Freesync @ 60Hz and percieved smoothness

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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donkeyhotie
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Freesync @ 60Hz and percieved smoothness

Post by donkeyhotie » 11 Feb 2021, 22:35

Sorry if this has been asked but I've searched around a lot and can't find the answer I'm looking for

I have a 144hz freesync monitor, MSI Optix MAG241C, and I'm not sure why games capped @ 60 FPS don't actually look very smooth. Before owning a freesync monitor I noticed games @ 144hz would start looking noticeably jittery around 80fps and below. I was under the impression that freesync/gsync was supposed to fix that

I was testing this with EDF 5, one display plugged in at a time. Looking at the OSD, freesync is enabled and the refresh rate is around 60. Vsync is also on in Nvidia control panel. On my 60hz TV, this game looks really smooth, but on my monitor it's really jittery, especially with fast motion. I even capped the game at 60 to keep the frame times at 16.6ms and it was fairly stable, but it just doesn't look as good.

So I'm confused here, I shouldn't see a difference if my monitor is set to 120hz, right? I know 60 and 144hz don't play well but if freesync is bringing me down to 60fps, I shouldn't have a problem.
Do these games just not benefit with freesync as much as I thought they would, or is it some kind of artifacting with my monitor? I notice high contrast areas have inverse ghosting, I turned the "response time" setting in the monitor OST to normal and it reduced it significantly, but it still looks very jittery in fast motion.

Edit: After recording both screens at a high framerate, I think my TV has blur or ghosting with dark colors, could that affect perceived smoothness? Almost like a motion blur. I don't have a 60 hz monitor to doublecheck

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Re: Freesync @ 60Hz and percieved smoothness

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 12 Feb 2021, 21:04

Most TVs are VA panels, and many VA panels have some ghosting issues during FreeSync.

A good G-SYNC / FreeSync panel 60fps at 144Hz should look identical to 60fps @ 60Hz VSYNC ON. But unfortunately this isn't always the case. The ones that does the best job usually are G-SYNC native panels, or those FreeSync panels that are "G-SYNC Compatible" certified by NVIDIA.
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donkeyhotie
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Re: Freesync @ 60Hz and percieved smoothness

Post by donkeyhotie » 13 Feb 2021, 12:16

Chief Blur Buster wrote:
12 Feb 2021, 21:04
Most TVs are VA panels, and many VA panels have some ghosting issues during FreeSync.

A good G-SYNC / FreeSync panel 60fps at 144Hz should look identical to 60fps @ 60Hz VSYNC ON. But unfortunately this isn't always the case. The ones that does the best job usually are G-SYNC native panels, or those FreeSync panels that are "G-SYNC Compatible" certified by NVIDIA.
Interesting, thank you. Forgot to mention that my TV isn't using Freesync, it's also an IPS panel.
I tested some really fast motion and they looked about the same, I'm thinking it's mostly the ghosting on the TV that makes it look smoother because it's pretty significant with a high contrast image. My monitor isn't listed as "G-Sync Compatible" so that could also have some affect

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Re: Freesync @ 60Hz and percieved smoothness

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 13 Feb 2021, 16:23

Yes, a slower GtG can shift the stutter-to-blur continuum to a higher frame rate.

Basically 30fps will stutter more on a fast GtG display than a slow GtG display.

Which is why looking at the 30fps TestUFO at www.testufo.com may show different amounts of stutterfeel depending on how much blurring/ghosting there is.
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