G-Sync game compatibility - Post your test results here
Posted: 16 Jan 2014, 18:40
Since the upgrade kits have started arriving and there are a number of us with G-sync capable monitors now, I thought I'd start a thread where everyone can post their game testing results. I'll compile all the results into the first post here, or possibly set up a Google Documents spreadsheet if that ends up being a better way to keep track of all the information.
Information that should be included: System specs for each tester (CPU, video card, driver version, OS version,) motion quality and input lag feel tests done with vsync off, vsync on, and g-sync, and any additional information (frame limiter testing, numeric input lag testing for those with the equipment to do so.)
To get started, my specs: Windows 7 64 bit SP1, Core i5-4670k @4GHz, GTX 760 w/ v382.21
Bioshock Infinite: Average stuttering with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well though it can't do anything about the frequent load stutters this game has.
Borderlands 2: Below average stutter with vsync but suffers from frequent brief load stuttering. This becomes more obvious in G-sync mode where it really distracts from G-sync's smoothness. I thought this would be a prime candidate for G-sync operation but it doesn't work nearly as well as I thought it would considering it uses Unreal Engine 3.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: This game is designed to run at a constant 60 fps and is limited to that value but uses the desktop refresh rate with no way to change it. G-sync correctly allows the game to run smoothly no matter the refresh rate where it would stutter with vsync off or vsync on at 144 Hz.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Moderate stutter with vsync off, or on. Framerate stays capped with G-sync on most of the time but if artifically lowered with fps_max it works very well. I do not notice any input lag difference despite the LED test results on the main page.
Crysis Warhead: Below average stutter with vsync on. Forces 60 Hz refresh rate unless overriden by the drivers (set override in the Crysis profile, the Crysis Warhead profile does not affect the game.) G-sync works very well but the game has pretty regular load stutters.
Darksiders 2: Runs perfectly smooth with some brief stutters when entering a new area (data loading probably.) Some camera movement also causes brief stutters, possibly due to a lack of animation interpolation. I was rather surprised since I had a lot of stuttering problems on my old PC, both microstuttering and intermittent frame drops.
Divinity 2: My first testing failure. I thought G-sync might be able to deal with the 64 Hz bug but this game refuses to run smoothly no matter what I do. Severe stuttering no matter the vsync setting.
Fallout New Vegas: Worst stuttering I've ever seen, even worse than Divinity 2 which is also based on the Gamebryo engine. Forcefully disabling vsync in the config shows no change. Adding a 64 fps cap in the drivers in addition lets it run smoothly with an intermittent large stutter every couple seconds. Using the stutter remover mod like I've always done lets it run silky smooth. It's a very good example how low resolution engine timing severely impacts how smooth the game will run. I honestly don't know how this game can run smoothly for anybody without the stutter remover mod with the way the engine is designed. Strangely I could hardly manage more than about 65 fps looking over Goodsprings even with a GTX 760. I guess it's par for the course for that engine.
Far Cry 3: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on. Vsync on stutters less frequently, but with larger jumps. G-sync works fairly well but there is an intermittent stutter I can't seem to get rid of. Playing co-op seems to increase the frequency and severity of the stutter. No noticable input lag difference between each method with in-game pre-rendered frames set to 0.
Grid 2: Absolutely perfect with G-sync. Hours of gameplay without a single detectable stutter or dropped frame. This is what G-sync is made for.
Guild Wars 2: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on, slightly better with vsync on. Also suffers from significant input lag if maximum pre-rendered frames is >1 with vsync on. This game is an interesting test because it is near impossible to maintain >30 fps at all times and it is extremely CPU-bound, even with overclocked top of the line CPUs. G-sync improves smoothness, but the game still stutters with severity dependent on CPU load. High framerates are much improved while low framerates (almost always CPU limited) are only slightly improved.
I gave this a lengthy stress test in WvW (frequent 100+ player fights with accompanying low framerates) and was surprised at how well it went. I was expecting more stutter at the low framerates in G-sync mode due to the 30 Hz limitation.
Joe Danger / Joe Danger 2: These games use a fixed time step, meant to run at a constant 60 fps. Severe tearing at 120/144 Hz using adaptive vsync (half refresh rate). G-sync would not work until manually enabled through nVidia Inspector since the game's profile had variable refresh rate support disabled. G-sync works very well after this change, behaving the same as running the game at 60 Hz with vsync.
Max Payne 3: Another game with very mixed results. Using DX10.1 or DX11 causes constant microstutter, even with G-sync enabled. DX9 runs very smoothly with an occasional dropped frame and DX10 has a few more dropped frames. Cutscenes, both realtime and pre-rendered almost always stutter despite triple digit framerates, probably in a failed attempt to make them look more cinematic.
Saints Row 4: Moderate stutter with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well with nice smooth performance even while running through the city at super speed. No noticable input lag difference.
Skyrim: With vsync forced off (iPresentInterval=0) and framerate capped at 64 with nVidia Inspector (to prevent possible bugs/crashes with high framerates) G-sync runs very smoothly as long as the game engine is not loading data. Unfortunately it does so very frequently, causing lots of sudden stuttering. The severity and frequency of these stutters is most likely increased by the number of mods I have installed. The game also seems to randomly halve my mouse sensitivity and increase mouse lag if my framerate is lower than 64, yet at other times at the same framerate, the mouse is unaffected.
Stacking: I tested this game to see how G-sync copes with a game locked at 30 fps. The game runs smoothly and does not appear to trigger G-sync's automatic refresh behavior.
Tomb Raider (2013): Average stutter with vsync off, low stutter with vsync on. G-sync works absolutely perfectly with silky smooth motion at any framerate.
The Witcher 2: Average stutter normally. G-sync works very well with nice smooth motion.
frankzotynia10 - Windows 8.1 64 bit, i7-3770k @4.5GHz, 2xGTX 660Ti
Assassin's Creed 3 - Strange fps drops in G-sync mode
Battlefield 4 - Microstutters in G-sync mode
Bioshock Infinite - Strange FPS drops in G-sync mode
Saints Row 4 - Works perfectly in G-sync mode
Information that should be included: System specs for each tester (CPU, video card, driver version, OS version,) motion quality and input lag feel tests done with vsync off, vsync on, and g-sync, and any additional information (frame limiter testing, numeric input lag testing for those with the equipment to do so.)
To get started, my specs: Windows 7 64 bit SP1, Core i5-4670k @4GHz, GTX 760 w/ v382.21
Bioshock Infinite: Average stuttering with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well though it can't do anything about the frequent load stutters this game has.
Borderlands 2: Below average stutter with vsync but suffers from frequent brief load stuttering. This becomes more obvious in G-sync mode where it really distracts from G-sync's smoothness. I thought this would be a prime candidate for G-sync operation but it doesn't work nearly as well as I thought it would considering it uses Unreal Engine 3.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: This game is designed to run at a constant 60 fps and is limited to that value but uses the desktop refresh rate with no way to change it. G-sync correctly allows the game to run smoothly no matter the refresh rate where it would stutter with vsync off or vsync on at 144 Hz.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive: Moderate stutter with vsync off, or on. Framerate stays capped with G-sync on most of the time but if artifically lowered with fps_max it works very well. I do not notice any input lag difference despite the LED test results on the main page.
Crysis Warhead: Below average stutter with vsync on. Forces 60 Hz refresh rate unless overriden by the drivers (set override in the Crysis profile, the Crysis Warhead profile does not affect the game.) G-sync works very well but the game has pretty regular load stutters.
Darksiders 2: Runs perfectly smooth with some brief stutters when entering a new area (data loading probably.) Some camera movement also causes brief stutters, possibly due to a lack of animation interpolation. I was rather surprised since I had a lot of stuttering problems on my old PC, both microstuttering and intermittent frame drops.
Divinity 2: My first testing failure. I thought G-sync might be able to deal with the 64 Hz bug but this game refuses to run smoothly no matter what I do. Severe stuttering no matter the vsync setting.
Fallout New Vegas: Worst stuttering I've ever seen, even worse than Divinity 2 which is also based on the Gamebryo engine. Forcefully disabling vsync in the config shows no change. Adding a 64 fps cap in the drivers in addition lets it run smoothly with an intermittent large stutter every couple seconds. Using the stutter remover mod like I've always done lets it run silky smooth. It's a very good example how low resolution engine timing severely impacts how smooth the game will run. I honestly don't know how this game can run smoothly for anybody without the stutter remover mod with the way the engine is designed. Strangely I could hardly manage more than about 65 fps looking over Goodsprings even with a GTX 760. I guess it's par for the course for that engine.
Far Cry 3: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on. Vsync on stutters less frequently, but with larger jumps. G-sync works fairly well but there is an intermittent stutter I can't seem to get rid of. Playing co-op seems to increase the frequency and severity of the stutter. No noticable input lag difference between each method with in-game pre-rendered frames set to 0.
Grid 2: Absolutely perfect with G-sync. Hours of gameplay without a single detectable stutter or dropped frame. This is what G-sync is made for.
Guild Wars 2: Significant stutter with both vsync off and vsync on, slightly better with vsync on. Also suffers from significant input lag if maximum pre-rendered frames is >1 with vsync on. This game is an interesting test because it is near impossible to maintain >30 fps at all times and it is extremely CPU-bound, even with overclocked top of the line CPUs. G-sync improves smoothness, but the game still stutters with severity dependent on CPU load. High framerates are much improved while low framerates (almost always CPU limited) are only slightly improved.
I gave this a lengthy stress test in WvW (frequent 100+ player fights with accompanying low framerates) and was surprised at how well it went. I was expecting more stutter at the low framerates in G-sync mode due to the 30 Hz limitation.
Joe Danger / Joe Danger 2: These games use a fixed time step, meant to run at a constant 60 fps. Severe tearing at 120/144 Hz using adaptive vsync (half refresh rate). G-sync would not work until manually enabled through nVidia Inspector since the game's profile had variable refresh rate support disabled. G-sync works very well after this change, behaving the same as running the game at 60 Hz with vsync.
Max Payne 3: Another game with very mixed results. Using DX10.1 or DX11 causes constant microstutter, even with G-sync enabled. DX9 runs very smoothly with an occasional dropped frame and DX10 has a few more dropped frames. Cutscenes, both realtime and pre-rendered almost always stutter despite triple digit framerates, probably in a failed attempt to make them look more cinematic.
Saints Row 4: Moderate stutter with vsync off and vsync on. G-sync works very well with nice smooth performance even while running through the city at super speed. No noticable input lag difference.
Skyrim: With vsync forced off (iPresentInterval=0) and framerate capped at 64 with nVidia Inspector (to prevent possible bugs/crashes with high framerates) G-sync runs very smoothly as long as the game engine is not loading data. Unfortunately it does so very frequently, causing lots of sudden stuttering. The severity and frequency of these stutters is most likely increased by the number of mods I have installed. The game also seems to randomly halve my mouse sensitivity and increase mouse lag if my framerate is lower than 64, yet at other times at the same framerate, the mouse is unaffected.
Stacking: I tested this game to see how G-sync copes with a game locked at 30 fps. The game runs smoothly and does not appear to trigger G-sync's automatic refresh behavior.
Tomb Raider (2013): Average stutter with vsync off, low stutter with vsync on. G-sync works absolutely perfectly with silky smooth motion at any framerate.
The Witcher 2: Average stutter normally. G-sync works very well with nice smooth motion.
frankzotynia10 - Windows 8.1 64 bit, i7-3770k @4.5GHz, 2xGTX 660Ti
Assassin's Creed 3 - Strange fps drops in G-sync mode
Battlefield 4 - Microstutters in G-sync mode
Bioshock Infinite - Strange FPS drops in G-sync mode
Saints Row 4 - Works perfectly in G-sync mode