Win 10 - Nasty Stutter in Borderless Windowed

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Apr 5, 2016
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Title says most. I have a second monitor that I use all the time while gaming to monitor hardware, handle Discord, look stuff up in Chrome, etc. In Borderless Windowed, I'm able to easily mouse over to that screen real quick and pop back into the game easily. In full screen, while I might be able to change window focus, it usually gives my main monitor an epileptic panic attack.

The setup is a 1080ti driving a 165hz Gsync panel and a GT710 driving a 60hz panel on the side.

This issue is new after a Windows 10 reinstall following a motherboard replacement. The mobo went from a Gigabyte Z270X Ultra Gaming to a Gigabyte Z270X Aorus Gaming K7, so I believe it's similar enough that there shouldn't be much difference hardware wise. It was a clean install, so I'm betting I just missed something in my configuration, but am danged if I can figure out what.

Anyone got any ideas? =)
 
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Gsync has been broken with borderless windows on and off for a while now with W10. You either run an older driver where it works or use fullscreen.
 
Gsync has been broken with borderless windows on and off for a while now with W10. You either run an older driver where it works or use fullscreen.
That makes sense. I've always opted to avoid GeForce Expiration, so the driver I was using before my reinstall was likely quite dated. I'll have to start rolling back until I get one that functions right.

Is it as simple as running the installer for the older driver and letting it overwrite the existing one? Or do I need to grab some kind of driver cleaner utility to do it properly? I've never actually rolled back to an older driver.
 
You can just uninstall via windows CP and see if it works right. Use DDU if it does not. I think the last driver it was working was 391.xx
 
That makes sense. I've always opted to avoid GeForce Expiration, so the driver I was using before my reinstall was likely quite dated. I'll have to start rolling back until I get one that functions right.

Is it as simple as running the installer for the older driver and letting it overwrite the existing one? Or do I need to grab some kind of driver cleaner utility to do it properly? I've never actually rolled back to an older driver.

You're going to have to roll back quite far. It's been broken for at least over a year now from my memory, maybe two years. Fortunately the only game I play in windowed mode is World of Warships and g-sync isn't needed so I just keep g-sync on the full screen only setting.
 
ULMB in that configuration is working fine, but you are limited to 120hz. The benefit of no blur gaming is a positive.
 
In Borderless Windowed, I'm able to easily mouse over to that screen real quick and pop back into the game easily. In full screen, while I might be able to change window focus, it usually gives my main monitor an epileptic panic attack.
TL;DR- I empathize with your fullscreen gaming woes using dual monitors with Windows 10.

Sorry, not really contributing anything too useful here, but I do know that we have M$ to thank for the fullscreen gaming on dual-monitor headaches. Last year I finally upgraded and got a Ryzen, which at launch, using Win7 wasn't really worked out so... I ended up running Win10. While I don't use dual monitors anymore, I do use MouseWithoutBorders (a KB/M sharing program between computers over the network, made by a M$ employee), which when set to "hide mouse off screen" on the system you've switched from... well apparently it works the exact same way that switching monitors does.

With Windows 7 that was no problem. I could game and use my laptop to chat, which I'd just drag my mouse over (I set it to require I hold CTRL to transition between systems) without any issues.
With Windows 10... well for whatever reason M$ decided that if you want to run multiple screens with a program in Full Screen mode... that now the program HAS to minimize. Which I can't really say I've tracked down a logical explanation for why they needed to do that, but it sure as hell is annoying.

In your case, I assume that's what causes your monitor to have a seizure, where your fix was to just run in borderless-windowed mode, which has drawbacks sadly.
Thankfully in my situation, I just had to change the MouseWithoutBorders setting to not hide the cursor at the screen edge, where it now just locks it to the center of the screen... in most games. :p Some games, like Dying Light, Bethesda games, the mouse is still active and clicking stuff can interact with the game lol Was far less of a problem in Windows 7 :\ (I just open the Console in Bethesda games, then I don't have to worry about errant clicks causing gaming mayhem)
 
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