Valorant - Game to Render - Reflex vs Cap.

[Saiyeidolon]

For the last few years or so I've been using the recommended G Sync settings, cap below refresh rate; now at 355 for my 360Hz monitor, V Sync On and Low Latency set to On, this was my set and forget setting. Today however, I decided to give Valorant a try, I was just playing with the settings and running around the shooting range practice map, getting familiar with the guns etc. I decided to turn on the telemetry options and I seen that my Game to Render time was around 9ms, at the time I hadn't set a frame rate cap in game- I went ahead and set it to 355 and my Game to Render time reduced to 4.7/5ms which was to be expected. I seen Reflex Low Latency in there and wanted to try it out and when I did the Game to Render time reduced to 2.7/3ms. I don't understand why using Reflex would be lower than using the settings than the in-game frame cap, I even tried setting it to 327 (which is what it's capping to with Reflex enabled) but Reflex enabled was still superior. Even running G-Sync/V-Sync off with a cap of 500 had a render latency of 3.5ms, and it was the same with Reflex enabled or disabled.

To summarise, G-Sync + V-Sync on, @360Hz + Reflex On = Best? Why?

System specs

1080ti
5600x
DDR4 16Gb @3600Mhz

I don't believe I'm GPU bound, if I were then I could understand Reflex helping but it seems it's doing something additional to just lowering the frame limit and avoiding becoming GPU bound and increasing the render queue.

[Shade7]

Nvidia Reflex includes the new optimizations done specifically to use Gsync for competitive FPS games, including Valorant.

The new recommended advice for very high refresh rate monitors (360hz) to get the best experiance (best image + lowest input lag) while playing Valorant is using Gsync along with Reflex.

To use Gsync correctly with Reflex in Valorant, you have to set the following:

NVCP Global Profile: Gsync ON + Vsync ON
Ingame Valorant Settings: Reflex ON+BOOST, framelimiter UNCAPPED, Vsync OFF (ingame menu Vsync OFF)

With this config, Reflex should automatically cap your ingame fps to ~330 with the lowest latency.

What actually happens with Reflex? I'll just quote this from an Nvidia article:

"Nvidia Reflex is a software solution that bypasses the render queue and enhances communication between the CPU and GPU. This ensures that no frames get stuck in the pipeline, and each one is swiftly actioned by the graphics card at the precise moment the processor passes it along. No rendering queue also means there’s a much lower latency trade-off at higher resolutions, allowing you to enjoy greater detail and keep your competitive edge."

Overall, what I understand from it is that Reflex's interaction with Gsync only kicks in if the above configurations are set that way. If not, you will not be utilizing the full Reflex enhancements to shave off input lag, and are going with the "classic" Gsync performance, which required manually capping the fps yourself.

[TN_fun]

Reflex + 324 cap , vsync off
Vsync absolutely unnecessary garbage that will add input lag, with gsync enabled.
without vsync, you can see rare tearing, but when you turn on vsync, at these moments your input lag will increase, due to software synchronization. Although it seems to me that gsync+ vsync always gives a greater input delay (with fps cap) than just only gsync

[Shade7]

Reflex + 324 cap , vsync off
Vsync absolutely unnecessary garbage that will add input lag, with gsync enabled.
without vsync, you can see rare tearing, but when you turn on vsync, at these moments your input lag will increase, due to software synchronization. Although it seems to me that gsync+ vsync always gives a greater input delay (with fps cap) than just only gsync

Really? Is this for Valorant?

Gsync+Vsync+Reflex should activate the lowest input lag you could get compared to Gsync + any other configurations.

Are you capping fps yourself when using Gsync, or leaving it uncapped, while using Reflex's Auto cap. the Auto cap should yield the best results.

[TN_fun]

In any game.
gsync + lock fps is the best.

If you are sensitive to input lag, then when you activate gsync + vsync you will feel more input lag than gsync + fps cap (for example 360Hz, fps cap 350)

[Shade7]

In any game.
gsync + lock fps is the best.

If you are sensitive to input lag, then when you activate gsync + vsync you will feel more input lag than gsync + fps cap (for example 360Hz, fps cap 350)

But running Gsync+Vsync+Reflex is not the same as just Gsync+Vsync. The delay from Vsync does not occur due to Reflex taking over. Setting up Reflex to work with Gsync requires Vsync to be on. But once Reflex kicks in, it should reduce input lag to lower than Vsync off.

[joseph_from_pilsen]

Well working reflex will set up the input lag exactly to 5ms at stronk hardware, what is the valo engine limit. (e. g. meanwhile source steam engine has 12ms minimum, not being supported by Reflex at all).
And yes, the guy is right, reflex should override other settings, reflex itself is claimed to be the best optimalization possible if the game supports it and valorant does.

[Shade7]

Well working reflex will set up the input lag exactly to 5ms at stronk hardware, what is the valo engine limit. (e. g. meanwhile source steam engine has 12ms minimum, not being supported by Reflex at all).
And yes, the guy is right, reflex should override other settings, reflex itself is claimed to be the best optimalization possible if the game supports it and valorant does.

So far- I'm not sure what the lowest possible value is for Valorant so far. I don't think people have tested Valorant as in depth as CS:GO. Really wish some more experianced testers would take on Valorant sometime in the future.

I definitely want to mention that even though proper Gsync+Reflex should give the lowest input lag numbers. I wouldn't recommend this setup to everyone who is trying to be competitive.

It seems there is a difference between monitors that are "Gsync" & "Gsync Compatible". Even though Gsync Compatible monitors can use the Reflex setup to achieve the low input lag numbers, there is a bit of strange behavior ingame. IDK if its the game engine or the monitors themselves, but the visuals + consistancy Gsync is supposed to provide does not perform well & leads to a crappy competitive experiance (in my case at least).

I really would like to try a proper Gsync monitor sometime in the future to see how Reflex+Gsync performs, because the reviews from people with those monitors have been very positive of this setup.