lexlazootin wrote:Everyone here is giving top level players way too much credit. The true reason they don't use it is because they don't understand it. If they wanted less latency they would be using higher refresh monitors and not be using zowie mice that have 20ms click latency.
Many are using Benq/Zowie monitors (which ARE among the lowest lag displays) and other types of gaming mice anyway...
Assuming the monitor is all equal (realtime scanout, "Instant Mode", or whatever fastest lagless output mode) -- which is now most gaming monitors on the market -- VSYNC OFF at framerates far higher than refresh rate (more than twice) will have less average latency than GSYNC.
That said, 240Hz GSYNC will require far higher than >480fps VSYNC OFF for the VSYNC OFF to really take precedence.
Also, the fluctuating lag is also a problem: The sudden VSYNC ON lag that occurs when hitting the max GSYNC frame rate. Which can be solved by an IN-game framerate cap. Then again, VSYNC OFF at 1000fps is still preferable in the paid championships...
It's important to understand the
scanout relationship with VSYNC OFF to understand why VSYNC OFF can have less input lag when framerates start to go far higher than refresh rate... For Quake and CS:GO competition players, the goal is to run VSYNC OFF at framerates
far higher than twice the refresh rate -- in order to get less lag than
anything "non-VSYNC-OFF"
Now imagine this at 1000fps. You get 8 tearslices per refresh cycle, so everything on the screen is "1ms-fresh" as it scanouts -- even if the bottom edge of screen is scanned 1/120sec (8.3ms) after the top edge (aka --
VSYNC OFF is a workaround for scanout latency)
Scanout latency is a constant of the display universe. It is nearly as intractable as the speed of light. GSYNC definitely zeros-out the begin-of-scanout latency -- less lag before begin of scanout. However, GSYNC does not eliminate top-to-bottom scanout latency. VSYNC OFF does not either, but works around it by delivering fresher frame slices in realtime while the screen is scanning out. Scanout always exists, and VSYNC OFF is an old workaround for scanout latency.
GSYNC doesn't exist with a 500fps or 1000fps cap yet, and there is less lag in CS:GO at >500fps VSYNC OFF....
Also, VSYNC OFF while has more microstutters, can have more frametime visibility consistency with mouse aiming. Because the fresher slices are more freshly in-tune (less lag) with what the mouse is aiming at, despite microstutter.
TL;DR: This thread exists only because some games can run at framerates far higher than refresh rate. (as a way of reducing input lag)
If refresh rates went up (scanout latency went down) such as 1000fps@1000Hz GSYNC, then there is no reason to use VSYNC OFF.
That said, some eSports players may actually be interested in trying out re-enabling GSYNC on the 240Hz monitors for games unable to exceed ~220fps or so -- and possibly using an in-game framerate cap (not external cap utility) to prevent the sudden lag change of hitting GSYNC limit (seen in
GSYNC Preview #2). Though many eSports venues do not allow editing config files in this way, so that is a consideration...