Really dumb question on refresh rate settings with a VRR monitor

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Billiam29

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  • #1
    I just joined the previous decade and got my first variable refresh rate monitor. I have a stupidly simple question that I’m having trouble finding an answer to.

    In my use case with an NIVIDIA GPU, you enable adaptive syc in the NVIDIA driver settings with a choice labled simply “adaptive”. Yet the advanced display settings in Windows has its own refresh rate setting which has distinct values of 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz, etc..

    So which setting “wins” here? Can one override the other? Do the two settings apply in different circumstances?

    My guess is that the GPU “adaptive” setting possibly applies only when the GPU is in 3D mode while the Windows display settings would apply for most everything else in the 2D world of the OS and desktop apps. I’ve just been unable to find anything that confirms this.
     
    rodalpho

    rodalpho

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  • #3
    Adaptive sync is something different; it turns on vsync at max refresh to eliminate tearing and turns it off below that so the game runs more smoothly without triple buffering. Not sure how it works with VRR; typically you do want vsync on with VRR to avoid tearing at max refresh rate when VRR is no longer in effect.

    Set Windows to 144Hz or whatever your monitor supports, then enable gsync (or gsync compatible) in the Nvidia control panel.
     
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    redleader

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  • #4
    Billiam29 said:
    My guess is that the GPU “adaptive” setting possibly applies only when the GPU is in 3D mode while the Windows display settings would apply for most everything else in the 2D world of the OS and desktop apps. I’ve just been unable to find anything that confirms this.
    Click to expand...
    Adaptive refresh and fixed refresh behave identically once rendering time for a frame is much less than the minimum frame period; that is for things like 2D where the frame rendered so quickly that it is always ready you'll just get the maximum refresh. I think Windows disables adaptive refresh in 2D mode, but even if it didn't you'd get the max refresh rate the monitor supported. Adaptive only makes a difference once your rendering gets slow enough that the system can't instantly have a new frame available whenever it needs one.
     
    Demento

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  • #5
    rodalpho said:
    Adaptive sync is something different; it turns on vsync at max refresh to eliminate tearing and turns it off below that so the game runs more smoothly without triple buffering. Not sure how it works with VRR; typically you do want vsync on with VRR to avoid tearing at max refresh rate when VRR is no longer in effect.

    Set Windows to 144Hz or whatever your monitor supports, then enable gsync (or gsync compatible) in the Nvidia control panel.
    Click to expand...
    To add to this, you might think 144Hz is overkill for your desktop, but that setting is the hard cap for the VRR as well. Yes, you can function perfectly well at 72Hz browsing the web and editing Excel, but it will cap your maximum VRR framerate at 72Hz. So put whatever's the highest option in.
     
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    Billiam29

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  • #6
    Thanks for the helpful replies. Especially the clarification that adaptive sync != G-sync.

    I don't recall specifically where I got the info that enabling the adaptive setting under vertical sync was how you enabled G-Sync but I could swear it was somewhere on NVIDIAs site as I'm a big proponent of going to the horse's mouth for info. It may very well have been a user forum post though.

    Regardless, thanks again for the clarifications and additional info.
     
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    rodalpho

    rodalpho

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  • #7
    Yep completely different tech. You do either want the game capped slightly below your refresh in those that support it, or to enforce vsync via the nvidia control panel though. Not a huge deal typically.

    On a side note I have a 165Hz display and just leave it at 120. Diminishing returns kick in past 90 and for the life of me I can’t see any difference past 120. Figure I may as well save some energy.
     
    MadMac_5

    MadMac_5

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  • #8
    rodalpho said:
    Yep completely different tech.

    On a side note I have a 165Hz display and just leave it at 120. Diminishing returns kick in past 90 and for the life of me I can’t see any difference past 120. Figure I may as well save some energy.
    Click to expand...
    One reason I keep my 165 Hz monitor at 120 Hz is that it divides evenly into 60, 30, and 24 FPS, which matches most of the content that I play/watch, and my 3060 Ti struggles to get past 120 Hz at 1440p for many games I play.
     
    rodalpho

    rodalpho

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  • #9
    That shouldn’t matter if your monitor supports low framerate compensation (LFC). If your VRR window starts at 48Hz but your PC can only play the game at 34fps, it simply frame doubles to 68 and VRR works.

    Edit: Noticed you said watch so movies too. I'm not entirely sure how windows handles that natively, I'd imagine 3:2 pulldown at least at 60Hz, and I'm sure you can use something like VLC or certainly Kodi to switch refresh rates to 24Hz, but that blacks out the monitor for a second. Interesting issue I never encountered as I don't watch movies on my PC.
     
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    Billiam29

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  • #10
    Just a note for any additional late comers to VRR monitors that happen to refer to this thread in the future.

    The Display > Setup G-SYNC setting in the NVIDIA control panel appears to be dynamic. It seems like the entire setting won't even be present if your monitor doesn't support variable refresh rates.

    The monitor I chose had VRR turned off out of the box. As soon as I enabled it...FreeSync Premium in my case...the setting appeared in the NVIDIA control panel. Not exactly a difficult thing to work through. Took me about a minute to figure out. I just thought I'd mention it in case someone is in a similar position to me and is perhaps working before their morning coffee kicked in.
     
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