A question about freesync monitors

T

TheAntsAreBack

n00b
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
9
Hello, having just bought a new pc and monitor I'm m on catchup trying to get up to speed with in-game settings. I have a 144htz Freesync monitor and an AMD GPU and CPU. My question is, is Freesync only a factor if I'm getting more than 144 FPS? For example playing Total War in getting about 50fps, so does that mean in options VSync should be on or off? I'm a little confused.
Cheers.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580
AOC G2590PX 24.5" 144Hz Monitor
 
with a Freesync monitor, Vsync should almost always be turned Off in the game menu in my experience. You can enable Vsync in the Radeon control panel on a game-by-game basis to avoid tearing but that's only a concern if your framerate goes over 144fps. Some (most?) Freesync monitors have an option for a onscreen refresh rate display that will make it clear whether or not Freesync is working (ie the refresh rate should exactly match the framerate if within the range- 48hz-144hz in your case- or be an exact multiple if below 48fps)
 
  • Like
Reactions: viivo
like this
Cheers, that really helps. I did notice an occasional horizontal ripple effect when scrolling the campaign map that I think disappeared when disabling vsync, but I didn't know if I was doing the right thing. I'm assuming that freesync is enabled by default but perhaps I shall have a look in the settings to see if it's obvious there. Thanks again.
 
That ripple is screen tear which hapens when vsync is off and should not happen with FreeSync. Are you sure FS was on?
 
I'm not sure. I'll need to check my monitors settings I think. I'm assuming it's on by default but perhaps I'm wrong.
 
TheAntsAreBack said:
Cheers, that really helps. I did notice an occasional horizontal ripple effect when scrolling the campaign map that I think disappeared when disabling vsync, but I didn't know if I was doing the right thing. I'm assuming that freesync is enabled by default but perhaps I shall have a look in the settings to see if it's obvious there. Thanks again.
Click to expand...

if the horizontal artifacts went away, sounds like you got it to work. There is an option to turn Freesync on or off in the AMD control panel but having it turned on doesn't necessarily mean the game is actually going to use it. I've run into a lot of issues myself where Freesync is enabled and Vsync is disabled but the game insists on running at 60hz and Freesync doesn't do its thing. See if your monitor has the on-screen refresh rate indicator, my AOC 144hz panel does. That's been my easiest way to tell definitively whether Freesync is working- if the refresh stays stuck at 60hz, it's not. If it changes constantly (whether going higher or lower), then it's working. If a game gets stuck at 60hz, see if there's an option to manually change the refresh rate to 120/144hz in-game. If not, you may have to set your desktop to 120/144hz- some games will stick to whatever refresh rate Windows is set to. Once the game is successfully set to the higher rate, Freesync should kick in if it's enabled.
 
Thanks, I'll check that out tomorrow. Hopefully I'll find an on-screen refresh rate indicator in the menus somewhere. Thanks again.
 
I had a check and it seems that Windows was set to 59hz. I've set that to 144 now. I don't think my monitor has an on-screen refresh rate indicator.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top