Why Adaptive Sync Matters More Than You Think

Here’s why Adaptive Sync matters the most while choosing your next gaming laptop or gaming monitor for your gaming needs.

An image of Acer Nitro 180 Hz gaming monitor — Acer monitor with Adaptive Sync (Image via Acer)

As a gamer, you’re likely to fall for good specs, such as more CPU cores, more VRAM, more RAM, a high refresh rate, and storage. However, brands silently go around one thing, and they do not disclose it until you look super deep. That one thing is Adaptive Sync. As a gamer, if you’re not technically sound, you may not even be aware of this term and may end up overlooking it. Unfortunately, it’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make when choosing either a new gaming laptop or a gaming monitor.

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What is Adaptive Sync and Why Does it Exist?

KTC gaming monitor with Adaptive Sync via G-Sync/FreeSync (Image via KTC)

Adaptive Sync resolves conflicts between your graphics card (GPU) and your monitor. To put it into perspective, your GPU renders frames at a variable rate, and you may have seen your frame rate jumping here and there, based on your in-game location. Your monitor doesn’t know of this, and it keeps refreshing its image at a fixed rate, like 60, 144, or 240.

This mismatch causes visual jarring, such as screen tearing and stuttering. Screen tearing happens when the monitor tries to draw a new image while the GPU is still sending the previous one. In this case, you will see a horizontal line cutting across the screen.

Stuttering occurs when the GPU can’t render a new frame in time for the monitor’s refresh rate, so the monitor repeats the last frame, causing noticeable judder.

The High Refresh Rate Trap

An image of Gigabyte Aorus 15 — Aorus laptop with 240Hz screen (Image via Gigabyte)

Salespeople, e-commerce websites, and even local shopkeepers will definitely try to out-sell you on a laptop, pushing high-refresh-rate displays. Regarding panel quality, color spacing, and eye care certification, we are not discussing those, as these are separate topics for another day. However, regarding adaptive sync, they won’t disclose anything unless you do a deep dive.

Suppose you took the bait and picked a 300Hz screen (laptop or monitor). The salesperson heard you would be gaming—particularly Valorant or Counter-Strike —and silently pushed a model that put a smile on your face. Apart from the budget, the fact is that the salesperson has anchored you to that 300Hz screen. You straight away ignore the CPU in a laptop, whether it’s an HX, H, or U series. The display, its color gamut, and the panel type are also overlooked. You are simply happy that you are getting a 300Hz screen.

Know this: if the laptop doesn’t have any of the following technologies—G-Sync, FreeSync, Adaptive Sync, or Dynamic Refresh—you will encounter horizontal lines and jitter. The overall gameplay experience will fall apart. If you have motion sickness, nausea, or very sensitive eyes, you won’t be able to play for very long.

If your laptop has any of the tech we mentioned, then your gameplay experience will be amazing. G-Sync, FreeSync, and all of these are based on Adaptive Sync and will easily smooth out frame rate fluctuations. Not only that, your inputs will feel snappy, as input lag will be reduced significantly.

Verdict

Regardless of whether you’re an FPS gamer or play any other genre, looking for a laptop or display that supports Adaptive Sync is a must. Not only would your hard-earned money be wisely invested, but the gameplay experience will be worthwhile.

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