Adaptive VSync implemented (you DID mention Call of Duty & Crysis in the video,but is that it)? And should people care about it ultimately, or is it simply outclassed & superseded now by Adaptive-Sync and its popular implementations FreeSync & G-Sync? Thanks for the clarification, guys. And very good video by the way, highly informative & VERY relevant.

The new RTSS version has an "s-sync" feature which lets you control where the tearline appears. Works quite well!!

you should definitely use it in Waulfrenshtain The New Colossus

G-sync FTW. Haven't seen tearing once for over 3 years now :-)

another type of vsync that DF didn't explain is half refresh rate vsync, it is pretty self explanatory, this type of vsync will render the frames at half the refresh rate of the monitor. meaning that each new frame is followed by a duplicate frame, to make it seem smoother. this is what they use for games on consoles, this is why many people think that 30fps is smoother on consoles than on pc, but you can do the exact same on a pc using nvidia inspector. for amd users, this option is not directly available in their drivers unfortunately, but they can do the same thing using RTSS's scanline sync by setting it to "x/2", where the 'x' is the refresh rate of the monitor. scanline sync is like a custom vsync where you can adjust the position of the tearline by yourself, scanline sync is an alternate vsync which has less input lag. its basically what DF explained at 3:24, you can move the tearline away from the centre of the screen or even out of the screen space, so that tearing will not occur at all in gameplay. EDIT: ok they kinda explained this at 4:45, but they didn't fully explain about half refresh rate vsync.

A few years ago I noticed that with some games my eyes just couldn't focus on the screen when I was moving in the game. It's like I couldn't look into the displayed distance of the game anymore. I still remember Far Cry 3 being the game where I figured out why that seemed to be, and it was screen tearing. I randomly turned on V-Sync and it was like putting on a pair of glasses. No idea why my eyes do that, but if possible, I don't play without V-Sync anymore. Any delay or dropped frame is worth it because my eyes involuntarily unfocusing when in motion just became unacceptable as soon as I found a solution.

G-sync is the best sync based on my own experience. Too bad it's Nvidia only tech because at this point I'm really not sure if my next GPU will be from Nvidia.

I use it in every game, or the screen tearing gets really bad, it's distracting

Demon: Tear?!?! Doom Guy: **METAL INTENSIFIES**

This is an amazing explanation. Been looking for something like this video for years. Finally I can refer to this video every time someone asks what vsync is or does.

It depends. If you play with a controller and/or you play single player games, you should use it. But if you play competitive shooters on PC that require very low input lag, you should definitely turn it off, even if you are using a lower refresh rate monitor. Sure, you'll experience screen tearing, but you will get much lower input lag which is critical in games like Siege or CSGO. One more thing: I cap the refresh rate even if I don't use Vsync (via RivaTuner). I don't like fluctuating framerate and response time. People like to play totally uncapped with FreeSync and G-Sync monitors but I like consistent framerates and response time.

I cannot play a single game without vsnc

The higher the refresh rate of your display the better vsync is. 120 hz gives you 60, 40, 30, 24 FPS ect without the input lag penalty of running up against your displays max refresh rate or the stutter by running between those framerates with vsync.

I didn't know that looking up a video about what vsync is would involve so much blood.

Lol is that the PC version of Turok? Completely forgot it even existed.

Every game in existence should have an option for adaptive V-sync, it's objectively the best solution outside of investing in a G-sync monitor.

Very helpful. Had no idea what v-sync did before this and why it said it would up my frame rate when it actually dipped it. Thank you.

The down side to this shift to VRR is going to be the frame pace issues when recording a game… trust me it’s been an absolute pain, only fix so far is to disable G-Sync and lock V-Sync to fixed refresh of the recording capture framerate… so 60fps. ☹️

I remember last gen when consolers swore Vsync didnt exist. the human eye couldnt see it, just like above 720p, just like above 30fps. Funny how they change their tune when consoles get it. Textures, i remember "debating" with consolers about improved textures and they said "who stands and looks at rocks when playing a game", now they bicker and argue with each other about which plastic boxes rocks look better. ha ha console hypocrite race

G-Sync here after been using V-Sync and 60hz for 10 years... I'm not sad that I changed to G-Sync. :) If anybody love games. Please get a G-Sync monitor, yes they are expensive but they are worth it. Cheers.

Really cool video. The two things I don't understand are why doubling the refresh rate helps with free sync/g-sync and also why it can introduce ghosting.

Next topic, optimization of PC components, choosing the right ones for the right resolution, airflow, positioning of the fans, A to Z guys, A to Z ... I want more like this ... Hell of a good work ;)

G-Sync is the best, but comes of the high licensing costs of Fu-King Nvidia…

I cant be the only one that uses v-sync to lock the game at 60 fps so my pc wont overheat

I am so glad I finally got a freesync qhd monitor.. I used to hate vsync in old days so much, specially double buffered ones

Thank you for this particular topic choice Alex! Been trying to make proper sense of Enhanced Sync for months now (currently a Radeon user) and this video is the perfect explanation to me. A needed and great watch this was.

I used vsync when I had a 60Hz monitor. At 144+ its useless.

After 15 years of playing on console i finally bought my first gaming PC, i hope i will not be disappointed

really no one would of explain it better then this channel, keep up the good work, I like how you explain things that make it So easy to understand.

I feel so lucky, I got a G-SYNC compatible monitor for my first gaming PC, so I haven't really had to deal with any tearing or latency issues. FYI, Blurbusters has a great series of articles on G-SYNC and input latency. It's full of measurements and solid analysis. Long story short: - enable g-sync for fullscreen mode - globally enable v-sync in NVIDIA control panel (vsync and gsync were intended to work together) - disable v-sync for in-game settings - either in-game or in NVIDIA control panel, set max FPS to whatever your refresh rate is minus 3+, so 144hz would be max 141 fps All of the above settings mean that you always get the minimum possible input lag without any screen tearing regardless of what FPS your GPU is outputting.

I wish you could disable v sync on console (for multiplayer games)

I use fast sync way better than V-sync, low latency and no tearing it’s great

Geile Sache 😁 auf Wiedersehen, Alex 😉👍

Using Freesync for 3 years now. No tearing and it's buttery smooth!

Wow, that lament about Nvidia in the last part, but you don't say nothing about the hassle of shopping for a Freesync monitor? About how its ranges are limited? About how upgrading to a new GPU meant your current Freesync monitor may not play well with it anymore? But hey, its easier to just put a target on the big bad Nvidia. I wish AMD would do better, I really do. It would give me better choices and options when upgrading my PC. However by comparison, my per dollar investment has always done better with Nvidia/Intel.

Screw Nvidia for ruining the majority of gamers experience by forcing them to buy a gsync monitor. Gsync could have just been a standard for high quality monitors with "superior smoothness". But it should be a choice. Not shoved down my throat. Thanks for holding gamers back. Now I'm saving up for an amd.......i will have to wait for that variable sync smoothness You shouldn't even be able to ignore open standards. That is anti-consumer and anti-competitive.

Videos like this are why I continue to sub to this channel. Thank you Alex!!

Free-sync is finally available in NVIDIA (10 and 20 series)

Me: **turns v-sync off** V-sync: Am I a joke to you? I'm sorry but that's the meme I thought about when seeing the thumbnail 😂

I never use v-sync in any game, i prefer having more fps with tearing than input lag. especially in shooter games which is what i play mostly. I don't mind tearing at all.

This was so interesting. Thank you!

Another great Alex video with great music.

Enabling vsync in multiplayer games is a joke. The amount of imput lag you can get is insane

v sync is awful i disable it 100% of the time if i can

Fantastic video and the Toasty! made my day - great memories of MK2 on the Megadrive.

Really great work there! Now things are much more clear to me!

Am i the only one who rarely uses v-sync

144hz monitor and no v-sync is the solution

I was just doing research on this topic and not even a day later DigitalFoundry puts a Tech Focus video up on it.

Wish you explained why enabling v sync while capping the framerate below the refresh rate diminishes input lag.