G-SYNC 101: G-SYNC Ceiling vs. FPS Limit


How Low Should You Go?

Blur Busters was the world’s first site to test G-SYNC in Preview of NVIDIA G-SYNC, Part #1 (Fluidity) using an ASUS VG248QE pre-installed with a G-SYNC upgrade kit. At the time, the consensus was limiting the fps from 135 to 138 at 144Hz was enough to avoid V-SYNC-level input lag.

However, much has changed since the first G-SYNC upgrade kit was released; the Minimum Refresh Range wasn’t in place, the V-SYNC toggle had yet to be exposed, G-SYNC did not support borderless or windowed mode, and there was even a small performance penalty on the Kepler architecture at the time (Maxwell and later corrected this).

My own testing in my Blur Busters Forum thread found that just 2 FPS below the refresh rate was enough to avoid the G-SYNC ceiling. However, now armed with improved testing methods and equipment, is this still the case, and does the required FPS limit change depending on the refresh rate?

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings

As the results show, just 2 FPS below the refresh rate is indeed still enough to avoid the G-SYNC ceiling and prevent V-SYNC-level input lag, and this number does not change, regardless of the maximum refresh rate in use.

To leave no stone unturned, an “at” FPS, -1 FPS, -2 FPS, and finally -10 FPS limit was tested to prove that even far below -2 FPS, no real improvements can be had. In fact, limiting the FPS lower than needed can actually slightly increase input lag, especially at lower refresh rates, since frametimes quickly become higher, and thus frame delivery becomes slower due to the decrease in sustained framerates.

As for the “perfect” number, going by the results, and taking into consideration variances in accuracy from FPS limiter to FPS limiter, along with differences in performance from system to system, a -3 FPS limit is the safest bet, and is my new recommendation. A lower FPS limit, at least for the purpose of avoiding the G-SYNC ceiling, will simply rob frames.



3525 Comments For “G-SYNC 101”

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BloodyNZ
Member
BloodyNZ

Hey jorimt, thanks for this amazing article and all the research put into it.
My question is if everything present here still applies nowadays with all the new technology and it’s evolution, or anything changed.
I’m rocking a 5060ti but still on a 1080p 144hz display, so I’m trying to optimize it. I play a different range of games, from competitive to single-player. I just want a stable and consistent experience everywhere.

Treeplex
Member
Treeplex

Hello Dear jorimt! I am interested in one question, I will be grateful for the answer. In the game Fall Guys without vertical synchronization limit FPS 300, but with synchronization enabled FPS is equal to 360, what to do in this case?

KasaiRyujin
Member
KasaiRyujin

Hello jorimt, thanks for all the info.

I read almost all the pages of this post, but I’m still not sure what to set in my case.

I have a RTX 4090 + R7 7800X3D. I play on 1440p ~180Hz, so most games run at refresh rate. But I see that the frametime is unstable in some games.

I enabled G-SYNC and set V-Sync to “On”. Also set max framerate to 175 on NVIDIA App.

What should I do with Reflex and Low Latency Mode when I’m hitting refresh rate constantly?
I realized V-Sync has an option called “Fast”, should I use it?

Thanks in advance.

mike-lesnik
Member

Hello jorimt!
For what purpose did Nvidia choose such a significant frame limit for Reflex and LLM Ultra (for example 224 for 240Hz), if you prove that 2-3 frames are enough?

rundown
Member
rundown

Great series, thank you!

Sorry for yet another question about v-sync! 🙂 I do believe that screen tearing occurs with VRR on and v-sync off, but I’m trying to understand on a technical level how it happens with an FPS cap under the max refresh rate? Suppose a 144hz refresh and 140 fps cap.

My understanding is, the display waits in vertical blank until the new frame arrives and immediately scans it out in 1/144 seconds. If the frame limiter is doing its job, a new one shouldn’t arrive until 1/140 seconds after the first one, so the display should be in vblank again.

What am I missing — imperfections in the frame limiter?

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