Blur Busters Forums

Hey everyone... I'm new to the forum so I apologize if I'm asking something that's been beaten to death I would try to catch up on all of the threads/posts but I need to make a decision by Monday.

I've recently upgraded to a GTX 1080Ti graphics card and 100Hz UltraWide monitor but my CPU is a bottleneck with some games making it hard to maintain 100 FPS. Graphics are not smooth when under 100FPS - love the 100Hz when I can take advantage. So, I have three choices:

1) Reduce graphical settings to maintain 100 FPS - not always possible and not really an attractive option as I like the eye candy.
2) Upgrade my CPU - the plan is a i7-8700x at some point but the new motherboard, CPU/cooler, and RAM is around $800
3) Return this monitor ($750 Samsung CF791) and go with another but WITH GSYNC ($1000 for an AlienVault AW3418DW).

My question, will GSYNC give me smooth motion (can't stand stutter/tearing) when UNDER the 120Hz refresh of this AlienVault monitor, at least as smooth as a locked 60 FPS (w/vsync) of my old 60Hz monitor (LG 34UM95 3440x1440 60Hz)?

Current details:
Gaming: Only racing and flight simulators
Samsung CF791 3440x1440 @ 100Hz (can return - considering AlienVault AW3418DW w/GSYNC 3440x1440 @ 120Hz max)
i7-3770 3.4GHz - 4.0GHz turbo
EVGA GTX 1080Ti SC
16GB

If I switch monitors the additional cash outlay is $250 vs $550 ($800 - $250 if I keep the non-gsync Samsung). I'll upgrade the rest when I can convince my wife that the hardware is needed

Even if you reduce image quality or get a better CPU you will still be getting tearing above and below the maximum refresh rate. G-Sync can help with that and you can even force your games to stay under the maximum refresh rate with a fps cap to get silky smooth tear-free, 'stutter' free, low latency experience.

I love my G-Sync and i think it's a requirement for dope builds to have some sort of adaptive sync tech monitors. G-Sync also has so advantages of having better over drive/color tuning as well as a few other things.

Don't get too caught up on the exact monitor, most of the gaming high refreshrate monitors use the same panels because there is only so few and the G-Sync chip will make sure they are pretty identical performance wise. Acer 'tends' to be the cheaper brand and it looks like there 1440p Ultrawide is also 1000$ so it looks like the Dell is pretty good price.

Obviously i'm pretty biased because i love the tech so much

Thanks for the input @lexlazootin.

Regarding option #2 (CPU, RAM, MB upgrade), I realize this by itself would not help with stutter and tearing - it was an option as I would have a much less of a chance of falling below 100 FPS. I could use vsync or a 100 FPS limit to eliminate tearing.

That's good to hear that GSYNC can provide smooth stutter/tearing free experience if I can't hit the refresh of the monitor.

As for the monitor selection, I'm not seeing anything that's going to beat the Alienware AW3418DW on specs for $1000, except for the AOC Agon AG352UCG ($800-$900) but the reviews for that haven't been the best.
Thanks

Capping at the refresh rate does not eliminate tearing either, the only 'good' ways to get rid of tearing is from V-Sync which adds a lot of latency, Fast Sync which is pretty good if you can cap your game at your refreshrate as it has less latency then V-Sync, or G-Sync/FreeSync which doesn't add any latency and can be variable if your FPS drops which makes it a really good option.

It's just that i hear the "you don't get tearing if your fps is more/less/same as your freshrate" and it just doesn't work like that without some sort of sync.

As someone who loves racing games, I can tell you that G-Sync is perfect for them. Unlike most other games, racing games have continuous motion, making FPS/Hz mismatches extremely visible. G-Sync will fix that.

I recommend g-sync in general, but for racing games I view it as especially important.

If you decide to go G-Sync, read the G-Sync 101 article on how to configure it correctly.

lexlazootin wrote:Capping at the refresh rate does not eliminate tearing either, the only 'good' ways to get rid of tearing is from V-Sync which adds a lot of latency, Fast Sync which is pretty good if you can cap your game at your refreshrate as it has less latency then V-Sync, or G-Sync/FreeSync which doesn't add any latency and can be variable if your FPS drops which makes it a really good option.

It's just that i hear the "you don't get tearing if your fps is more/less/same as your freshrate" and it just doesn't work like that without some sort of sync.

With GSYNC, if I use a cap of 60 FPS without VSYNC and the framerate never drops below 60 FPS I will still get some stutter/frame pacing issues/tearing?

Without a GSYNC capable monitor my only option is to not drop below the monitors' refresh rate and use VSYNC for tearing control. With a GSYNC monitor I assumed I had two choices:

1) Use VSYNC for tearing control, and GSYNC would eliminate stutter/frame pacing issues below monitors' refresh rate.
2) Turn VSYNC off and use a CAP less than lowest framerate achievable (example 60 FPS). I assumed the variable refresh rate of the GSYNC monitor would sync to the CAP and eliminate stutter/frame pacing issues/tearing.

My "assumptions" of a GSYNC monitors' functionality I guess may not be correct.

Note, I don't really have a problem with using VSYNC if necessary to control all stutter/frame pacing/tearing. For racing games the latency is not enough for me to notice. I've tested extensively and my lap times haven't suffered - maybe I'm too old

RealNC wrote:As someone who loves racing games, I can tell you that G-Sync is perfect for them. Unlike most other games, racing games have continuous motion, making FPS/Hz mismatches extremely visible. G-Sync will fix that.

I recommend g-sync in general, but for racing games I view it as especially important.

If you decide to go G-Sync, read the G-Sync 101 article on how to configure it correctly.

Thanks, that's good to hear.

G-Sync and vsync are mutually exclusive (g-sync is a replacement for vsync.) The vsync setting does something else in g-sync mode. The G-Sync 101 article explains this in some detail.

RealNC wrote:G-Sync and vsync are mutually exclusive (g-sync is a replacement for vsync.) The vsync setting does something else in g-sync mode. The G-Sync 101 article explains this in some detail.

Yes, I understand now. I've just place an order for an Alienware AW3418DW. GSYNC monitors are more expensive but it's time for the best solution for this NVidia gamer. I love the 21:9 format at 3440x1440 for racing/flight games and would like higher refresh rates (100+) without having to dumb down the games' graphical settings more than absolutely necessary - GSYNC helps with games that cause drops under the ideal.

Thanks everyone...

FuzzFassbendr wrote:With GSYNC, if I use a cap of 60 FPS without VSYNC and the framerate never drops below 60 FPS I will still get some stutter/frame pacing issues/tearing?

FuzzFassbendr wrote:1) Use VSYNC for tearing control, and GSYNC would eliminate stutter/frame pacing issues below monitors' refresh rate.
2) Turn VSYNC off and use a CAP less than lowest framerate achievable (example 60 FPS). I assumed the variable refresh rate of the GSYNC monitor would sync to the CAP and eliminate stutter/frame pacing issues/tearing.

There is virtually no difference between VSYNC ON and VSYNC OFF with a G-SYNC monitor running below its max Hz, as long as no frametimes becomes shorter than the duration of a refresh cycle.

The differences only reveal themselves when a G-SYNC monitors hits its maximum Hz, whereupon it starts to exhibit either a behaviour of VSYNC ON (sudden lag-increase) or VSYNC OFF behaviour (appearance of tearing).

This is why Blur Busters recommend capping somewhat below max Hz (via Jorim's GSYNC 101 multi-part series of articles) to allow a G-SYNC monitor to behave purely. If this is done well, it's mostly academic whether or not to use VSYNC ON or VSYNC OFF -- there are sometimes minor transient effects if you get too close to the max Hz because a frame capping is not perfect; and at 144fps, a frametime may be 1/143sec, and another subsequent frametime may be 1/145sec. In order to accomodate such fluctuations, we often recommend capping below, e.g. 135fps, 138fps or 140fps (the more accurate your frame rate cap, the tighter you can get).

However, anytime a GSYNC monitor is running within its range (30Hz thru 144Hz typically, for most G-SYNC monitors), it often looks like a "permanent perfect VSYNC ON" (but without the lag).

So random fluctuating 55fps-65fps looks almost exactly like perfect VSYNC ON 60fps@60Hz (but without the lag of VSYNC ON).

So running at 60fps with occasional framerate dips (e.g. down to 55fps) will be almost unnoticeable. The monitor changes its refresh rate every single refresh cycle, so 47fps is 47Hz. 55fps is 55Hz. 65fps is 65Hz. The Hz can change hundreds of times a second seamlessly on a G-SYNC or FreeSync monitor. It gives you virtually stutterless changes in framerates.

That's what G-SYNC is so great -- if you hate framedrop stutters. G-SYNC doesn't fix motion blur (you need ULMB for that) but if you are super-sensitive to framerate-fluctuation stutters, that is what G-SYNC is great for.

It won't fix long-freeze stutters (e.g. slow disk accesses, running out of GPU RAM, etc) but as long as framerates modulates up and down reasonably smoothly, it is nearly invisible.

There is also a TestUFO simulated animation of G-SYNC (simulated via interpolation). That is what you get natively on a G-SYNC monitor.