(EDITED bigger)
It's funny, because:
G-SYNC Is the World's Lowest-Lag "Non-VSYNC-OFF" Sync Technology
There is always a scanout-lag penalty of hiding a tearline,
regardless of sync technology so it's not G-SYNC fault.
(A) Tearing topic. Interrupting a refresh cycle in a sub-refresh way (adding tearing by splicing a refresh cycle mid-scanout) is the only way to reduce lag further. This is a law of physics matter for any framebuffered rendering technology and has nothing to do with G-SYNC (i.e. not raster interrupted / per-line beam raced like framebuffer-less machines such as Atari 2600). Not all pixels of a screen refresh at the same time. There is a time difference of 1/390sec for refreshing the first to last pixel on 390Hz screen. Also another way to reduce scanout lag (
high speed videos) for all sync technologies is a higher Hz. A 390Hz monitor will refresh even a low-framerate dip 50fps frame in 1/390sec, as an example. So higher Hz lowers lag of low frame rates too, no matter what sync technology.
(B) Cap topic. Plus if you don't want to deal with capping then you want a VRR range bigger than your framerate range. Buy more refresh rate to solve "framerate range within VRR range". If you have a game that peaks 320fps, you can benefit from a 360Hz or 390Hz monitor so you don't have to worry about capping. Having a refresh rate too low to maximize G-SYNC minimum lag, is the responsibility of your wallet & shopping the reviews. It's funny how the esports world has scapegoated G-SYNC lag "just because it is not VSYNC OFF", but there's a minor lag penalty of having no tearlines -- even for RTSS Scanline Sync (one of the world's lowest lag method of hiding tearlines that isn't G-SYNC). You don't have to cap VRR for most games when you have 300Hz, 360Hz or 390Hz. The 390Hz monitor is particularly good if you want to combine VRR+CS:GO in esports. Now, even CS:GO is not the poster child for satisfying item (B) because it sometimes even peaks beyond >390fps. But there's other games that can never dream of doing 390fps on today's hardware, and thus, there's no such thing as the game hitting a frame rate cap during VRR operation. Now you have more consistent lagfeel when you're permanently inside G-SYNC range. Lots of complaints disappear.
The fallback sync tehcnology -- VSYNC ON and VSYNC OFF -- used concurrently with G-SYNC for the frame rates above G-SYNC range. But if your Hz is high enough to stay above frame rate, these fallback sync technologies never happen. So the "G-SYNC + VSYNC OFF" is just "G-SYNC" permanently if your framerate range is 50fps-320fps for a specific game on a 360Hz monitor, giving you the necessary lagless G-SYNC experience.
The bottom line is that lag from (A) and (B) is not G-SYNC's fault. The lag is from (A) the fault of needing to hide tearlines; and (B) the fault of needing to cap because you can't afford a refresh rate that gives G-SYNC without capping penalty.
Both (A) and (B) is true for many non-G-SYNC technologies that isn't traditional VSYNC OFF.
There's a lag associated with eliminating tearing --
for everything that has no tearing
There's a lag associated with any method of capping --
for everything that has no tearing
Therefore, it's not G-SYNC fault, full stop, it's just a common scapegoat despite being the world's lowest lag tearfree sync tech.
The "3fps below" cap is simply a lesser of pick poison because your other choice is the disadvantages of the fallback sync technology. The cap forces framerates to stay within G-SYNC range. But if your VRR Hz range is bigger than framerate range, big whoop. Problem solved. But any form of capping -- including VSYNC ON which caps to Hz -- also adds a lag penalty too. Fast Sync (fast triple buffer) solves this part, but still has mandatory scanout lag (the penalty of hiding tearing). That's the science.
Also, G-SYNC fixes a hell of a LOT of "non-VSYNC-OFF" lag problems, and that's is why it's the world's lowest latency "non-VSYNC-OFF" sync technology. VSYNC ON, Enhanced Sync, Fast Sync, Adaptive Sync, VRR, Scanline Sync, Special K-Sync, and any other form of hiding tearing, has a mandatory scanout-wait penalty (not all pixels refresh at the same time on a display, and if you don't want tearing, you can't interrupt a refresh cycle in progress without adding tearing). But G-SYNC trumps it all. (As long as LCD GtG lag is not penalized, a side effect of some cheap uncertified VESA Adaptive Sync without good AMD certification nor NVIDIA certification). Panel tech equal, G-SYNC has less lag than any other tearing-free sync technology. Full stop.
Too many people weaponize SEMANTICS
Too many people weaponize SCAPEGOATS
Many misuse semantics from other esports athletes being taught by other sites that miseducate them.
"The lag is the fault of G-SYNC" versus "The lag is the fault of any form of disabling tearing" is not the same education! Anybody who tries the scapegoat tactic is denying proper science.
Cherrypicking can be done. You can also create a situation where 540p 480Hz VSYNC ON has less lag than 1080p 144Hz G-SYNC. Or that crappy Adaptive Sync panel with overdrive completely disabled during VRR (barf, poor/lack of overdrive blackmailing VRR lag blame). Or scaler that unnecessarily changes tapedelay lag (processing delay) when certain settings are changed (such as VRR). That is not the case for all VRR panels fortunately. However, it makes it easier to scapegoat VRR too.
However, same Hz-vs-Hz, overdrive-vs-overdrive, resolution-vs-resolution, AA-vs-AA, framerate-vs-framerate, GtG-vs-GtG, same scaler/TCON processing (signal tapedelay latency, usually 0.1ms-1ms), G-SYNC has less lag than other tearingfree sync technologies when everything else is set equal. From a pure mathematical and programming standpoint, G-SYNC is as lagless as laws of physics allows any tearingfree sync tech to be.
There. Chief has spoken.
TL:DR:
- Use VSYNC OFF if you want something lower lag than any tearing-free framebuffered sync technology ever invented.
- The takeaway is VRR / G-SYNC is generally the world's lowest lag tearing-free sync technology.
Latency science for the win!
Truth.
/goes back into the Wizard of Oz curtain/