Steam Client G-Sync flicker/strobe and delay after Mar 21 update

[a blaspheming heretic]

After the Mar 21 update, my Steam client now flickers and strobes. This is a nauseating effect that makes it very unpleasant to use the Steam client. When sitting idle and viewing it, the screen will strobe at random rates. When scrolling or causing motion, it's likewise very choppy and delayed. Minimizing it restores sanity and peace, but having even a tiny Steam chat dialog open on the screen (with no other Steam UI elements on-screen) causes the strobe across the entire screen. The UI animation when restoring the window from a minimized state is ESPECIALLY horrible, looking like a blurry, choppy, 4-fps mess. Oddly, the minimize transition is flawless.

I see where the patch has altered things like: CPU usage and UI drawing, adding high-DPI monitor support, changing window transition elements.

I've seen other people in other posts here complaining about different UI lag, blur, or response issues, so clearly something has gone horribly wrong.

Now, to be fair, this flickering has happened in other programs. The Windows lock screen does it sometimes, and (and this may be KEY to determining what is being changed that is causing these issues) SPOTIFY after their most recent update as well. So, whatever both Steam and Spotify have changed in their most recent updates is wreaking havoc on G-Sync. If anyone else has that Spotify issue, feel free to chime in here: https://community.spotify.com/t5/Desktop-Windows/Spotify-flickering-with-Nvidia-G-Sync-enabled/td-p/4420823

As I added in the notes above and attempted for Spotify, nothing I do in the Nvidia Control Panel to tell the Steam executables to run without G-Sync, change the vsync settings, alter the refresh rate, or change the power management setting works. Setting the Steam executable to run in Fixed Refresh rate instead of G-Sync works intermittently, but causes my monitor to also intermittently disable G-Sync entirely until it is globally disabled and re-enabled, at which point the Steam client (with its "disabled" G-Sync setting) resumes using G-Sync and strobing again.

Please fix this, whatever has been changed. I have a habit of perusing the Steam store every day and spending way too many of my monies, but THIS discourages that. It STRONGLY compels me to never want to open the Steam client unless I MUST. No game sales for you until this is fixed. ...... I'm sorry.. that was a little harsh. I'm not gonna do that - I love you, Steam - ......... but you've made me so ANGRY with you!!

[Bass Junkie]

nice i just found this today and have a fix !

i have a asus pg279q rog swift 1440p 165 hz g-sync
8700k 5 ghz
1080ti founders
windows 10 1607 + updates nvidia 391.01 ( the new far cry 5 nvidia driver causes stitter )

my windows dpi setting ( let me chose a custom dpi for both displays is set to 100 % )

nvidia panel settings

windows 10 desk to resolution 1440p 165 hz in nvidia panel

g-sync tab inside nvidia panel - ( this is the fix )

g-sync off
g-sync full screen
g-sync full screen + windowed < this setting is what makes steam ui menus lagy and drop windows fps down to 20 .. from 165 on the desk top . i have a fps counter built in to my monitor menu and its allays 165 navigating windows and the second my mouse is even on the steam app any where it drops down to liek 30 fps and lagy and feels like 30 hz and monitor is laging .


the fix : put to gsync mode to ( full screen only ) not > full + windowed that makes steam lagy af .


well its a work around i should say and it fixes it for me i restarted pc shut down steam and re tarted it confirmed worked . i play full screen games anyways on the 1080ti windowed mode is lagy and not good anyways .


report back after that switch .