Freesync not working with LG 23MP68VQ

[ArchieGayLord]

Hi, I have a LG 23MP68VQ monitor and Sapphire RX 480 Nitro+ 8GB and freesync is not working I can still feel the stuttering even if the fps is within the freesync range (40hz - 75hz).

Freesync are both enabled in LG on screen control and Radeon settings (driver 17.2). I've tried the windmill test and it is working fine there but for games that I've tested it is not.

Games tested:

GTA 5 - tried in game vsync on/off plus freesync - I can still see some stuttering
Witcher 3 - tried in game vsync on/off plus freesync - I can still see some stuttering
Fallout 4 - tried ipresentInterval 0/1 plus freesync - I can still see some stuttering
BF1 - tried vsync on/off plus freesync - I can still see some stuttering

other details:

OS version: windows 7



UPDATE: I've updated to the latest crimson driver 17.4.3 and the stuttering is a little bit less now in Fallout 4 but I'm still not sure if my settings are correct. This is my first time using freesync so I'm not sure what to expect. When freesync kicks in (40+ fps), should the smoothness be the same as if I'm running at max fps(75) ?


Thank you

 

[photonboy]

If you hit 75FPS Freesync no longer works, you revert to VSYNC ON or OFF depending on how it is setup.

If you are in the Freesync range it should in theory be smooth for most games, though there could be some other issue still causing problems. Not sure.

Fallout 4 seems to work best at 60FPS so I'd cap it there. In fact, try CAPPING every game to 60FPS for now just to test (perhaps set a GLOBAL cap in your Radeon control panel).

*Freesync for that panel seems to only work via the HDMI input.

 

[ArchieGayLord]

If you hit 75FPS Freesync no longer works, you revert to VSYNC ON or OFF depending on how it is setup.

If you are in the Freesync range it should in theory be smooth for most games, though there could be some other issue still causing problems. Not sure.

Fallout 4 seems to work best at 60FPS so I'd cap it there. In fact, try CAPPING every game to 60FPS for now just to test (perhaps set a GLOBAL cap in your Radeon control panel).

*Freesync for that panel seems to only work via the HDMI input.

Thanks for the reply. I will try to cap it at 60fps later. Yes, I'm using HDMI input. Is there a Monitor refresh rate real time counter that I can use together with FRAPS to check if the FPS is almost the same with the Monitor refresh rate if freesync is enabled?

Thanks

 

[photonboy]

If Freesync is enabled they are IDENTICAL, but no you can't show that. (without a good video camera to analyze the screen as I've never heard of a monitor showing it's actual refresh rate.. just the data that the GPU sends it)

When you show the FRAME RATE you are using software on the PC side. In fact, FRAPS may not even show the FPS that the GPU produces. FRAPS and other counters measure the REQUEST to draw a frame not the produced frame.

*This is actually why some games look very STUTTERY despite the FPS showing 60FPS (or similar). You might be really getting 40FPS say, with 20 frames just never being drawn (or only partially drawn). That's far, far less likely to happen with Freesync though because RUNTS (partial frames) and other missed frames tend to happen because you missed the fixed VSYNC time interval (60Hz is fixed 1/60th second interval to receive new frame for refresh).

But again, as long as you can verify FREESYNC is enabled it should be the same because THIS is how Freesync works:

1. GPU creates frame and sends to monitor
2. Monitor detects and draws the new frame

If it's short, or long the monitor just sits patiently waiting for the new frame which means no screen tearing, less lag etc.

According to the specs it works between 40FPS and 75FPS. As I've said, once you produce 75FPS or higher you're back to using VSYNC ON, or VSYNC OFF with the monitor physically drawing a frame every 1/75th of a second. It's no longer WAITING on the GPU.

So...

IMO one of the best ways to use this is to:
a) CAP the game to the highest FPS that keeps it in asynchronous mode (Freesync) to avoid hitting 75FPS.
- apparently it's not at 74FPS so experiment. I just said 60FPS but it's probably closer to 70FPS.

b) TWEAK the game settings to avoid many drops below 40FPS (or you're out of Freesync mode again).
- you want to balance the FPS and the graphics quality

- Now on OTHER Freesync monitors the low range is less of an issue. You can Google Low Framerate Compensation. The monitor range must have a ratio of at least 2.5x (i.e. 30Hz to 75Hz) because the driver (software) simply detects it's say at 28FPS then resends each frame as it's made. The Freesync monitor would the be "56FPS" with only 28 physical new frames, but it's in Freesync mode still thus has the smooth benefits.

*luckily, a little tweaking of settings should keep you north of 40FPS most of the time so it's not a huge issue, though some games will have too frequent drops (even if the FPS appears high enough individual frames may be too slow as well).

Summary:
Not sure if that helps. Freesync should work really well, so if stumped feel free to ask my help (what I can do from here) on this or related topics.

 

[ArchieGayLord]

If Freesync is enabled they are IDENTICAL, but no you can't show that. (without a good video camera to analyze the screen as I've never heard of a monitor showing it's actual refresh rate.. just the data that the GPU sends it)

When you show the FRAME RATE you are using software on the PC side. In fact, FRAPS may not even show the FPS that the GPU produces. FRAPS and other counters measure the REQUEST to draw a frame not the produced frame.

*This is actually why some games look very STUTTERY despite the FPS showing 60FPS (or similar). You might be really getting 40FPS say, with 20 frames just never being drawn (or only partially drawn).

But again, as long as you can verify FREESYNC is enabled it should be the same because THIS is how Freesync works:

1. GPU creates frame
2. Monitor detects and draws the new frame

According to the specs it works between 40FPS and 75FPS. As I've said, once you produce 75FPS or higher you're back to using VSYNC ON, or VSYNC OFF with the monitor physically drawing a frame every 1/75th of a second. It's no longer WAITING on the GPU.

So...

IMO one of the best ways to use this is to:
a) CAP the game to the highest FPS that keeps it in asynchronous mode (Freesync) to avoid hitting 75FPS.
- apparently it's not at 74FPS so experiment. I just said 60FPS but it's probably closer to 70FPS.

b) TWEAK the game settings to avoid many drops below 40FPS (or you're out of Freesync mode again).
- you want to balance the FPS and the graphics quality

- Now on OTHER Freesync monitors the low range is less of an issue. You can Google Low Framerate Compensation. The monitor range must have a ratio of at least 2.5x (i.e. 30Hz to 75Hz) because the driver (software) simply detects it's say at 28FPS then resends each frame as it's made. The Freesync monitor would the be "56FPS" with only 28 physical new frames, but it's in Freesync mode still thus has the smooth benefits.

*luckily, a little tweaking of settings should keep you north of 40FPS most of the time so it's not a huge issue, though some games will have too frequent drops (even if the FPS appears high enough individual frames may be too slow as well).

Summary:
Not sure if that helps. Freesync should work really well, so if stumped feel free to ask my help (what I can do from here) on this or related topics.

Thanks. What I'm wondering is if playing at 45+ fps is the smoothness feel should be close to 70+fps if freesync is on? I'm playing fallout 4 and when I'm at 75hz the gameplay is very smooth but if it goes down to 40 - 55 I can feel the stuttering.

Thanks,

 

[photonboy]

Fallout 4 has some odd stuttering on my system though I use VSYNC. I had to force to 61FPS.

a) 75FPS means you have VSYNC ON and are not using Freesync (at the time it shows 75FPS). IF it can do that without added stutter it should just add some lag/latency.

update: I mean 75FPS VSYNC ON is a bit more sluggish than say 70FPS Freesync due to the VSYNC buffer delay (so turning your character doesn't feel as responsive which is why twitch shooters may turn VSYNC OFF and suffer screen tearing with normal monitors), but should not stutter.

b) 55FPS with Freesync should give a better experience to 75FPS VSYNC ON so not sure what's going on there. It makes me wonder if FREESYNC is really working.

update: if it's NOT working then it's simply VSYNC ON, then you get stuttering below 75FPS due to the sync mismatch which is why you NEVER want to do that on a normal monitor. What happens is you still have VSYNC ON but it misses the update (1/75th second) so you end up mixing frame times of 1/7th, 2/75th and longer.

Slightly missing with Freesync just means a very smal delay and then the frame is still drawn. Missing with FREESYNC ON means at least 2x the 1/7th interval before there's a chance to draw the next frame.

I don't know how to check if Freesync is on. Can you have a little ICON pop up? Do you need to physically enable it on the MONITOR like other monitors I've seen?

c) *Force different caps if you want. 60FPS (61FPS in my case) is mainly a Bethesda issue due to VSYNC, though if you go too far away from this you can get weird PHYSICS problems.

d) Try other games as well

e) Note that you should NOT get screen tearing with FREESYNC (causes vertical lines that flicker due to mixing pieces of different frames) on. So if you see that during the time you are between 40FPS and 74FPS range I doubt Freesync is really on.

 

[photonboy]

*Long post just above this, but based on what you've said it feels like FREESYNC isn't on.

**MANUAL says Freesync On/Off selection is on the monitor under "Picture Adjust"

If that's not on you have a normal 75Hz monitor. Once that's set you then need to ensure it's enabled in the Radeon drivers.
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/How-To-Enable-AMD-FreeSync.aspx

Should detect the monitor then have a selection that says:
"AMD Freesync ON. (refresh rate 40 to 75)"

I vaguely remember there being a GLOBAL option for the FPS cap so you might want to for now, just also set that to 60FPS but maybe change later (i.e. 70FPS or don't do global at all).

 

[ArchieGayLord]

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, Freesync is still not working. I've tried capping the fps tto 60, 75, 73 , 59 and turned vsync (ipresentInterval in fallout4) on/off and it is not working there's still stuttering when my fps drops around 43fps+. I've also tried downgrading my driver from 17.4.3 to 16.11.5.

My monitor definitely has a freesync feature it is listed in the AMD site. If I turned off the freesync in my monitor settings the wind mill test doesn't have the option freesync.

 

[ArchieGayLord]

Also this monitor uses HDMI cable. Do you think I need a HDMI 2.0 cable for freesync to work?

 

[ArchieGayLord]

Finally, got it to work by unplugging and plugging in the hdmi cable. Tried in fallout 4 and definitely the smoothenes improved. Thanks Photonboy I will accept your answer but there's no option to accept