What is V-Sync and when should I enable it? [duplicate]

Most modern 3D games have a graphics option "V-Sync". It's usually an on/off setting. I'd like to understand settings I tweak with, and this one kind of eludes me.

What does "V-Sync" mean, and when should I turn it on?

I've tried a few things to answer my own question:

Search arqade. There's a more in-depth question about which way to go about enabling it, another specific question about why limiting FPS to screen refresh rate won't prevent tearing, as well as several other game- or hardware-specific ones, but no real question or answer that explains what it is or when to use it at all.
Use Google search, which leads to a decent yet very summary forum post on tomshardware. It does explain to some degree what it is, but not in very much detail nor anything about when you'd turn it on.
A sub-entry on Wikipedia, which is (a) rather short and (b) obviously encyclopedic instead of aimed at a gamer deciding whether to use this option.

Finally I've tried messing with the setting in various games, mainly when I saw and googled about the "tearing" of images I had in some games, but a gamer-oriented explanation of the what and when still eludes me...

As a gamer to a gamer: please tell me what the option is and give me a rule of thumb of when I should (and should not) consider turning it on/off?

Best Answer

VSync is a feature that affects your FPS (Frames per Second). Instead of wasting power trying to achieve a higher FPS than your monitor can handle, it detects the refresh rate of your monitor, (in my case, 60 Hz), and then automatically restricts your FPS to that number. So if you have multiple monitors, and you use Minecraft between them, by using this feature, you can easily get the best frame quality, that is, if your computer can handle it. You can read more here: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Options

Edit: Yes, after reading your post again, tearing will occur if you set your frame rate above the refresh rate of your monitor. Setting VSync is the best way to avoid this.

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Should I have VSync on or off?

So, should you turn VSync on or off? If you're seeing a lot of screen tearing and you want it to stop, then you should turn VSync on. If you're experiencing severe input lag or dropped frames with VSync enabled, then you should turn it off. But in most instances, VSync shouldn't present any problems.

What is the point of VSync?

VSync is short for Vertical Synchronization and it is used to fight the problem of screen tearing. In essence, this issue occurs when your graphics card produces more frames than your monitor is capable of displaying on your screen.

Does VSync affect performance?

No, VSync doesn't impact performance by itself, although if you have higher framerates than the refresh rate of your monitor, VSync will lower them to match the refresh rate and that might cause input lag. People mostly use it to fix screen tearing or over-processing issues.

Why do people not use VSync?

For some people it cause mouse lag. It doesn't happen for everyone as I don't get any mouse lag in most games. It's only some poorly ported console games that adds some insane lag to the mouse. Also if you have a high refresh rate monitor Vsync might not be worth using.

What Is V-Sync And Should You Use It? [Explained]

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