[SOLVED] Free-sync or no?

[GorillaMonsoon]

I've been researching new monitors as mines from 2005 or something and not even 1080p. I've been experiencing screen tearing playing GTA5 and it really takes me out of the immersion. I have an AMD card so naturally thought free-sync is the answer. I've read the stickies about it, but the more I research the more I see people actually turn off the feature to reduce input lag. So whats the deal? Do people just accept the tears for less lag, or is it a given if you have a $100 monitor compared to say a $300 one that you'll see tearing?

 

[Glenwing]

The latency effect is negligible. People turn it off because they believe it will help them reduce latency. Some reviews may show a few milliseconds of increased latency, which is a negligible amount. Since many people don't have a good sense of how long a millisecond is, they think it's longer than it is.

In the end, pretty much everyone who turns it off for latency does so because they read an article or video that told them to. Not because they actually felt anything.

 

[King_V]

It's not a matter of the price of the monitor per se. FreeSync is, well, Free as the name implies, but also an open standard. Unlike GSync, which requires additional proprietary hardware in the monitor.

FreeSync didn't exist prior to 2015, so your 2005-era monitor wouldn't have that capability.

What are the full specs of your system, and the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor?

 

[GorillaMonsoon]

It's not a matter of the price of the monitor per se. FreeSync is, well, Free as the name implies, but also an open standard. Unlike GSync, which requires additional proprietary hardware in the monitor.

FreeSync didn't exist prior to 2015, so your 2005-era monitor wouldn't have that capability.

What are the full specs of your system, and the resolution and refresh rate of your monitor?

I know my monitor does not have free-sync, but it was on the cheaper end of the scale when I bought it. Just wanted to make sure if I do get a new one that I won't have the same tearing issues because I pretty much look for the best price.

The monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 22"
1680x1050 and 60 Hz

Computer is Ryzen 5 2600, 8GB 3200 MHz RAM, B450M Pro4, RX570 4GB

I do have a 24 or so inch 1080p TV I could try hooking up to see if it handles it any better. I was going to use it as a second monitor once I get a DP to HDMI cable.

 

[King_V]

Honestly, with your current monitor's resolution, the RX570 should probably not have much trouble at all maintaining 60fps. Make sure to enable VSync, and you should be good to go.

 

[GorillaMonsoon]

Honestly, with your current monitor's resolution, the RX570 should probably not have much trouble at all maintaining 60fps. Make sure to enable VSync, and you should be good to go.

V-sync has been enabled the whole time, but my monitor does not support that.

 

[King_V]

Vsync isn't a feature of the monitor, it's a feature of the games' interaction with the video card. Basically, turning VSync on makes sure that a frame is only drawn when the monitor is ready for it. There will be no tearing.

If VSync is off, you will get tearing if the frame rate goes above 60fps.

 

[GorillaMonsoon]

Oh, so I it's different than free-sync and the other whatever-syncs then?
Anyway I saw somewhere the 570 should be be putting up more like 80fps with GTA5 on ultra at 1080p. I'm just going by memory here but I seem to remember before I changed any of the defaults in the game and looking at the Raedon software I was above 100fps but now I don't know if that was the average or the highest it got to. I was just kind of checking out my cards features and not dealing with tearing at the time tho. Maybe it was an inlay showing the real time fps...I kind of forget now. I should reinvestigate some of the Raedon software stuff before I make posts about it I guess.
So I started maxing out some of the setting and running the benchmark tool found in the GTA settings and I am hovering right around 60fps give or take. I gain like 4 or 5 fps by backing some settings down. But now I can't go back I want my game to look as smooth and shiny as possible.

So yeah eventually came to the conclusion it must be my old monitor that is the cause of the tearing.