[SOLVED] - gsync vsync and fps limits (2025)

I've been reading about gsync, vsync and general NVCP setting options. I have an RTX 3070, Ryzen 5800x, and S2721DGF monitor.
I've been seeing a some people say to limit fps to 3-4 frames under your max refresh rate (in my case 165hz) and you have gsync on, which is also suggested to have vsync on in NVPC.
My basic elementary level understanding of gsync is that this helps smooth frames (reduce tearing) below your refresh rate while vsync helps to smooth frames above your monitor's refresh rate.
Perhaps I am not understanding gsync and vsync properly, but my question is why would you have both fps limiter on with vsync on if vsync only helps if you go above your monitor's refresh rate? Am I missing something?

I decided to turn off the limiter but keep gsync and vsync on and I also turned on low latency mode to ultra in NVCP. Not that the experience was bad before but it just seems better now (more like my old tn panel vg248qe).

bravodown said:

I've been reading about gsync, vsync and general NVCP setting options. I have an RTX 3070, Ryzen 5800x, and S2721DGF monitor.
I've been seeing a some people say to limit fps to 3-4 frames under your max refresh rate (in my case 165hz) and you have gsync on, which is also suggested to have vsync on in NVPC.
My basic elementary level understanding of gsync is that this helps smooth frames (reduce tearing) below your refresh rate while vsync helps to smooth frames above your monitor's refresh rate.
Perhaps I am not understanding gsync and vsync properly, but my question is why would you have both fps limiter on with vsync on if vsync only helps if you go above your monitor's refresh rate? Am I missing something?

I decided to turn off the limiter but keep gsync and vsync on and I also turned on low latency mode to ultra in NVCP. Not that the experience was bad before but it just seems better now (more like my old tn panel vg248qe).

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Gsync is essentially just NVIDIA's hardware version of Vsync. Vsync is software attempting to match frames. (Freesync is the AMD equivalent but works with some NVIDIA cards too). If you have the ability to Gsync, turn off Vsync. Counter Intuitive. And your question on the frames thing. You will only be able to experience whatever your frame limit is on your monitor. If you have a 144 HZ monitor, it doesn't really matter if you have dual 3080 tis rendering 500+ FPS, because your monitor will only be capable of showing 144 of those. That's were screen tearing comes in and that's what GSYNC aims to fix. That's why GSYNC is usually locked or capped to your monitors refresh rate. What it does is it matches the output of data from the card to the data displayed on the screen to give you a crisp smooth video experience. GSYNC/FreeSync > Vsync. That's why I also tell people that your PC is only as good as your monitor, so be a little generous.

EyyMunchian said:

Gsync is essentially just NVIDIA's hardware version of Vsync. Vsync is software attempting to match frames. (Freesync is the AMD equivalent but works with some NVIDIA cards too). If you have the ability to Gsync, turn off Vsync. Counter Intuitive. And your question on the frames thing. You will only be able to experience whatever your frame limit is on your monitor. If you have a 144 HZ monitor, it doesn't really matter if you have dual 3080 tis rendering 500+ FPS, because your monitor will only be capable of showing 144 of those. That's were screen tearing comes in and that's what GSYNC aims to fix. That's why GSYNC is usually locked or capped to your monitors refresh rate. What it does is it matches the output of data from the card to the data displayed on the screen to give you a crisp smooth video experience. GSYNC/FreeSync > Vsync. That's why I also tell people that your PC is only as good as your monitor, so be a little generous.

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Thanks for the rsponse. The reason i posted this is many guides online say to turn both gsync on and vsync on in the nvidia control panel but you answered my question as to what didnt make sense to me. Obviously, you cannot answer a question about a control panel settings guide that you did not write lol...but i didnt understand why people would have both vsync on and fps limiter at the same time.

ULtimately, everyone has their own machine with different specs and resources so it seems best just to test the different options i have available to me to find what works best for my setup, which I have been doing.

I do understand I can only see frames to the max refresh rate of my monitor (165hz in my case). However, some of the guides say to limit the fps under your refresh rate, so in my case it would set fps limiter to about 161 or so. According to these other 'guides', this is so vsync doesnt initiate and cause tearing (but according to your above explanation, it sounds like this guide i was looking at was not entirely accurate - but i have seen this discussed on multiple sources not just one).

My monitor is a dell s2721dgf (ive had it about a week now). It's really nice, fast response and low input lag. It looks really good but it seems even smoother when i DO NOT cap fps, i dont really notice any tearing but everything just seems even smoother and more crisp. I had also turned on nvidia control panel setting for low latency mode set to ultra (was previously off) so im not sure if it is the low fps mode doing this or removing the fps limiter. But I'm really enjoying the current settings. I was just confused about some of the gsync/vsync/fps limiters discussed in other guides.

What I have heard from people I trust is that capping your frames via software just under your hardware limit improves your lag / response times.

Never did any testing on that, but I have been employing the practice.

larsv8 said:

What I have heard from people I trust is that capping your frames via software just under your hardware limit improves your lag / response times.

Never did any testing on that, but I have been employing the practice.

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this was my understanding as well from what i have been reading. however, in practice, with my setup, i have a better experience with no fps limit. ill have to test tonight if the fps limit turned off appears better to me or if it was the low latency ultra mode. i adjusted both at the same time.
but this brings me back to the main question of this thread - why use gsync/vsync at all if we are limiting the fps to under the monitors refresh rate if vsync only smooths tearing from fps exceeding the monitor's refresh rate?
ultimately, im going to use what works best for my perception in fast paced fps games (ive been testing a lot of differnet combinations of NVPC and in game settings) but im just curious what other's have experienced or know about the topic. thanks for responding!
another thing to consider is im adjusting to a new monitor. its my first 1440p res, ips, gsync monitor (s2721dgf), coming from 1080p tn panel without gsync. perhaps the settings didnt do anything and my eyes arejust adapting to the new panel more? or both ? lol