Screen tearing with GTX 970 and 980 when gaming

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Heraji

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Apr 8, 2010
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I got a nasty screen tearing issue with my Zotac GTX 980 when gaming on my 120Hz screen. It is different from game to game, some games doesn't have any screen tearing.

I've also tried with a MSI GTX 970 and a EVGA GTX 970 FTW with the same results. However, my old MSI GTX 680 and MSI GTX 560 Ti doesn't have this issue, so I guess the 900 series is more likely to have screen tearing?

Other things I've tried:
- V-sync, which fixes the screen tearing but causes stutter instead.
- Adaptive V-sync, which doesn't make any difference other than random huge frame drops.
- Tried older Nvidia drivers that actually reduced it a bit.

Is there anything I can do to reduce the screen tearing? or do I need a G-Sync monitor?
If a G-Sync monitor is the only solution, which models are recommended?

Thanks in advance :)
 
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I also own a 1080p120hz monitor, and a 970, and frame tearing is worst when FPS is over 120, but it still occurs below that if you have VSYNC off. Like you have said, VSYNC unfortunately adds some input lag, but at least it beats tearing.

One solution is that if your FPS is better than 60, you can enable adaptive VSYNC with half the refresh rate in the NVIDIA control panel. This will give you a very stable experience, but will make your game feel slower, obviously.

In my experience, the best thing is to just leave VSYNC off and play. Sometimes screen tearing is a problem, but normally I get over it pretty quickly. You could of course get Gsync, but that's costly. Sometimes syncing the frames at half the rate helps, but only in...
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No, the 900 series isn't more likely to have screen tearing, ok perhaps yes but it is because of the frames per second (more frames, more tearing) You need a g-sync monitor or try to v-sync at 60fps if your monitor is 144hz or something like that
 
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I suggest you get a Gsync monitor...
 
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What games are you have problems with ??"

 
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GTX 970 and 980 especially is way overkill for a single 1080p, even at 120hz. Either get a higher resolution monitor, turn up MSAA and all details to ultra so that the FPS stays under the 120Hz, or get a slower GPU. I would just increase MSAA so that the GPU is taxed more heavy and it doesn't go above the refresh rate of the monitor. Tearing occurs when the FPS coming from the graphics card is higher than the FPS the monitor can produce. Your monitor produces 120 FPS max, but your 970/980 produce more than that. Turn up all settings as far as possible and you'll be fine. Don't blame this on the 900 series; they're doing their job too good. YOU DO NOT NEED A G-SYNC MONITOR.
 
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A Samsung S23A700D




I've already turned the settings to max. Actually, in most of the games with screen tearing the FPS doesn't exceed 120 FPS.
Some games that exceed 120 FPS doesn't have any screen tearing at all, while others no matter the FPS are tearing like crazy at certain situations. So I'm not sure that FPS is the problem here.
 
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I would say just use vsync but you seem to be having issues with that. Which is strange because I have never had any negative effects from vsync. There is some third party software out there to limit fps like EVGA precision, MSI afterburner. There is the video recording software dxtory that has a similar feature.

EDIT -- I use radeonpro but since you have nvidia I have heard nvidia inspector is similar.
 
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Hm.. I don't get screen tearing from high FPS for some reason. For example, The Crew is limited to 60 FPS and in DayZ it's impossible to even go near 120 FPS of my monitors 120Hz... These games are where I get the worst screen tearing.. :/
 
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Hmm that is very strange. I don't really have any other ideas because I naturally turn vsync on for every game, sorry to hear that it is giving you stuttering issues I have never heard of that happening.
 
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I suggest you go with Gsync, I'm using a swift and I like it.

My friend has a 1080p 120 hz and the fast paced games like bf4 don't have much tearing.

I've never played Dayz and only played the beta for the crew. I did notice some tearing with Far cry 4 until I switched to a Gsync monitor...
 
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I guess I'll have to try with a G-Sync monitor then. One of my friends does has the same model 120Hz monitor as I do and there is no screen tearing when he is playing the same games with his EVGA 970 FTW..




Yes, I also got a single link cable I could test with.




It is a 120Hz monitor and I've set it to run 120Hz in the Nvidia control panel. If it's not screen tearing I have no idea what it is, it looks a lot like screen tearing.
 
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I also own a 1080p120hz monitor, and a 970, and frame tearing is worst when FPS is over 120, but it still occurs below that if you have VSYNC off. Like you have said, VSYNC unfortunately adds some input lag, but at least it beats tearing.

One solution is that if your FPS is better than 60, you can enable adaptive VSYNC with half the refresh rate in the NVIDIA control panel. This will give you a very stable experience, but will make your game feel slower, obviously.

In my experience, the best thing is to just leave VSYNC off and play. Sometimes screen tearing is a problem, but normally I get over it pretty quickly. You could of course get Gsync, but that's costly. Sometimes syncing the frames at half the rate helps, but only in cases where FPS is well above 60, but also far from 120.

It really is a matter of preference. You can do unsynced gameplay, which is smooth and fast, but has tearing, or synced gameplay, which is fast, but not smooth, and has no tearing, or capped at 60fps, which is smooth and has no tearing, but is slow.
 
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Thanks, that info was actually very useful :)


 
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there is no way you need a new monitor if you have a 120hz 1080p and it should barely EVER tear, something is wrong and i cannot believe no one has just came out and said it, offering him g-sync monitor options ? come on.... You can fix screen tearing on 60hz shit panels let alone his monitor.
 
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Lol tell me ONE game that screen tears on 120 - 144hz, if it does, the game is broken, or the machine used to play the game is broken, Heraj i honestly have no idea, aslong as you are picking 120hz option IN GAME and on desktop, i would lead to cable / driver problems, unless the monitor itself is a bad brand or has gone faulty
 
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