How to set up FreeSync correctly? It's astonishing how much conflicting information there is on very basic questions concerning FreeSync.

[Deleted member 2834]

I'd like to have some straight forward answers to these questions:

• AMD_Robert suggests that you're supposed to use Vsync and Freesync together. Others on the internet claim that you're supposed to turn Vsync off and that Robert's info is wrong or outdated. What's the consensus in 2020?

• Assuming I believe Robert, should I use the ingame Vsync or any of these two options in the AMD driver? If so, which one? Both?
  

• Should I limit the FPS or not? Robert says no, others on the internet claim it's best to limit the FPS so that it's 3 fps below your max refresh rate (141 limit for a 144 hz screen).

• If I take Dota 2 as an example, I feel like I was better off limiting the FPS to 120 FPS than 141 but I'm not entirely confident. I got the screen yesterday. I also tried CSGO and that I receive framerates well beyond 144 fps and thus my monitor's FreeSync range. In that case, FreeSync doesn't do anything and I'm best off just turning Vsync on correct? Wouldn't it be better if I capped the framerate at 141 and made use of FreeSync instead?

• What do I do with games that don't have the option to unlock the framerate (Dota 2 won't allow for an unlocked framerate either. 240 fps is max)? I'm playing Trials of Mana and its max framerate is 120 fps. It's running very well, I can't complain but if Robert says one shouldn't limit the FPS, how do games that have a hard FPS limit behave generally?

Maybe I'm too stupid to google but I can't find straight answer for these super basic questions that literally every 144 hz monitor owner must have had at some point in their live.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Deleted member 44122]

• Should I limit the FPS or not? Robert says no, others on the internet claim it's best to limit the FPS so that it's 3 fps below your max refresh rate (141 limit for a 144 hz screen).

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that ones definitely true, you should limit the max framerate so its slightly below the supported freesync range ceiling. amds framerate limiter isnt the best, so its possible to get 1-2 fps more than what you set it to, which would lead to tearing again if its outside the freesync range

• What do I do with games that don't have the option to unlock the framerate (Dota 2 won't allow for an unlocked framerate either. 240 fps is max)? I'm playing Trials of Mana and its max framerate is 120 fps. It's running very well, I can't complain but if Robert says one shouldn't limit the FPS, how do games that have a hard FPS limit behave generally?

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doesnt matter as long as its in the freesync range of your monitor

 

[MCD]

I enable Freesync and do this via in game options:

"others on the internet claim it's best to limit the FPS so that it's 3 fps below your max refresh rate (141 limit for a 144 hz screen)."

Worked perfectly for Overwatch. Vsync/enhanced sync are all off. They add latency last I read but some people turn them on so they get consistent framerate I think? Not sure.

Pictures:

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

I went from a FreeSync to a Gsync monitor very recently and have not looked back.

 

[tokkun]

• What do I do with games that don't have the option to unlock the framerate (Dota 2 won't allow for an unlocked framerate either. 240 fps is max)? I'm playing Trials of Mana and its max framerate is 120 fps. It's running very well, I can't complain but if Robert says one shouldn't limit the FPS, how do games that have a hard FPS limit behave generally?

Click to shrink...

Don't worry about it. He isn't saying that using an application-level frame limiter and Vsync together is harmful, just that it is unnecessary.

 

[Bluforce]

I have Radeon Enhanced Sync and Freesync both enabled.
I don't use FPS limiter, but in most games hardly I can get more than 144fps.

 

[Pargon]

Disclaimer: I do not have an AMD GPU or a FreeSync monitor. I have an NVIDIA GPU and a G-Sync monitor.
But I believe that the same general rules apply to both.

Every VRR monitor has an active range it can support; e.g. 40–144Hz.

• When you get below that range, LFC takes over; or V-Sync if LFC is unsupported (all G-Sync monitors support "LFC").
• When you get above that range, V-Sync takes over.

V-Sync adds latency. At least two, but often three or more frames if it's triple-buffered.

Let's say you are playing a game which would otherwise run at 200 FPS on your 144Hz monitor.

• If you disable V-Sync it will run at 200 FPS and there won't be any latency, but you will get screen tearing.
• If you enable V-Sync it will run at 144 FPS and there will be no screen tearing; but there will be 2+ frames of latency.

Now, 2 frames of latency at 144 FPS is not a lot compared to 2 frames at 30 FPS, but it can still be noticeable to many people.

But what if you could eliminate the tearing and the latency?
If you were to limit the game to 140 FPS, it would stay within the VRR range at all times - so you wouldn't get any tearing or latency.

Frame rate limiters operate differently from V-Sync though.

• V-Sync is a hardware limit that cannot be broken.
• Frame rate limiters are a software limit which can be broken.

What you will find is that even if you limit a game to 140 FPS on a 144Hz display, you might still see tearing if V-Sync is disabled.
And it can extend far below that in certain circumstances. Here's an example of 80 FPS tearing (bottom of the image) on my 100Hz G-Sync monitor:

There's an easy solution for that though:

• Enable V-Sync to prevent tearing.
• Combine that with a frame rate limiter to minimize latency.

P.S. You should be using double-buffered V-Sync where possible. Do not use triple-buffered V-Sync or Enhanced Sync (AMD)/Fast Sync (NVIDIA) with VRR displays.


If a game itself has a limit of 60 or 120 FPS built-in, you shouldn't have to do anything.
The one thing I'd caution you about though, is that some games have a limit of 60 FPS, but also set the monitor's refresh rate to 60Hz.
You always want the refresh rate to be at its maximum, even if a game is limited to only 60 FPS.
60 FPS at 60Hz means you're pushing up against V-Sync, while 60 FPS at 144Hz means latency is going to remain low at all times.


And finally, I don't know how it's handled with FreeSync, but G-Sync at least has an option to be enabled only for Full-Screen applications, or Full-Screen and Windowed applications.
Windowed applications do not sync properly, so they lack the absolute smoothness of full-screen mode, and sometimes you might see bad stuttering which would not be present in full-screen mode - or even without G-Sync at all. I remember people complaining about Stuttering in Ori 2 recently for example.
I don't know if that's an issue with NVIDIA's handling of windowed-mode G-Sync, or if FreeSync is also affected. I suspect it applies to both. But I'd recommend that you stick to Full-Screen mode to avoid any headaches.

 

[Bluforce]

So, I just made some tests with Rocket League, the game more sensible to tearing that I know.
Framerate capped to 144fps via the ingame slider.

Vsync OFF + Freesync ON = Tearing
Vsync ON + Freesync ON = less Tearing
Radeon Enhanced Sync ON + Freesync ON = smoothness

I'll stick with the third solution.