How To Stop Screen Tearing: Complete Guide 2023

How To Stop Screen Tearing? Screen tearing is one of the top issues gamers face. Unfortunately, it’s a widespread issue that can ruin your gaming experience if you let it. So, how do you deal with it? 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single solution to this problem. However, there Few things that you can do to mitigate its effects and get the most out of your games. 

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 Let’s take a look:

What Is Screen Tearing In Gaming?

Screen tearing occurs when the refresh rate is not fast enough to display a complete image. The image is broken into pieces, or “tears,” and then the monitor displays them one at a time. 

When you move the mouse, for example, the monitor tries to draw the entire scene, but the pixels on the screen aren’t fast enough to do so. So, the cursor gets delayed a bit, and you see multiple asynchronous, broken images all at once. 

How To Stop Screen Tearing
How To Stop Screen Tearing

While playing games, you probably sit in front of a monitor that supports a refresh rate of either 60Hz or 120Hz. 

The monitor draws every second, and the higher the refresh rate, the smoother the images on the screen will be. However, if you play games with a fast refresh rate, such as a game with 144Hz, the image is drawn at a much higher speed than the monitor can display, leading to tearing.

Screen Tearing Causes And Factors

The most common causes of screen tearing are:-

  • High graphics quality settings in games.
  • Using a graphics setting that is too high or too low can lead to screen tearing. A setting that is too high will result in blurrier images and more screen “jitter.” 
  • A setting that is too low causes a decrease in graphics quality but will not result in screen tearing. 
  • Low refresh rate – a monitor with a refresh rate of 60Hz or below often causes screen tearing. A higher refresh rate can help to prevent this. However, it may also cause “aliasing,” when specific shapes and patterns look like they are made up of lines instead of solid colors. So again, a refresh rate of 60Hz or below will cause tearing.
  • Using an older graphics card – some graphics cards cannot display high-quality images at a high refresh rate, so people who use such cards may experience screen tearing.

How To Stop Screen Tearing

To solve the screen tearing problem, you need to understand what’s causing it. To do this, Understand the problem causing your graphics card to produce screen tearing. 

  • The most common cause of screen tearing is a graphics card that cannot support a high refresh rate. To fix this, you must check your graphics card to ensure it can display high-quality images. 
  • You can open the Windows Device Manager and search for your graphics card. Look for an entry that says “Graphic Adapter,” and make sure it is enabled. 
  • If you cannot find an entry in the Device Manager, your graphics card may be faulty and needs replacing.
  • Make sure your graphic card is G-sync Compatible and has enough power to produce FPS to match your desired Refresh Rate.

Best Graphics Card For Higher-Refresh Rate/G-sync Compatible

ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card (PCIe 4.0, 8GB GDDR6X, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, Axial-tech Fan Design, 2.9-Slot, Super Alloy Power II, GPU Tweak II)
  • NVIDIA Ampere Streaming Multiprocessors: The building blocks for the world’s fastest, most efficient GPU, the all-new Ampere SM brings 2X the FP32 throughput and improved power efficiency.
  • 2nd Generation RT Cores: Experience 2X the throughput of 1st gen RT Cores, plus concurrent RT and shading for a whole new level of ray tracing performance.
  • 3rd Generation Tensor Cores: Get up to 2X the throughput with structural sparsity and advanced AI algorithms such as DLSS. Now with support for up to 8K resolution, these cores deliver a massive boost in game performance and all-new AI capabilities.
  • Axial-Tech Fan Design has been tuned up with more fan blades and a reversed rotational direction for the center fan.
  • 2.9-slot design expands cooling surface area compared to last gen for more thermal headroom than ever before.
ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card (PCIe 4.0, 12GB GDDR6X, LHR, HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, Axial-tech Fan Design, 2.9-Slot, Super Alloy Power II, GPU Tweak II)
  • Memory Speed:19 Gbps.Digital Max Resolution:7680 x 4320
  • NVIDIA Ampere Streaming Multiprocessors: The building blocks for the world’s fastest, most efficient GPU, the all-new Ampere SM brings 2X the FP32 throughput and improved power efficiency.
  • 2nd Generation RT Cores: Experience 2X the throughput of 1st gen RT Cores, plus concurrent RT and shading for a whole new level of ray tracing performance.
  • 3rd Generation Tensor Cores: Get up to 2X the throughput with structural sparsity and advanced AI algorithms such as DLSS. Now with support for up to 8K resolution, these cores deliver a massive boost in game performance and all-new AI capabilitiesAvoid using unofficial software
  • Axial-tech Fan Design has been tuned up with more fan blades and a reversed rotational direction for the center fan.

Strategies For Dealing With Screen Tearing

  • Upgrade – This may sound obvious, but upgrading your graphics card to a higher-performing model can help to mitigate screen tearing. It is because the new graphics card will be able to display high-quality images at a higher frequency than the card it is replacing. 
  • Enable Game Bar – Windows 10 allows you to enable Game Bar, which allows you to capture and share in-game clips. It is the best way to show your gaming to friends and family.
  • Switch to a higher refresh rate.
  • If your current monitor doesn’t support a high enough refresh rate, you can switch to a monitor that does. It will help solve the problem of screen tearing. 
  • Examine your graphics card If none of these solutions work, examine your graphics card to ensure it is not damaged.

Recommended Monitors That Are Best For Eliminating Screen Tearing

How To Stop Screen Tearing Without Vsync

Screen tearing is an irritating thing that can happen while playing video games. It’s incredibly annoying when you’re in the middle of an intense firefight, and your screen tears.

Fortunately, you can do a few things to avoid screen tearing without using vsync.

One of the simplest things you can do is to change your game settings. For example, many games can deactivate vsync or only enable it when needed.

It can help reduce screen tearing without compromising your game’s performance. If changing your in-game settings does not help, try changing your graphics card settings.

Most graphics cards have an “adaptive vsync” feature that reduces screen tearing. If screen tearing is still a problem, try enabling triple buffering.

If screen tearing is still a problem, try using a software solution such as RivaTuner or NVIDIA Inspector. These programs allow you to force vsync to be activated, which can help reduce or eliminate screen tearing. Hopefully, one of these methods will help you stop screen tearing in your favorite games.

Conclusion – How To Stop Screen Tearing

Screen tearing is a severe issue that can ruin the game experience. It is due to a combination of factors, including a low refresh rate, a graphics card that cannot support a high refresh rate, and an older graphics card.

 These issues can be mitigated by upgrading your graphics card, enabling Game Bar, or switching to a higher refresh rate monitor. Now that you understand what it is and how to deal with it, you can enjoy your games to their fullest potential.

 Patience is a critical difference between people who experience screen tearing and those who don’t. Suppose you are willing to put in the time to research and tweak your settings. In that case, you can eliminate screen tearing from your gaming experience.