2080S with 144hz Gsync stuttering DETAILED Post!

[Martial Biker]

I7-9700k
16gb ram, ssd
2080 super
1440p at 144hz monitor gsync enabled

It seems in all games I get stuttering, even for the slightest frame drops. Examples:
- NASCAR Heat 4, easily can be run with a 2080s on high settings. Frames are 144 90% on the time, but even if it drops to 140, it visably skips.
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider, medium to high settings. Ray shadows, and pure hair off. Literally jumps from the mid 100s to barely 60 at times. Massive stuttering.
- Jurassic World Evolution. In game frame limit to 90. Stays at this 95% of the time. Visable stutter just dropping into the 80s.

I think you get the picture. Demanding games or games that can be completely maxed out like the first Sonic Allstars Racing seems to just not look 100% fluent.

And importantly, cpu and gpu temps don’t go above 70.

Some of my questions are:
- Is gsync actually even doing anything?
- Is there some kind of counteract going on with in vsync on?

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, I’m advanced computer knowledgable and can build a pc in my sleep. So let’s skip the “is such and such checked off in settings” common replies. But I’m not some bios or power shell expert, etc. For a near 2k build this is freakin frustrating. Serious more knowledgeable help would be greatly appreciated.

[L37]

Try to turn vsync off, set framerate limit (either in game or by some 3rd party tool like rtss) to some value within gsync range, see if you get any tearing. This will at least give you an indication if gsync is working or not.
Also starting with how well you know everything is not really a good idea. No matter how many experience you have it is usually the most stupid/obvious things that you miss, so shrugging stuff off as "it's obvious" is never a good idea.

[Martial Biker]

I wasn’t implying that I know everything, obviously why I’m baffled by this. Just trying to save myself from getting a lot of notifications popping up for replies, when it would just be a “did you set power to prefer performance” or something common.

[_I_]

force gsync in nvidia control panel, disable vsync in games

[Martial Biker]

So here's where my frustration grows in the last hour with different testing.
Some serious BS completely baffling me.
Gsync on, Vsync off. I'll use Nascar Heat 4 as the first example since it should be a cake game for a 2080 super.

Set monitor refresh to 144... game runs consistent stutter at 142-143 frames.
Then I set monitor refresh to 120.. guess what.. game runs consistently with stutter at 118-119 frames!!

What in the blue hell is going on here??!

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Enable GameMode in Win10.

Set Windows power options to high performance.

Set os desktop to 144hz within nvidia control panel then launch a game and X out the steam window.

Make sure steam settings are set to not allow downloads or game updates during gameplay. Set steam library to low performance and low bandwidth mode.

Set games to borderless windowed mode.

[MAX]

Make sure you have gpu drivers/windows updated,i had the same issue time ago

[humboldt]

what i have learned is, that vsync is for gaming and vsync off is for benchmarking. i dont know if this helps!?

[[☥] - CJ -]

never seen someone actually RECOMMEND enabling GameMode before when its actually caused issues in the past lol

What Usage is the CPU and GPU at when you get these stutters?

Have you checked to see if theres a BIOS update for your motherboard that may help?

[nullable]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

never seen someone actually RECOMMEND enabling GameMode before when its actually caused issues in the past lol

What Usage is the CPU and GPU at when you get these stutters?

Have you checked to see if theres a BIOS update for your motherboard that may help?

Well nothing is a golden hammer, and I don't think you can claim it causes issues for every game, or even most games. And if it does in this case I know it takes hours and hours to setup or disable.... /s

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by mtono:

what i have learned is, that vsync is for gaming and vsync off is for benchmarking. i dont know if this helps!?

What does that even mean?

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

never seen someone actually RECOMMEND enabling GameMode before when its actually caused issues in the past lol

What Usage is the CPU and GPU at when you get these stutters?

Have you checked to see if theres a BIOS update for your motherboard that may help?

>One person has issue
>THIS SETTING IS TRASH, NEVER USE.
Kinda silly, but aight'.
At worst, he just has to disable it, no problem.

Originally posted by BIKER TAKER:

So here's where my frustration grows in the last hour with different testing.
Some serious BS completely baffling me.
Gsync on, Vsync off. I'll use Nascar Heat 4 as the first example since it should be a cake game for a 2080 super.

Set monitor refresh to 144... game runs consistent stutter at 142-143 frames.
Then I set monitor refresh to 120.. guess what.. game runs consistently with stutter at 118-119 frames!!

What in the blue hell is going on here??!

G-sync is meant to assist with reducing stuttering and tearing, if you have large variance in frametimes you are going to see stuttering and tearing, because that's going out of G-syncs range, just like to high FPS.
That said, when there is a small variance in frametimes, you get a large improvement in fluidity, less stuttering, etc.

Have you tested RTSS with a 143 FPS cap?
Or if you don't want to use RTSS, you can use the FPS limiter that's built into NVCP (if you have latest drivers), it works pretty much the same as RTSS', and saves the extra program installation.

[Carlsberg]

In regards to counteract between gsync and vsync maybe if both are enabled. When you go over your monitor refresh rate vsync will try to limit and may then have issues with gsync trying to do opposite no? I think if i was to enable gsync i would want vsync off.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Carlsberg:

In regards to counteract between gsync and vsync maybe if both are enabled. When you go over your monitor refresh rate vsync will try to limit and may then have issues with gsync trying to do opposite no? I think if i was to enable gsync i would want vsync off.

They work together pretty well in my experience. But there seems to be a lot of confusion and opinions about syncing technologies though.

[Carlsberg]

Originally posted by Brockenstein:

They work together pretty well in my experience. But there seems to be a lot of confusion and opinions about syncing technologies though.

I am not knowledgeable but my thinking is that for instance on a 60hz display vsync is active to limit refresh at 60fps, gsync would disable at 61fps but at 60fps both would be active and may start to argue with each other and possibly cause the stutter.

[Autumn_]

Originally posted by Carlsberg:

In regards to counteract between gsync and vsync maybe if both are enabled. When you go over your monitor refresh rate vsync will try to limit and may then have issues with gsync trying to do opposite no? I think if i was to enable gsync i would want vsync off.

Vsync + Gsync is one of the best ways to use Gsync.
If you go out of Gsyncs range, the buffer is still synced, so you get no tearing, and only a slight delay.
And if your FPS drops to hard, vsync keeps the buffer synced aswell, so you get no tearing, unlike just Gsync.

The problem is Vsync, even with Gsync, adds latency, and that's why people, myself included, don't like using it.

And, infact, Gsync used to force Vsync on when you went out of range, so it's intended to be used like that.

Gsync doesn't effect your FPS in any way though, what it does is sync the monitors refresh rate with the FPS, so the only issue you'd get here is that it's going out of range and is no longer syncing (143-145+ FPS for a 144hz monitor), if you want to stay in Gsync range, you want to cap your FPS 2-3 below your refresh rate, which would give it 1 FPS (big difference if you're using a good FPS limiter) before you hit the out of range mark.
And wouldn't cause any jitters when it activates again, because it's always active.

Originally posted by Brockenstein:

Originally posted by Carlsberg:

In regards to counteract between gsync and vsync maybe if both are enabled. When you go over your monitor refresh rate vsync will try to limit and may then have issues with gsync trying to do opposite no? I think if i was to enable gsync i would want vsync off.

They work together pretty well in my experience. But there seems to be a lot of confusion and opinions about syncing technologies though.

Everything I've seen about it shows they work brilliantly, but there is some added latency from Vsync.
I do plan to experement with Gsync + Vsync some more later on next week.
Because the extent of my personal experience is:
- enable Gsync
- cap FPS
- 'mhmm feels smoother' (which it did)
Then leave it at that.
I've never actually used Vsync, except in games that it's 'forced' on.

[Carlsberg]

Thanks autumn, that explains it better.