NVIDIA G-Sync Pulsar monitor - Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV

[brownvim]

I find the flicker subtle and fine at 60fps at full brightness, really hope they can get Pulsar down to 60 even if its alot of work.

So many games at high frame rates drop to 60 in like map menus or cutscenes.

[mawi]

Strange. DSR doesn't even show up on mine and I can't make custom resolutions or even make one with CRU. Anyone know why?

Hey,

there is a way to force your Nvidia RTX to have (probably) no DSC which brings back the DSR option and even custom resolutions are possible.
You can force your Nvidia only to use single-head.

Open Regedit. Search for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\

There are some folders in there called:
0000
0001
maybe also 0002

Look which of these folders represents your nvidia by searching the key "DriverDesc". This key should have your GPU name.. Mine is "NVIDIA RTX 4070" on folder 0000.

In this folder, add a new key (DWORD-32) called "EnableTiledDisplay" with value 0.

Then restart.

This will remove the 360 Hz option from your Nvidia menu (as its not possible through single-head). 60, 120 and 240 Hz are still there. Dont worry, pulsar is still working.
Now you can add custom resolutions (not greyed out anymore) and DSR is also listed on Nvidia 3d settings.

I tried adding 8-bit wqhd custom resolution with 300 Hz. WORKS! Unfortunately... not with pulsar anymore. My ASUS Monitor just offers ULMB2 then.
I have tried adding 360 Hz manually, did not work, PC crashed. I did not try 320 etc. If pulsar does not work with "odd" refresh rates, then I dont need them anyway

I am now confident I finally have a non-DSC signal. Maybe this was not the case before...

and NO more alt-tab black screens for me with exclusive full screen. It works so damn well now. Its amazing

[brownvim]

Some good news, Nvidia were able to recreate the issue and are working on a fix I have been told

Where have you managed to contact Nvidia?
I'm hoping that they:
• Finally unlock full BW to HDMI 2.1 FRL6, instead of FRL5.
• Allow wider duty cycle range (or fix the PW slider?) in ULMB2 mode for 120Hz, 240Hz & 360Hz (so one can push much shorter duration strobe on periods, which is much easier on higher refresh rate)

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threa ... t-38259889

Your math is probably right but seems pixel transition time (GtG) and dark time between pulses are just as important.

From his reply doesn't look like HDMI can do the timings for Pulsar, it supports everything my PS5 Pro needs to do like HDR, VRR, accepts 4K/1440p inputs at 120hz.

[mawi]

and NO more alt-tab black screens for me with exclusive full screen. It works so damn well now. Its amazing

Sorry for quoting myself but you have to try this. It works so unbelievably well. The display feels so snappy, even panning windows looks and feels clearer than before. I can now play CS2 on Full screen exclusive. I dont see a lower latency on the measuring tools but believe me this is another level. It feels so much better. I can alt-tab in and out as mentioned yesterday. Also retro games like duke nukem (via eduke32) which definitely went black for a short time even on 240 hz when getting to full screen just switch.

Screen never goes black, not even for a short time. It happens instantly. Feels just like borderless window.

The fact that 300 Hz 8-bit qhd also works as custom resolution now triggers me. That means it would theoretically work to have this signal through a single head with no dsc and no black screen issues.

I understood Pulsar uses fix timing/strobing presets for each of the refresh rate presets. For now these are set to 240 and 360 Hz. They mentioned in the fw update they might have added 120 as well but on the ASUS this still dont work. (maybe it works now with the new signal, I will test it tonight)

If its possible to add 300 Hz`with pulsar... We are almost in the perfect position with this display. Max out the non-dsc signal on DP1.4a with all possibilities.

I am also not sure what happens with the next driver update. Its not difficult to change but of course this would be annoying to do each time.

[kyube]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threa ... t-38259889
Your math is probably right but seems pixel transition time (GtG) and dark time between pulses are just as important.

None of that matters for writing code to the firmware to pulse the backlight for a specific duration of the refresh rate.
Slower G2G RTs than the refresh rate requires don't affect it to that extent either.
I don't understand what you mean with “dark time between pulses”... I assume you've meant the the strobe 'off' period?

As for that person's answers:

1. it's due to more settling time and is pretty common for lower refresh rates. I had a chat with Mark at Blurbusters about this topic too while I was testing that

That's.... not the case at all.
This can be easily proven by using a oscilloscope + light probe and graphing the strobe 'on' period for every PW setting at different refresh rates & then making a plot of each value.
I expected TFTCentral to do this, but was left disappointed in that aspect

2. I believe it's an interface timings limitation at the moment and when I queried this with NVIDIA i was told it was deliberate, and that DP is the recommended interface for PC, with HDMI being more suited to multimedia devices.

There's no "interface timing limtation" at play. Maybe for Pulsar over HDMI, but for normal sample & hold use or ULMB2 use over HDMI, that's nonsensical to me.
Other manifacturers have managed to make their VRR+PWM (ELMB-SYNC, Aim Stabilizer Sync, DyDS 2.0) work over HDMI at full FRL6 bandwidth... which makes that answer from Nvidia even more hillarious.
Nvidia deliberately choose to “partially lock” the HDMI 2.1 port on a scaler IC (MT9810) that's capable of HDMI 2.1 FRL6... a model which costs +700€....
What's funny is that they've went from TMDS to FRL5 with a FW update, so their reasoning is even incoherent to me.
I wouldn't even be surprised if they'd simply pass this artificial limitation under the rug, if someone (me, in this case) didn't mention it.
Perhaps a way to 'force' people to upgrade to 50 series GPUs?....

[Argus]

Strange. DSR doesn't even show up on mine and I can't make custom resolutions or even make one with CRU. Anyone know why?

Hey,

there is a way to force your Nvidia RTX to have (probably) no DSC which brings back the DSR option and even custom resolutions are possible.
You can force your Nvidia only to use single-head.

Open Regedit. Search for:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\

There are some folders in there called:
0000
0001
maybe also 0002

Look which of these folders represents your nvidia by searching the key "DriverDesc". This key should have your GPU name.. Mine is "NVIDIA RTX 4070" on folder 0000.

In this folder, add a new key (DWORD-32) called "EnableTiledDisplay" with value 0.

Then restart.

This will remove the 360 Hz option from your Nvidia menu (as its not possible through single-head). 60, 120 and 240 Hz are still there. Dont worry, pulsar is still working.
Now you can add custom resolutions (not greyed out anymore) and DSR is also listed on Nvidia 3d settings.

I tried adding 8-bit wqhd custom resolution with 300 Hz. WORKS! Unfortunately... not with pulsar anymore. My ASUS Monitor just offers ULMB2 then.
I have tried adding 360 Hz manually, did not work, PC crashed. I did not try 320 etc. If pulsar does not work with "odd" refresh rates, then I dont need them anyway

I am now confident I finally have a non-DSC signal. Maybe this was not the case before...

and NO more alt-tab black screens for me with exclusive full screen. It works so damn well now. Its amazing

Thank you very much! Can confirm this worked for me. Can now run the acer monitor at 165hz and 180hz via CRU, and the 360hz mode is indeed disabled

[mawi]

Thank you very much! Can confirm this worked for me. Can now run the acer monitor at 165hz and 180hz via CRU, and the 360hz mode is indeed disabled

Does pulsar work with these setups?

[brownvim]

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threa ... t-38259889
Your math is probably right but seems pixel transition time (GtG) and dark time between pulses are just as important.

None of that matters for writing code to the firmware to pulse the backlight for a specific duration of the refresh rate.
Slower G2G RTs than the refresh rate requires don't affect it to that extent either.
I don't understand what you mean with “dark time between pulses”... I assume you've meant the the strobe 'off' period?

As for that person's answers:

1. it's due to more settling time and is pretty common for lower refresh rates. I had a chat with Mark at Blurbusters about this topic too while I was testing that

That's.... not the case at all.
This can be easily proven by using a oscilloscope + light probe and graphing the strobe 'on' period for every PW setting at different refresh rates & then making a plot of each value.
I expected TFTCentral to do this, but was left disappointed in that aspect

2. I believe it's an interface timings limitation at the moment and when I queried this with NVIDIA i was told it was deliberate, and that DP is the recommended interface for PC, with HDMI being more suited to multimedia devices.

There's no "interface timing limtation" at play. Maybe for Pulsar over HDMI, but for normal sample & hold use or ULMB2 use over HDMI, that's nonsensical to me.
Other manifacturers have managed to make their VRR+PWM (ELMB-SYNC, Aim Stabilizer Sync, DyDS 2.0) work over HDMI at full FRL6 bandwidth... which makes that answer from Nvidia even more hillarious.
Nvidia deliberately choose to “partially lock” the HDMI 2.1 port on a scaler IC (MT9810) that's capable of HDMI 2.1 FRL6... a model which costs +700€....
What's funny is that they've went from TMDS to FRL5 with a FW update, so their reasoning is even incoherent to me.
I wouldn't even be surprised if they'd simply pass this artificial limitation under the rug, if someone (me, in this case) didn't mention it.
Perhaps a way to 'force' people to upgrade to 50 series GPUs?....

The way I understand it (and I could be wrong) is that the longer “strobe off” / dark time at 60 Hz is the main reason why the 60 Hz ULMB mode can often look less blurry — and sometimes even sharper — than the 120/240/360 Hz modes when using the same low pulse width (below ~30).

More strobe off time generally equals better perceived clarity is how I understand it, yet you're saying "That's.... not the case at all." So I'm a bit confused.

Are you assuming the pulse width timings are somehow different or broken at the higher refresh rates?
And isn’t more strobe off time generally what reduces perceived blur? Doesn’t this behave the same way on other strobing monitors like the XG2431 or DyAc models?

On the HDMI 2.1 side — why do you think full FRL6 bandwidth is such a big deal? The current implementation already supports everything current consoles (including the PS5 Pro) need right now — you already get 4K 120 Hz + VRR + HDR + ALLM. All modern GPUs also have far more DisplayPort outputs than HDMI anyway. So I’m struggling to see why it’s considered a major limitation. Could it also just be cost-cutting on the manufacturers’ side?

For PC users the biggest losses seem to be: no Pulsar over HDMI and no 1440p 240/360 Hz over HDMI. Or you could just use the DisplayPort cable and have it all...

[Argus]

Thank you very much! Can confirm this worked for me. Can now run the acer monitor at 165hz and 180hz via CRU, and the 360hz mode is indeed disabled

Does pulsar work with these setups?

Unfortunately no but I can still swap back to 240hz when I need to and enable pulsar depending on the game. There's just a few niche games I play that stutter for whatever reason if the current fps doesn't match the max refresh even with gsync enabled.

[Argus]

Strange. DSR doesn't even show up on mine and I can't make custom resolutions or even make one with CRU. Anyone know why?

snip

Thank you very much! Can confirm this worked for me. Can now run the acer monitor at 165hz and 180hz via CRU, and the 360hz mode is indeed disabled

For some reason, 360hz showed up again as an option but the 165/180hz custom refresh rates are also available...not sure what's going on here now