G-Sync game compatibility - Post your test results here

[nimbulan]

Since the upgrade kits have started arriving and there are a number of us with G-sync capable monitors now, I thought I'd start a thread where everyone can post their game testing results. I'll compile all the results into the first post here, or possibly set up a Google Documents spreadsheet if that ends up being a better way to keep track of all the information.

Information that should be included: System specs for each tester (CPU, video card, driver version, OS version,) motion quality and input lag feel tests done with vsync off, vsync on, and g-sync, and any additional information (frame limiter testing, numeric input lag testing for those with the equipment to do so.)

To get started, my specs: Windows 7 64 bit SP1, Core i5-4670k @4GHz, GTX 760 w/ v382.21

Bioshock Infinite: Average stuttering with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well though it can't do anything about the frequent load stutters this game has.

Borderlands 2: Below average stutter with vsync but suffers from frequent brief load stuttering. This becomes more obvious in G-sync mode where it really distracts from G-sync's smoothness. I thought this would be a prime candidate for G-sync operation but it doesn't work nearly as well as I thought it would considering it uses Unreal Engine 3.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: This game is designed to run at a constant 60 fps and is limited to that value but uses the desktop refresh rate with no way to change it. G-sync correctly allows the game to run smoothly no matter the refresh rate where it would stutter with vsync off or vsync on at 144 Hz.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Moderate stutter with vsync off, or on. Framerate stays capped with G-sync on most of the time but if artifically lowered with fps_max it works very well. I do not notice any input lag difference despite the LED test results on the main page.

Crysis Warhead: Below average stutter with vsync on. Forces 60 Hz refresh rate unless overriden by the drivers (set override in the Crysis profile, the Crysis Warhead profile does not affect the game.) G-sync works very well but the game has pretty regular load stutters.

Darksiders 2: Runs perfectly smooth with some brief stutters when entering a new area (data loading probably.) Some camera movement also causes brief stutters, possibly due to a lack of animation interpolation. I was rather surprised since I had a lot of stuttering problems on my old PC, both microstuttering and intermittent frame drops.

Divinity 2: My first testing failure. I thought G-sync might be able to deal with the 64 Hz bug but this game refuses to run smoothly no matter what I do. Severe stuttering no matter the vsync setting.

Fallout New Vegas: Worst stuttering I've ever seen, even worse than Divinity 2 which is also based on the Gamebryo engine. Forcefully disabling vsync in the config shows no change. Adding a 64 fps cap in the drivers in addition lets it run smoothly with an intermittent large stutter every couple seconds. Using the stutter remover mod like I've always done lets it run silky smooth. It's a very good example how low resolution engine timing severely impacts how smooth the game will run. I honestly don't know how this game can run smoothly for anybody without the stutter remover mod with the way the engine is designed. Strangely I could hardly manage more than about 65 fps looking over Goodsprings even with a GTX 760. I guess it's par for the course for that engine.

Far Cry 3: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on. Vsync on stutters less frequently, but with larger jumps. G-sync works fairly well but there is an intermittent stutter I can't seem to get rid of. Playing co-op seems to increase the frequency and severity of the stutter. No noticable input lag difference between each method with in-game pre-rendered frames set to 0.

Grid 2: Absolutely perfect with G-sync. Hours of gameplay without a single detectable stutter or dropped frame. This is what G-sync is made for.

Guild Wars 2: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on, slightly better with vsync on. Also suffers from significant input lag if maximum pre-rendered frames is >1 with vsync on. This game is an interesting test because it is near impossible to maintain >30 fps at all times and it is extremely CPU-bound, even with overclocked top of the line CPUs. G-sync improves smoothness, but the game still stutters with severity dependent on CPU load. High framerates are much improved while low framerates (almost always CPU limited) are only slightly improved.
I gave this a lengthy stress test in WvW (frequent 100+ player fights with accompanying low framerates) and was surprised at how well it went. I was expecting more stutter at the low framerates in G-sync mode due to the 30 Hz limitation.

Joe Danger / Joe Danger 2: These games use a fixed time step, meant to run at a constant 60 fps. Severe tearing at 120/144 Hz using adaptive vsync (half refresh rate). G-sync would not work until manually enabled through nVidia Inspector since the game's profile had variable refresh rate support disabled. G-sync works very well after this change, behaving the same as running the game at 60 Hz with vsync.

Max Payne 3: Another game with very mixed results. Using DX10.1 or DX11 causes constant microstutter, even with G-sync enabled. DX9 runs very smoothly with an occasional dropped frame and DX10 has a few more dropped frames. Cutscenes, both realtime and pre-rendered almost always stutter despite triple digit framerates, probably in a failed attempt to make them look more cinematic.

Saints Row 4: Moderate stutter with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well with nice smooth performance even while running through the city at super speed. No noticable input lag difference.

Skyrim: With vsync forced off (iPresentInterval=0) and framerate capped at 64 with nVidia Inspector (to prevent possible bugs/crashes with high framerates) G-sync runs very smoothly as long as the game engine is not loading data. Unfortunately it does so very frequently, causing lots of sudden stuttering. The severity and frequency of these stutters is most likely increased by the number of mods I have installed. The game also seems to randomly halve my mouse sensitivity and increase mouse lag if my framerate is lower than 64, yet at other times at the same framerate, the mouse is unaffected.

Stacking: I tested this game to see how G-sync copes with a game locked at 30 fps. The game runs smoothly and does not appear to trigger G-sync's automatic refresh behavior.

Tomb Raider (2013): Average stutter with vsync off, low stutter with vsync on. G-sync works absolutely perfectly with silky smooth motion at any framerate.

The Witcher 2: Average stutter normally. G-sync works very well with nice smooth motion.

frankzotynia10 - Windows 8.1 64 bit, i7-3770k @4.5GHz, 2xGTX 660Ti

Assassin's Creed 3 - Strange fps drops in G-sync mode
Battlefield 4 - Microstutters in G-sync mode
Bioshock Infinite - Strange FPS drops in G-sync mode
Saints Row 4 - Works perfectly in G-sync mode

[Chief Blur Buster]

Since the upgrade kits have started arriving and there are a number of us with G-sync capable monitors now, I thought I'd start a thread where everyone can post their game testing results. I'll compile all the results into the first post here, or possibly set up a Google Documents spreadsheet if that ends up being a better way to keep track of all the information.

Hey!
It's a great idea! Though our forum is a bit small so presently may be a bit early -- this might be good in a few months when there are a LOT more G-SYNC users! So while things are still ramping up for G-SYNC, I'd like to let each of the 5 G-SYNC give-away recipients post separate threads (of their own), if they prefer (up to them).

Meahwhile:

Tested Far Cry 3: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on. Vsync on stutters less frequently, but with larger jumps. G-sync works very well with a consistent tearline about 10 pixels from the top of the screen. No noticable input lag difference between each method with in-game pre-rendered frames set to 0.

Edge-of-screen tearing-like artifact during G-SYNC? (There shouldn't be any tearing during GSYNC but this could be a strange game interaction). I've never seen this before, but I haven't tested Far Cry 3. I wonder if I should purchase this game, just to figure out what this game-specific glitch might be.

[nimbulan]

Edge-of-screen tearing-like artifact during G-SYNC? (There shouldn't be any tearing during GSYNC but this could be a strange game interaction). I've never seen this before, but I haven't tested Far Cry 3. I wonder if I should purchase this game, just to figure out what this game-specific glitch might be.

The tear is visible in Saints Row 4 as well. I'll look for it in other games as I go but I'd like to hear from other users if they can see it. I will post a picture of it once I have a good one.

Added Saints Row 4 and Joe Danger 1/2 to the first post.

[nimbulan]

Added a few more games to the list:
Bioshock Infinite
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Divinity 2

[Chief Blur Buster]

It's also helpful for me to mention I sometimes (rarely) saw unexpected stutters in CS:GO if the frame rate was capped. However, when I set fps_max down to 120 or fps_max140, I never saw a single stutter -- ever -- anywhere in CS:GO.

(Avoid fps_max 143, it still sometimes caps-out GSYNC and added measured input lag in Preview #2)

[nimbulan]

It's also helpful for me to mention I sometimes (rarely) saw unexpected stutters in CS:GO if the frame rate was capped. However, when I set fps_max down to 120 or fps_max140, I never saw a single stutter -- ever -- anywhere in CS:GO.

(Avoid fps_max 143, it still sometimes caps-out GSYNC and added measured input lag in Preview #2)

I did experience a little bit of that last night, but it's hard to separate G-sync glitches with general engine glitches and network problems since that game has so many of them. I've had similar problems prior to the G-sync upgrade as well, sometimes requiring multiple restarts of the game before it would run smoothly again. I honestly don't know how they screwed up the Source engine so badly since I've never had any of these issues with any other Source games, and I've played most of them.

[PoWn3d_0704]

+1 on CS:GO. I've been working this whole week and I haven't had a lot of time to play anything really.

However, with fps_max 140 on CS:Go with all the settings maxed and GSYNC on, it really is beautiful and the input lag stays extremely low.

Now my only qualm is that before hand I was playing CS:GO at 300FPS with Toasty X Stroblight on. Which meant that while the game tore a bit, it was freaking crisp. With just GSYNC now, the game is smoother as a whole, but looks worse in terms of graphics fidelity by way of added motion blur. I believe that GSYNC vs. ULMB, GSYNC gives a competitive advantage when Frame capped. I'll post all these thoughts throughout the weekend on my own thread, but I thought I'd toss this in here.

[frankzotynia10]

Bioshock infinite and Assassins creed 3 - strange random fps dips from 144 down to 60 and then back up to 144. its very distracting when it does happen.

BF4 - no tearing with gsync at all but quite a lot of micro stuttering but that could be from SLI. i need to test a bit without the second card running.

saints row 4 - flawless!

[nimbulan]

Bioshock infinite and Assassins creed 3 - strange random fps dips from 144 down to 60 and then back up to 144. its very distracting when it does happen.

That's very strange, I wonder if it's SLI-related? I ran the Bioshock Infinite benchmark without any problems other than some very brief load stutters. I'll have to try some gameplay as well.

Can you post some specific PC specs?

[frankzotynia10]

It probably is SLI related. I need a little more time playing around with it to be sure.

Intel 3770k @ 4.5 ghz 1.25v
2x 8gb Corsair Dominator 1866 mhz
2x Nvidia branded 660 Ti 1015/6300
Samsung 840 SSD 256gb
2x WD 1B Black Raid 0
Corsair AX860 PSU
Windows 8.1 x64