XG27ACDNG high input lag / 360Hz not smooth

[frmslf4]

Hey guys,

I’ve had the ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27ACDNG(MCM105 firmware) (1440p / 360 Hz) for about 8 months, and only recently I realized something is seriously wrong with the way it behaves on my setup.

For months I kind of assumed “maybe that’s just how it is”, but I’m coming from 144 Hz and I know what proper smooth motion feels like(5k hours in competitive shooters). With this monitor, even when I’m sitting at 300–360 FPS, it often doesn’t look or feel like true 360 Hz. Motion can feel oddly choppy and inconsistent, and the input lag feels heavier than it should for this level of refresh rate and FPS.

What finally exposed it was a completely random experiment. While I was in-game(Escape From Tarkov), I went into the OSD and changed something in Aspect Control. The screen flickered black a few times, and it felt like Windows/NVIDIA suddenly re-detected the display. My NVCP settings reset, and the whole display pipeline felt like it restarted. After that I did an OSD factory reset, and that’s when I experienced the “holy sht” moment: everything suddenly felt exactly how I always expected a 360 Hz OLED to feel. The motion was insanely smooth, the input lag was basically gone, and mouse movement felt extremely light and responsive. I honestly thought I had fixed my “problem” and that this was the normal state I should have had from day one.

But it didn’t last. After a short time, sometimes a couple of minutes, sometimes after a few games - it drops back into the bad state. Same FPS, same settings, but it becomes less smooth and the input lag feels worse again. The weird part is that when it’s in the bad state, even YouTube gameplay, obviously limited to 60 FPS, can look more consistent and smooth than what I’m seeing on my 360 Hz setup. Like literally. And when the monitor is in the good state, it feels like watching that same YouTube video, just with way more frames. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is my experience.

The most frustrating part is how reproducible the “temporary fix” pattern is. If I force some kind of re-handshake or mode rebuild, the monitor often snaps back into the good state for a moment, then slowly falls apart again without me touching anything. OSD factory reset has triggered it before. Switching refresh rate in Windows/NVCP (like 360 → 180 and back) often triggers it too(not anymore). Sometimes changing resolution used to do the same thing. Toggling VRR in the OSD can also bring it back temporarily. Toggling G-Sync or V-Sync (driver-level) has similar behavior, and I’ve seen this exact “state drift” thing before in PUBG as well: I’d get a moment where everything feels locked-in and perfect, then later it feels heavier again, and toggling G-Sync off or on would randomly bring back the “correct” feel… temporarily. One time i switched all settings to ultra in PUBG, instead of my normal 350+ fps I got 200 something, but man was it smoother, and felt exactly how it was desighned to feel.

For context, my usual setup is borderless (fullscreen doesn’t help; borderless used to be perfect when it “worked”), HDR is always off, G-Sync is enabled per-game, V-Sync is enabled in the driver (not in-game), Ultra Low Latency is set to Ultra, and I’ve been using RTSS with a 353 FPS cap the whole time. I’ve tried turning HAGS off, resetting the graphics driver (Win+Ctrl+Shift+B), re-plugging DP to force a handshake, deleting the monitor in Device Manager, repeating factory resets, switching between DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1. The behavior stays unstable: something can make it feel perfect for a short window, then it degrades again.

At this point it doesn’t feel like a normal human perception / FPS placebo thing. It genuinely feels like the monitor/driver/Windows presentation path is switching into a different state (low latency vs buffered/queued or something like that), and only a mode change temporarily pushes it back into the “right” state. I'm thinking about bying MSI MPG 271QRX(same pannel as mine), and check it the issue also persist there. One guy left a post here where he had almost the same problem. If anyone has seen something similar on this monitor or on other 1440p/360 Hz OLEDs, I’d really appreciate any ideas.

RTX 5070/9800x3d/GSkill 6000 cl30/m2/W11

[Imperator]

I'm sorry, I'm writing through a translator.
I have an ASUS VG259QM. Try using CRU (Custom Resolution Utility) to configure as follows.
In "Extension Blocks", create "Default extension block" first in the list, and create CTA-861 with your game resolution in the "Detailed resolutions" field below. Before using CRU, be sure to read how to use this utility, in case after use restart64.exe the screen will be black or display "out of range". You will have to reset your settings.

[Inputlagg3r]

Same monitor, had since april, no input lag, but this electrical issue ofc.

Input lag comes and goes, the feeling of it.

Biggest difference was having the games in windowed mode and certain registry options and BIOS settings.

I cant say its the monitor.

[ManWhoSoldTheWorld]

Hey, buddy!
The exact same thing happening over here, with the exception that every build I’ve tested have held this “perfect” state until next boot
I’ve not been able to find the root cause, but I think this is more of a driver <-> monitor link training-issue than purely electrical. I’ve set up different computer builds in a facility used to measure EMI (Tempest testing), where we have full control of the value chain of the surrounding infrastructure, and experienced the same issues. Managed to get everything to hold the "perfect" state on an AM4 build, but not with AM5. All setups suffer from the same symptoms.

As mentioned in another post: "By playing around with CRU and/or other graphics related settings, you can "break the broken" setup and feel the correct response already at the desktop. At the next boot everything will be back to a broken setup. But it is not necessarily easy to replicate by doing the same steps every time after boot, which has me puzzled."

Trying to find a deterministic approach for AM5 - Will keep you updated.

[TN_fun]

Managed to get everything to hold the "perfect" state on an AM4 build

I think you should talk about this.

[Misha1337]

Hey, buddy!
The exact same thing happening over here, with the exception that every build I’ve tested have held this “perfect” state until next boot
I’ve not been able to find the root cause, but I think this is more of a driver <-> monitor link training-issue than purely electrical. I’ve set up different computer builds in a facility used to measure EMI (Tempest testing), where we have full control of the value chain of the surrounding infrastructure, and experienced the same issues. Managed to get everything to hold the "perfect" state on an AM4 build, but not with AM5. All setups suffer from the same symptoms.

As mentioned in another post: "By playing around with CRU and/or other graphics related settings, you can "break the broken" setup and feel the correct response already at the desktop. At the next boot everything will be back to a broken setup. But it is not necessarily easy to replicate by doing the same steps every time after boot, which has me puzzled."

Trying to find a deterministic approach for AM5 - Will keep you updated.

Check your dm

[Hubcio]

Hey guys,

I’ve had the ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27ACDNG(MCM105 firmware) (1440p / 360 Hz) for about 8 months, and only recently I realized something is seriously wrong with the way it behaves on my setup.

For months I kind of assumed “maybe that’s just how it is”, but I’m coming from 144 Hz and I know what proper smooth motion feels like(5k hours in competitive shooters). With this monitor, even when I’m sitting at 300–360 FPS, it often doesn’t look or feel like true 360 Hz. Motion can feel oddly choppy and inconsistent, and the input lag feels heavier than it should for this level of refresh rate and FPS.

What finally exposed it was a completely random experiment. While I was in-game(Escape From Tarkov), I went into the OSD and changed something in Aspect Control. The screen flickered black a few times, and it felt like Windows/NVIDIA suddenly re-detected the display. My NVCP settings reset, and the whole display pipeline felt like it restarted. After that I did an OSD factory reset, and that’s when I experienced the “holy sht” moment: everything suddenly felt exactly how I always expected a 360 Hz OLED to feel. The motion was insanely smooth, the input lag was basically gone, and mouse movement felt extremely light and responsive. I honestly thought I had fixed my “problem” and that this was the normal state I should have had from day one.

But it didn’t last. After a short time, sometimes a couple of minutes, sometimes after a few games - it drops back into the bad state. Same FPS, same settings, but it becomes less smooth and the input lag feels worse again. The weird part is that when it’s in the bad state, even YouTube gameplay, obviously limited to 60 FPS, can look more consistent and smooth than what I’m seeing on my 360 Hz setup. Like literally. And when the monitor is in the good state, it feels like watching that same YouTube video, just with way more frames. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is my experience.

The most frustrating part is how reproducible the “temporary fix” pattern is. If I force some kind of re-handshake or mode rebuild, the monitor often snaps back into the good state for a moment, then slowly falls apart again without me touching anything. OSD factory reset has triggered it before. Switching refresh rate in Windows/NVCP (like 360 → 180 and back) often triggers it too(not anymore). Sometimes changing resolution used to do the same thing. Toggling VRR in the OSD can also bring it back temporarily. Toggling G-Sync or V-Sync (driver-level) has similar behavior, and I’ve seen this exact “state drift” thing before in PUBG as well: I’d get a moment where everything feels locked-in and perfect, then later it feels heavier again, and toggling G-Sync off or on would randomly bring back the “correct” feel… temporarily. One time i switched all settings to ultra in PUBG, instead of my normal 350+ fps I got 200 something, but man was it smoother, and felt exactly how it was desighned to feel.

For context, my usual setup is borderless (fullscreen doesn’t help; borderless used to be perfect when it “worked”), HDR is always off, G-Sync is enabled per-game, V-Sync is enabled in the driver (not in-game), Ultra Low Latency is set to Ultra, and I’ve been using RTSS with a 353 FPS cap the whole time. I’ve tried turning HAGS off, resetting the graphics driver (Win+Ctrl+Shift+B), re-plugging DP to force a handshake, deleting the monitor in Device Manager, repeating factory resets, switching between DP 1.4 and HDMI 2.1. The behavior stays unstable: something can make it feel perfect for a short window, then it degrades again.

At this point it doesn’t feel like a normal human perception / FPS placebo thing. It genuinely feels like the monitor/driver/Windows presentation path is switching into a different state (low latency vs buffered/queued or something like that), and only a mode change temporarily pushes it back into the “right” state. I'm thinking about bying MSI MPG 271QRX(same pannel as mine), and check it the issue also persist there. One guy left a post here where he had almost the same problem. If anyone has seen something similar on this monitor or on other 1440p/360 Hz OLEDs, I’d really appreciate any ideas.

RTX 5070/9800x3d/GSkill 6000 cl30/m2/W11

Where do you live? Old age house, new modern house?
I have the same shit and I think it’s interference from my bad old shit electricity in house, I have to rewire my house entirely or I will never know wtf is that. And my electricity is really bad, we have underpowered kW for our house, which should shut our electricity down but somehow it works without any problems yet (I hope my house will don’t burn before rewiring, it’s bad for real)

[OryxCallotis]

Try turning off DSC and see how it looks. You can get maximum 240hz over HDMI when you do so I believe though. Maybe nVidia 5000-series will let you keep 360hz? Not sure, I'm on a 4070 super. I turned it off because I wanted 4 MPO planes, but it also made alt tabbing out of games take quite a while. I can't even remember if I felt like 360hz + DSC=on felt a bit weird, maybe? I didn't use it for long before researching how to turn it off while keeping the highest hz I could.

[hugojha23]

Did you ever find a fix for this? have the exact same issue with pretty much identical pc specs aswell, really pissing me off

[ilymk3]

Hey, I just wanted to say a massive thank you for this thread and also ask have you found solution?

For a long time, I honestly thought I was going crazy or that something was fundamentally wrong with me, but reading that so many of you are experiencing the exact same inconsistency is a huge relief. At least now I know I'm not alone and I’m not weird

I’m running what should be the best possible rig right now (9800X3D, RTX 5090), so performance or low FPS is definitely not the issue here. Yet, I’ve been stuck in this nightmare loop for nearly two years across two different high-end PCs.

My experience is identical to what’s been described: one night the game feels absolutely 'godly.' The mouse is light, tracking is effortless, and the image is perfectly fluid. I feel like I can’t miss. Then, I turn off the PC, go to sleep, wake up the next morning, and it’s like I’ve never played an FPS in my life. The mouse feels heavy, the tracking is 'floaty' and 'mushy,' and I literally cannot stay on target. It feels like I’m fighting the monitor instead of playing the game. I have experienced this issue with both Alienware 2725df qd oled as well as MSI 271pqx. Also on my old rig which was 7950x3d and 4070 ti super.

I’ve spent hundreds of hours going down the rabbit hole—BIOS tweaks, Windows optimizations, registry cleaning—trying to find a permanent fix but nothing..

I really hope we can finally find a permanent solution to this display pipeline degradation/handshake issue. It's soul-crushing to have the most expensive hardware available and still feel like the game is working against you half the time.