Official Poll - PC Gamers Only: Do you play with Vsync on or off, and which games?

[jpishgar]

A question from Tom's to you for your speedy responses - do you play with Vsync enabled? Or not? Please register your choice in the poll.

Below, in the comments, please let us know which games you play with or without Vsync. Your input and feedback is greatly appreciated.

~ The Tom's Community

 

[stavrosmast]

in some games yes on some others you dont have to. exaple u need to put v-sync if u get 260fps on agame but y ou dont need it if u dont get even yours monitor hz

 

[turbopixel]

Usually yes, with V-Sync on. My current exception is CS:GO, where V-Sync would limit to 60 fps and that makes the game unplayable on my system.

I think, this poll does not make much sense. It depends on monitor, its refresh rate, the graphics card, what type of game and rest of the settings.

 

[17seconds]

Whether to have VSync on or off is part of the tweaking process that I go through for each individual game. In general I believe in keeping VSync off in order to promote the highest level of performance, even on games that exceed 60 FPS (on my 60 Hz monitor). On some occasions, I try to limit that FPS with AdaptiveVSync, mainly as a means of limiting GPU usage and heat on a case by case basis.

A lot of people think that FPS over your monitor's refresh rate is worthless, but I adhere to the school of thought that higher FPS means more responsive controls. So the focus is on gaming performance in terms of responsiveness, not the quality of the image on screen. Sometimes, excessive screen tearing would be a consideration we well. Again, I don't blindly choose one over the other, but I play around with the settings and tweak things for the individual circumstance.

With an Nvidia card, the ability to use Adaptive VSync makes the choice a lot easier. You don't have to worry about performance and input lag with FPS below your monitor's refresh rate. So the focus is on affecting only performance when the game is generating more than, in my case 60 FPS. With an AMD card, the choice to use regular VSync is more consequential due to the potential to: 1) Cut your FPS in half, down to 30 FPS, and/or 2) Introduce input/mouse lag. AMD users need to pay special attention to these circumstances to ensure that they are not making things worse by using VSync.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review/#.VavqBPlVhBc

 

[con635]

I started to use the built in nvidia adaptive vsync like above, its much better than vsync, I would turn it off when playing the likes of bf4 though.
edit amd have a similar function as of last drivers, frtc.

 

[brandonforty2]

I usually play with V-Sync on except on Cs:go and Tf2. I have a EVGA GTX 970 so I suffer from Coil Whine if the frame rate gets too high. V-Sync seems to stop that along with screen tearing so I keep it on for everything else.

 

[delrocks22]

Vsync off for Assassin's creed 4 as it ruins the fps badly anyhow if its on....
Vsync off for counter strike games bcoz online games higher fps means registry of bullets and clean gameplay..
and vsync on for far cry 4 bcoz i guess its not possible to hit 60fps easily and vsync on makes the game smoother with lesser screen tearing and stuttering..

 

[eodeo]

I use vsynch on whenever possible. My gpus so far 4850>gtx 460> gtx 660

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Always on, because I always exceed 60FPS.

 

[baracubra]

Depends on the game. I run 3x 27" LG IPS displays with an Nvidia 670 SLI rig. Results vary greatly between tittles. However, like others said, I keep v-sync off in CS:GO. Single/dual or even triple buffer gives me huge input lag (to the point where I can barely hit anything). I test each game with it on or off, but usually i keep it off for twitch-based shooters, and turn it on for 3rd person exploration games. However, adaptive v-sync has been great and usually substitutes normal v-sync for me as of late

 

[vibhutech512]

Most Probably OFF.

 

[renz496]

So how do i vote? Anyway personally i prefer to use v-sync in all of my games. I think i'm quite sensetive to screen tearing. Even below refresh rates screen tearing still happen although probably it is not as bad when they go above refresh rates. So it doesn't really matter if frame rates is above or below refresh rates. I will enable vsync.

 

[MichaelTee]

Whether to have VSync on or off is part of the tweaking process that I go through for each individual game. In general I believe in keeping VSync off in order to promote the highest level of performance, even on games that exceed 60 FPS (on my 60 Hz monitor). On some occasions, I try to limit that FPS with AdaptiveVSync, mainly as a means of limiting GPU usage and heat on a case by case basis.

A lot of people think that FPS over your monitor's refresh rate is worthless, but I adhere to the school of thought that higher FPS means more responsive controls. So the focus is on gaming performance in terms of responsiveness, not the quality of the image on screen. Sometimes, excessive screen tearing would be a consideration we well. Again, I don't blindly choose one over the other, but I play around with the settings and tweak things for the individual circumstance.

With an Nvidia card, the ability to use Adaptive VSync makes the choice a lot easier. You don't have to worry about performance and input lag with FPS below your monitor's refresh rate. So the focus is on affecting only performance when the game is generating more than, in my case 60 FPS. With an AMD card, the choice to use regular VSync is more consequential due to the potential to: 1) Cut your FPS in half, down to 30 FPS, and/or 2) Introduce input/mouse lag. AMD users need to pay special attention to these circumstances to ensure that they are not making things worse by using VSync.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/16/nvidia_adaptive_vsync_technology_review/#.VavqBPlVhBc

What app is that that tracks your FPS??? very cool!

 

[17seconds]

That's just one of the charts they post at HardOCP. I'm not sure how they get their data into that format.

 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

Vsync on. Screen trearing drives me crazy! I would rather risk a little frametime variance over tearing every big movement. I always aim for graphics that will average 60fps at all times to prevent big framerate dips anyways.

 

[fraserlawrence]

Hello,
On whenever possible, although sometimes I had turned it off to allow for higher graphics settings. Also I have to say G-Sync is really noticeable in Tomb Raider on my gtx 970. and seems to have much less effect on performance, actually allowing for higher graphics settings being more forgiving in terms of less tearing and stutter.

 

[Spudcake]

I couldn't find a way to vote.

I always use Vsync to cap my framerate at 60 Hz, as I can't stand screen tearing and don't want to put unnecessary stress on my system. I use D3D Overrider to force Vsync whenever I can.

 

[Meetbag]

Off. Well since I bought this bad boy. Love me some G-sync.

http://www.acer.ca/ac/en/CA/content/model/UM.HB0AA.001

 

[Shanky1997]

I usually tend to keep V-Sync On as I'm really annoyed of screen tearing and I any stand a second with it. So my choice is Yes, I keep V-Sync on and probably for every game (except those which are not good for use with V-Sync on).

 

[BlueAlexFPS]

Always turn off V-Sync, I played Battlefield 4, COD:Advanced Warfare, Evolve, StarCraft 2, GRID Autosport, Grand Thief Auto 5 and The Sims 4. Even my notebook comes with GTX980M I still disable V-Sync on it. Even my PC is 4.5GHz with GTX670 SLI, but my monitor is DELL 2715Q 4K, so, still off.

 

[fudgecakes99]

if i get a lower overall frame rate but a cleaner image then yes v-sync tripple buffering all the way. I just can't stand visual artificats like screen tearing it just erks me to no end.

 

[skit75]

I use V-Sync ON for most games. I rarely got over 60FPS with my old GTX 560 Ti(1920x1080p 60Hz display). After going to the GTX 770, screen-tearing became super obvious in games such as WarThunder. Then, I started seeing tearing in a lot of my games so I use V-Sync ON now.

 

[JkB_SlH]

I use V-Sync on for all the games excluding FPSes (First person Shooters)
I do use AMD FRTC feature (Frame Rate Target Control) to cap FPS games to 60FPS

V-SYNC on First Person Shooters impact my mouse smoothness

So, it depends on which type of game in my case

 

[bohenian]

I usually turn it off when running games that are really demanding to keep the game playable, but if I can run it smoothly with V-sync on, I turn it on. For me, at least, turning it on doesn't really make any significant difference, but if I can do it, I'll do it.

 

[MiltosDoul]

I have it off because of the mouse delay that it causes to me