If you use your PC for playing games, you must have encountered screen tearing issues at least once. Many people have recently reported about facing this problem during playing certain games or watching videos on their PCs.
Needless to say, this can be quite a frustrating experience. However, there are some easy hacks, which can effectively get rid of this screen tearing issue.
What is Screen Tearing Issue and Why it Occurs?
Screen tearing is a type of graphic distortion. It takes place when your graphics processor is not in sync with your display. When this issue strikes, a horizontal line appears on your screen during playing a video game.
When the GPU of your system carries a heavy load, it fails to match up with the refresh rate of the monitor. As a result, a part of your screen redraws itself in one frame and the other part redraws to another. When it keeps occurring for multiple frames, this visible horizontal line appears on your computer screen.
Factors Leading to Screen Tearing Issue
There can be two possible factors responsible for this issue on your computer:
- If your computer generates more video frames than your screen can take, it can possibly cause the screen to tear.
- Any issues with the driver of your computer can also potentially trigger this error. Sometimes, a wrong or outdated device driver can force your screen to tear up.
Now let’s begin with the fixes to resolve this screen tearing problem.
How to Fix Screen Tearing Issues on your PC?
If your screen tears frequently, it can be quite a frustrating experience. It can badly interrupt your games, movies or any other activity going on your computer. Thankfully, there are some easy solutions to efficiently deal with this issue. Go through the following solutions to get rid of frequent screen tears on your own.
Modify the Resolution and Refresh Rate
One of the primary reasons behind this issue is an incorrect screen resolution or refresh rate. So, to resolve this issue, you can try changing the resolution and refresh rate of your computer screen. Here’s how you can do it:
Step 1
At first, press the ‘Windows’ and ‘S’ together and launch the Search application. Now, within the box type ‘resolution’ and press Enter. Thereafter, click on the application that appears on the screen.
Step 2
Now that you enter the Settings window, scroll down till the bottom of the page and choose ‘Advanced Display Settings’. A window consisting of all the details about your display will come up on the screen. You need to choose ‘Display adapter properties for Display 1’. With this, the hardware properties will appear.
Step 3
Then, go to the ‘Adapter’ tab and choose the ‘List All Modes’ option. Now, you will see several resolutions listed on your screen. You can choose one from them as per the hardware specifications. After choosing it, click on the OK button.
Finally, restart your device and check if the issue still persists or not.
Enable VSync
VSync can successfully stall the output frame to 60 FPS. This will help you to match the output frame rate with your monitor’s refresh rate of 60 Hz. If you enable the VSync, you can resolve the screen tearing issue on your device promptly.
You may also use the VSync on your video card. However, the process of enabling VSync on it will depend on the brand of video card you are using. Here, we will talk about NVIDIA, Intel and AMD video cards.
NVIDIA
To enable VSync on NVIDIA, you must follow the listed instructions:
- At first, right-click on your computer screen and choose the NVIDIA Control Panel. Now, from ‘3D Settings’, go to ‘Manage 3D Settings’.
- Thereafter, click on the ‘Global Settings’ tab and choose the ‘Vertical Sync’ option.
- Turn on the VSync now. Save the necessary changes that you made and close the tab.
Intel
If you use Intel graphics card, then you can enable VSync with these steps:
- Begin by clicking on the ‘Intel HD Graphics Control Panel’. Thereafter, choose the 3D option.
- Now, click on the ‘Custom Settings’ and go to the ‘Vertical Sync’ option.
- Under this section, choose the ON option. Finally, click on the ‘Apply’ option to save the changes.
AMD
Here’s how you can turn on the VSync option on AMD graphics cards:
- At first, launch the Radeon application on your computer. Now, from the ‘Gaming’ option, choose the ‘3D Application Settings’ or the ‘Global Graphics’ option.
- Thereafter, go to the ‘Wait for vertical refresh’ option. Set it to ‘Always on’ option.
If enabling VSync does not resolve the screen tearing issue, try the next method.
Turn off Game Mode
The Game mode is one of the newest features that Windows has provided with its latest updates. This specific bar is specially designed to offer a flawless gaming experience. However, many users have claimed that this particular feature can be responsible for the tearing issue.
So, to get rid of the tearing issue you can try disabling the Game mode on your PC. Here’s what you need to do :
Step 1
First, press the ‘Windows’ and the ‘S’ key and launch the Search application. In the dialog box type ‘settings’ and press Enter. Once you enter the Settings window, choose the ‘Gaming’ option.
Step 2
Now, try to locate the Game bar. You’ll find this on the left side of the navigation bar. Thereby, turn off the ‘Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using the Game bar’ option.
Step 3
After this, go to the ‘Broadcasting’ option and disable ‘Record audio when I broadcast’ option.
Finally, give your device a restart and then launch the game again. Verify if the screen tearing issue is still occurring.
Check the Graphics Driver
Any issue with the graphics driver of your device can trigger your screen to tear up. In case none of the above solutions work, your last resort is to update or even downgrade your graphics driver. To update your graphics driver or fix any issue related to it, you can follow these steps:
Step 1
At first, boot your computer into the Safe Mode. Now, press the ‘Windows’ and ‘R’ key and type ‘devmgmt.msc’. Click the Enter button and then go to the Device Manager. Now, find the NVIDIA hardware and uninstall it by right-clicking on it.
Step 2
Now, give your device a reboot. Usually, the default drivers will be downloaded automatically. If that doesn’t happen, you should right-click on the empty space and choose ‘Scan for hardware changes’.
Step 3
Now, you have two options. You can look for the latest version of the graphics driver from the official website of the manufacturer. Alternatively, you can rely on Windows for the automatic download of the latest updated versions.
