How to enable G-Sync on your gaming PC and monitor (2025)

If you've got an Nvidia graphics card and a compatible gaming monitor, you should definitely be enabling G-Sync for a smoother PC gaming experience. It helps keep the two components in sync -- hence the name -- and eliminate visual artifacts such as tearing. If your monitor supports high refresh rates you can also take advantage of Nvidia Reflex, but enabling G-Sync should be your starting point.

Specifically, G-Sync works by matching the refresh rate of your monitor to the framerate of the game you're playing. This might seem like a very basic requirement, but the feature may not be enabled by default on your PC, so it's important to know how to turn it on.

See Also

What Is AMD FreeSync? FreeSync and FreeSync 2 HDR ExplainedThe 9 Best Gaming Monitors for 2022 (G-Sync / FreeSync / 360Hz)Best G Sync Monitors Available Now | HP® Tech TakesBest Gaming Monitors 2024: Budget, Curved, G-Sync and More

Which monitors support Nvidia G-Sync?

Before you get started, it's important to check that your monitor allows G-Sync. Support is increasingly common, even on monitors that aren't marketed as gaming models, but it isn't automatic. You can check for the G-Sync label on your monitor or its packaging, and Nvidia maintains an active database you can sort by manufacturer and model.

Note that there are different tiers in the database. The highest is G-Sync Ultimate, which indicates a monitor with ultra-low latency, multi-zone backlighting, 1,000 nits of max brightness, and DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. G-Sync Compatible displays don't have full G-Sync validation, but instead run another type of sync technology, most likely AMD's FreeSync. These monitors can be made to work with G-Sync, but might not work as flawlessly as approved displays.

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How to turn G-Sync on in Windows

Before you do anything else, you'll need to turn on G-Sync in your monitor's built-in menus. Use on-display buttons to locate adaptive sync/G-Sync options. We wish we could be more precise, but menu layouts can vary from brand to brand, or even from model to model. You may need to refer to your manual.

Once that's done, though, you can turn on G-Sync in Windows. Use these steps:

1. Right-click on your Windows desktop.
2. Click on Nvidia Control Panel. In Windows 11, you'll need to click Show more options first.
3. From there look for Display settings in the sidebar.
4. Click on Set up G-Sync.
5. Click the box marked Enable G-Sync.
6. Choose whether to enable it for full-screen or windowed modes.

How to set your primary display

If you have more than one monitor, you'll need to set your G-Sync monitor as the primary display so G-Sync works properly when you're gaming.

To do this:

1. Right-click on your desktop and select Display settings.
2. Click on Identify next to the monitors being shown.
3. Work out which one is the G-Sync monitor, and click on the icon for it.
4. Select Make this my main display.

Game graphics settings

G-Sync should be active now, but you may need to tweak additional settings on a game-by-game basis. At the least, you'll want a game's framerate (measured in frames per second, or FPS) to match your monitor's refresh rate. If FPS exceeds that refresh rate, you won't like the results.

Explore menus to find a game's graphics settings, then adjust refresh rate options to match your monitor. Next look for an FPS limiter (a.k.a an FPS cap). If there is one, FPS should be set at or below the value of your refresh rate. If you have a 144Hz monitor, for example, FPS should probably be capped at 144, 120, or even 60fps. Keep in mind that your PC may (and probably will) run slower than that cap anyway, depending on the game you're playing, its detail levels, and how powerful your CPU and GPU are. Your monitor might be capable of 144fps, but most (current) PCs can't reach that if they're running Cyberpunk 2077 at maximum detail.

You may need to experiment with other game settings as well, such as V-sync. If G-Sync is on, V-sync should probably be disabled -- it tries to accomplish the same thing, but only G-Sync (and FreeSync) can dynamically adjust both the framerate of your graphics card and the refresh rate of your monitor.