solved! GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Talk about NVIDIA G-SYNC, a variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. G-SYNC eliminates stutters, tearing, and reduces input lag. List of G-SYNC Monitors.
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solved! GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by open » 11 Jul 2017, 19:26

I'm getting a weird problem where when a games menu screens or any time it loads some assets / has frame drops, the game will lock up. This is while using gsync and it takes much longer to load / recover from the fps drops than usual. This is with the PG258Q

EDIT: this is an issue with gsync and laptops using an external display with all drivers above 381. As a temporary fix I am using 378 drivers
Last edited by open on 14 Jul 2017, 11:58, edited 1 time in total.

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jorimt
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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by jorimt » 11 Jul 2017, 19:56

With the scant amount of information you have provided, it will be difficult to diagnose your issue.

Please list:
-Your system specs
-Nvidia Control Panel settings (including G-SYNC settings)
-Windows 10 "Game mode," "Game bar," and exe "fullscreen optimization" settings (if you have Windows 10 w/Creators update)
-Game(s) you're having the issue in
-List of background programs running (if possible)

You say it only happens with G-SYNC enabled, but I assume it does with standalone V-SYNC as well? I also assume you mean it doesn't happen as severely with V-SYNC/G-SYNC completely disabled.
(jorimt: /jor-uhm-tee/)
Author: Blur Busters "G-SYNC 101" Series

Displays: ASUS PG27AQN, LG 48CX VR: Beyond, Quest 3, Reverb G2, Index OS: Windows 11 Pro Case: Fractal Design Torrent PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 MB: ASUS Z790 Hero CPU: Intel i9-13900k w/Noctua NH-U12A GPU: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 GAMING OC RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5 6400MHz CL32 SSDs: 2TB WD_BLACK SN850 (OS), 4TB WD_BLACK SN850X (Games) Keyboards: Wooting 60HE, Logitech G915 TKL Mice: Razer Viper Mini SE, Razer Viper 8kHz Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 (speakers/amp/DAC), AFUL Performer 8 (IEMs)

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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by open » 11 Jul 2017, 21:30

It happens only when G-SYNC is enabled. Turning on or off V-sync in drivers while using G-SYNC does not stop it from happening. It does not happen when using V-sync alone without G-SYNC.
System is a 1070 6700hq and PG258Q using 384.76 drivers, also tried on 382.33 drivers.
Have minimal background processes running.
I'm using windows 10 but not the creators update.

Games it happens in are overwatch (not in game thankfully) and heroes of the storm (in game and in menus). I haven't tried G-SYNC in other games yet.

It happens pretty much any time the fps drops below 30. So any time some loading occurs it happens and the game seems to lock up alot during this time.

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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by jorimt » 11 Jul 2017, 22:33

Is this a laptop plugged into an external monitor? Also, you didn't list your system RAM amount/speed. Finally, are you running borderless or fullscreen?
(jorimt: /jor-uhm-tee/)
Author: Blur Busters "G-SYNC 101" Series

Displays: ASUS PG27AQN, LG 48CX VR: Beyond, Quest 3, Reverb G2, Index OS: Windows 11 Pro Case: Fractal Design Torrent PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 MB: ASUS Z790 Hero CPU: Intel i9-13900k w/Noctua NH-U12A GPU: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 GAMING OC RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5 6400MHz CL32 SSDs: 2TB WD_BLACK SN850 (OS), 4TB WD_BLACK SN850X (Games) Keyboards: Wooting 60HE, Logitech G915 TKL Mice: Razer Viper Mini SE, Razer Viper 8kHz Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 (speakers/amp/DAC), AFUL Performer 8 (IEMs)

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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by RealNC » 12 Jul 2017, 07:06

Actually this is perfectly normal 0FPS behavior. G-Sync takes some time to recover from very long stalls. If you get 0FPS for a couple seconds, G-Sync will hiccup when the stall ends.

I don't have any games that stall to 0FPS for that long though outside of menus or loading screens. I don't even have an SSD, and even open world games only stall for milliseconds, not whole seconds. I can only trigger the effect synthetically by pausing a video during g-sync video playback.

However, I don't know if the behavior is worse with some monitors compared to others. With mine, G-Sync really needs a stall of more than one second to trigger this.
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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by jorimt » 12 Jul 2017, 11:56

Yes, it is normal for G-SYNC in that instance, and is caused by long interruptions of system frame output (frametime spikes). These can be exacerbated by many factors, which is why I was hoping to help reduce any of the possible causes on his system, if possible.

Depending on his setup, I may or may not be able to.

As I state in my article:
As for its shortcomings, G-SYNC is only as effective as the system it runs on. If the road is the system, G-SYNC is the suspension; the bumpier the road, the less it can compensate.
(jorimt: /jor-uhm-tee/)
Author: Blur Busters "G-SYNC 101" Series

Displays: ASUS PG27AQN, LG 48CX VR: Beyond, Quest 3, Reverb G2, Index OS: Windows 11 Pro Case: Fractal Design Torrent PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 MB: ASUS Z790 Hero CPU: Intel i9-13900k w/Noctua NH-U12A GPU: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 GAMING OC RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5 6400MHz CL32 SSDs: 2TB WD_BLACK SN850 (OS), 4TB WD_BLACK SN850X (Games) Keyboards: Wooting 60HE, Logitech G915 TKL Mice: Razer Viper Mini SE, Razer Viper 8kHz Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 (speakers/amp/DAC), AFUL Performer 8 (IEMs)

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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by open » 12 Jul 2017, 13:09

The monitor is the PG258Q. Unfortunately it causes stalls that end up making the game take much longer to recover somehow. I need to find a way to fix this. In overwatch if I open my social tab it stalls for a good 10-15 seconds where normally it takes 1 second or two.

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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by RealNC » 12 Jul 2017, 14:00

Hm. That is obviously not normal at all.

Have you tested different refresh rates? In the NVidia panel's "3D Settings", change "Preferred refresh rate" to "application controlled". Then change the refresh rate to something else for the game (verify in the monitor's OSD that the game runs at the new refresh) and see if that still happens in 120Hz and 144Hz.

Not that this is a valid fix (it isn't; it should work even in 240Hz), but it might give an indication on whether the monitor has issues.
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Re: GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low fps

Post by jorimt » 12 Jul 2017, 19:24

open wrote:The monitor is the PG258Q. Unfortunately it causes stalls that end up making the game take much longer to recover somehow. I need to find a way to fix this. In overwatch if I open my social tab it stalls for a good 10-15 seconds where normally it takes 1 second or two.
Okay, that doesn't sound like frametime spikes then. Have you tried swapping out your DisplayPort cable? Maybe you're running into a bandwidth issue with G-SYNC enabled?

I'm not sure at this point; I've never run into 10-15 second stalls myself.
(jorimt: /jor-uhm-tee/)
Author: Blur Busters "G-SYNC 101" Series

Displays: ASUS PG27AQN, LG 48CX VR: Beyond, Quest 3, Reverb G2, Index OS: Windows 11 Pro Case: Fractal Design Torrent PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-1000 MB: ASUS Z790 Hero CPU: Intel i9-13900k w/Noctua NH-U12A GPU: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 GAMING OC RAM: 32GB G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5 6400MHz CL32 SSDs: 2TB WD_BLACK SN850 (OS), 4TB WD_BLACK SN850X (Games) Keyboards: Wooting 60HE, Logitech G915 TKL Mice: Razer Viper Mini SE, Razer Viper 8kHz Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Katana V2 (speakers/amp/DAC), AFUL Performer 8 (IEMs)

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Re: solved! GSYNC making game freeze up during loading / low

Post by open » 14 Jul 2017, 12:08

It was an error that only affects laptops with an external monitor found in drivers 381 and later. I rolled back to driver 378.92 to fix it. Found more info here http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... ix.805220/

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