NVIDIA G-Sync Pulsar monitor - Asus ROG Strix XG27AQNGV

[yogalD]

But it seems I can't get ULMB2 working at anything other than 60Hz or 120Hz, so no ULMB2 at 75Hz or 85Hz for example. Is that a bug? Or is the firmware hardcoded to only allow it specifically at 60/120?

Thoughts?

ULMB2 is only available at 60/120/240 and 360. As far as I know this is not just the case on these pulsar displays. There were some discussions years ago if at least a 300 hz ulmb2 mode could be added to the PGN279AQN as apex legends is locked at 300 fps:
viewtopic.php?p=96164#p96164

But that was never done.

Yes, ULMB2 can get 75Hz and 85Hz! - ULMB2 works between 50Hz and 360Hz despite OSD of your monitor with 120Hz or 240Hz or 360Hz:
Solution by drG-SYNC - https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/fo ... r/3624862/

That's pretty hacky, but it works
It took a while for me to figure it out (bad instructions TBH), so here's a simpler explanation:
1. Start with a supported refresh rate (120Hz for ULMB2, 240/360 for Pulsar, although I don't see the point of not just using 360Hz if you're using Pulsar/VRR)
2. Create a custom resolution in NVCP; and first note down the pixel clock
3. Set the custom "reported" refresh rate. Then use manual timing, under Vertical, use trial and error to get the pixel clock as close as possible to the value you noted earlier. Fine tune it by setting the decimals for the refresh rate
(You can theoretically do this in Nvidia app too but the "to-be" pixel clock value doesn't update making it hard to actually find the values to use... need a pixel clock calculator or something to make this easier)

All that being said, it would be nice if ~85fps "just worked" with Pulsar. Anyone else feel things just kind of stutter at that level of fps with Pulsar on? Turning off Pulsar makes it much smoother but of course much blurrier, as if the frame pacing just magically improved.

[kyube]

That's pretty hacky, but it works
It took a while for me to figure it out (bad instructions TBH), so here's a simpler explanation:
1. Start with a supported refresh rate (120Hz for ULMB2, 240/360 for Pulsar, although I don't see the point of not just using 360Hz if you're using Pulsar/VRR)
2. Create a custom resolution in NVCP; and first note down the pixel clock
3. Set the custom "reported" refresh rate. Then use manual timing, under Vertical, use trial and error to get the pixel clock as close as possible to the value you noted earlier. Fine tune it by setting the decimals for the refresh rate
(You can theoretically do this in Nvidia app too but the "to-be" pixel clock value doesn't update making it hard to actually find the values to use... need a pixel clock calculator or something to make this easier)

All that being said, it would be nice if ~85fps "just worked" with Pulsar. Anyone else feel things just kind of stutter at that level of fps with Pulsar on? Turning off Pulsar makes it much smoother but of course much blurrier, as if the frame pacing just magically improved.

Is it ULMB2 or Pulsar? As in, are you able to adjust pulse width to the 10-30 value range?

[liquidshadowfox]

But it seems I can't get ULMB2 working at anything other than 60Hz or 120Hz, so no ULMB2 at 75Hz or 85Hz for example. Is that a bug? Or is the firmware hardcoded to only allow it specifically at 60/120?

Thoughts?

ULMB2 is only available at 60/120/240 and 360. As far as I know this is not just the case on these pulsar displays. There were some discussions years ago if at least a 300 hz ulmb2 mode could be added to the PGN279AQN as apex legends is locked at 300 fps:
viewtopic.php?p=96164#p96164

But that was never done.

Yes, ULMB2 can get 75Hz and 85Hz! - ULMB2 works between 50Hz and 360Hz despite OSD of your monitor with 120Hz or 240Hz or 360Hz:
Solution by drG-SYNC - https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/fo ... r/3624862/

That's pretty hacky, but it works
It took a while for me to figure it out (bad instructions TBH), so here's a simpler explanation:
1. Start with a supported refresh rate (120Hz for ULMB2, 240/360 for Pulsar, although I don't see the point of not just using 360Hz if you're using Pulsar/VRR)
2. Create a custom resolution in NVCP; and first note down the pixel clock
3. Set the custom "reported" refresh rate. Then use manual timing, under Vertical, use trial and error to get the pixel clock as close as possible to the value you noted earlier. Fine tune it by setting the decimals for the refresh rate
(You can theoretically do this in Nvidia app too but the "to-be" pixel clock value doesn't update making it hard to actually find the values to use... need a pixel clock calculator or something to make this easier)

All that being said, it would be nice if ~85fps "just worked" with Pulsar. Anyone else feel things just kind of stutter at that level of fps with Pulsar on? Turning off Pulsar makes it much smoother but of course much blurrier, as if the frame pacing just magically improved.

Wait does this mean we can add support for pulsar down to 60 hz? or just fixed ULMB 2 mode?

[whitespider999]

It does not look more stuttery in the traditional sense in that range, but there are more clear visible double frames, which is what I'm assuming you meant. And yes, there are specific scenarios where normal Ulmb 2 can be smoother. Often at the sacrifice of a ton of brightness however. I do notice flicker in big bright areas of the screen as well in the 75-90hz range, like ingame skies etc. Although it's not a big deal.


The majority of my time is either using high fps normal gsync, MFG or lossless scaling and frame caps, with pulsar. all of those allow a constantly high 300's. However in specific cases i also like just running games with pure gsync even in lower fps games. That being said, i do understand why nvidia didn't want to go below 75hz. that's where it starts becoming less evidently amazing. the 75-90hz range is certainly not a overall win in terms of pure refresh rate's being multiplied. There's a lesser experience in that range. But it does function, and it does appear clear. So it's useable in many scenarios.

This screen really is a muti-tool. There's a lot of places you can take it. Most of them related to different ways you like clarity and smoothness and most of them pretty rewarding.

i'm also lucky, despite being highly sensitive to stuttering, i don't find stuttering in either ulmb 2 or pulsar to be significantly worse than a normal oled or non strobed ips screen. Yes, the sample and hold does mask the stutter. But a big stutter throws me about as much either way. The smearing of the the worse screens does not really improve the stutters impact that much. It sucks either way.


This pulsar monitor has changed the way I look at frame generation however, with MFG you essentially need to have a perfect implementation of the tech. For example oblivion remastered's framegen is utterly broken and something like lossless scaling is needed in that scenario. Other games are silky smooth with MFG. If you do have a broken framegen implementation however, you will notice it dramatically more on this screen. Not because it stutters more, but because the clarity of the pulsar screen will just go away. And suddenly you're using a far lower quality screen.

I do find nv's smooth motion has taken over a lot of my lossless scaling useage, despite being less silky smooth at a locked fps it does have far less artifacts, all of which can be noticed with pulsar due to both the high brightness and high clarity.

indie games with limited fps: lossless
high end games: MFG, fallback smooth motion, fallback lossless

[yogalD]

Wait does this mean we can add support for pulsar down to 60 hz? or just fixed ULMB 2 mode?

No I was just referring to ULMB2. (You can use the same trick to reduce the upper limit of Pulsar e.g. 120Hz or 100Hz but it's pointless as you can't lower the minimum)
Ideally we'd just use Pulsar for everything, but with the 75Hz minimum (which really feels more like a 90Hz minimum), you might be better off trying to make ULMB2 work.

It does not look more stuttery in the traditional sense in that range, but there are more clear visible double frames, which is what I'm assuming you meant. And yes, there are specific scenarios where normal Ulmb 2 can be smoother. Often at the sacrifice of a ton of brightness however. I do notice flicker in big bright areas of the screen as well in the 75-90hz range, like ingame skies etc. Although it's not a big deal.

It's not double frames, it literally looks like the framerate becomes unstable, even if I set Smooth Frog to a fixed 85fps which any pc can easily run, as it rapidly switches between blurry and clear (suggesting the frame rate is constantly fluctuating below 75) and maybe that manifests as a bit of a visual "stutter".

If I set Smooth Frog to around 80fps, Pulsar basically stays off the whole time. So the 75Hz Pulsar "minimum" feels misleading as I have to have at least 100fps for constant clarity.

Basically either Smooth Frog has such bad frame pacing at ~85fps that it's constantly fluctuating below 75fps and disabling Pulsar (for such a simple 3D app I would've thought it would have very stable frame pacing), or something is a bit weird with Pulsar itself. Or maybe it's even just an optical illusion?

[nuninho1980]

Will minimum Pulsar Low FPS be 60 in future firmware? No but yes 48. Fixed ULMB2 supports 60fps.

[mawi]

known bugs

* 'two second black screen with RTX30/40 cards at 360 Hz'. Targeted fixed in new 61x.xx driver, ETA now 10/6 (we missed the cutoff to make the 9/22 posting). NOTE: There is a workaround. Set Manage 3D Settings --> Power Management Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance . You do need to reboot after setting that for it to take effect.
* the 'stuck at 320 FPS with increased latency' has been root caused and we are trying to get the fix integrated in new 61x.xx driver, ETA now 10/6 (we missed 9/22). NOTE: some folks report a workaround, having a second monitor connected prevents it.

New display driver 617.42 is out now. These to bullet points might now be fixed if we can believe the announcement. Driver release notes say nothing. I would be interested if they solved the black screen issue completely or just the rare ingame occasions by somehow hardcoding the maximum performance mode into all modes.

[kyube]

I still can't believe that Nvidia won't allow us 3 different levels of Pulsar (VRR+PWM), where the 2 lower ones would target a more aggressive pulse width curve compared to the current one.
Keeping it within 100-200 cd/m² range, instead of the ~400cd/m² target it does ootb, would allow for much sharper effective motion clarity even on lower refresh rates.

e.g.:
Pulsar Normal = current curve (20 – 41,4%); Practical example of current Pulsar curve
Pulsar High = 15-30% pulse width curve in 100-330 Hz range @ ~200cd/m²
Pulsar Extreme = 10-19% pulse width curve in 100-330 Hz range @ ~100cd/m²

Another feature I'd like to see is them adding more refresh rate choices in the ULMB2 mode.
For example: 72, 96, 100, 125, 144, 160, 180, 200, 250, 300 Hz
From how I understood the write-up above, you're locked down to using Pulsar (not ULMB2), which means no pulse width adjustments.

[whitespider999]

I still can't believe that Nvidia won't allow us 3 different levels of Pulsar (VRR+PWM), where the 2 lower ones would target a more aggressive pulse width curve compared to the current one.
Keeping it within 100-200 cd/m² range, instead of the ~400cd/m² target it does ootb, would allow for much sharper effective motion clarity even on lower refresh rates.

e.g.:
Pulsar Normal = current curve (20 – 41,4%); Practical example of current Pulsar curve
Pulsar High = 15-30% pulse width curve in 100-330 Hz range @ ~200cd/m²
Pulsar Extreme = 10-19% pulse width curve in 100-330 Hz range @ ~100cd/m²

Another feature I'd like to see is them adding more refresh rate choices in the ULMB2 mode.
For example: 72, 96, 100, 125, 144, 160, 180, 200, 250, 300 Hz
From how I understood the write-up above, you're locked down to using Pulsar (not ULMB2), which means no pulse width adjustments.

having the ability to have clearer motion in exchange for brightness sounds good to me, but i don't think nv engineers are taking requests. It would certainly be something that I would request.