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Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 13 Aug 2017, 22:27
by Falkentyne
I've been using 60hz single strobe all day on my XL2720Z. Playing Dark Souls (masterotaku is mad at me for not finishing the game yet on steam). I have absolutely no problem with 60hz single strobe, even on the desktop. But I would lose that if I bought a gsync monitor. Well until now it seems...

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 14 Aug 2017, 05:32
by 3dfan
:) thanks for sharing this guide and thanks for your other replies on my queries on other topics.
since the 60hz usage think is quite controversial, its always good to have the 60hz option so the interested user can judge and approve its usage by himself.

i really hope this trick works on all and future monitors.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 14 Aug 2017, 10:31
by masterotaku
Chief Blur Buster wrote:My PG278Q (original) does not like custom refresh rates. Only the overclocking-supported models (165Hz) does.
My PG278QR didn't seem to like it either, until RealNC discovered this. Is this an artificial pixel clock ranges limitation that we are exploiting?
RealNC wrote:You'll need to stick to TN panels though. You're not gonna like IPS crosstalk.
I've seen pictures of how for example the Acer AHVA 144Hz monitors have zero overdrive artifacts (at least in non strobed mode), but still lower response times than TN. Have you seen ULMB in them first hand (I haven't)? I assume they have noticeable normal ghosting.
RealNC wrote:And make sure you can stand the flicker... If you could demo a unit first, that would be best. 60Hz strobing on LCD looks like 30Hz CRT or something. It's really bad.
For me it looks essentially the same as a CRT at 60Hz. But I'm in Europe, where we had 50Hz CRT TVs until I was a teenager :lol: .

In fact, I've played Dark Souls 3 in 3D at 100Hz, which means 50Hz per eye. It's a dark game in general so it didn't bother me, but bright areas where a little annoying. Still better than dropping frames at 60Hz per eye.
Falkentyne wrote:(masterotaku is mad at me for not finishing the game yet on steam).
It's just that I'm sad that you like it so much and you're not playing DS2 and DS3 yet. New worlds to explore! Anyway, you don't have much more time played than me, and you said that you are AFK a lot. You need to see it in 3D, and then your jaw will drop to the floor.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 22 Sep 2017, 22:43
by 7bhsq
I followed the instructions in the OP and got it working on my PG258Q. That flickering hit me like a brick wall at first but I managed to get used to it after a while. This is my first high refresh rate monitor and I gotta say, the motion clarity from ULMB is a lot more impressive to me than G-Sync.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 23 Sep 2017, 11:09
by Chief Blur Buster
masterotaku wrote:My PG278QR didn't seem to like it either, until RealNC discovered this. Is this an artificial pixel clock ranges limitation that we are exploiting?
My PG278Q, for some reason, seems completely unable to do custom fixed-Hz refresh rates such as 142Hz or 89Hz during fixed-Hz mode (non-GSYNC). It's the first version of the PG278Q firmware.
You try to create it in CRU, it's out of range.

It's my understanding that all the GSYNC "overclockables" (165Hz) remove that restriction, by virtue of necessity since that's a basic pre-requisite of overclocking; the ability to create non-standard timings in a CRU.
You try to create it in CRU, it works.

This pre-requisite seems to be part of the magic recipie: The GSYNC monitor probably needs to support custom fixed-Hz resolutions, in order to function properly with the "ULMB 60Hz" trick and/or the "simultaneous ULMB+GSYNC" trick. At least, that's part of my theory. Some firmwares are so picky that the only thing that works are the official fixed-Hz refresh rates.

We're trying to learn what makes this tick, but it'd be too expensive to buy up dozens of monitors to figure out the exact recipe!
So I appreciate it when readers post here to tell us that the "ULMB 60Hz" trick works for their model. Thank you so much!

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 23 Sep 2017, 11:19
by Chief Blur Buster
7bhsq wrote:I followed the instructions in the OP and got it working on my PG258Q. That flickering hit me like a brick wall at first but I managed to get used to it after a while. This is my first high refresh rate monitor and I gotta say, the motion clarity from ULMB is a lot more impressive to me than G-Sync.
Fantastic, good to hear!
(Where did you hear about Blur Busters, by the way?)

For ULMB 60Hz flicker comfort -- reduce brightness a little bit (Also experiment with 100% Brightness and instead using "ULMB Pulse Width" instead -- smaller values will have clearer motion). Play games that mainly have darker backgrounds, or if you're needing 60Hz for emulators (many old arcade games are black background anyway). Make sure the room is gently balanced in lighting, e.g. not a cave, but not well illuminated. Reduce FOV by moving monitor back a little bit, or using a smaller window / monitor scaling / etc.

For Windows desktop use, always use ULMB 120Hz+ if you like blur reduction at the Windows desktop. Or use non-ULMB. (i.e. use ULMB 60Hz only when necessary)

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 23 Sep 2017, 12:51
by 7bhsq
I have no idea where I heard about Blur Busters. I've been keeping an eye on high-refresh rate displays for many years so I would have bumped into this site at some point. 60Hz Flicker was at its worst when I first switched to it due to a large white control panel window filling most of the screen, but I did some testing with Super Hydorah (excellent game btw) and Dark Souls 3 and it was pretty manageable. I already have the brightness down as far as it can go for G-Sync usage and I always have pulse width down at around 30 or below for ULMB. This monitor is absurdly bright at default settings.

I wonder when G-Sync and ULMB will be usable together. The thought of combining the benefits of both is very appealing.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 23 Sep 2017, 14:17
by Chief Blur Buster
7bhsq wrote:I wonder when G-Sync and ULMB will be usable together. The thought of combining the benefits of both is very appealing.
There already is (sort of). Just like the unofficial "60Hz ULMB hack", there's also now an unofficial "ULMB+GSYNC hack" too. Most monitors compatible with the "ULMB 60Hz" hack also can do this "GSYNC+ULMB" hack.

The gist is -- to do GSYNC+ULMB simultaneously, you need to create a custom resolution with a Vertical Total increased by 5 during one of the ULMB compatible modes -- for 144Hz (for 240Hz GSYNC monitors) or for 120Hz (for 144Hz GSYNC monitors). Be warned, you are going to get very evil 30Hz flickering when menus pop up. This stuff is really useful if you can have a frame rate range of 75fps-144fps. But it can give you beautifully stutterless ULMB if you're keeping triple-digit frame rates and only having minor fluctuations staying above 100fps in gameplay (outside menus). Disk access and menus will produce very nasty 30Hz flickering (worse than 60Hz flicker), however. Be prepared for that, though.

Hold off on this if you're new to GSYNC and ULMB. Get more experience with GSYNC-only operation and ULMB-only operations, before attempting to combine the two. Right tool for the right job -- it works best with games consistently running in triple-digit frame rates.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 04 Nov 2017, 11:22
by KuraiShidosha
Was anyone able to achieve this on a PG279Q? I personally don't mind flickering, was never bothered by 60hz CRTs growing up and still not bothered today. I in fact use 60hz strobing on my OLED phone (Note 5) since I can exploit the Oculus GearVR service to force the phone into low persistence mode during regular usage. The reduction in blurring is fantastic. I'd like to bring that same reduction to my desktop without the need for 120 fps, depending on the game.

I did try to do the VT trick and it didn't work. The monitor showed no ULMB support at 60hz with the trick. I'd like to hear if anyone with my monitor was able to achieve it or not. Thanks.

Re: ULMB 60Hz Guide

Posted: 06 Nov 2017, 10:14
by Chief Blur Buster
KuraiShidosha wrote:Was anyone able to achieve this on a PG279Q? I personally don't mind flickering, was never bothered by 60hz CRTs growing up and still not bothered today. I in fact use 60hz strobing on my OLED phone (Note 5) since I can exploit the Oculus GearVR service to force the phone into low persistence mode during regular usage. The reduction in blurring is fantastic. I'd like to bring that same reduction to my desktop without the need for 120 fps, depending on the game.

I did try to do the VT trick and it didn't work. The monitor showed no ULMB support at 60hz with the trick. I'd like to hear if anyone with my monitor was able to achieve it or not. Thanks.
Yes, the GearVR strobing mode hack. Lots of fun on Android OLED phones!

Did you do the VT trick in NVIDIA Control Panel, or via ToastyX?

The VT tricks are MUCH more reliable in ToastyX. (That said: With that, you need to reboot or run restart64.exe for it to take effect -- a little more cumbersome but ToastyX more reliably forces resolutions through to the monitor -- NVIDIA sometimes secretly filters certain CRU settings unbeknownst to us because of a limitation or GPU scaling or other weird interaction).