Should You Turn Vsync On or Off?
Vsync is one of the few settings where the "correct" answer genuinely depends on you. Turn it on and screen tearing disappears, but the image can feel slightly less responsive. Turn it off and the game feels immediate, but fast camera movement can show a horizontal tear across the screen. Neither choice is wrong – they solve different problems. This guide explains what each option actually does so you can pick per game.
What Screen Tearing Is
Your display redraws the image from top to bottom at a fixed rate. If the GPU finishes a new frame partway through that redraw, the screen shows part of the old frame and part of the new one – a visible horizontal seam, most obvious during fast pans. Tearing is not damage; it is simply two frames shown at once.
What Vsync Does About It
Vsync makes the game wait and present frames in step with the display's refresh, so a new frame never arrives mid-draw. The cost is that waiting: the pipeline holds a frame slightly longer, which players often describe as input lag. There is also a second effect – if your frame rate drops below the refresh rate, synced frames can arrive in uneven steps, making stutter more noticeable than it would be with Vsync off.
The Trade-Offs
| Vsync on | Vsync off | |
|---|---|---|
| Tearing | Removed | Visible during fast movement |
| Responsiveness | Can feel slightly delayed | Feels immediate |
| When frame rate drops | Stutter can feel more obvious | Smoother recovery, but with tearing |
| Extra load | None meaningful | None meaningful |
| Best for | Slow, cinematic games | Fast, competitive games |
How Refresh Rate Changes the Decision
- 60 Hz display: tearing is easier to see and Vsync's cost is easier to feel, so the choice is more personal.
- 120 Hz and above: refreshes happen so often that both tearing and sync delay become harder to notice – either choice is defensible.
- Frame rate far above refresh rate: unsynced frames tear more often; some players prefer a frame cap instead.
- Frame rate far below refresh rate: Vsync can make uneven delivery more obvious; many players turn it off here.
The Middle Ground: Frame Rate Caps
Many games offer a frame rate limit alongside Vsync. Capping slightly below your refresh rate is a popular compromise: it reduces how often frames arrive mid-draw without fully syncing them, which many players find smoother than either extreme. If your game offers both options, testing a cap is worth five minutes.
A Simple Way to Decide
- Pick a scene with a fast horizontal camera pan – tearing is easiest to see there.
- Turn Vsync off and look for a seam across the image. If you cannot see one, leave it off.
- If tearing bothers you, turn Vsync on and play for a session. If the game now feels sluggish, turn it back off.
- If neither is acceptable, try a frame rate cap near your refresh rate.
Related: motion blur and clarity, and sensitivity preference, both of which also affect how responsive a game feels.
Disclaimer: All settings recommendations are subjective preference guides only. Results may vary based on individual hardware, game patch version, driver releases and personal visual taste. This is not a guaranteed universal fix. We do not provide any system modification instructions and take no responsibility for any changes you make inside your game. Always adjust game settings gradually to suit your own preference.
FAQ
Should I turn Vsync on or off?
Off if responsiveness matters most to you, on if tearing bothers you more. There is no universally correct answer – it depends on your sensitivity to each.
Does Vsync cause input lag?
It can, because frames wait for the display before being shown. How noticeable varies by game and setup, so test it rather than assume.
What is screen tearing?
A visible horizontal seam where two frames are displayed at once, most obvious during fast camera movement. Vsync is the classic in-game way to prevent it.