Hi there!

This tutorial contains a workaround (semi-fix) for the lag that you would get when having the Tear Free option enabled in the Catalyst Control Center. It's pretty easy to do:

First of all you need to open a terminal window. After that, enter the following command in your terminal window:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Move down with the arrow keys until you reach  Section "Monitor". Mine looked like this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Now you need to specify what refresh rate your monitor has. Mine has a 60Hz refresh rate. After editing my section looked like this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
    Option        "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
    Option        "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
    Option        "DPMS" "true"
    VertRefresh 60
EndSection

I've put VertRefresh 60 between Option "DPMS" "true" and EndSection. We are done with the terminal part! You can save the file by pressing CTRL+X, type in Y and then press Enter.

Now start up the AMD Catalyst Control Center, and make sure Tear Free is turned off (Screen options -> Tear free). Also, make sure to turn off vsync (3D -> More options, make sure the top slider is dragged to the left).

Now reboot your system, open up your Catalyst Control Center, and turn on tear free. Try to drag a window around, you'll see that all lag is gone now, and even the tearing is gone!

BUT! There is a little downside: each time you shutdown, reboot, or log out, you'll need to turn tear free and vsync off. And each time you boot your system you'll need to turn tear free back on.

Please like this tutorial if I helped you, I would really appreciate that, and if something went wrong or didn't work, questions are always welcome!

Have a nice day,

Bart.