You are using G-Sync wrong (probably)

Should you turn G-Sync on? What about V-Sync? Should you use an FPS limiter? Which settings are the best for low latency gaming?

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[techlessYT]

Okay, some answers to your FAQs:

*“What about the Low Latency Mode (aka NULL or LLM) in the Nvidia App?"*
You can just set it to “On” all the time, but I don’t recommend using “Ultra” (unless GPU limited, see next point). With V-Sync enabled, the “Ultra” mode works similar to Reflex, but it’s inferior. It’s not shown in the video, but I measured 12.2 ms in Overwatch with LLM “Ultra” vs 8.9 ms with Reflex “On + Boost”. It’s a similar story with uncapped FPS. Setting the Low Latency Mode to “On” doesn’t cap your FPS, but it can reduce the pre-rendered frames queue if Reflex is not available.

*“What’s the best setting if the FPS are lower than the max refresh rate of the monitor?*
In this case I’d recommend using Reflex instead of the FPS cap method. You might be GPU-bound and Reflex makes sure that this doesn’t increase your latency.
*If Reflex isn't available*, it gets a bit more complicated. If you're CPU-limited, you're good and don't need to anything. But if you're GPU-limited, you'll get increased latency. In that case you could use a more aggressive FPS cap: a few FPS below the average FPS should be enough to escape the GPU-limit. Activating Low Latency Mode "Ultra" in the Nvidia App, instead of a manual FPS limit, might also do the job, depending on the game. I'd suggest testing both with an eye on the latency stat in the Nvidia overlay (alt + z).

*Why do I need V-Sync with G-Sync on?*
Without V-Sync you still get tearing at the bottom edge of your screen. Activating V-Sync gets rid of that, but it does not increase the latency mid-screen! It's not shown in the video, but I measured the same latency with V-Sync "On" or "Off" with G-Sync "On" and a -3 FPS cap. Not using V-Sync makes absolutely no sense in this scenario.

*“Should I enable V-Sync in-game or in the Nvidia App?”*
Typically there’s no difference between both options, but reportedly some games enable tripple buffering if you enable V-Sync inside the game. I haven't encountered anything like that yet though. To be safe I’d suggest using V-Sync in the Nvidia App instead. Make sure to set it to “On”. “Fast” can increase your latency. It’s not shown in the video, but in Valorant I measured 0.3 to 1.7 ms higher latency with V-Sync “Fast” than with V-Sync “On”.

*“Should I still enable G-Sync if I’m running uncapped FPS above the max refresh rate?”*
Yes, G-Sync typically doesn't have a negative effect if the FPS exceed the max refresh rate, but it can reduce tearing if the FPS drop below the max refresh rate. I'd suggest having G-Sync on either way - unless your monitor flickers with G-Sync “On”, like some OLEDs do.

*“Where do I find these Reduce Buffering or Double/Tripple Buffering settings?”*
In-game. Not every game has these options though.

*“Does this apply to AMD GPUs as well?”*
I didn’t test this with an AMD GPU, so I don’t want to give recommendations. Keep in mind though that counterpart to “Nvidia Reflex” is supposed to be “Radeon Anti-Lag 2” and “Radeon Anti-Lag” (without the 2) is only comparable to Nvidia’s “Low Latency Mode”.

[Dadodaw]

The problem is these adaptive sync features are sold as "It just works" technology on the box when it in fact does not just work and most people have no idea how to properly set it up. No wonder there's so much misinformation out there.

[ainesh]

Finally someone made a in depth video about this with accurate statistics and not just the "feel"

[Simon_Denmark]

Blur busters: G-SYNC 101: Optimal G-SYNC Settings & Conclusion. I don’t know why this is still debated about in 2025.

[Spinelli__]

As this video correctly stated, the best method to avoid tearing, stutters caused from fps not syncing with monitor refresh rate, and having minimal latency with any regardless of framerate, performance, etc. and regardless of what game you're playing (the vast majority of games don't have "Reflex" so this method is the safest and most consistent for ALL games), is the following:
1) - enable NV driver G-Sync
2) - enable Nvidia driver V-Sync (disable in-game)
3) - set NV driver Low Latency Mode to "On" ("Ultra" can sometimes slightly reduce latency further but sometimes actually increases latency and can cause other issues like stutters and lower FPS, it's quite game & system dependent - "Ultra" is often fine but not always - but "On" is always safe and is 95-99 % as good as "Ultra" when "Ultra" works good)
4) - enable in-game FPS limiter (sometimes in game options, sometimes in the games' text files, etc.). For 120 Hz, set to 116 FPS. For 144 Hz, set to 138-140 FPS. For 240 Hz, set to 234 FPS. If the game doesn't have a FPS limiter anywhere, than use the Nvidia Driver FPS limiter or something like the MSI Afterburner FPS limiter (built into RTSS which comes bundled with MSI AB but RTSS can also be downloaded and used on it's own without AB). I've had better luck with the FPS limiter from MSI AB / RTSS compared to the NV driver one because, for some reason, the NV driver one has sometimes given me some micro-stutters and less smoothness (in some games & situations) compared to the AB/RTSS one.

NOTE: Why use the in-game FPS limiter over the NV or AB one? Because the in-game FPS limiter can result in slightly lower latency. However, the NV and especially AB one can result in slightly better motion smoothness as they can do a better job of perfectly locking the framerate (the in-game ones don't usually lock the framerate as "perfectly" - minor timing fluctuations).

[CrazySerb]

Reflex is also sync technology, it just syncs GPU with CPU in a way where CPU is always a limiting factor (fps cap also does this) in order to avoid high input latency from max GPU usage. Reason why valorant does not show change when uncapped and everything off is because it is already CPU bound. Using weaker GPU that can't keep up with CPU would change results.

Unless there are issues with Reflex (or you think 1-2% performance loss is not worth it), it should be always turned on to ensure minimal input latency at all times since it acts as dynamic fps cap.

[TheTwoTwoForReal]

Setting up Gsync aside, a lot of monitors have problems with brightness flickering and similar which literally makes it unusable and forces people to just use Vsync globally.

[burntbeagle]

Why is it always so complicated 😭 it’s never simple

[ArcadiaP]

You don't need Reflex + BOOST, and you should have probably talked about what BOOST is. Per Nvidia, enabling Reflex + Boost forces the GPU to run at it's highest clock rates. Whether that's necessary or not is dependent on the user, the only thing that actually matters is just having Reflex enabled.

[MrLuigi]

Another great upside of capping FPS globally is that if your graphics card is very powerful, it becomes more power efficient in games where you would usually be doubling or tripling your max refresh rate like Counter Strike or Valorant.

Also, less framerate fluctuation = less latency spikes = more stable gameplay

[Petgasys]

I love when subtitles don't show whats actually being said

[iiagntii]

I've always done:
Inside NVCP:
Gsync on
Vertical Sync on

Inside game:
Vertical Sync off
Nvidia boost+reflex on
Cap frames 3 below monitor (usually only need if reflex is unavailable)

This video makes it sound like v-sync on in NVCP is no longer needed? Or it's totally negated by Gsync w/ frame cap anyway? A little confusing.

[rockyyz]

running g-sync and reflex in combination in wz3 since the beginning. lucky me

btw: video filmed in portrait format = scam

[byronfranek]

Battle(nonsense) did several comprehensive videos on this topic years ago, but gamers still persist in avoiding frame limiters. It's as though the absolute framerate value is more important than smoother subjective gameplay. RTSS is a CPU-level frame limiter (it limits the number of frames rendered by the CPU, and therefore the number of frames processed by the GPU), which almost completely mitigates CPU microstutter and GPU lag in a properly configured system. Lower temps, ruler-flat frametime graph, and subjectively smoother gameplay.

I've tried using Reflex as a limiter when BF2042 anticheat disallowed RTSS for a few months. Worked pretty well, but this is an engine-level limiter and frametimes were never as smooth as RTSS.

[bdiddymack]

I find that in the case of sim racing specifically, it's important to have the fps not only capped under max refresh rate but locked as well. With force feedback involved the constant slight changes in latency create a slight disconnect between what you're seeing on screen and what you're feeling through the wheel. Pick an fps your system can maintain save maybe for 1% lows or situations where drops may be expected but not critical (race starts, pit lane etc.). Cap your fps and have gsync enabled and now you will have tear-free refresh and consistent latency, which in the case of sim racing I would argue is more important than having the lowest possible latency that fluctuates.

[trossbossinit]

Capping FPS 3 lower than the monitor's refresh rate + GSync has always worked perfectly for me with no screen tearing. With this method, I don't see a need for VSync.

[crateer]

Remember to turn on VSync in the nvidia control panel, and turning vsync off in the ingame settings when using a nvidia gpu

[VenozanteR]

I have been playing competitive games with g sync vsync technologies for over a year and I already knew the formulations you mentioned. Since I played with this awareness, I did not fall into any disadvantages due to issues such as input lag, latency. Thank you very much for the video. I said "finally someone tested this". The formula is simple. gsync is turned on, vsync is always activated from the nvidia control panel, if the game has reflex support, enabled + boost is selected from within the game. if there is no reflex support, fps is manually limited to 3 frames below the monitor refresh rate. In this way, a tear-free and input lag-free game is achieved. The fps limit sometimes does not work well in the game engine, I still set the fps limit from the nvidia control panel.

[astrea]

Good video, but I will add that there never a reason not to use Reflex on the "On" setting at the very least. That will not reduce fps or cap the fps but it'll use the reflex algo to improve latency.

[GainingDespair]

MSI Afterburner/RivaTuner support reflex natively for their FPS limiter, it must be enabled but it works as a global FPS limiter and isn't game specific for reflex support.