NVIDIA G-Sync Pulsar monitor - Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV

[brownvim]

100% new firmware has introduced ghosting issues to a different range of frame rates but fixed the 75-90 range. I can see it clearly.

Yes, I havent even played RE9 since the update after my initial test. To me it looks horrible. If you know what it looked like before...

I'm on my second playthrough of RE9. I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers thinking it might fix it but it didn't, so currently having to Frame Gen x4, I get 250 to 360 frames, its fine in that range.

But I want to play either of Death Stranding 2/Crimson Desert this week and I cant see me getting that many frames to avoid the ghosting issues. Might have to roll the firmware back then.

[mawi]

I'm on my second playthrough of RE9. I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers thinking it might fix it but it didn't, so currently having to Frame Gen x4, I get 250 to 360 frames, its fine in that range.

Sad to hear... using x4 frame gen is actually the OLED solution for clarity... it should not be "ours".

[brownvim]

I'm on my second playthrough of RE9. I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers thinking it might fix it but it didn't, so currently having to Frame Gen x4, I get 250 to 360 frames, its fine in that range.

Sad to hear... using x4 frame gen is actually the OLED solution for clarity... it should not be "ours".

I agree.

Would it be possible for NVIDIA to create a proper, dedicated feedback channel for Pulsar owners? Something like:

• A private beta testing program for early firmware builds
  A direct feedback portal / Discord where we can report issues with logs/screenshots and actually get responses
  Or even just an official monthly feedback thread that NVIDIA monitors

Right now it feels like the only way to get issues noticed is to post here and hope they get seen. A structured back-and-forth with actual engineers would help massively and probably speed up the whole process.
I (and I’m sure many others) are more than happy to help test and provide detailed feedback if there was an official way to do it.

[kyube]

Really good article, shows the strobing behaviour with oscilloscope (it is strobing at 60hz).

Also goes into a lot of detail on how the tech works and how it’s improved on previous monitors and methods.

Does he mention the strobe on period behavior during Pulsar or ULMB2 use at different refresh rates in there? I don't have early access to the article.

[shapaco]

I only want to play my games with 60hz now . 60hz ULMB2 looks so good, as someone said it - the colors really pop. I don't understand why it doesn't look as good with 120,240 and 360 hz... So funny! Maybe the lower the FPS, the more motion clarity comes to the forefront?

That's what happens when you tune backlight strobing properly... It's unrelated to the frame rate or refresh rate.
ULMB2 (@120, 240, 360Hz) should've been akin to ULMB2 60Hz in terms of perceivable eye-tracked motion clarity benefits.... but they completely botched it...
Much better, in fact, since higher refresh rate is easier on the eyes, the total eye-tracked clarity benefits are easier to achieve & brightness would be higher...

Hey kyube what settings do you recommend for 60hz?

I strongly suggest that you avoid the 60Hz ULMB2 mode at all cost, it's extreme levels of eye discomfort.
Wait for Nvidia to fix their debacle...

Do you have an idea what exactly should have been tuned better for higher FPS ULMB2? As I understand it we can already tune the pulse height and width. Do you think it would've been good to give us an option to adjust the pulse shape as well?

Any chance we'll have a custom firmware in the future?

[brownvim]

Really good article, shows the strobing behaviour with oscilloscope (it is strobing at 60hz).

Also goes into a lot of detail on how the tech works and how it’s improved on previous monitors and methods.

Does he mention the strobe on period behavior during Pulsar or ULMB2 use at different refresh rates in there? I don't have early access to the article.

You can probably tell from the Oscilloscope pics. Shows oscilloscope for ULMB2 at 360hz and 240hz. Then also for Pulse Widths 100, 50 and 10 for 360hz and 60hz ULMB2.

Looks like Nvidias priority was to reduce flicker and brightness fluctuations in the Pulsar mode, that's why it feels so stable in brightness through the Pulsar range. Pulse width is dynamic in Pulsar mode, fixed in ULMB2 mode. Its far brighter than other competing strobing modes.

He mentioned the lower the brightness in 60hz mode the less you will see noticeable flicker.

[shapaco]

I'm on my second playthrough of RE9. I updated to the latest Nvidia drivers thinking it might fix it but it didn't, so currently having to Frame Gen x4, I get 250 to 360 frames, its fine in that range.

Sad to hear... using x4 frame gen is actually the OLED solution for clarity... it should not be "ours".

I agree.

Would it be possible for NVIDIA to create a proper, dedicated feedback channel for Pulsar owners? Something like:

• A private beta testing program for early firmware builds
  A direct feedback portal / Discord where we can report issues with logs/screenshots and actually get responses
  Or even just an official monthly feedback thread that NVIDIA monitors

Right now it feels like the only way to get issues noticed is to post here and hope they get seen. A structured back-and-forth with actual engineers would help massively and probably speed up the whole process.
I (and I’m sure many others) are more than happy to help test and provide detailed feedback if there was an official way to do it.

Establishing a direct communication channel for beta firmware testing would be mutually beneficial. If the firmware that runs on these monitors will be the same or similar to the ones on future Pulsar models, Nvidia has a clear incentive to gather early, direct feedback. This technology evidently requires significant tuning—whether from Nvidia’s engineering team or the end-user. At the very least, Nvidia should provide 'tinkering' options for various parameters, as motion blur perception is subjective and varies from user to user.

[mawi]

If you use Gsync on, Vsync on - you get pulsar clarity - higher latency (15ms)

Are you sure this isn't because you are outside the G-Sync range and therefore falling back to regular V-Sync?
Could try combining G-Sync + V-Sync + any good limiter and see if you get similar results to the ideal setup you mentioned.

I did not try this yet. But when Vsync is on (still talking about reflex OFF, not to confuse anyone), the higher latency is also there when your current frames are well within Gsync range. So i dont think using RTSS for example on top of vsync would lower the latency...

[brownvim]

I only want to play my games with 60hz now . 60hz ULMB2 looks so good, as someone said it - the colors really pop. I don't understand why it doesn't look as good with 120,240 and 360 hz... So funny! Maybe the lower the FPS, the more motion clarity comes to the forefront?

That's what happens when you tune backlight strobing properly... It's unrelated to the frame rate or refresh rate.
ULMB2 (@120, 240, 360Hz) should've been akin to ULMB2 60Hz in terms of perceivable eye-tracked motion clarity benefits.... but they completely botched it...
Much better, in fact, since higher refresh rate is easier on the eyes, the total eye-tracked clarity benefits are easier to achieve & brightness would be higher...

Hey kyube what settings do you recommend for 60hz?

I strongly suggest that you avoid the 60Hz ULMB2 mode at all cost, it's extreme levels of eye discomfort.
Wait for Nvidia to fix their debacle...

Do you have an idea what exactly should have been tuned better for higher FPS ULMB2? As I understand it we can already tune the pulse height and width. Do you think it would've been good to give us an option to adjust the pulse shape as well?

Any chance we'll have a custom firmware in the future?

Kyube doesn’t actually own a Pulsar, so he hasn’t been able to test the new 60 Hz ULMB mode himself. Chief would probably be the best person to ask about this since he has hands-on experience with it.

The TFT Central article says this:

"With a reduced Pulse Width setting the 60Hz ULMB 2 motion clarity can even look a bit better than the 360Hz mode which is amazing. The minor crosstalk you see at higher refresh rates disappears here, which is common for lower refresh rate strobing. There’s also more time for the G2G pixel transitions to be hidden during the “off” part of the strobe which improves sharpness further."

So I guess more dark time = better hidden pixel transitions = cleaner motion

[kyube]

Do you have an idea what exactly should have been tuned better for higher FPS ULMB2?
As I understand it we can already tune the pulse height and width. Do you think it would've been good to give us an option to adjust the pulse shape as well?
Any chance we'll have a custom firmware in the future?

• Separate toggle for ULMB2 & Pulsar (like every other display on the market)
• Ability to push <10% duty cycle across the specific set of fixed refresh rate targets (60, 120, 240, 360); foregoing brightness for absolute clarity. Exclusively in rolling scan, not in global scan
From the comments I've seen here, only the 60Hz mode has this option right now.
Higher refresh rates make it easier to achieve the same strobe 'on' period at a higher brightness level.
• Pulse height (brightness / amplitude; NOT voltage boosted amplitude) is adjustable in both modes, I believe. Pulse width is only possible on ULMB2, but from all comments in this thread, it doesn't seem to be targetting a low duty cycle...
If we'd have the ability to push a low pulse width, we could get 0,125ms @ 360Hz @ (extremely low) brightness setting, akin to the PG27AQN
• 'Shape adjustments' (rolling scan vs global scan) are unnecessary. You want rolling scan for less eye strain in the first place.

Though, once TFTCentral releases their article to the public, I'll see what they've specified in there.

It's interesting to me that they've (seemingly) increased the HDMI bandwidth with the new firmware update? The manuals of MSI & ASUS claim that HDMI is only capable of 144Hz.

I wonder if some Nvidia developer has noted my complaints in here of their "HDMI 2.1 port" being TMDS as opposed to FRL6
It still isn't FRL6... sadly FRL5, as per TFTcentral's data...

Kyube doesn’t actually own a Pulsar, so he hasn’t been able to test the new 60 Hz ULMB mode himself. Chief would probably be the best person to ask about this since he has hands-on experience with it.

Chief doesn't own the one of the Pulsar QHD@360Hz models, as far as I know.
But yes, I'm solely relying on comments here, on review data & on extrapolation from my part.

So I guess more dark time = better hidden pixel transitions = cleaner motion

It's about hiding the total transition time.
You essentially want to be doing this:

Source: https://www.aperturegrille.com/reviews/ ... e-Overview
The graph above is an example of global scan backlight strobing.
This isn't how Pulsar (VRR+PWM) or ULMB2 behavior would look like...
At least, assuming that 60Hz is rolling scan and not global scan

Brightness (how long the display is on for; signal being set to 'High' / '1') ↑↓ total eye-tracked clarity

You can probably tell from the Oscilloscope pics. Shows oscilloscope for ULMB2 at 360hz and 240hz. Then also for Pulse Widths 100, 50 and 10 for 360hz and 60hz ULMB2.
Looks like Nvidias priority was to reduce flicker and brightness fluctuations in the Pulsar mode, that's why it feels so stable in brightness through the Pulsar range. Pulse width is dynamic in Pulsar mode, fixed in ULMB2 mode. Its far brighter than other competing strobing modes.
He mentioned the lower the brightness in 60hz mode the less you will see noticeable flicker.

Aw, I thought that he did a table of strobe on vs strobe off period, akin to his KTC M27P6 review