What to do when microstutters throw the framerate out of the G-Sync range?

Talk about NVIDIA G-SYNC, a variable refresh rate (VRR) technology. G-SYNC eliminates stutters, tearing, and reduces input lag. List of G-SYNC Monitors.
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Daumer
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What to do when microstutters throw the framerate out of the G-Sync range?

Post by Daumer » 01 Feb 2021, 08:22

I've been using G-Sync for a while now on my 144Hz monitor (Predator XB241YU) but I can't quite manage to achieve an acceptable level of smoothness. Let me explain:

I always cap my frame rate to 140 FPS in order to keep the monitor inside the G-Sync range. In games where my average frame rate always exceeds that value (Rainbow Six Siege, Quake, Valorant), I therefore get a consistent 140 FPS at all times.
However, that somehow seems to cause some very minor stutters (frametime spikes up to around 12 ms). Even the slightest of these seems to trow my monitor outside the G-Sync range, making the image tear noticeably for about a second until G-Sync kicks back in. This happens every 20-30 seconds which makes it quite annoying and kinda defeats the purpose of having G-Sync on.

I checked with RTSS's frametime graph and these spikes do not occur when FPS is uncapped. I messed around with every possible setting, including V-Sync, lower frame caps, in-game vs external FPS limiters, etc. but nothing seems to change.

I can live without G-Sync, but I'd be curious to know whether this is considered normal behaviour or not. Has anyone observed something similar?

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RealNC
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Re: What to do when microstutters throw the framerate out of the G-Sync range?

Post by RealNC » 01 Feb 2021, 09:51

Not normal. Maybe you have something installed that causes CPU spikes. Anti-virus, monitoring software, RGB software...

In any event, tearing should never happen if you have vsync forced ON in the nvidia panel.

Also, is there any monitor connected? That cause issues as well.
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Daumer
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Joined: 20 Feb 2019, 13:58

Re: What to do when microstutters throw the framerate out of the G-Sync range?

Post by Daumer » 01 Feb 2021, 10:07

Nope, I have a single monitor and nothing is running in the background except for Steam. I had even reinstalled Windows three times over the past few months but the stutters survive. Guess it's time for even more troubleshooting.

Is there any special reason why you mentioned CPU spikes? Is it unlikely to be a GPU issue?

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RealNC
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Re: What to do when microstutters throw the framerate out of the G-Sync range?

Post by RealNC » 01 Feb 2021, 13:03

Daumer wrote:
01 Feb 2021, 10:07
Is there any special reason why you mentioned CPU spikes? Is it unlikely to be a GPU issue?
It's usually a CPU issue. Emphasis on "usually."
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