General beginner's question regarding FPS/refresh rate

[dbc_lx]

Hello,

i've been reading a lot of threads in the forums, but i honestly dont understand everything to perfection, so i decided to just sum up my question right here, hoping someone can help me:

When playing Apex i limit my FPS (via RTSS) to 190 as the game engine runs worse above 200 FPS, a lot of players confirmed this and most of the streamers i see, also use this method. I can maintain the 190 in almost any situation in game - my monitor is a 240Hz TN panel (running native res and refresh rate) and i have V-Sync turned off in game and NVCP.

As mentioned in the Scanline Sync thread there are on the one hand people who have problems with an image distorted by tearing, and on the other hand there are people who are more sensitive to microstutters. I would see myself as almost immune to tearing but extremely sensitive to microstutters, so my question is, how i would be able to get an overall smoother experience, even if it comes as a tradeoff for more tearing? Would it be beneficial to lower my monitors refresh rate to match the FPS limit?

Thank you in advance, Alex

[jorimt]

I would see myself as almost immune to tearing but extremely sensitive to microstutters, so my question is, how i would be able to get an overall smoother experience, even if it comes as a tradeoff for more tearing? Would it be beneficial to lower my monitors refresh rate to match the FPS limit?

The irony there, is tearing at higher refresh rates can be akin to microstutter. As such, "more tearing" doesn't typically = an overall smoother experience.

As for lowering your max physical refresh rate, don't; it will only reduce overall responsiveness and increase the appearance of tearing.

[Gholbimand]

Сool. Thanks for the Thread

[Chief Blur Buster]

As for lowering your max physical refresh rate, don't; it will only reduce overall responsiveness and increase the appearance of tearing.

That's correct for VSYNC OFF in non-ScanlineSync methods.

However, for RTSS Scanline Sync or VSYNC ON, especially when combined with strobing, it can be favourable to lower the refresh rate if RTSS Scanline Sync is able to better hide tearlines offscreen more easily. You want to lower your refresh rate to the valley of your framerate range in that specific case. Scanline Sync requires framerate=Hz for best performance and sometimes lower Hz makes it easier for Scanline Sync to hide the tearlines offscreen. So you've got opposing goals you're trying to compensate by lowering the refresh rate to massively improve motion quality.

To reduce stutters with tearing:
- VSYNC OFF stutters more than VRR, so use VRR if you can use it.
- Try a VRR range bigger than your game's framerate range. A "100fps-200fps" framerate range is better at 240Hz than at 144Hz.
- Higher Hz for unsynchronized VSYNC OFF will usually stutter less. Framerate-refreshrate mismatch stutters at 360Hz is less than stutters at 240Hz is less than stutters at 144Hz. However, some engines will have problems being smooth at high frame rates / refresh rates.

If you hate stutters a lot, and you don't have VRR, then framerate=Hz methods (Low-Lag VSYNC ON, RTSS Scanline Sync, etc) which can be deliciously stutter-free on non-VRR displays when optimized properly..

[jorimt]

As for lowering your max physical refresh rate, don't; it will only reduce overall responsiveness and increase the appearance of tearing.

That's correct for VSYNC OFF in non-ScanlineSync methods.

However, for RTSS Scanline Sync or VSYNC ON, especially when combined with strobing, it can be favourable to lower the refresh rate if RTSS Scanline Sync is able to better hide tearlines offscreen more easily.

Correct, I was only referring to standalone no sync, as that seemed to be what he preferred, but the other scenarios you listed are obviously also entirely relevant alternatives.