G-Sync indicator not visible unless 'NVIDIA GPU only' display mode selected

[Custerly]

Hi all,

I'm having a new issue that wasn't present originally with my gaming laptop. Unless I have the display mode set to 'NVIDIA GPU only', I am not getting G-sync active in games on my Legion Pro 5i's G-Sync capable screen. In fact, I am not even seeing the 'Monitor Technology' tab in the game's 3D settings unless the display mode set to 'NVIDIA GPU only'. Strangely, when I am connected to my LG C1 (G-Sync compatible rather than capable I think), G-Sync works despite the display mode being locked to Optimus.

I tried reinstalling NVCP and drivers, to no avail. Any ideas?


SOLVED:
Turns out that the culprit was automatic display switching in the 3D application settings menu (not to be confused with the Display Mode "automatic select") being set to "off". I had made this change to the default settings after encountering an issue with regular stuttering in System Shock Remake that was seemingly fixed only by turning this setting off. As soon as I set it back to "on", voila, we have g-sync on the native laptop monitor while in the "automatic select" display mode.

This brought in a new issue (my reduced red light settings in windows are disabled when a game boots up), but this can be fixed by manually re-enabling that setting manually every time I boot a game. Annoying, but I'll take it!

[PositronCannon]

Pretty sure this is expected. G-Sync only works if the Nvidia GPU is connected directly to the display, bypassing the integrated GPU. This is what setting the display mode to "Nvidia GPU only" does. If you use Optimus the image always has to go through the iGPU and G-Sync will not be available, as the Nvidia GPU cannot control the display's refresh rate with the iGPU sitting in the middle.

However, on most if not all gaming laptops the video out ports are connected to the dedicated GPU directly, which is why you still get VRR on an external monitor.

That said, I can't explain why the issue is present now and not before. Are you sure your laptop wasn't already set to use the Nvidia GPU exclusively beforehand? Or perhaps it has Advanced Optimus where it will automatically switch to it when running a game, and it was set to that previously? I can't think of any other explanations.

[Custerly]

Pretty sure this is expected. G-Sync only works if the Nvidia GPU is connected directly to the display, bypassing the integrated GPU. This is what setting the display mode to "Nvidia GPU only" does. If you use Optimus the image always has to go through the iGPU and G-Sync will not be available, as the Nvidia GPU cannot control the display's refresh rate with the iGPU sitting in the middle.

However, on most if not all gaming laptops the video out ports are connected to the dedicated GPU directly, which is why you still get VRR on an external monitor.

That said, I can't explain why the issue is present now and not before. Are you sure your laptop wasn't already set to use the Nvidia GPU exclusively beforehand? Or perhaps it has Advanced Optimus where it will automatically switch to it when running a game, and it was set to that previously? I can't think of any other explanations.

Hi. I wasn't clear in my initial post: I was getting ther G-Sync indicator previously while using my laptop screen and with NVCP display mode set to "Automatic Select" (aka. Advanced Optimus). Now, it only works on that screen with NVCP set to "Nvidia GPU only". The problem with that is that I can't just leave "Nvidia GPU only" on all the time, as that'll drain my battery when not gaming if I'm not plugged in.