Should I Turn On V-Sync?

V-Sync (vertical sync) forces your graphics card to hand the monitor a new frame only at the start of each refresh, which eliminates screen tearing. The trade-off is that it can add input lag, and if your frame rate drops below the refresh rate it can cause stutter or halve your effective frame rate. The modern answer for most people: if you have a G-SYNC or FreeSyncmonitor, use adaptive sync instead — it removes tearing without the lag penalty. Keep plain V-Sync as a fallback for monitors without adaptive sync, and turn it off for the lowest-latency competitive play if you can tolerate a little tearing.

What tearing is, and why V-Sync stops it

Tearing happens when your GPU sends a new frame while the monitor is still drawing the previous one, so the top and bottom of the screen show different frames split by a horizontal line. It is most visible when frame rate and refresh rate are out of sync. V-Sync fixes it by making the GPU wait for the monitor's refresh before delivering a frame, so every refresh shows one whole frame. The cost of that waiting is the downside.

The downsides of plain V-Sync

• Input lag.Because frames are held back to align with refreshes, there is a small added delay between your action and the screen updating — enough to matter in fast competitive shooters. See input lag vs response time.
• Stutter or frame-rate halving. Traditional V-Sync works cleanly when your GPU can hold the full refresh rate. Drop below it and the frame delivery can fall to a divisor (e.g. from 60 to 30fps), producing noticeable stutter.

The better modern fix: adaptive sync

NVIDIA G-SYNC and AMD FreeSync flip the relationship: instead of the GPU waiting for the monitor, the monitor varies its refresh to match the GPU's frame rate in real time. That removes tearing across a range of frame rates without the input-lag hit of plain V-Sync, and without the stutter when frame rate dips. If your monitor supports it (most modern gaming monitors do), enable adaptive sync in both the monitor menu and your GPU driver — our G-SYNC vs FreeSync guide covers turning it on. This is the recommended default for the great majority of players.

The settings to actually use

• Adaptive-sync monitor, most games: turn on G-SYNC/FreeSync, and cap your frame rate a few fps below the refresh rate. Many players also enable V-Sync in the driver alongside adaptive sync as a safety net for frames above the range; the frame cap keeps latency low. This is the smoothest, lowest-tearing setup.
• Competitive shooter, chasing lowest latency: some players turn V-Sync off entirely and accept minor tearing for the fastest possible response. Reasonable if you are highly sensitive to lag.
• No adaptive-sync monitor: V-Sync on is the simplest way to stop distracting tearing in slower and single-player games; leave it off if the added lag bothers you more than the tearing.

Bottom line

Plain V-Sync is a blunt tool: it cures tearing but can cost latency and smoothness. If your monitor has G-SYNC or FreeSync, use that instead and cap your frame rate — it is the better fix. Reserve V-Sync for adaptive-sync-less displays or as a driver-level backstop. For the broader tearing picture, read how to fix screen tearing, and when shopping for a monitor that does this well, see our best 144Hz monitors roundup and how to choose a gaming monitor.