What VRR and G-Sync are

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VRR means variable refresh rate. The monitor changes how often it starts a new picture, so that start can line up with a frame the PC has already drawn. G-SYNC is NVIDIA’s name for that behavior. It does not draw extra frames, and it does not raise the hertz printed on the box.

I play Zarya in Overwatch on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor, driven by an RTX 5080 and an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D2. More monitor guides.

Response time is how long a pixel takes to change shade after a new picture starts. Variable refresh decides when that picture starts. VSync holds the frame until the next fixed trip. A cap limits how many frames the card draws.

Panels worth a look

• G-SYNC Compatible + FreeSync Premium: LG UltraGear 27GR83Q-B. Official: 27” 2560×1440 IPS, 1 ms GtG, 240 Hz, HDMI 2.1 ×2, DisplayPort. LG’s footnote: Compatible on GeForce GTX 10-series and newer over DisplayPort, and RTX 30-series and newer over HDMI 2.1. LG US page. Amazon search for 27GR83Q-B
• G-SYNC processor: ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQN. Official: 27” 2560×1440, 1 ms GTG, up to 360 Hz. ASUS names the NVIDIA G-SYNC processor. NVIDIA’s list files it as G-SYNC, not Compatible. ASUS US page. Amazon search for PG27AQN
• G-SYNC Compatible + FreeSync Premium Pro: LG 27GS93QE-B. Official: 27” OLED, 1440p, 240 Hz, 0.03 ms. LG US page. Amazon search for 27GS93QE-B

I play on a 1080p 240 Hz and a 1440p 155 Hz monitor.

The short version: read the range and the port. A logo is not either. Cap a few under the Hertz Windows is using only when VRR is the job.

What to check first

VRR changes when the monitor starts the next picture, so it can meet a frame the PC already drew. G-Sync is a name for that. It is not extra frames.

What you seeThe picture is already evenA horizontal split while you turnA hitch, then the old picture againThe frame rateNot sure yetUnder the monitor's refresh rateOn the refresh rate, or above itThe listingA G-Sync or FreeSync word onlyA range, and the card lists it tooNeither the monitor nor the card lists it

What this means

Leave it

The picture is already even. Variable refresh is for a split or a repeated frame, not a sharper image and not a higher frame rate.

If the motion is already even, leave the logo. Read the range when you can see a split or a repeated frame.

What the panel is doing

The panel draws in rows, from the top to the bottom, then starts again. Refresh rate is how often that trip starts when the rate is fixed. Microsoft’s Advanced display page says a 60 Hz display updates 60 times a second. A 165 Hz panel can start it 165 times. The Overwatch screen can start it 240 times. Neither one starts an extra trip because a game finished a frame early.

The card finishes frames on its own clock. If a new frame swaps in halfway down, the top is new and the bottom is old. That split is tearing. You see it most when the camera turns. The other old choice is to wait. VSync holds the frame until the next trip. The split goes away. If the frame is late, the old picture repeats for a whole trip. That hitch is a missing frame, not a mouse problem.

Variable refresh moves the start of the trip. The panel waits until the frame is ready, then draws it whole, as long as the wait stays between a minimum and a maximum. The maximum is the refresh you set. It cannot exceed the panel. Below the minimum, the old choice returns: a split, or a repeated frame.

VESA added Adaptive-Sync to DisplayPort 1.2a so a display can match a GPU frame by frame. The HDMI Forum listed Variable Refresh Rate in HDMI 2.1. They are different ports. A listing can enable one and leave the other off.

What G-SYNC means on the box

G-SYNC is not a second kind of picture. NVIDIA uses the word for monitors that are not the same hardware. Their G-SYNC page splits the name into three lines.

G-SYNC and G-SYNC Ultimate put NVIDIA’s processor in the display. NVIDIA’s copy for G-SYNC is a full variable-refresh range and variable overdrive. Ultimate adds the top processor plus their HDR line. NVIDIA’s Control Panel help says those displays incorporate G-SYNC processors. The PG27AQN is that case.

G-SYNC Compatible does not use that processor. NVIDIA validated a monitor that already speaks Adaptive-Sync, and they call a pass a basic variable-refresh experience. Compatible is that test, not a chip on the board. The two LGs are that case.

NVIDIA’s 2019 validation note is the range difference. G-SYNC and G-SYNC Ultimate activate from 1 Hz to the display’s maximum. Compatible and Adaptive-Sync activate only inside a printed range. A badge without a minimum is an incomplete page.

FreeSync is AMD’s name for the same job on DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync and HDMI VRR. A FreeSync logo is not an NVIDIA processor. A Compatible badge is not automatically FreeSync, and FreeSync is not automatically NVIDIA-validated. AMD’s FAQ says a VESA AdaptiveSync certificate is not a FreeSync certificate. The range the monitor maker prints is the part you can check.

AMD’s Adrenalin FAQ splits the brand into three tiers. FreeSync is tear-free and low latency. FreeSync Premium adds at least 120 Hz at FHD and low framerate compensation (LFC). Premium Pro adds HDR. LFC is the official name for repeating a frame on purpose so the rate stays inside the range when the game drops below the minimum. The listing has to say so.

The wrong hole does not become variable because the box said G-SYNC. NVIDIA’s Compatible requirements ask for native DisplayPort 1.2a or higher on Pascal and later, and warn that some monitors ship with Adaptive-Sync off, or sit in DisplayPort 1.1 until you raise the mode. NVIDIA’s later list footnote adds HDMI 2.1 on GeForce 30-series and newer. Read the port you will plug in.

When the switch is actually on

The feature has to be enabled, and some monitors ship with it off. The monitor menu is first, often under Adaptive-Sync, FreeSync, or G-SYNC. The card has its own panel. On NVIDIA that page is Set up G-SYNC: enable G-SYNC / G-SYNC Compatible, pick full-screen or windowed and full-screen, then apply it to the selected model. Also set Monitor Technology to G-SYNC / G-SYNC Compatible under Manage 3D Settings. AMD’s enable page puts FreeSync in Adrenalin. Turn on the one your card has.

Windows has a third switch: Settings, System, Display, Graphics, then Variable refresh rate. Microsoft’s DirectX blog says it appears only when the monitor and driver support it (Windows 1903 or later, a G-SYNC / FreeSync / Adaptive-Sync display, WDDM 2.6 or later), and that it adds VRR to older full-screen DirectX 11 games which never asked for it. It does not replace the card’s control panel. If it is missing, the PC is not offering that extra path.

Microsoft’s DXGI page says the same for developers: a VRR display needs tearing enabled at the present call, also called VSync-off support. A driver switch cannot invent that path if the present call is locked to a fixed interval.

Dynamic refresh rate is a different Windows 11 toggle. Microsoft’s Advanced display page says DRR needs VRR already, plus at least 120 Hz, and that it can limit the maximum refresh of games that were not designed for VRR. If a game looks stuck at a lower Hertz, Microsoft’s mitigation is to turn DRR off. Do not treat that toggle as G-SYNC.

Set the rate you paid for before you judge any of this. A 240 Hz panel left at 60 makes every wait a 60 Hz wait. How to set 144 Hz is the same path for 155 or 240.

The asterisk in Windows is not the cable

Microsoft’s Advanced display page puts an asterisk (*) next to refresh rates that do not support the current resolution. Selecting one of those rates changes the resolution so that Hertz can run. The mark is a mode warning. It is not a diagnosis that the DisplayPort or HDMI lead is broken.

A rate that is missing from the list entirely is a different problem. Then the port, the cable, the GPU, a dock, or a resolution the listing does not pair with that Hertz can be the limit. Do not treat an asterisk next to 240 Hz as proof you need a new cable, and do not treat a missing 240 as an asterisk. Read which one you actually have.

I would check Advanced display on both screens before I blamed a lead. Each one has to be at its full refresh rate.

Stay inside the range

Inside the range, the panel follows the frames you have. On the maximum the feature is idle, because the panel is already starting trips as often as it can. A frame rate that sits on that ceiling, or jumps over it, can still tear. A cap a few frames under the maximum holds the game inside the range when the frame time swings. The cap does not create frames. It stops the card from getting ahead of the scan.

NVIDIA’s Max Frame Rate note is the official line: set the cap slightly below the display’s maximum refresh to stay in the VRR range on a G-SYNC or G-SYNC Compatible display. The same note’s smoother recipe is Low Latency Mode Ultra plus VSync on. NVIDIA’s system latency guide says G-SYNC plus VSync plus Reflex, or Ultra Low Latency Mode, will cap below refresh for you so VSync does not add backpressure. The Reflex page is that stack. If it is already on, do not type a second number above it.

Refresh minus 3 is a VRR safety margin, not a universal rule. If the limiter overshoots the maximum Hertz, VRR drops out. Then you get tearing (VSync off) or extra wait (VSync on). That is the problem the three-under number is for. It is not for a fixed-refresh screen that only needs heat control. Which limiter to use once lives on how to cap FPS.

Below the minimum, the feature lets go. Some monitors repeat a frame on purpose so the reported rate stays inside the range. AMD calls that LFC on FreeSync Premium and Premium Pro. NVIDIA’s processor monitors, on NVIDIA’s own note, keep the range open down to 1 Hz. A Compatible listing has to print its own floor.

What VRR does not change

It does not raise the frame rate. A PC making 80 frames a second still makes about 80. The panel follows those 80 instead of refreshing at 144 and repeating pictures to fill the gap. Headroom on the box is still headroom. An RTX 5080 on a 240 Hz 1080p panel still has to draw the frames.

It does not shorten the pixel’s change. A dark trail is that wait. Some overdrive tables assume a fixed Hertz. When the card draws 90 frames on a 240 Hz panel, the gap is closer to 11 ms than 4.2 ms, and the same boost can overshoot. If a halo only appears when the frame rate swings, drop one overdrive step and leave VRR on if the tear is gone. That is a response-time problem, not a missing logo.

It does not brighten a highlight, widen the panel, or fix a port that cannot carry the resolution and the rate together. If Windows is still set to 60 Hz, the top of the range is 60. Set the rate you are using before you judge the feature.

A picture that is already even does not get smoother because the logo is on. The useful case is a frame rate that moves under the maximum, on a monitor whose page names the range and the port. FPS monitor notes is the refresh and resolution page after this one is settled.

Read the range. Plug the port the listing names. Cap a few under the Hertz Windows is actually using only when the job is to stay inside that range. More monitor guides.

Common questions

What is VRR?

VRR (variable refresh rate) lets your monitor change its refresh rate to match your game's frame rate. That removes screen tearing and reduces stutter without the lag of traditional VSync.

What is G-SYNC?

G-SYNC is NVIDIA's version of variable refresh rate. G-SYNC and G-SYNC Ultimate monitors have NVIDIA's own module, while G-SYNC Compatible monitors use the standard Adaptive-Sync signal.

Is G-SYNC the same as FreeSync?

They do the same job. G-SYNC is NVIDIA's brand and FreeSync is AMD's; most modern monitors support both, so check the listing for your GPU brand.

Does VRR increase FPS?

No. VRR doesn't add frames; it makes the frames you already have look smoother by matching the monitor's refresh to them.

Does VRR stop screen tearing?

Yes, as long as your FPS stays inside the monitor's VRR range. Cap your frame rate a few frames below your max refresh rate to stay in range.

Should I cap FPS with G-SYNC?

Yes. Cap your FPS a few frames below your refresh rate, for example 237 on a 240 Hz monitor. Turning on G-SYNC with VSync and NVIDIA Reflex can set this cap for you automatically.

What does the asterisk next to a refresh rate mean in Windows?

It means that refresh rate isn't supported at your current resolution. Selecting it will change your resolution so that refresh rate can work.

What is the Variable refresh rate setting in Windows?

It's a Windows graphics setting that adds VRR support to older full-screen DirectX 11 games. It works alongside G-SYNC or FreeSync, not instead of them, and only appears if your hardware supports it.

What should I check in a VRR monitor's specs?

Check the VRR range (minimum and maximum refresh rate) and which ports support it. Some monitors ship with VRR turned off, so enable it in the monitor menu too.