VRR/Freesync Nvidia Display test thread

Dodge245

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 8, 2018
Messages
186
Hi All,

Thought i would stick a new thread together now that we have the VRR drivers from Nvidia, thoughts are we could put something together to share our experiences with our monitors, to give an idea of compatibility with VRR.

To keep things simple we could use a template, and catalogue our own findings with different monitors. Something like:

Monitor Model: <model>
Freesync Range: 48-144hz
Experience Tearing?: Yes/No
Experience Blurring?: Yes/No

Games tested: DOOM/Witcher/Fallout etc...

Comments: Any difficulties enabling VRR? Notice any strange behaviour?


and just to give an idea of what your running with:

GPU: 1060/1070/1080 etc
CPU: 6600/9600/8800 etc


Ill be testing mine tonight after work, really have my fingers crossed that it works well with my monitor :)


@Mods, i was a little unsure where to put this debating either Video Cards or display, but display seemed to make the most sense.

EDIT

Tip: To ensure GSYNC is enabled follow https://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-input-lag-tests-and-settings/14/

Tip 2: To see an indicator, goto Nvidia Control Panel > Set Up GSYNC > Display (top menu) > G-Sync Compatible indicator
 
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Does everybody in the forum know that VRR stands for variable refresh rate? I had to look this up. If this is not common knowledge, suggest adding those words to the title.

Anyway, I activated gsync in the new driver by following these instructions and everything seems fine for desktop use:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/geforce-rtx-2060-g-sync-compatible-game-ready-driver/

Monitor is Acer XF270HU. This is a 1440p IPS freesync panel with 144hz refresh.

What are some games that would be good to test for the effectiveness of Freesync with the gtx 1070 in my system? For some recent games I have installed the following: Quake Champions, Shadow of the Tomb Raider demo, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Project Cars 2 Demo, Witcher 3.
 
Does everybody in the forum know that VRR stands for variable refresh rate? I had to look this up. If this is not common knowledge, suggest adding those words to the title.

Anyway, I activated gsync in the new driver by following these instructions and everything seems fine for desktop use:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/geforce-rtx-2060-g-sync-compatible-game-ready-driver/

Monitor is Acer XF270HU. This is a 1440p IPS freesync panel with 144hz refresh.

What are some games that would be good to test for the effectiveness of Freesync with the gtx 1070 in my system? For some recent games I have installed the following: Quake Champions, Shadow of the Tomb Raider demo, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Project Cars 2 Demo, Witcher 3.
VRR makes every game look good, but whatever you test I'd shoot for a target FPS range of 60-100. So far in my experience G-SYNC seems to look best when framerate is around 60% of the max refresh rate. Many people often make the mistake of believing that FPS needs to be within reach of the maximum refresh rate to see the most benefit when the opposite is true.
 
VRR makes every game look good, but whatever you test I'd shoot for a target FPS range of 60-100. So far in my experience G-SYNC seems to look best when framerate is around 60% of the max refresh rate. Many people often make the mistake of believing that FPS needs to be within reach of the maximum refresh rate to see the most benefit when the opposite is true.

Not to go OT here, but can you expand upon this? This is the first I've heard of that, and I'm intrigued. You're saying (for example) a 120Hz G-Sync monitor will look best at 72fps (or framerate capped at 72)?
 
Witcher 3 runs so amazingly smooth

Overwatch, tons of issues, but all centered around the mouse cursor, oddly enough. For some reason, bringing up menus and quick menus causes a huge stutter. I can't seem to figure this one out but it's looking like I'll have to disable gsync for this one. Wondering if anyone else would be experiencing the same
 
Not to go OT here, but can you expand upon this? This is the first I've heard of that, and I'm intrigued. You're saying (for example) a 120Hz G-Sync monitor will look best at 72fps (or framerate capped at 72)?
What I mean is try to target game settings that make the framerate fall into that range. With my setup it was always just as easy as turning all graphic settings except AA in the games I play to the max: My Titan X at 2560x1440 with the PG278Q and my 2080 Ti with the PG27UQ. Your 120 Hz example would mean targeting an average 55-80 FPS range or thereabouts. Don't cap the framerate because G-SYNC takes care of the judder that occurs with framerate spikes.

Let me try to explain a little better:
My PG278Q felt the best playing games in the 70-90 FPS range running at 144 Hz.. My PG27UQ feels the best in the 50-70 FPS range running at 98 Hz. Below that range is when I can start to perceive performance issues with the game I'm playing. Above that I don't know how to explain it. Disjointed? Like I'm still playing with just triple buffered V-Sync on, especially the closer it gets to max refresh rate.
Witcher 3 runs so amazingly smooth

Overwatch, tons of issues, but all centered around the mouse cursor, oddly enough. For some reason, bringing up menus and quick menus causes a huge stutter. I can't seem to figure this one out but it's looking like I'll have to disable gsync for this one. Wondering if anyone else would be experiencing the same
This is a known issue that people have been pestering NVIDIA about for a long time, now. It's supposed to be fixed on G-SYNC monitors, but maybe they haven't been able to fix or even test for it on FreeSync/Adaptive-Sync monitors yet. I've never run into this issue, personally, so I can't say from my experience. What it boils down to, though, is that the 2D UI elements are out of sync with the 3D rendering. I'll try to find you a link in the GeForce forums.
 
Tried adding "Freesync range" in CRU for HP LP2480zx connected via DP without success
I mean it did not detect it and I could not enable G-Sync on it. Little loss with it's 24ms input lag anyway
But it might indicate that such trick won't work for non-Freesync monitor so it is appropriate result for this thread
 
Let me try to explain a little better:
My PG278Q felt the best playing games in the 70-90 FPS range running at 144 Hz.. My PG27UQ feels the best in the 50-70 FPS range running at 98 Hz. Below that range is when I can start to perceive performance issues with the game I'm playing. Above that I don't know how to explain it. Disjointed? Like I'm still playing with just triple buffered V-Sync on, especially the closer it gets to max refresh rate.
Can't comment on 144Hz G-Sync monitors but on my 60Hz G-Sync monitor everything above 30fps feels fine.
 
What I mean is try to target game settings that make the framerate fall into that range. With my setup it was always just as easy as turning all graphic settings except AA in the games I play to the max: My Titan X at 2560x1440 with the PG278Q and my 2080 Ti with the PG27UQ. Your 120 Hz example would mean targeting an average 55-80 FPS range or thereabouts. Don't cap the framerate because G-SYNC takes care of the judder that occurs with framerate spikes.

Let me try to explain a little better:
My PG278Q felt the best playing games in the 70-90 FPS range running at 144 Hz.. My PG27UQ feels the best in the 50-70 FPS range running at 98 Hz. Below that range is when I can start to perceive performance issues with the game I'm playing. Above that I don't know how to explain it. Disjointed? Like I'm still playing with just triple buffered V-Sync on, especially the closer it gets to max refresh rate.

This is a known issue that people have been pestering NVIDIA about for a long time, now. It's supposed to be fixed on G-SYNC monitors, but maybe they haven't been able to fix or even test for it on FreeSync/Adaptive-Sync monitors yet. I've never run into this issue, personally, so I can't say from my experience. What it boils down to, though, is that the 2D UI elements are out of sync with the 3D rendering. I'll try to find you a link in the GeForce forums.
Thanks it's been driving me insane. Every game runs wonderfully so far BUT the game I play the most, Overwatch.

I mean, as long as I don't fuck around in menus and such it runs just fine, haha.

Thanks again, great to know!
 
Ok so finally home from work and given this a shot on a few games:


Monitor Model: AOC AGON AG322QCX
Freesync Range: 48-144hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: DOOM, warframe, CS:GO

Comments: Ticked the box and that was it.

GPU: 1060 GTX
CPU: 6600k (stock clocks)

Seems to work fine, id like some sort of indicator at this early stage to confirm its working but i didnt notice any issues. I have one question though the options state "Enable for full screen mode" and "Enable for windowed and full screen mode" do you need to select the latter one if your running in windowed full screen rather than borderless full screen?
 
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Monitor Model: Samsung U28E590
Freesync Range: 40-64hz (stock) 40-70hz (CRU OC)
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Battle Field 5, Day Z, Tekken 7, Soul Calibur 6, Hitman 1&2

Comments: Enabled Full Screen and windowed Mode Gsync/Freesync, disabled Vsync in game, saw frame-rates in excess of 600 when the scene was low intensity and experienced no unpleasant issues.

GPU: Titan X (Pascal 2016) OC in Sig
CPU: i7 6850k OC in Sig.

Feels good that Nvidia finally let us have what AMD users have had for a fucking long while.
I hope Gsync dies TBH.
 
Monitor Model: MSI Optix G27C2
Freesync Range: 48-144Hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Conan Exiles, Metro 2033, Total War: WARHAMMER 2, Heroes of the Storm

Comments: Enabled FreeSync and disabled "Over Drive" features in display's OSD menu. Enabled fullscreen and windowed mode GSYNC/FreeSync in NV Control Panel, then disabled Vsync in game. No artifacting or tearing until I tabbed to another window briefly, went back to the game and experienced irregular horizontal artifacts (did not exactly look like tearing, but much much worse). Changed in-game options to fullscreen (non-windowed), which resolved the issue.

GPU: GTX 1080
CPU: i7 6700
 
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How would we determine/measure what the "FreeSync range" is? I'll edit this post once I have a better idea of that:

Monitor Model: MSI Optix G27C2
Freesync Range: ????
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Conan Exiles

Comments: Enabled FreeSync in display's OSD, disabled "Over Drive" feature. Enabled fullscreen and windowed mode GSYNC/Freesync in NV Control Panel, then disabled Vsync in game. No artifacting or tearing until I tabbed to another window briefly, went back to the game and experienced irregular horizontal artifacts (did not look like tearing). Changed in-game options to fullscreen (non-windowed) and resolved the issue.

GPU: GTX 1080
CPU: i7 6700
CRU should tell you but I ended up just googling mine and then confirmed with CRU.
 
Monitor Model: viewsonic vx 3258
Freesync Range: 48-144hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: fallout 4, shadow of war
Comments: Enabled Full Screen and windowed Mode Gsync/Freesync, enabled Vsync in nvidia control panel, disabled Vsync in game. Before i was using the win10 igpu trick with the ryzen 3 to have onboard video out "freesync" the 1070. Experienced a 10-15% fps increase by going direct from the 1070. Also a frame limiter is a must if you have vsync disabled, loading screens for games hit 800-900fps.


GPU: gtx 1070 msi gamer X
CPU: AMD 2200g ryzen 3 OC 4.0ghz.
 
Monitor Model: BenQ EX3203R
Freesync Range: 48-144hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No (Just normal VA Blurring)

Games tested: DOOM, BF5, FC5, Wolfenstein: New Order, Nvidia Pendulum Demo

Comments: Issues with Black Screen when framerates were below 44FPS and Menus, Had to use CRU to set the V Range to 48-144 from 24-144


and just to give an idea of what your running with:

GPU: 20180ti
CPU: 2700X
 
I have the Samsung C27HG70 which is a FreeSync 2 HDR ,144hz monitor. I've always kept the FreeSync setting on the monitor itself Off until today, as I have a GTX 1070 and knew I wouldn't be able to make full use of it. According to the chart above, it should work with the Nvidia drivers. However, I've run into a couple of issues before I can even truly start....

First, I notice that the monitor itself has 3 settings related to FreeSync - Off, Standard, and Ultimate. Reading around I've been trying to figure out the difference between Standard and Ultimate. From what I've read on other monitors, it seems that Ultimate is all around better and has a larger FreeSync range while activating LFC? Is that correct? If so it seems that there is no real reason to use Standard mode at this point (one article mentioned that this monitor's earliest variants shipped just with standard and needed a FW upgrade to enable Ultimate which is its full capability) ? .

Assuming this is accurate, I followed some of the guide regarding GSync entries in the Nvidia Control Panel to turn it on for Fullscreen mode etc... and it did seem to work (as in it would activate and I had a picture), but the colors or brightness of my display was notably muted? Is that "supposed" to happen? I'm completely new to FreeSync/GSync as I've never had the right combination so to speak, so maybe this is just a feature or whatnot, but it seems a strange one especially when in theory GSync isn't even activated on my desktop and I have no full screen 3d application running etc?
 
I have the Samsung C27HG70 which is a FreeSync 2 HDR ,144hz monitor. I've always kept the FreeSync setting on the monitor itself Off until today, as I have a GTX 1070 and knew I wouldn't be able to make full use of it. According to the chart above, it should work with the Nvidia drivers. However, I've run into a couple of issues before I can even truly start....

First, I notice that the monitor itself has 3 settings related to FreeSync - Off, Standard, and Ultimate. Reading around I've been trying to figure out the difference between Standard and Ultimate. From what I've read on other monitors, it seems that Ultimate is all around better and has a larger FreeSync range while activating LFC? Is that correct? If so it seems that there is no real reason to use Standard mode at this point (one article mentioned that this monitor's earliest variants shipped just with standard and needed a FW upgrade to enable Ultimate which is its full capability) ? .

Assuming this is accurate, I followed some of the guide regarding GSync entries in the Nvidia Control Panel to turn it on for Fullscreen mode etc... and it did seem to work (as in it would activate and I had a picture), but the colors or brightness of my display was notably muted? Is that "supposed" to happen? I'm completely new to FreeSync/GSync as I've never had the right combination so to speak, so maybe this is just a feature or whatnot, but it seems a strange one especially when in theory GSync isn't even activated on my desktop and I have no full screen 3d application running etc?

"standard" is 48-120hz
"ultimate" is 40-144hz AKA OC mode or overdrive mode

LFC will "turn on" on any monitor in which the 40-48 number is at least 2.4x lower than the 120-144 number. So a 48-144 (most monitors) is 3x. 48-120 is 2.5x

And your colors may be washed out if you changed color space. If you went from hdmi 2.0 4:4:4 15-235, to displayport srgb 0-255, you will have to retune your settings.
 
"standard" is 48-120hz
"ultimate" is 40-144hz AKA OC mode or overdrive mode

LFC will "turn on" on any monitor in which the 40-48 number is at least 2.4x lower than the 120-144 number. So a 48-144 (most monitors) is 3x. 48-120 is 2.5x

And your colors may be washed out if you changed color space. If you went from hdmi 2.0 4:4:4 15-235, to displayport srgb 0-255, you will have to retune your settings.

Thank you. So should I be using Ultimate then? Is there no downside?

Regarding colors, I did not do so intentionally anyway. I have the monitor connected via DisplayPort as it has always been, but as soon as I hit "accept" after checking that box on the GSync setup, things flash and then appear more dull. Should I check something somewhere in the Nvidia settings? Elsewhere? I should mention that this is technically a HDR monitor though I don't use it as one in Windows so I don't know if that complicates things. In the past, when Windows turned on HDR mode the entire desktop was dim, but that was a different effect from this one as I can remember.
 
Thank you. So should I be using Ultimate then? Is there no downside?

Regarding colors, I did not do so intentionally anyway. I have the monitor connected via DisplayPort as it has always been, but as soon as I hit "accept" after checking that box on the GSync setup, things flash and then appear more dull. Should I check something somewhere in the Nvidia settings? Elsewhere? I should mention that this is technically a HDR monitor though I don't use it as one in Windows so I don't know if that complicates things. In the past, when Windows turned on HDR mode the entire desktop was dim, but that was a different effect from this one as I can remember.

the down side to ultimate is there may be some image degrigation during high motion ( for example a mouse point may have a slight blue or brown tail).

As for your muted colors and odds are greys instead of blacks, either the monitor or the computer thinks the other is in a different mode.

If you want to start from scratch, in nvidia control panel you want "resolution" to be srgb color space and 0-255 (full) color. In your monitor menu you also want the same settings. HDR adds another layer, it needs to be on or off on both places, it cant be on and one and off at the other. If any of those settings are backwards you will either get black crush, or washout.

In your case you are getting wash out. The monitor is interpreting a 0 (complete black) as 15(mild grey bcause it thinks its dd/blue ray color scale). The opposite can also happen, where you feed the monitor a 15 (grey on the pc scale) and the monitor interpets it as complete black, so 0-15 is all crushed blacks.
 
Monitor Model: ASUS MG279Q
Freesync Range: 35-90
Experience Tearing?: N/A
Experience Blurring?: N/A

Games tested: Superposition, 3DMark

Comments: Enabling VRR locks the monitor to 29/30Hz in fullscreen mode

GPU: 1080 Ti @ 2.075Ghz
CPU: 4970K @ 4.8Ghz

Others have reported this working using CRU, will test tonight.
 
So I installed CRU and got the custom freesync range working at 48-144 and now Gsync actually changes the refresh rate of the monitor past 30Hz. Problem is if it dips below 48fps the screen becomes all corrupted and i cant see anything. massive flickering and artifacting. Will keep tweaking until I give up or it works.


Edit: GOT IT WORKING!!! needed to find a good range and change the CRU range in two spots. 60-144hz for now.
 
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Apologies if slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to make a thread just to ask.

Is it possible to force the high end of the VRR range to something less than a monitor's max refresh? My monitor is 144, but I'd like to try 120 or 100. I ask because in some games at 144, when framerates fluctuate wildly, I experience stuttering, tearing, and other issues that I think might be resolved by lowering the max refresh rate. Changing it in NVCP and Windows has no effect, and I'm unable to change it on the monitor (C32HG70) when FS is enabled.

Other than that, it works wonderfully on this monitor in games with relatively stable framerates.
 
Apologies if slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to make a thread just to ask.

Is it possible to force the high end of the VRR range to something less than a monitor's max refresh? My monitor is 144, but I'd like to try 120 or 100. I ask because in some games at 144, when framerates fluctuate wildly, I experience stuttering, tearing, and other issues that I think might be resolved by lowering the max refresh rate. Changing it in NVCP and Windows has no effect, and I'm unable to change it on the monitor (C32HG70) when FS is enabled.

Other than that, it works wonderfully on this monitor in games with relatively stable framerates.


Try limiting your FPS to a max of 144(or lower 70fps)... Most recent games can FPS limit. If your changing the Hz, keep in mind the 2.4:1 ratio aka if your freesync range is 48-144 change to 48-115hz
 
Monitor Model: LG 27UK600-W
Freesync Range: 40-60Hz
Experience Tearing?: Yes
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Sniper Elite 4, Heroes of the Storm

Comments: Enabled FreeSync "Basic" in display's OSD menu. Enabled fullscreen and windowed mode GSYNC/FreeSync in NV Control Panel, then disabled Vsync in game. Experienced tearing, so I tried the FreeSync "Extended" setting in the OSD menu. Still saw tearing. Noticed the framerate was in excess of 100+, so I capped it at 60; still experienced tearing. Switched to Sniper Elite 4, only saw tearing with VSYNC off while in-game. Doesn't appear to work on this display.

GPU: GTX 1070
CPU: i5 3570K
 
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Monitor Model: Monoprice 27772 - 32" 4k IPS
Freesync Range: 30-60 Hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Fallout 4

Comments: Auto-selected as GSync compatible once FreeSync enabled in monitor control panel. Ran Pendulum test fine at 40 Hz, but displayed some tearing in 60 Hz mode (probably owing to underpowered rig.)

Just overclocked my GPU before leaving on a trip (which did improve frame rates in FO4 at 4k, will test with Pendulum again and report back if added oomph from OC improves tearing at 60 Hz. Additionally, will try the 1080p/120 Hz mode upon return, and see how it behaves.

GPU: GTX 1080
CPU: Xeon E5-1650
 
Apologies if slightly off-topic, but I didn't want to make a thread just to ask.

Is it possible to force the high end of the VRR range to something less than a monitor's max refresh? My monitor is 144, but I'd like to try 120 or 100. I ask because in some games at 144, when framerates fluctuate wildly, I experience stuttering, tearing, and other issues that I think might be resolved by lowering the max refresh rate. Changing it in NVCP and Windows has no effect, and I'm unable to change it on the monitor (C32HG70) when FS is enabled.

Other than that, it works wonderfully on this monitor in games with relatively stable framerates.
MSI Afterburner installs the RivaTunerStatistics server, a small blue icon on the taskbar.
Click this and change the Framerate limit option.
Dont click the X to close, minimise it.
 
Monitor Model: AcerXR382CQK bmijqphuzx
Part Number: UM.TX2AA.002
Freesync Range: 48-75Hz
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: o

Games tested: Diablo 3 and Destiny 2 etc...

Comments: Confirmed operation with tools that the monitor has to show current refresh rate, etc... Attempted lowering the bottom end of the range with CRU and was unable to do so.

[email protected], 1080Ti, both under custom water.
 
Hoq do 144hz 1080p monitors work?
Aoc c27g1?
Asus vg279q?

they freesync 48-144hz. They are not just 144hz monitors, they support freesync. There are "144hz" fixed frequency monitors out there, but they are rare.
 
Tested Acer XF270HUA 27" 1440p ips monitor with 144hz refresh. Freesync range 40-144. Game was Quake Champions on mostly high settings (whatever the default graphics settings are for my hardware in sig). No tearing, blurring, or any other problems. Which is just as expected as I had previously read that this particular monitor was working properly with Nvidia graphics cards. All is well.
 
I have noticed an issue. If i full screen paint.net i get some strobing, and when viewing frequency in my monitor menu, my fps is going nutts.
 
Monitor Model: Pixio PX329
Freesync Range: 48-144Hz (just for kicks, I tried extending the range, but it wouldn't go more than a couple Hz, so I just left it alone since it's easily covering the range for LFC)
Experience Tearing?: No
Experience Blurring?: No

Games tested: Fallout 76, Witcher 3, Path of Exile, Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Comments: Quick and easy setup. Just turned on Freesync on the monitor and installed the 417.71 driver. G-sync was enabled by default. I just had to check the "Enable settings for the selected display model" checkbox and Apply.

GPU: 1080 Ti
CPU: 8700K @ 4.8GHz
 
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