Support NeoGAF

[Paragon]

I'm finally looking into upgrading a g-sync IPS 144Hz... help me understand.

- Why would you want to limit your frames or use v-sync? I thought the whole point of g-sync is to basically set it and forget it and reap the awesomeness that it is.
- If I am running a game and getting under 144FPS all is good right? But if my frames go over the 144FPS (144Hz threshold), I suddenly get tearing and input lag?
- If I do need to limit FPS can I just set it within nvidia profile inspector and set the global limit to never go over..... lets say 142 frames?

I'm confused because I run a 120Hz non g-sync monitor, and once I hit around 90-120FPS I do not notice any input lag or any tearing at all. I only really notice tearing when I dip low into the 40's-70's. I would imagine that with a g-sync monitor the effect would be the same, but no tearing with lower FPS.

G-Sync covers the range from 0 to your monitor's maximum refresh rate. So 0-144 for example.
When the framerate hits 144 FPS or higher, it then switches over to regular V-Sync behavior - whether that is on or off.
If you limit the framerate to 141 FPS it prevents the game ever leaving the G-Sync range, ensuring that there is no tearing and minimal latency.

When your framerate is in the G-Sync range, having "V-Sync" enabled in the NVCP acts like frame-time compensation - it's an important thing for G-Sync to work as intended.
Without this frame-time compensation you have to limit the framerate 15-20 FPS lower than your monitor's maximum refresh rate to avoid tearing instead of only 3 FPS.

If a game has its own framerate limiter, that is usually the lowest latency option.
Second-best is using RTSS to limit the framerate.
The framerate limiter in the NVIDIA driver, that you can control via NVIDIA Profile Inspector, is not as low latency as RTSS - it has almost as much latency as V-Sync itself.
I believe it is still recommended to keep a framerate limiter enabled even if you cannot hit 144 FPS in a game.

It is not necessary to disable V-Sync in games to use G-Sync.
However some games do their own frame-time compensation or other things when V-Sync is active, which can conflict with G-Sync and result in a less than perfect experience that has microstutter for example.
Disabling V-Sync in those games often bypasses this.
But if you disable V-Sync in the game it also disables the G-Sync frame-time compensation, which is why you should force V-Sync on globally in the NVCP.
That way you have G-Sync's frame-time compensation enabled, but not the game's. (if it does that)
It's rare, but the opposite is sometimes true as well. Some games enable a framerate limiter when you disable V-Sync, but having V-Sync enabled will actually bypass it, enabling higher framerates on G-Sync displays.

Variable framerates are a much better experience on a G-Sync monitor than a fixed refresh rate 120Hz display, both in terms of latency and smoothness.

 

[noomi]

G-Sync covers the range from 0 to your monitor's maximum refresh rate. So 0-144 for example.
When the framerate hits 144 FPS or higher, it then switches over to regular V-Sync behavior - whether that is on or off.
If you limit the framerate to 141 FPS it prevents the game ever leaving the G-Sync range, ensuring that there is no tearing and minimal latency.

When your framerate is in the G-Sync range, having "V-Sync" enabled in the NVCP acts like frame-time compensation - it's an important thing for G-Sync to work as intended.
Without this frame-time compensation you have to limit the framerate 15-20 FPS lower than your monitor's maximum refresh rate to avoid tearing instead of only 3 FPS.

If a game has its own framerate limiter, that is usually the lowest latency option.
Second-best is using RTSS to limit the framerate.
The framerate limiter in the NVIDIA driver, that you can control via NVIDIA Profile Inspector, is not as low latency as RTSS - it has almost as much latency as V-Sync itself.
I believe it is still recommended to keep a framerate limiter enabled even if you cannot hit 144 FPS in a game.

It is not necessary to disable V-Sync in games to use G-Sync.
However some games do their own frame-time compensation or other things when V-Sync is active, which can conflict with G-Sync and result in a less than perfect experience that has microstutter for example.
Disabling V-Sync in those games often bypasses this.
But if you disable V-Sync in the game it also disables the G-Sync frame-time compensation, which is why you should force V-Sync on globally in the NVCP.
That way you have G-Sync's frame-time compensation enabled, but not the game's. (if it does that)
It's rare, but the opposite is sometimes true as well. Some games enable a framerate limiter when you disable V-Sync, but having V-Sync enabled will actually bypass it, enabling higher framerates on G-Sync displays.

Variable framerates are a much better experience on a G-Sync monitor than a fixed refresh rate 120Hz display, both in terms of latency and smoothness.

Wow, thank you for this very helpful reply!

So best settings would be: G-Sync & V-Sync turned on in the nVdia Control Panel. Leave V-Sync on in-game unless I have issues.. which is remedied by turning in-game V-Ssync off. Lastly use a frame limiter (in-game is best) but RTSS is a suitable option if an in-game limiter is not available.

I am bookmarking this post to reference back to at a later date when I actually pick the monitor up. Thanks again!

 

[Paragon]

So best settings would be: G-Sync & V-Sync turned on in the nVdia Control Panel. Leave V-Sync on in-game unless I have issues.. which is remedied by turning in-game V-Ssync off. Lastly use a frame limiter (in-game is best) but RTSS is a suitable option if an in-game limiter is not available.

That's it. I would generally opt to disable V-Sync in games by default unless there are issues, instead of the other way around.

 

[Duxxy3]

Are there any 16:10 gsync monitors?

 

[KingKong]

I've been doing a lot of research on 1440p 144hz gsync monitors and I just had a few questions

- is the Dell S2716DG TN panel really that bad, or will it look almost as good after calibration? I can't tell if its just enthusiasts talking about things most people wont notice or a real step down from IPS
- similarly, are the IPS backlight bleed and glow and other issues really that common (as in you might have to go through 2-3 monitors to get something decent) or again just overblown online?

it seems crazy to me these expensive products have been so unreliable and full of trade offs for years

 

[Izuna]

If you can avoid TN, do so.

 

[Unai]

I'm thinking about upgrading my G-Sync TN 1080p monitor to a G-Sync IPS 1440p or 1080p ultra wide. What would be the best options today or that are going to be released in a few months?

27" is starting to get rough because of the viewing angles.

 

[riflen]

I'm thinking about upgrading my G-Sync TN 1080p monitor to a G-Sync IPS 1440p or 1080p ultra wide. What would be the best options today or that are going to be released in a few months?

27" is starting to get rough because of the viewing angles.

Best places I know of for monitor reviews, news and recommendations:

https://pcmonitors.info/recommendations/

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/list-of-gsync-monitors/

 

[Deleted member 59090]

I'm thinking about upgrading my G-Sync TN 1080p monitor to a G-Sync IPS 1440p or 1080p ultra wide. What would be the best options today or that are going to be released in a few months?

27" is starting to get rough because of the viewing angles.

With ultrawides Acer X34A and Asus PG348Q are pretty much your only options with both IPS and G-Sync. Everything else is VA and while the viewing angles are better than TN it's not IPS. Of those there's AOC AG35UCG, HP Omen X35 and Acer Z35P. Towards the end of the year/early next year there's gonna be 2 more 34 inch VA monitors from Asus and Acer with 200hz, HDR and FALD but they're probably going to be crazy expensive.

 

[Kyzer]

bit on a great deal on a PG278Q ($400). Between my MX279H and VG248QE I actually prefered the TN panel to game on, maybe its because of the 120hz though. either way, I have no problem getting it for such a cheap price, hope its worth it! cant wait to go beyond 60fps with gsync

 

[DongBeetle]

I'm confused by all this. My frames are certainly not limited to my monitor's refresh rate; I've seen frame rates up to like 300.

 

[Kyzer]

I'm confused by all this. My frames are certainly not limited to my monitor's refresh rate;

your monitors ability to display those frames are

 

[shanafan]

I'm confused by all this. My frames are certainly not limited to my monitor's refresh rate; I've seen frame rates up to like 300.

As far as my knowledge goes, you can turn off V Sync but anything beyond your monitor's refresh rate will show tearing in your games. So, you can get frames above 60, but there will be tearing.

 

[JoJo UK]

I've been doing a lot of research on 1440p 144hz gsync monitors and I just had a few questions

- is the Dell S2716DG TN panel really that bad, or will it look almost as good after calibration? I can't tell if its just enthusiasts talking about things most people wont notice or a real step down from IPS
- similarly, are the IPS backlight bleed and glow and other issues really that common (as in you might have to go through 2-3 monitors to get something decent) or again just overblown online?

it seems crazy to me these expensive products have been so unreliable and full of trade offs for years

I actually have a S2716DG and its fantastic, I haven't noticed any backlight bleed either. I love this monitor and would recommend to anyone.

 

[DongBeetle]

your monitors ability to display those frames are

Yes but wouldn't the additional frames cause tearing? So is it wise to still have V-sync on?

 

[shanafan]

Yes but wouldn't the additional frames cause tearing? So is it wise to still have V-sync on?

I would recommend it if you don't have a G SYNC monitor.

 

[Vipu]

Yes but wouldn't the additional frames cause tearing? So is it wise to still have V-sync on?

V-sync ON = fps cant get over your monitors hz.
Tearing = happens at any fps if you dont have some kind of sync ON.

 

[Kyzer]

Yes but wouldn't the additional frames cause tearing? So is it wise to still have V-sync on?

Yep! Thats whats so cool about G Sync! You can play with v sync off and it not only adapts dynamically but eliminates screen tearing

 

[MoFuzz]

I've been doing a lot of research on 1440p 144hz gsync monitors and I just had a few questions

- is the Dell S2716DG TN panel really that bad, or will it look almost as good after calibration? I can't tell if its just enthusiasts talking about things most people wont notice or a real step down from IPS
- similarly, are the IPS backlight bleed and glow and other issues really that common (as in you might have to go through 2-3 monitors to get something decent) or again just overblown online?

it seems crazy to me these expensive products have been so unreliable and full of trade offs for years

I was in the same boat as you over the past few months before snagging this exact Dell monitor on a recent sale. There were a few factors in this:

In Canada, 27" 1440p 144Hz G-Sync monitors using IPS panels start at $950. I managed to get the Dell S2716DG for less than $550. That's almost half price.

All displays have their upsides and downsides. I figured that if I was blowing almost a grand on a display, when I'm used to spending $200 or 300, it better be damn near perfect. Unfortunately, all of the current IPS monitors with the above specs use the same panel from the same manufacturer, and they are all prone to back light bleed, dead pixels among other issues. The panel lottery is definitely a thing, and I wasn't fond of the possibility for swapping 2 or 3 out just to find one that I was "okay" with at that price point.

There are some good calibration settings on Reddit, and once I dialed those in and made other small adjustments, the monitor looks great. Yes, the viewing angles are worse than IPS, but are you really going to be looking at it from anything other than head-on 99% of the time? It is BY FAR the best TN panel I've ever used, and I've been using them for 13 odd years now.

Downsides for this monitor are the banding that is apparent in darker settings/environments. This is tied to the gamma curve that they applied. You can somewhat fix this with Nvidia control panel and monitor settings, but it is still there. Some people may not even notice though. Ghosting, which you'll see, while scrolling websites with a lighter background. At this price though? It really doesn't bother me. I bought it to play games, and while you're doing that, it is sublime. I'm coming from a 1080p 60Hz monitor, and it's been fantastic.

 

[Netherscourge]

How do you even know when G-sync is active?

I have it enabled for Windowed and Full Screen mode, but I have no idea if or when it's actually running?

When I first got it, I had an idea it was running because one of the games I have was locked at 75FPS, which matches my monitor's 75Hz refresh rate.

But now, the same game runs at 95+ FPS and I haven't changed anything except updating Nvidia drivers. G-sync is still enabled though, but I know it's not running at that FPS and there's occasional tearing.

I never know if or when it's active or not. Is there an option for a G-sync watermark or something like that for when it's running?

 

[Crimson Clown]

I never know if or when it's active or not. Is there an option for a G-sync watermark or something like that for when it's running?

There is. Open the Nvidia control panel, select set up G-Sync, and then G-Sync Indicator under display at the top.

 

[Cannon Goose]

How do you even know when G-sync is active?

I have it enabled for Windowed and Full Screen mode, but I have no idea if or when it's actually running?

When I first got it, I had an idea it was running because one of the games I have was locked at 75FPS, which matches my monitor's 75Hz refresh rate.

But now, the same game runs at 95+ FPS and I haven't changed anything except updating Nvidia drivers. G-sync is still enabled though, but I know it's not running at that FPS and there's occasional tearing.

I never know if or when it's active or not. Is there an option for a G-sync watermark or something like that for when it's running?

Your monitor will likely have it's own overlay in the OSD that you can turn on. It'll either be a traditional looking frame counter that displays the current refresh rate (not current fps) or a column with marks denoting different refresh rates.

Excuse the terrible photo quality, but chances are you can enable an indicator in your monitor's OSD like so:

My monitor (Acer XB270HU) calls this the Refresh Rate Bar and when G-sync is working you will see this bar go up and down as the frame rate fluctuates.

If G-sync isn't on then your monitor's OSD will just show the max refresh rate constantly even if your fps is lower than that.

 

[MoFuzz]

How do you even know when G-sync is active?

I have it enabled for Windowed and Full Screen mode, but I have no idea if or when it's actually running?

When I first got it, I had an idea it was running because one of the games I have was locked at 75FPS, which matches my monitor's 75Hz refresh rate.

But now, the same game runs at 95+ FPS and I haven't changed anything except updating Nvidia drivers. G-sync is still enabled though, but I know it's not running at that FPS and there's occasional tearing.

I never know if or when it's active or not. Is there an option for a G-sync watermark or something like that?

On some monitors, it's more obvious, because they actually have a little LED light that comes on to show that it's active. If your model doesn't have that, you just have to make sure the settings are dialed in correctly.

EDIT: Ahh yes, the two users above me have good suggestions for getting around this.

Check the Blur Busters report that was posted a page or two back. There was also a separate thread made. The summary was that you need to enable both G-Sync and Vsync in the Nvidia control panel, disable Vsync in-game (for all games) and run a frame rate limiter to 3 frames below your monitor's maximum refresh rate, which sounds like it'd be 72 in your case. This provides the best experience in terms of input lag, and a smooth, consistent image.

 

[intheinbetween]

Got a Dell S2417DG, 24 inches is enough for my room, also I got it for 380€, which is a great price. I already tuned up the settings according to the Tomshardware review and it looks excellent.

I only tried TW3, Fifa 17, Forza Horizon 3, all of them look awesome on this monitor@165hz, I was wondering if there's any game I should try to taste GSync tech at its best.

 

[mordecaii83]

With ultrawides Acer X34A and Asus PG348Q are pretty much your only options with both IPS and G-Sync. Everything else is VA and while the viewing angles are better than TN it's not IPS. Of those there's AOC AG35UCG, HP Omen X35 and Acer Z35P. Towards the end of the year/early next year there's gonna be 2 more 34 inch VA monitors from Asus and Acer with 200hz, HDR and FALD but they're probably going to be crazy expensive.

Not so, I recently purchased an LG 34UC89G-B and I'm loving it so far. 144Hz, IPS, G-Sync, and a very slight curve that I can't even notice while sitting in front of it... I've only had it 2 weeks so far but it's a massive improvement over my old 27" Acer TN panel G-Sync monitor.

 

[FHIZ]

So what's the current status of Asus PG279Q QA issues? I've got one coming tomorrow and right now I'm at the equivalent of going on WebMD for a slight ache and convincing myself I'm dying of cancer. All I see is how seemingly everyone has had the awful backlight issues, but a lot of the posts I'm reading are coming from 2016. Has there been any noticeable uptick in quality? Just a bit anxious on dropping so much money on a product that is really good but has a not so great reputation, with little for alternative (if truly any, at all)

 

[Mango Positive]

Just got the Acer XB271HU, along with an EVGA GTX 1080 ti SC2. Coming from a GTX 980 and one of those QNIX Korean 1440p monitors, this is a huge upgrade. Mass Effect is not only playable, but it's enjoyable now. G-Sync is unbelievable. I won the 1440p IPS lottery with the Acer. No discernable light bleed or dead pixels.

 

[Ravelle]

I bought my non G-Sync 1440p Asus Monitor just a year too early I think, would have bought one if I knew G-Sync would have been a thing.

 

[Ne0n]

Proud owner of the predator X34, Gsync is indeed awesome

 

[ParityBit]

Proud owner of the predator X34, Gsync is indeed awesome

Ditto and ditto! I am still trying to get back into the whole PC gaming thing (Thanks Witcher 3). Man did that game look/run amazing on this monitor.

 

[Ullus]

So what's the current status of Asus PG279Q QA issues? I've got one coming tomorrow and right now I'm at the equivalent of going on WebMD for a slight ache and convincing myself I'm dying of cancer. All I see is how seemingly everyone has had the awful backlight issues, but a lot of the posts I'm reading are coming from 2016. Has there been any noticeable uptick in quality? Just a bit anxious on dropping so much money on a product that is really good but has a not so great reputation, with little for alternative (if truly any, at all)

Keep in mind that you rarely hear anything from People without said problems. I bough mine in May and have had no problems with it aside from the standard IPS corner bleed. Better than my old Dell monitor though.
Edit: Mine was built this year according to the box

 

[Fallout-NL]

So what's the current status of Asus PG279Q QA issues? I've got one coming tomorrow and right now I'm at the equivalent of going on WebMD for a slight ache and convincing myself I'm dying of cancer. All I see is how seemingly everyone has had the awful backlight issues, but a lot of the posts I'm reading are coming from 2016. Has there been any noticeable uptick in quality? Just a bit anxious on dropping so much money on a product that is really good but has a not so great reputation, with little for alternative (if truly any, at all)

Keep in mind that you rarely hear anything from People without said problems. I bough mine in May and have had no problems with it aside from the standard IPS corner bleed. Better than my old Dell monitor though.
Edit: Mine was built this year according to the box

Same here, just a little in the corners, but you hardly notice it. Best monitor I ever bought.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Do I have to run a game fullscreen before g-sync works or can I run all my games windowed with other windows behind and still get g-sync feature? I ask cos I only really play games windowed or windowed fs.

 

[valouris]

I've been waiting for an affordable 1080p gsync monitor but they are around 500 euros at least where I live, is there any light on the horizon?

 

[Ne0n]

Ditto and ditto! I am still trying to get back into the whole PC gaming thing (Thanks Witcher 3). Man did that game look/run amazing on this monitor.

it really does! Was actually the first game I fired up when I first got it, ha.

Keep in mind that you rarely hear anything from People without said problems. I bough mine in May and have had no problems with it aside from the standard IPS corner bleed. Better than my old Dell monitor though.
Edit: Mine was built this year according to the box

Yeah corner bleed is always gonna be a thing with the way high-end IPS displays are manufactured, it's especially worse on curved displays, I was pretty lucky and it's fairly minimal on my X34, but really you don't notice it at all unless you're on a solid black screen. IPS glow is pretty much a given too.

Some people are just so hell bent on having everything completely perfect, and sadly as the tech stands its not gonna happen yet, when I was researching buying mine there was this guy on tomshardware who was obsessed on getting the perfect x34, he returned like 4 or 5 of them, each one had a little bleed in the corners, the last one he got was worse than the first and he just gave up.

 

[Fallout-NL]

Some people are just so hell bent on having everything completely perfect, and sadly as the tech stands its not gonna happen yet, when I was researching buying mine there was this guy on tomshardware who was obsessed on getting the perfect x34, he returned like 4 or 5 of them, each one had a little bleed in the corners, the last one he got was worse than the first and he just gave up.

Yep, that's exactly it.

I used to be like that, but it takes literally all the enjoyment out of buying products like this. It's just no way to live.

 

[Nezacant]

Do I have to run a game fullscreen before g-sync works or can I run all my games windowed with other windows behind and still get g-sync feature? I ask cos I only really play games windowed or windowed fs.

G-Sync works in both Full Screen and Windowed modes. Just have to have it enabled in Nvidia Control Panel.

 

[twisted89]

G-Sync works in both Full Screen and Windowed modes. Just have to have it enabled in Nvidia Control Panel.

Windowed mode adds additional latency as goes through windows frame buffer.

 

[Paragon]

Do I have to run a game fullscreen before g-sync works or can I run all my games windowed with other windows behind and still get g-sync feature? I ask cos I only really play games windowed or windowed fs.

You just have to enable Windowed Mode G-Sync in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
It does not work with all games, but does work with most. Some only seem to work in Fullscreen Exclusive Mode.

Windowed mode adds additional latency as goes through windows frame buffer.

For regular V-Sync that is true, but it only seems to add 1ms with G-Sync, which is effectively 0.

V-Sync:

G-Sync:

Note: this test was done at 142 FPS, so a frame is 7ms. If it was at 60 FPS, it would be adding 17ms.

 

[OriginalPoe]

Oh my god. I just got my gsync monitor and my new gfx card...

Everything is amazing (now that I got everything working. Windowed+Fullscreen makes even browsing websites smoother.) My old monitor was a 1080p/60Hz 23", this one is 1440p/144Hz 27"

Apart from the obvious, gsync is amazing. https://www.testufo.com/#test=framerates EVERYTHING on that page looks fine to me now. My old monitor can't fucking take it. How do I know?

I was curious so I hooked up my old monitor - it's the same brandname, same lineage actually - and noticed the same minor annoyances while turning quickly in taxing games. It's not tearing, and it's not latency/lag/jitter... it's just chunkier.

This is awesome. It cost a shitload for a monitor, but WOW.

 

[kuYuri]

Dell S2716DG currently comes with a $100 Dell gift card with purchase.

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell...6dg/apd/210-agjr/monitors-monitor-accessories

 

[Vincent Alexander]

FYI. Smokey in BST thread is selling an ASUS Rog Swift PG278Q. 2560x1440, GSYNC, 144hz for $450. Not sure if a good deal, but kind of looks like it if anyone is interested.

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=243986704

 

[Norwegian_Imposter]

Question. My new build is going to have a 1080ti in it. What's the difference between freesync and g sync? What's the best monitor for dual screening around the 28" Mark

 

[Paragon]

Question. My new build is going to have a 1080ti in it. What's the difference between freesync and g sync? What's the best monitor for dual screening around the 28" Mark

The simple answer is that FreeSync works with AMD GPUs, and G-Sync works with NVIDIA GPUs.

FreeSync runs on top of the open VESA Adaptive-Sync standard, so technically NVIDIA could support it, but it does not look like they currently plan to.
G-Sync is proprietary and it's pretty safe to say that it will never work with AMD GPUs unless someone reverse-engineers it and hacks in support for it. (seems unlikely)

 

[MaxiLive]

FYI. Smokey in BST thread is selling an ASUS Rog Swift PG278Q. 2560x1440, GSYNC, 144hz for $450. Not sure if a good deal, but kind of looks like it if anyone is interested.

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=243986704

That is a veryyyy good deal if the screen is okay.

 

[j-wood]

I finally did it! I lucked out and got a g-sync monitor at what I think is an amazing price. I got the dell 27inch. It's currently on sale at microcenter for $319. Best Buy price matched.

Did I do good?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/460912/s2716dgr_27_qhd_led_g-sync_gaming_monitor#

 

[TheExodu5]

I finally did it! I lucked out and got a g-sync monitor at what I think is an amazing price. I got the dell 27inch. It's currently on sale at microcenter for $319. Best Buy price matched.

Did I do good?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/460912/s2716dgr_27_qhd_led_g-sync_gaming_monitor#

Absolutely can't beat that for the price. Great find!

 

[j-wood]

God, this monitor is amazing.

So I enabled gsync in the nvidia control panel. In games, do I always need to select the resulation with the 144hz refresh rate?

 

[Wallach]

God, this monitor is amazing.

So I enabled gsync in the nvidia control panel. In games, do I always need to select the resulation with the 144hz refresh rate?

You don't necessarily have to, though you should. You should have VSync on in the Nvidia control panel globally, turn off the in-game VSync (usually), and use either in-game frame limit options or something like RivaTuner Statistics Server to cap your framerate below 144 FPS (ideally 140 or 141 FPS).

 

[j-wood]

You don't necessarily have to, though you should. You should have VSync on in the Nvidia control panel globally, turn off the in-game VSync (usually), and use either in-game frame limit options or something like RivaTuner Statistics Server to cap your framerate below 144 FPS (ideally 140 or 141 FPS).

Ok so:

1. Enable gsync in nvidia control panel
2. Enable vsync in nvidia control panel globally
3. Always disable vsync in game
4. Set resolution to 1440p at 144hz in game

Golden?