How to limit fps on a 140 or 165Hz monitor?

[Dirk98 354]

Hello, I'm thinking of buying me a 1440p monitor, most of them are now at 140Hz or 165Hz with gsync. I'm used to limiting all my flight sims to 30Hz (60Hz monitor @1/2 refresh rate in NvCP). Is it possible to cap gfx output to 30 fps and have it still synced properly with these high refresh monitors? Please share your tips and experience.

Thanks.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Dirk98

[Bob Scott 7,724]

You can use MSI Afterburner/Rivatuner, or you can also cap the frame rate in the nVidia Control Panel.  Both will impose a frame rate cap at the driver level.

Not sure why you'd want to, though--the whole point of paying the premium for a GSync board in the monitor is to allow the monitor to dynamically adjust to the actual frame output without tears/stutters.

[Dirk98 354]

I'm currently on a 12700H/RTX 3060 laptop, so when it gets to its maximum frame rates, the temperatures get very high. And most decent 32" 1440p monitors are 140-165Hz with gsync. Perhaps I'd rather buy a 32'' 1440p 60Hz monitor, but I understand they don't make them anymore.

Thanks.

Edited September 30, 2022 by Dirk98

[Dirk98 354]

2 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

You can use MSI Afterburner/Rivatuner, or you can also cap the frame rate in the nVidia Control Panel.

As I wrote I cap 30 fps with NVCP. How well does it work with a 140Hz 165Hz gsync monitor?

Does gsync properly throttle refresh down to 30 from 140 available? 

[neumanix 114]

Gsync will be active as long as your fps is within the range specified for your monitor. Mine has a g-sync range of 30-144Hz.

I'd lock a little higher, at 40 for example, to not be right at the range limit, but you should experiment.

Try to find a fps lock that gives you balanced performance between CPU and GPU. Neither should ever hit 100%. A fair bit below is always preferable.

In other games, I use the NVCP cap to 140Hz for the same reason, to stay within the gsync range and not exceed it.

Edited September 30, 2022 by neumanix

[Dave_YVR 994]

30 minutes ago, Dirk98 said:

Does gsync properly throttle refresh down to 30 from 140 available? 

 That all depends on each monitor. Just because it says G-Sync doesn't mean it's good for the sim, let alone G-Sync Compatible (STAY AWAY from those!!). 144hz and higher is great for most games EXCEPT MSFS and P3d. Check below at monitor specs and take very close note of the LOWER limits of the refresh rate. Ideally you want as low as possible. People often complain that G-Sync doesn't work, yet it's the monitor they chose and it often only supports down to 40-50hz meaning that you have to sustain a solid 40-50fps for G-Sync to actually work which in most games is easy, just not for P3d or MSFS.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

[Dirk98 354]

38 minutes ago, Dave_YVR said:

 That all depends on each monitor. Just because it says G-Sync doesn't mean it's good for the sim, let alone G-Sync Compatible (STAY AWAY from those!!). 144hz and higher is great for most games EXCEPT MSFS and P3d. Check below at monitor specs and take very close note of the LOWER limits of the refresh rate. Ideally you want as low as possible. People often complain that G-Sync doesn't work, yet it's the monitor they chose and it often only supports down to 40-50hz meaning that you have to sustain a solid 40-50fps for G-Sync to actually work which in most games is easy, just not for P3d or MSFS.

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/g-sync-monitors/specs/

Thanks Dave, that's exacly why I posted my question here. I can vaguely remember negative remarks about GSYNC for flight sims.

Even 30Hz lower limit is not low enough for me. I'll try to find some 60/120Hz sans GSYNC. But the problem is if it is not a GSYNC monitor then it's a FreeSync compatible one which is even worse I understand, isn't it?

PS: I really want an old style 60Hz 1440p 32-inch with 5ms response. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Dirk98

[Dave_YVR 994]

40 minutes ago, Dirk98 said:

Even 30Hz lower limit is not low enough for me. I'll try to find some 60/120Hz sans GSYNC. But the problem is if it is not a GSYNC monitor then it's a FreeSync compatible one which is even worse I understand, isn't it?

 There are plenty of them that go down to 1hz which is ideal, personally I wouldn't get anything else especially if you do other games as well to take full advantage of it.

[Dirk98 354]

1 minute ago, Dave_YVR said:

 There are plenty of them that go down to 1hz which is ideal, personally I wouldn't get anything else especially if you do other games as well to take full advantage of it.

I do only a couple of other usual suspects like F4BMS and DCS. 1Hz sounds great, thanks for the pointer Dave.

[lownslo 592]

I have a Dell 32" 1440 VA panel that can run at 165Hz.  It's AMD Freesync 2 but I leave that disabled on the monitor's controls.  For P3D (5.3) I set the refresh rate at 60Hz in NVCP, and then use NVCP's 1/2 Refresh Rate setting to run the sim at 30 fps.  Of course, in P3D I set the frame rate lock to unlimited and V-Sync off.  I use the same config for MSFS 2020, though I'm not flying it now.  Note: I do this using a quality DP cable... never had much luck using HDMI cables on LED/LCD panels.  Monitor cables are pretty much like Gsync and Freesync "compatible" technology... really nothing more than a ripoff!

[Dirk98 354]

1 hour ago, lownslo said:

I have a Dell 32" 1440 VA panel that can run at 165Hz.  It's AMD Freesync 2 but I leave that disabled on the monitor's controls.  For P3D (5.3) I set the refresh rate at 60Hz in NVCP, and then use NVCP's 1/2 Refresh Rate setting to run the sim at 30 fps.

It's good that your monitor's refresh rate can be controlled in NVCP and go down from 165Hz to 60Hz. AFAIK not all panels can accept that, but thanks for reminding me about it.

Thanks. 

PS: I'd rather have a monitor with the internal refresh control (a note to myself). 

Edited September 30, 2022 by Dirk98

[Bob Scott 7,724]

On a currently-sold G-Sync monitor, the 30 Hz lower limit is for the LCD panel in the display--if the monitor is a true G-Sync monitor (it has the nVidia G-Sync module built-in), the G-Sync module in the monitor will insert duplicate frames and up-shift the vertical refresh rate to a multiple of the frame rate when the frame rate drops to near/below the panel's minimum freq threshold.  See #4 in: https://blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-input-lag-tests-and-settings/2/  The first-generation G-Sync boards (which are long, long gone from the retail chain by now) did have some issues when operating below the panel's min refresh rate, but the aforementioned compensation method works quite well on current G-Sync displays.

I have a Dell AW3420DW 34" ultrawide on one of my secondary machines.  It's a true G-Sync monitor, and Dell's specs say minimum frame rate is 30 Hz.  That said, it is both smooth and tear-free during excursions to much lower frame rates owing to the workings of G-Sync.

"G-Sync compatible" monitors are usually designed primarily for AMD's Freesync, and because they do not have the built-in G-Sync hardware to do that compensation, they are limited to the panel's refresh rate range when used in G-Sync compatibility mode.

[Dirk98 354]

Thank you Bob. Most of the current reviews are littered by: "G-sync compatible!", "FreeSync Premium!" offers, go figure without an enlightened  advice.