What is screen tearing?

[KnowYourPC]

I never really understood the concept of it, does it happen when you have more fps than your refresh rate? Does it happen after a certain amount of FPS?
What about V-sync/G-sync/Free-sync? Does it help reduce the risk of screen tearing?

Someone please elaborate.

Thank you

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Hello,

Yes, that's a common misconception that it only happens once you go above your refresh rate in FPS.

Your monitor wants a new frame from the GPU every 16.67 ms if it's running at 60 Hz, but your GPU is constantly rendering frames as fast as it can, it doesn't have a static rate like the monitor does. If your monitor wants a frame from the GPU, at the same time the GPU is copying it's frame from the back-buffer to the frame-buffer, what you get is tearing. Tearing is less frequent at a lower FPS, and the higher you go above 60 FPS on a 60 Hz display, the more frequent the tear. The solution to this is VSync/Adaptive VSync/FreeSync/GSync.



All the best!

 

[KnowYourPC]

Hello,

Yes, that's a common misconception that it only happens once you go above your refresh rate in FPS.

Your monitor wants a new frame from the GPU every 16.67 ms if it's running at 60 Hz, but your GPU is constantly rendering frames as fast as it can, it doesn't have a static rate like the monitor does. If your monitor wants a frame from the GPU, at the same time the GPU is copying it's frame from the back-buffer to the frame-buffer, what you get is tearing. Tearing is less frequent at a lower FPS, and the higher you go above 60 FPS on a 60 Hz display, the more frequent the tear. The solution to this is VSync/Adaptive VSync/FreeSync/GSync.



All the best!

So if I have a 140hz monitor will I be safer if I go over 60 fps?

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

what a speedy reply, wow... literally just refresh the page.

yeah. the monitor will be set to a static rate which is 6.9 ms, of course thats 144hz, and not 140hz. if youre pushing 100+ fps on a 144 hz monitor, chances are you wont even notice the screen tearing, without any sync.

 

[KnowYourPC]

what a speedy reply, wow... literally just refresh the page.

yeah. the monitor will be set to a static rate which is 6.9 ms, of course thats 144hz, and not 140hz. if youre pushing 100+ fps on a 144 hz monitor, chances are you wont even notice the screen tearing, without any sync.

Thanks, but are you being sarcastic by any chance? I answered two days later, lol.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

what? no. i refreshed the page and decided to reply. just 4 minutes later . ;-)

 

[KnowYourPC]

what? no. i refreshed the page and decided to reply. just 4 minutes later . ;-)

oh ok thanks.