why do I get screen tearing in some games but not others?

[simonz93]

I get a lot of screen tearings in games like GTA 5 and the new Hitman where the FPS is not consistent (40-50) even after turning on V-sync, but not in games where I can keep stable 60 FPS (my monitor's refresh rate) or play very smoothly.

Is the inconsistency in FPS the reason behind tearing? I noticed that when I limit the fresh rate to 40 the tearing is gone.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Not quite. The FPS doesn't determine the consistency of frame timings. Ideal would be a static 16.7 ms (1 / 59.94) timings, but because GPU's are just spitting out frames, there's often a huge amount of fluctuation between frames, regardless if you see 60 FPS at all times. The game also plays a part, there are a lot of optimisation issues in games today, because developers aren't allowed long enough time to make their games. If the tearing is gone without using VSync and you limit to 40, then the frame timings must be perfect, but I find that hard to believe, but I'm not going to be able to prove you wrong either. If you play using a 60 Hz monitor, the higher you go above 60 FPS, the more frequent the tearing becomes, but some games are worse than others. If you get tearing while VSync is enabled, then you're not able to consistently stay at 60 FPS, which is why Adaptive VSync exists, to get rid of the noticeable stutter you get as soon as that happens. Later on, FreeSync and GSync came to the market, and has eliminated all problems related to screen tearing, and stuttering in most games, but not all.