VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Talk about AMD's FreeSync and VESA AdaptiveSync, which are variable refresh rate technologies. They also eliminate stutters, and eliminate tearing. List of FreeSync Monitors.
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sdasdasd
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VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Post by sdasdasd » 21 Sep 2024, 09:18

I have a Gigabyte M27Q REV2, 1440p 170hz IPS panel, and a 7800XT GPU.
Recently been playing GOW 2018 on my PC and noticed a lot of flicker in certain scenes (particularly darker scenes), and started trying to find the cause.
I found out quite quckly that using a different monitor (I tried a 1080p 144hz panel), or disabling freesync on the 1440p panel, fixes said issue. This makes me think that I have some sort of VRR Flicker, but I thought that this was only an issue on OLED models.

Is it possible that this is VRR flicker as seen on OLED? I am playing with a 60fps cap, and my frametime is fixed at 16.6ms, as my rig is good enough to maintain 60fps at 1440p high all the time. I thought that this flicker only exists when frametimes are inconsistent.

Any help will be appreciated. :D

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RealNC
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Re: VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Post by RealNC » 21 Sep 2024, 11:44

sdasdasd wrote:
21 Sep 2024, 09:18
I found out quite quckly that using a different monitor (I tried a 1080p 144hz panel), or disabling freesync on the 1440p panel, fixes said issue. This makes me think that I have some sort of VRR Flicker, but I thought that this was only an issue on OLED models.
No, it's not limited to OLEDs, unfortunately. VA has the same (some say even worse) problem. TN is affected as well, but much less so. It depends on the particular panel. IPS has been pretty much immune to the issue, and in panels that have it, it's barely noticeable. Except when "FastIPS" panels arrived and it also showed very noticeable VRR flicker. Your panel seems to be normal IPS, and from what I can see, the flicker is barely there:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/ ... test_24453

For comparison, this is the VRR flicker of a VA panel:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/ ... test_24453

And of an OLED one:

https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/ ... test_24453

Yours seems quite good in comparison. But usually IPS panels with native g-sync don't flicker at all, or it's very faint and not visible unless you really focus hard to see it. "G-sync compatible" monitors without a g-sync module are a bit worse with VRR flicker, probably because of the lack of variable overdrive.
I am playing with a 60fps cap, and my frametime is fixed at 16.6ms, as my rig is good enough to maintain 60fps at 1440p high all the time. I thought that this flicker only exists when frametimes are inconsistent.
Is this an in-game cap? Use the nvidia control panel limiter instead as it's more accurate. In-game limiters usually have quite erratic frame times.
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sdasdasd
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Joined: 21 Sep 2024, 09:12

Re: VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Post by sdasdasd » 21 Sep 2024, 14:30

I am using RTSS, and my frametime is a rock solid 16.6ms. Tried both ingame and RTSS cap, same results. Oddly enough I didn't notice the flicker for a few hours and then I entered a specific area in game (Muspelheim), and the flicker returned when I stood in a certain area, which was mostly black and grey. Flicker remained for a few minutes, then went. Went back to area 30 mins later, flicker wasn't present. It's not like I load up GOW, and the flicker is there, it comes and goes.

I think the next time I see this effect I will record my screen using AMD Adrenalin software, if I can't see the flicker on the recording then does that confirm it's my monitor that's the issue? And if the recording shows the flicker then it's a game issue? I struggle to think it's a game issue when this hasn't been documented online and it doesn't appear on my 1080p panel.

sdasdasd
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Re: VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Post by sdasdasd » 21 Sep 2024, 14:37

For some context I've used this monitor for around 700 hours of gaming so far, and not noticed any flicker until now playing GOW 2018, I always cap my frames using RTSS, so I don't have jumping frametimes (which cause flicker).

sdasdasd
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Re: VRR Flicker on an IPS panel?

Post by sdasdasd » 05 Oct 2024, 03:33

Any ideas @jorimt?

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