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G-Sync is the god-level gaming upgrade.

daninthemix

daninthemix

Member
Paragon said:
If I recall correctly the other options would disable G-Sync so the screen would flicker every time you switched applications. Disallow has the same effect but G-Sync is still kept active so the screen doesn’t flicker.
Can I ask why you would keep G-Sync disabed by default? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
Click to expand...

I think I posted earlier in the thread, and on blurbusters, but basically I was noticing stutter in a large number of games that were locked at 60fps (very, very noticeable in Bioshock 1 and 2). Soon as I set them to Fixed Refresh Rate, they were butter smooth.

Turns out the 'G-sync version' of v-sync which you encounter when the game hits the monitor refresh rate, is indeed prone to this kind of microstutter, but it's only (or mostly) noticable at lower refresh rates (such as on my 60hz 4k screen), which is why it's not widely reported, because most G-sync users are running 144hz.

Now I was able to mitigate that by locking the frame-rate at 57fps so they never hit v-sync, but I thought why bother? 90% of the games I play remain locked at 60, so I'll just set a profile for those I actually want G-sync on.
 
P

Paragon

Member
Knurek said:
That's just a game I'm playing at the moment, I have the same issue in other games, like say, TRI: Of Friendship and Madness (NVIDIA driver reports G-Sync being enabled, while SpecialK doesn't).
That's a game that would benefit from G-Sync, so the discrepancy between two tools reports bothers me a bit. Just trying to understand what's at issue here, 's all.
Click to expand...
Well it's another Unity game, so make sure that you have Fullscreen+Windowed Mode G-Sync enabled.
I would trust the driver more than a third-party tool, but you should be using the monitor to check this, if it's an option.

daninthemix said:
I think I posted earlier in the thread, and on blurbusters, but basically I was noticing stutter in a large number of games that were locked at 60fps (very, very noticeable in Bioshock 1 and 2). Soon as I set them to Fixed Refresh Rate, they were butter smooth.
Turns out the 'G-sync version' of v-sync which you encounter when the game hits the monitor refresh rate, is indeed prone to this kind of microstutter, but it's only (or mostly) noticable at lower refresh rates (such as on my 60hz 4k screen), which is why it's not widely reported, because most G-sync users are running 144hz.
Now I was able to mitigate that by locking the frame-rate at 57fps so they never hit v-sync, but I thought why bother? 90% of the games I play remain locked at 60, so I'll just set a profile for those I actually want G-sync on.
Click to expand...
Oh, I see. Makes sense if you have a 60Hz G-Sync display.
Still, I'd try "disallow" rather than "fixed refresh rate", I think it was fixed refresh rate which was causing my display to flicker when switching back and forth between games/applications.
 
daninthemix

daninthemix

Member
Paragon said:
Still, I'd try "disallow" rather than "fixed refresh rate", I think it was fixed refresh rate which was causing my display to flicker when switching back and forth between games/applications.
Click to expand...

Will do, although I've just noticed there's actually 3 options:

- Fixed Refresh Rate
- Disallow
- Force off
 
E

ElyrionX

Member
Lashley said:
As much as they are, I'd argue they're worth it

GSYNC is a legit game changer
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about this. I've been using G-Sync for the first time the past few days, intensively playing Warhammer 2 and I don't think I see much difference compared to my old monitor.

I do see the 144Hz difference but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see with Gysnc.

Also, I am having issues running G-Sync in windowed mode games; I get weird flickers and no amount of Googling and troubleshooting has resolved it so I have now resorted to playing in full screen mode. and give up multi-tasking on my second monitor while playing.

Maybe I will turn off G-Sync and see if there's any difference.
 
H

Hasney

Member
Åesop;250654595 said:
Won't GSync be obsolete once we get HDMI 2.1 with a standardized freesync implementation?
Click to expand...

Not if NVIDIA cards don't support it. I believe they're free to do that and still be in the HDMI spec.
 
H

HarryDemeanor

Member
ElyrionX said:
I'm not so sure about this. I've been using G-Sync for the first time the past few days, intensively playing Warhammer 2 and I don't think I see much difference compared to my old monitor.

I do see the 144Hz difference but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see with Gysnc.

Also, I am having issues running G-Sync in windowed mode games; I get weird flickers and no amount of Googling and troubleshooting has resolved it so I have now resorted to playing in full screen mode. and give up multi-tasking on my second monitor while playing.

Maybe I will turn off G-Sync and see if there's any difference.
Click to expand...
I've been having the exact same flickering problem over the past few days. Turning off G-Sync stops it. Super annoying.
 
JimmyRustler

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
ElyrionX said:
I'm not so sure about this. I've been using G-Sync for the first time the past few days, intensively playing Warhammer 2 and I don't think I see much difference compared to my old monitor.

I do see the 144Hz difference but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see with Gysnc.

Also, I am having issues running G-Sync in windowed mode games; I get weird flickers and no amount of Googling and troubleshooting has resolved it so I have now resorted to playing in full screen mode. and give up multi-tasking on my second monitor while playing.

Maybe I will turn off G-Sync and see if there's any difference.
Click to expand...
Coming from my experience I tell you this: G-Sync is a slow burner.

What I mean by that is that it was the same for me as it is for you. Coming from a 144hz monitor I didn't see much difference. BUT after playing with G-Sync for weeks/months and then suddenly finding myself playing games again without it with a new setup, I noticed the difference immediately. I don't want to miss it any more.
 
jchung55

jchung55

Member
Hey everyone,

I just picked up an Acer Predator XB271HU, and am super excited. Is there anything I need to know about set up for the best experience? I know about enabling v-sync and limiting FPS to 165. Any other options and/or tips overall?

I have an i7-3770k oc @ 4.4ghz, GTX 980
 
W

Wheelatron

Member
ElyrionX said:
I'm not so sure about this. I've been using G-Sync for the first time the past few days, intensively playing Warhammer 2 and I don't think I see much difference compared to my old monitor.

I do see the 144Hz difference but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see with Gysnc.

Also, I am having issues running G-Sync in windowed mode games; I get weird flickers and no amount of Googling and troubleshooting has resolved it so I have now resorted to playing in full screen mode. and give up multi-tasking on my second monitor while playing.

Maybe I will turn off G-Sync and see if there's any difference.
Click to expand...

I get something like this as well. It's as if the brightness of the window is dimming/brightening very quickly, making a flickering effect. Is that how it is for you as well? I'm playing everything without g-sync because of it. It's not just in windowed mode games - I see it in windows with apps like Discord
 
H

hoserx

Member
jchung55 said:
Hey everyone,

I just picked up an Acer Predator XB271HU, and am super excited. Is there anything I need to know about set up for the best experience? I know about enabling v-sync and limiting FPS to 165. Any other options and/or tips overall?

I have an i7-3770k oc @ 4.4ghz, GTX 980
Click to expand...

Vsync on in control panel, off in games. make sure Gsync is enabled too in your control panel......and that's it. Just go play games now. I have the same monitor, got it at Costco for $499 a few months ago and I love it.
 
H

Hasney

Member
I think there's an issue with the current drivers of G-Sync with windowed applications right now. With that enabled, G-Sync seems to just run on every single window and therefore is just running and various Windows update rates including the desktop. Turning that off and using exclusive fullscreen fixes it.

I've not had any issues until recently though.
 
P

Paragon

Member
Hasney said:
I think there's an issue with the current drivers of G-Sync with windowed applications right now. With that enabled, G-Sync seems to just run on every single window and therefore is just running and various Windows update rates including the desktop. Turning that off and using exclusive fullscreen fixes it.
I've not had any issues until recently though.
Click to expand...
That's how it is supposed to work. It automatically syncs to the active window, or the window that your mouse cursor is over.
Some applications will drop the refresh rate to single digits when idle though, and I add those to a custom profile that prevents them from using G-Sync.
In NVIDIA Profile Inspector, create a new profile. I'd suggest starting the name with an underscore so that it is always at the top of the list.
Set GSYNC - Application State to "Disallow". Don't change anything else on the profile.
Now you can add executables to that profile to disable G-Sync.
 
E

ElyrionX

Member
Wheelatron said:
I get something like this as well. It's as if the brightness of the window is dimming/brightening very quickly, making a flickering effect. Is that how it is for you as well? I'm playing everything without g-sync because of it. It's not just in windowed mode games - I see it in windows with apps like Discord
Click to expand...

Nope. I see a bunch of horizontal artifact bars whenever games need to load assets. It goes away when I turn off Gsync.

Have not noticed it in Windows though I have not used Windows much since I've got this monitor.
 
I

InfernoNR

Member
I decided to jump into a gsync setup and I'm loving the new monitor (Dell Gaming S2417DG ). I've only run into one issue so far; I'm used to duplicating my display from my monitor to my TV to use it as a HTPC and there's an issue with the refresh rate. The TV is connected through HDMI. This leaves the monitor also being locked at 60hz. Is there anything I can do to individually change the refresh rate on each device so my monitor is 165hz and my TV is 60hz?
 
P

Paragon

Member
InfernoNR said:
I decided to jump into a gsync setup and I'm loving the new monitor (Dell Gaming S2417DG ). I've only run into one issue so far; I'm used to duplicating my display from my monitor to my TV to use it as a HTPC and there's an issue with the refresh rate. The TV is connected through HDMI. This leaves the monitor also being locked at 60hz. Is there anything I can do to individually change the refresh rate on each device so my monitor is 165hz and my TV is 60hz?
Click to expand...
Duplicating the display has to set everything to the lowest common denominator.
WIN+P should let you quickly switch between duplicating, extending, and only enabling each display one at a time.
 
D

dsk1210

Member
Lashley said:
Doubt NVIDIA will support it tbh :/
Click to expand...


Nvidia better support Adaptive sync on HDMI 2.1 otherwise there will be a few PC Tv users swapping over to AMD.

I like Nvidia cards but as mostly a Tv user I would drop them in a second for AMD to go with an OLED adaptive sync Tv.
 
M

MissCauthon

Member
I bought a G-sync monitor and im receiving it on Tuesday. I've seen some video's say that I should set the 144hz to 142 instead of 144. They said that if my frames on certain games go higher that Gsync is turned off automaticaly. Is this true?
 
P

Paragon

Member
MissCauthon said:
I bought a G-sync monitor and im receiving it on Tuesday. I've seen some video's say that I should set the 144hz to 142 instead of 144. They said that if my frames on certain games go higher that Gsync is turned off automaticaly. Is this true?
Click to expand...
V-Sync is a part of proper G-Sync operation. If it is disabled, you may encounter screen tearing even if the framerate is inside the G-Sync range, due to frame-time variance.
The best thing to do is enable V-Sync in the NVIDIA Control Panel, and then it doesn't matter whether the setting is enabled or disabled in games - though some games do behave differently with it enabled or disabled in their own settings.

V-Sync + G-Sync does not add any latency if the framerate is below the maximum refresh rate of the monitor, but if the framerate gets high enough to meet or exceed the refresh rate, it can add multiple frames of latency.
Running RTSS with a global framerate limit set 3 FPS lower than your display's maximum refresh rate prevents that from happening, keeping latency as low as possible at all times.
 
M

MissCauthon

Member
Paragon said:
V-Sync is a part of proper G-Sync operation. If it is disabled, you may encounter screen tearing even if the framerate is inside the G-Sync range, due to frame-time variance.
The best thing to do is enable V-Sync in the NVIDIA Control Panel, and then it doesn't matter whether the setting is enabled or disabled in games - though some games do behave differently with it enabled or disabled in their own settings.

V-Sync + G-Sync does not add any latency if the framerate is below the maximum refresh rate of the monitor, but if the framerate gets high enough to meet or exceed the refresh rate, it can add multiple frames of latency.
Running RTSS with a global framerate limit set 3 FPS lower than your display's maximum refresh rate prevents that from happening, keeping latency as low as possible at all times.
Click to expand...

Can you explain that for dummies... it seems i am very non computer savy hahaha.
 
I

InfernoNR

Member
Paragon said:
Duplicating the display has to set everything to the lowest common denominator.
WIN+P should let you quickly switch between duplicating, extending, and only enabling each display one at a time.
Click to expand...

Paragon said:
V-Sync is a part of proper G-Sync operation. If it is disabled, you may encounter screen tearing even if the framerate is inside the G-Sync range, due to frame-time variance.
...
Click to expand...

Thank you for both of these posts! Looking forward to getting this all setup properly.
 
GavinUK86

GavinUK86

Member
Has anyone had any experience with the Acer Predator Z271/T? 27" curved VA panel. It's going really cheap today at a few places but I've not heard of it before.
 
K

Knurek

Member
GavinUK86 said:
Has anyone had any experience with the Acer Predator Z271/T? 27" curved VA panel. It's going really cheap today at a few places but I've not heard of it before.
Click to expand...

I have Z271.
There was a batch of monitors that had faulty G-Sync firmware, which results in random image corruption (only way to fix it is to unplug the monitor).
Acer is aware of the issue and is able to fix it, but the monitors need to be sent to a service depot. Not sure how much of a dealbreaker that is for you.

Otherwise, no issues here. There's no ULMB support, response times are great for VA panels, but not that great otherwise (8 ms G2G average, but with 0->255 transitions taking 17 ms (think white mouse cursor on black background)), but you get superior viewing angles to TN, and superior blacks to IPS panels.

Also, best thing is that the screen is only 1080p, meaning it's way easier to hit high refreshrates on it.
 
P

Pachinko

Member
I've actually had a ton of issues using Gsync. I suppose it's a symptom of the XB321HK I use, since the fastest refresh it supports is 60hz , the only time I'll really notice gsync doing it's thing is when games are farting around in the 35-50 fps range and I usually try to set them up to run at 60 fps/ 4K if it's at all possible.

Recently I bought Divinity Original Sin 2 and I've been having a bitch of a time getting it to run smooth. Only 1 time that loaded it up did ti feel like it was running stutter free and screen tear free. Apparently Gsync was working properly at that time. Unfortunatly that was the only time I got it to run , now if I leave gsync turned on my monitor goes into a boot loop whenever the refresh rate changes where it keeps turning itself on and off. I've experienced this in literally any other game trying to use gsync if it can't keep a perfect framerate and I've yet to find a real solution outside of turning gsync off completely. A few times I was able to manually power cycle (with the main power button instead of the one on the front of the monitor) to fix the issue but most of the time it just causes the game to crash.

As well, Playing Witcher 3 at 4K , it seems G-sync doesn't play well with SLI setups on that game in particular so I had to tweak settings and leave it off or it would only run on 1 GPU which limits the game to 1440P.
 
K

kuYuri

Member
I’ve seen mention of G-Sync + V-Sync on, but any benefits for G-Sync + Fast Sync?

I’m on a 1080 Ti, should I be using Fast Sync over V-Sync?
 
L

Lockjaw333

Member
My only issue with the upcoming 4K gysnc IPS HDR monitors next year is that they are IPS, and therefore will be limited in peak brightness and contrast. From what I've gathered, this will prevent them from having "real" or "good" HDR.

I wish they would consider making them with VA panels instead.

Because of this I'm probably aiming at getting a 4K HDR TV, my eyes are on the TCL P607. 60hz only and no gsync or variable refresh though.... :(
 
P

Paragon

Member
Lockjaw333 said:
My only issue with the upcoming 4K gysnc IPS HDR monitors next year is that they are IPS, and therefore will be limited in peak brightness and contrast. From what I've gathered, this will prevent them from having "real" or "good" HDR.
I wish they would consider making them with VA panels instead.
Because of this I'm probably aiming at getting a 4K HDR TV, my eyes are on the TCL P607. 60hz only and no gsync or variable refresh though.... :(
Click to expand...
The panel type has little to do with brightness, the backlight used is responsible for that.
It's true that the difference would likely be approximately 1000:1 for IPS vs 3000:1 for VA, but most of the contrast on these displays is coming from the local dimming backlight system, not the panel.
The panel's contrast ratio affects the visibility of haloing with local dimming more than anything else. VA's limited viewing angles arguably cause more problems for local dimming systems.

The 3440x1440 Ultrawides will be using VA panels, while the 3840x2160 monitors will be IPS.
If you plan on getting a TV instead of an HDR G-Sync monitor, I'd wait for 2018 models to see they support any of HDMI 2.1's new features like 4K 120Hz, and Game Mode VRR support. (essentially the same thing as G-Sync)
 
E

EnVy_CaLiBeR

Member
Currently rocking this monitor https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vg245h-24-led-hd-freesync-monitor-black/5591926.p?skuId=5591926 that I bought when I got my PC over the summer but I knew that I was going to want to upgrade to a larger GSYNC monitor to go with my GTX 1080. Birthday is coming up, so it's time to buy myself something nice. lol

Currently looking at this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N858T4914&cm_re=pg278qr-_-24-236-797-_-Product but I see that it's a TN panel and there is an IPS equivalent of the same monitor at 749.99 but I'm wondering if it really is worth that extra 150.00? Has anyone seen both?
 
M

Mareg

Member
EnVy_CaLiBeR said:
Currently rocking this monitor https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vg245h-24-led-hd-freesync-monitor-black/5591926.p?skuId=5591926 that I bought when I got my PC over the summer but I knew that I was going to want to upgrade to a larger GSYNC monitor to go with my GTX 1080. Birthday is coming up, so it's time to buy myself something nice. lol

Currently looking at this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N858T4914&cm_re=pg278qr-_-24-236-797-_-Product but I see that it's a TN panel and there is an IPS equivalent of the same monitor at 749.99 but I'm wondering if it really is worth that extra 150.00? Has anyone seen both?
Click to expand...


To go with your 1080 I'd shoot for 165hz 1440p monitor. IPS.
AOC / viewsonic / acer all makes monitors with the exact same panel as the IPS that you are looking for. At noticeably lower prices. I'd never go Asus for monitor. They have a bad rep for QC.

Remember to buy from a place with a great return policy. These panels have a bad history of defects. You will probably switch at least one before getting a defect free sample.
 
C

Comrade Crunch

Member
EnVy_CaLiBeR said:
Currently rocking this monitor https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-vg245h-24-led-hd-freesync-monitor-black/5591926.p?skuId=5591926 that I bought when I got my PC over the summer but I knew that I was going to want to upgrade to a larger GSYNC monitor to go with my GTX 1080. Birthday is coming up, so it's time to buy myself something nice. lol

Currently looking at this one https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N858T4914&cm_re=pg278qr-_-24-236-797-_-Product but I see that it's a TN panel and there is an IPS equivalent of the same monitor at 749.99 but I'm wondering if it really is worth that extra 150.00? Has anyone seen both?
Click to expand...

There's a difference, but if you calibrate the monitor correctly, it's definitely not a big one.

I snagged a Dell 2k TN monitor last week and after a little tweaking, it's absolutely beautiful.
 
E

EnVy_CaLiBeR

Member
Mareg said:
To go with your 1080 I'd shoot for 165hz 1440p monitor. IPS.
AOC / viewsonic / acer all makes monitors with the exact same panel as the IPS that you are looking for. At noticeably lower prices. I'd never go Asus for monitor. They have a bad rep for QC.

Remember to buy from a place with a great return policy. These panels have a bad history of defects. You will probably switch at least one before getting a defect free sample.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Do you have some models from those manufacturers to recommend? Would absolutely love to go cheaper if possible if I can get the same quality.
 
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