Nvidia Responds to GeForce 600 Series V-Sync Stuttering Issue

Tom's Hardware has received several requests to look into a v-sync issue that a number of owners are seeing with Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 600-series graphics cards. A number of readers have pointed us in the direction of a very long forum thread where multiple customers express concern over stuttering problems with their Kepler-based graphics cards.

Our editorial team played through a number of games with GeForce GTX 600-series board and was unsuccessful in reproducing the issue. As such, we're fairly confident that the issue does not apply to every configuration based on Nvidia's newest cards; some folks are experiencing it, while others aren't.

Eager for an explanation, Tom's Hardware reached out to Nvidia for its response, understanding that owners of $400, $500, and $1000 graphics cards want to know why their boards are misbehaving. The company sent over an official response to the GeForce GTX 600-series stuttering issue, which reads:

We have received reports of an intermittent v-sync stuttering issue from some of our customers. We’ve root caused the issue to a driver bug and identified a fix for it. The fix requires extensive testing though, and will not be available until our next major driver release targeted for June (post-R300). For users experiencing this issue, the interim workaround is to disable v-sync via the Nvidia Control Panel or in-game graphics settings menu.

Although that's not necessarily the most reassuring message, we're at least glad to see that Nvidia has identified the issue and is working on a fix. We'll update you if we hear any more on this, so stay tuned!

  • kniped
    Vsync frequently makes a game unplayable with a mouse anyways so who does this really affect?
    Reply
  • julianbautista87
    that's for those who said that AMD's drivers suck. I have a hd 6850 and I haven't had the first driver issue.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    The difference between AMD and nVidia is not so much the track record of driver related bugs (although it seems that AMD does have a few more than nVidia), but that nVidia has a good and relatively prompt response to issues, while AMD is not nearly as up front about their problems, or as prompt about making fixes.
    Reply
  • super-smashman
    I always use the Framerate Target in EVGA PrecisionX instead of v-sync.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    knipedVsync frequently makes a game unplayable with a mouse anyways so who does this really affect?what are you talking about? Vsync is great for reducing screen tearing issues, and helping up the graphical quality without issue (limited frame rate generally frees up more processing power for higher settings). If it is causing that many issues for you then I would suspect something to be wrong with your machine, not with vsync.
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Good on NVidia!
    Reply
  • monsta
    I have absolutely no stuttering with my GTX 680, it performs incredibly well.
    Reply
  • kartu
    Careful when talking about "600 series": 630 is a rebranded 440. (there are also crapo "600" series 610 and 620)
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    I've noticed it on my GTX680, but it's so rare and doesn't disturb anything, so I just ignore it.
    Reply
  • spookyman
    Hmm wonder if they will actually produce more 680 and 690 cards?
    Reply