Struggling to pick the correct settings

[hamsterman]

This is driving me crazy. I've read so many guides and so many videos and each one is telling me to do something different. I've got the the point I've changed my settings so often I feel like I have input delay. For example some games feel very heavy and sluggish whereas another game feels completely fine.

I have a 165hz monitor and from all the guides and articles I have read I should enable gsync + vsync in nvcp and if the game doesn't have reflex+boost I should enable latency mode to ultra so it caps my fps 7 under my refresh rate. If the game does have reflex+boost I leave it disabled.

Then another guide told me that I do not need to enable vsync if my PC can produce frames over 165hz because it will cause input delay. Now this is when I get confused, my PC can handle 165+ FPS with ease in pretty much all the games I play. So now I should just have gsync on with vsync off and uncap my fps? I like to play games competitively, for example I play battlefield right now and if I uncap my fps it's suppose to give reduced input lag or is that wrong? But at the same time I don't want my GPU maxed out especially when I know anything over my refresh rate is waste of resources, but it gives the less input lag?

This is making me go insane. I just want to know which setting I'm suppose to be using with my setup. At first I was running gsync + vsync on in nvcp but then I noticed it doesn't always work inside a game unless I specifically select the game in nvcp and do it that way. I thought globally it would work for all games.

5800x
3070 fe
msi tomahawk x570
32gb
rm750x

[Luviaz]

Let's not overcomplicating stuff and keep it simple.
For an optimal Gsync + Vsync operation, you need to keep your FPS from reaching the max Hz.
Reflex and Boost is designed as automatic, intergrated toggle which take care of that for you. If your games support it set it and forget.
If there's no intergrated toggle then you have to take care of capping FPS yourself, either with the in-game limiters, or external ones ( driver, 3rd party like RTSS ).

[hamsterman]

Let's not overcomplicating stuff and keep it simple.
For an optimal Gsync + Vsync operation, you need to keep your FPS from reaching the max Hz.
Reflex and Boost is designed as automatic, intergrated toggle which take care of that for you. If your games support it set it and forget.
If there's no intergrated toggle then you have to take care of capping FPS yourself, either with the in-game limiters, or external ones ( driver, 3rd party like RTSS ).

I should always turn on ultra low latency to ultra in nvcp by selecting the game individually if the game doesn't not have reflex + boost inside the game, right? Just want to clarify.

[Luviaz]

Let's not overcomplicating stuff and keep it simple.
For an optimal Gsync + Vsync operation, you need to keep your FPS from reaching the max Hz.
Reflex and Boost is designed as automatic, intergrated toggle which take care of that for you. If your games support it set it and forget.
If there's no intergrated toggle then you have to take care of capping FPS yourself, either with the in-game limiters, or external ones ( driver, 3rd party like RTSS ).

I should always turn on ultra low latency to ultra in nvcp by selecting the game individually if the game doesn't not have reflex + boost inside the game, right? Just want to clarify.

Yes, If G-Sync is enabled, ultra low latency will automatically cap a few frames under Max Hz. I believe Reflex also has the same behaviour.
You can always set up an overlay, be it Nvidia driver one or RTSS to monitor your FPS. As long as it does not reach your max Hz you're good.

[hamsterman]

Let's not overcomplicating stuff and keep it simple.
For an optimal Gsync + Vsync operation, you need to keep your FPS from reaching the max Hz.
Reflex and Boost is designed as automatic, intergrated toggle which take care of that for you. If your games support it set it and forget.
If there's no intergrated toggle then you have to take care of capping FPS yourself, either with the in-game limiters, or external ones ( driver, 3rd party like RTSS ).

I should always turn on ultra low latency to ultra in nvcp by selecting the game individually if the game doesn't not have reflex + boost inside the game, right? Just want to clarify.

Yes, If G-Sync is enabled, ultra low latency will automatically cap a few frames under Max Hz. I believe Reflex also has the same behaviour.
You can always set up an overlay, be it Nvidia driver one or RTSS to monitor your FPS. As long as it does not reach your max Hz you're good.

I have a question. If I was to max out a demanding game with the highest graphics is there anything wrong with capping my fps 40-50 below my refresh rate? For example, if I max out a specific game i would get around 120-130 fps. What if I cap my fps to 120, is there any major downside for doing this since I have a 165hz display. Would I also leave gsync and vsync on via nvcp still?

The reason I'm asking is because of in some games I seem to get stutters even when I put on lowest graphics to get the fps to my refresh rate of 158. My fps would dip below 158 and the game seems to have a hiccup, or stutter. One game I would dip from 158 all the way down to 130 at times, its horrible.

Lets say I cap it to 144 fps, would I need to change the hz on my monitor or anything? I think I sound dumb typing this out but I appreciate the help.

[Luviaz]

Let's not overcomplicating stuff and keep it simple.
For an optimal Gsync + Vsync operation, you need to keep your FPS from reaching the max Hz.
Reflex and Boost is designed as automatic, intergrated toggle which take care of that for you. If your games support it set it and forget.
If there's no intergrated toggle then you have to take care of capping FPS yourself, either with the in-game limiters, or external ones ( driver, 3rd party like RTSS ).

I should always turn on ultra low latency to ultra in nvcp by selecting the game individually if the game doesn't not have reflex + boost inside the game, right? Just want to clarify.

Yes, If G-Sync is enabled, ultra low latency will automatically cap a few frames under Max Hz. I believe Reflex also has the same behaviour.
You can always set up an overlay, be it Nvidia driver one or RTSS to monitor your FPS. As long as it does not reach your max Hz you're good.

I have a question. If I was to max out a demanding game with the highest graphics is there anything wrong with capping my fps 40-50 below my refresh rate? For example, if I max out a specific game i would get around 120-130 fps. What if I cap my fps to 120, is there any major downside for doing this since I have a 165hz display. Would I also leave gsync and vsync on via nvcp still?

The reason I'm asking is because of in some games I seem to get stutters even when I put on lowest graphics to get the fps to my refresh rate of 158. My fps would dip below 158 and the game seems to have a hiccup, or stutter. One game I would dip from 158 all the way down to 130 at times, its horrible.

Lets say I cap it to 144 fps, would I need to change the hz on my monitor or anything? I think I sound dumb typing this out but I appreciate the help.

You can cap to [any framerate] that is below your Max HZ, it doesn't have to be [exactly] any number, as long as it's < 157 (for 165Hz).

With Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) which I'm positive that your monitor supports, you may as well cap to 1 FPS and VRR still engaged, you can forget about the lower VRR threshold altogether with LFC. Only comply to the upper limit.

So 60,120,144,55,63,67,136,152,.... doesn't matter, anything < 157 would work.

Now, the higher framerate you run at, the smoother and more responsive your game feels, the more engergy is consumed, and more heat is generated by your hardware.
So pick your preference. Me personally, I'm more than comfortable with 60 FPS in most single player games, and max allowed VRR FPS for competitive. Simple as that.

Do keep in mind, that running high framerates, may make stutters more noticeable. A drop to 58 FPS from 120 FPS would be more supceptive than from 60 FPS. Nevertherless, a stutter would be a stutter, regardless of monitor sync configuration.
Heat is also potentially problematic, PC hardware have thermal throttling mechanism so that they don't burn themselves. When overheated hardware can end up aggresively downclock and perform much worse.

[hamsterman]

I should always turn on ultra low latency to ultra in nvcp by selecting the game individually if the game doesn't not have reflex + boost inside the game, right? Just want to clarify.

Yes, If G-Sync is enabled, ultra low latency will automatically cap a few frames under Max Hz. I believe Reflex also has the same behaviour.
You can always set up an overlay, be it Nvidia driver one or RTSS to monitor your FPS. As long as it does not reach your max Hz you're good.

I have a question. If I was to max out a demanding game with the highest graphics is there anything wrong with capping my fps 40-50 below my refresh rate? For example, if I max out a specific game i would get around 120-130 fps. What if I cap my fps to 120, is there any major downside for doing this since I have a 165hz display. Would I also leave gsync and vsync on via nvcp still?

The reason I'm asking is because of in some games I seem to get stutters even when I put on lowest graphics to get the fps to my refresh rate of 158. My fps would dip below 158 and the game seems to have a hiccup, or stutter. One game I would dip from 158 all the way down to 130 at times, its horrible.

Lets say I cap it to 144 fps, would I need to change the hz on my monitor or anything? I think I sound dumb typing this out but I appreciate the help.

You can cap to [any framerate] that is below your Max HZ, it doesn't have to be [exactly] any number, as long as it's < 157 (for 165Hz).

With Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) which I'm positive that your monitor supports, you may as well cap to 1 FPS and VRR still engaged, you can forget about the lower VRR threshold altogether with LFC. Only comply to the upper limit.

So 60,120,144,55,63,67,136,152,.... doesn't matter, anything < 157 would work.

Now, the higher framerate you run at, the smoother and more responsive your game feels, the more engergy is consumed, and more heat is generated by your hardware.
So pick your preference. Me personally, I'm more than comfortable with 60 FPS in most single player games, and max allowed VRR FPS for competitive. Simple as that.

Do keep in mind, that running high framerates, may make stutters more noticeable. A drop to 58 FPS from 120 FPS would be more supceptive than from 60 FPS. Nevertherless, a stutter would be a stutter, regardless of monitor sync configuration.
Heat is also potentially problematic, PC hardware have thermal throttling mechanism so that they don't burn themselves. When overheated hardware can end up aggresively downclock and perform much worse.

Thank you. May I ask what monitor you own? You said you prefer 60 fps. If I was to cap my fps at 144 rather than the 157 would I notice any difference in performance other than making my game run smoother?

Also I used some blurbuster tools such as the vsync one. I see alot of red and cyan, why is that? https://www.vsynctester.com/
https://imgur.com/a/pDfEkUF

I have gsync and vsync enabled globally. The only thing I change is a game specifically to ULL when it doesn't have reflex built in. How do I fix this?

Thank you for the reply.

[1000WATT]

Also I used some blurbuster tools such as the vsync one. I see alot of red and cyan, why is that? https://www.vsynctester.com/
https://imgur.com/a/pDfEkUF

Show us this graph.
https://www.testufo.com/animation-time-graph#scale=1

[hamsterman]

Also I used some blurbuster tools such as the vsync one. I see alot of red and cyan, why is that? https://www.vsynctester.com/
https://imgur.com/a/pDfEkUF

Show us this graph.
https://www.testufo.com/animation-time-graph#scale=1

I have no idea what I'm looking at but here. https://imgur.com/a/X5oNK92

[1000WATT]

Also I used some blurbuster tools such as the vsync one. I see alot of red and cyan, why is that? https://www.vsynctester.com/
https://imgur.com/a/pDfEkUF

Show us this graph.
https://www.testufo.com/animation-time-graph#scale=1

I have no idea what I'm looking at but here. https://imgur.com/a/X5oNK92

This page has a full description of this test and steps to fix browser animation stuttering. This is the reason why you see a lot of red and blue.