240Hz Frameskipping Thread -- And Bugfixed Monitors

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spectral
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240Hz Frameskipping Thread -- And Bugfixed Monitors

Post by spectral » 23 Sep 2017, 12:41

Chief Blur Buster wrote: 240 Hz Frameskipping Status as of March 2018

There were frameskipping issues with certain models of 240Hz monitors where it only displays approximately 234 unique refresh cycles per second (skipping 6 refreshes a second -- skipping 1 in 40 refresh cycles). The only way to easily analyze this with an ordinary smartphone camera is to use TestUFO's Frame Skipping Test at http://www.testufo.com/frameskipping

Safe 240Hz frameskipping whitelist
AF251FZ -- frameskipping solved user-side
XG2530 -- frameskipping solved user-side (but, they were fast to ship a firmware fix too!)
XF270HA -- older models were frameskipping (before factory date Oct 2017) -- older info
XG258Q -- untested
All GSYNC 240Hz -- no frameskipping issue

Blur Busters is now offering a $50 USD Amazon gift certificate to the first person who posts a screenshot of Custom Resolution Utility settings (sync/front porch/back porch/etc) that confirms to fix at least two other people's XF270HA frameskipping.
So i've bought ag251fz about 2 months ago and from the beginning i've been struggling with frameskipping @ 240hz with this display.

In some of the reviews on youtube i found a comment from a guy that said adding custom resolution for 239Hz helped him with frame skipping so i did it and yes it also helped me, i've got no frame skipping at 239Hz.

But recently i found a comment from blurbusters in this review on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htpRl4FraTw
he posted a screen with a possible fix for a 240hz frameskipping, screen was from this thread:
http://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic ... g&start=10
so i did a custom resolution using CRU and set everything like on the screen but without a success, still got frameskipping at 240hz. Later idk why i decided to change Back Porch from 62 to 61 lines (idk what that even is i just did it), and suddenly i can confirm i've got no frame skipping at 240Hz.
Here is screenshot from my CRU settings
Image


The main goal i am making this thread is to help people that also have frame skipping at 240hz with AG251FZ. I have no idea if this will help you fix it but it did worked for me ;).

@Edit February 2018 #FIX 2

So i've been bored and tried some things. From what i've tested from past couple monts that 240hz fix doesnt work well with other resolutions (as a csgo player i like to switch to 4:3 1024x768 sometimes but i mainly play 1280x800 because its my preference) and from what i've discovered even with my fix method its still frameskipping at these resolutions.

The reason for this edit is that i might have found another fix for these problems and i thought this may also help people that still have frameskipping at 240hz after my #1 "fix" method.

Thing that i did was simply create new resolution in CRU (WITH DEFAULT SETTINGS MEANS THAT I HAVENT CHANGED ANYTHING AFTER CREATING NEW RES) and tried to go for 239.X Hz instead of going for 240Hz.

So i've found that "X" at 239Hz its different for each resolution. For example at 1920 frameskipping is eliminated at 239.900 but its appearing at 239.950+ Hz. For 1024x768 the magic number was everything below or 239.700 and for 1280x800 it was 239.600 or below. I havent been testing each number individually because im too lazy but the point is that in NVIDIA or at Display Information at my screen its still 240Hz but without frameskipping.

CRU Screens:
Image

Image

NVIDIA:

Image

Image


The reason why i have 239.6 @ 1920 and 1024 instead of 239.9 & 239.7 is because 239.6 was good for 1280 so i've decided to downgrade these two to be more "stable"(?) and its my preference to keep it that way but as i said i've got no frameskipping at 1920 (239.900) and 1024 (239.700).

My GPU is GTX 1060 3gb version and drivers are 390.77

Hope that helps someone in the future 8-)
Last edited by spectral on 16 Feb 2018, 20:14, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 25 Sep 2017, 17:15

Thank you for posting this!
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 28 Oct 2017, 11:52

I've updated the image now:

Image
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by HalfwayDead » 03 Nov 2017, 10:04

Hi there,
so I just got my Acer XF270HA which has the 27" 240Hz panel in it and it has some major frame skipping as well. I've tried everything from the monitor default 56-66 lines and sadly it did not prevent the frame skipping although it seems to happen a lot less than at default.
Does anyone who actually knows what these settings mean have any more ideas that I could try? Should I just send the monitor back within 14 days since I doubt the Acer could fix it that fast and I don't want to be stuck with this major frame skipping issue.

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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by RealNC » 03 Nov 2017, 10:39

Why the hell do they sell this garbage to people? This just makes me angry >:-|
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Nov 2017, 12:56

As a tester myself needing to be neutral to all monitor manufacturers (so I can keep testing them and talking to reps!)....

I just express a calm repeat and appeal to monitor manufacturers: Monitors need to be user firmware upgradeable. Preferably with an easy one-click upgrade wizard. I’ve been thinking of starting a BlurBusters initiative to petition more monitor manufacturers to enable firmware upgradeability. Blur Busters have helped manufacturers by reporting bugs in test/review units, and ViewSonic quickly fixed their 240Hz frameskip bug already. So kudos to them for doing it so quickly. (And existing users are not out of luck — it’s an easy DIY fix).

Currently, even the worst 240Hz currently outperforms 144Hz.
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by RealNC » 03 Nov 2017, 13:34

I understand your reason to not throw words around. However, dear manufacturers, here's how you look like to potential customers right now:

"We slapped this monitor together from parts we got, didn't even test if it actually works properly, and we put it up on sale."

This is not the image you want to project to the public.
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by HalfwayDead » 03 Nov 2017, 17:46

I'm guessing this means you don't have an idea what else to try? I should mention that by default the monitor profile was set to 239.8 something Hz. I tried that with 61-62 Lines too but all the other tests I only did with 240Hz exactly. Should I retry some more of those settings at the default refresh rate or is that unlikely to help?

It really is sad that they're pushing out monitors with frame skipping. As soon as I connected the monitor and moved the mouse I thought: "Wow that is smooth, wait, there are really big microstutters in the mouse movement". With the change it's a lot better. Hard to notice the occasional skip but I'm not paying 360€ for a monitor that can't deliver what it promises.

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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 05 Nov 2017, 12:28

I have not played with an Acer XF270HA frameskipping, so I am unable to give anything except a general rule of thumb. We know how to easily fix frameskipping on the AOC and ViewSonic monitors, and ViewSonic has fixed the frameskipping bug already. But I don't have any experience with Acer XF270HA yet.

If you could help us, we'd love to see if we can fix frameskipping together, so that I can update the instructions to also apply to Acer XF270HA monitors.

FreeSync does not have frameskipping
--> Turn on/off FreeSync. Frameskipping often disappears with FreeSync enabled
--> However, not everyone can turn on FreeSync (e.g. NVIDIA users). Also, one may prefer to use a fixed-Hz mode for VSYNC OFF operation in CS:GO.

But let's make VERY SURE that frameskipping is the monitor, and not by something else (e.g. drivers, software, etc). Microstutters are still visible at 240Hz, and should not be confused with frameskipping. To do so, do this:

For careful frameskipping verification without false positives
--> Make sure http://www.testufo.com/frameskipping is showing a green "READY.".
--> Web browsers can have a tough time running smooth at 240Hz. If you're not getting a green "READY." then temporarily force your computer performance to 100% (uses more electricity to prevent your computer from idling, but do this temporarily for this test)
--> Take a photograph of your screen with a camera exposure sufficiently long enough to capture at least 50 squares. (240Hz frameskipping is subtle -- 1 in 40 squares). If you're using an iPhone or Android, dim your screen's brightness quite a bit -- that forces smartphones to automatically take longer exposures (~1/5 second or longer preferred).
--> Repeat the photographing a few times. Observe how the frameskipping is happening, see how it's skipping every X frames.
--> Post these photos so we can help analyze.

Tweaks to Attempt
-- Download ToastyX CRU
-- Experiment with adding/removing numbers in ToastyX CRU. Remember to run "restart64.exe" everytime you change numbers, before viewing the TestUFO again.
-- Try increasing/decreasing sync.
-- Try increasing/decreasing porch.
-- See if number of frameskipped squares changes (e.g. 1 in 20 versus 1 in 40, etc). Note the behaviour changes.
-- You sometimes will have to add/remove 1 pixel at a time in CRU
I'd love to hear your results. It will help a LOT of other XB271HU users who might have the same issue (if it is genuine frameskipping).
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Re: AOC AG251FZ 240Hz frameskipping fix

Post by HalfwayDead » 06 Nov 2017, 20:25

Thanks a lot chief. This is taking a really long time. Getting the browser to vsync at 240FPS is pretty hard.

I'll post some sample pics when I find my SD card reader... For now it seems I haven't found much I almost stopped searching upwards because the values got worse and then they got better again.
bp = back porch and the number after that is the amount of frameskips per picture taken. Brackets and Parentheses indicate that there were few images with that amount of skips. I know it's not exactly a scientific way to write it down but taking 10 pictures every time writing down the exact amount and calculating an average would just take way too long.

Code: Select all

default bp 56 2-3
bp 57 2-3
bp 58 2-3
bp 59 2-3
bp 60 (2)-3
bp 61 3
bp 62 3
bp 63 3
bp 64 3
bp 65 1-(2)
bp 66 1-((2))
bp 67 1
bp 68 1-[2]
bp 69 1-2
bp 70 [1]-2
bp 71 1-2
bp 72 ((0))-[1]-2
bp 73 1-2
bp 74 (1)-2
bp 75 (1)-2
bp 80 2
bp 85 [2]-3
bp 90 1
bp 95 1-[2]
bp 100 (1)-2
bp 105 2
bp 110 2-3
bp 115 3
bp 120 1
bp 125 1-2
bp 150 3-4

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