Win8 + DirectX 11 + Long alt tab in full screen games

Borek · February 6, 2013

So I noticed a problem when I was gaming on Windows 8: alt tabbing out of full screened games took several seconds (5-8 sec in my case). I did manage to diagnose the problem and come up with a solution but I thought I'd share it with you guys in case you still have the same annoyance that I did.

Problem:

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For whatever reason, using DirectX 11 in Win8 only allows certain games a 59.9hz refresh rate setting where it would be 60hz in Win7. DX9 allows for 60hz on both OS's and DX11 allows for 60hz on Win7 only. I'm not sure if this is an Nvidia-specific or even HDMI-specific anomaly.

When the game is at 59.9hz and Windows system settings are at 60hz, the alt-tabbing takes several full seconds.

In my experience, the results are the same with Vsync both on and off and is therefore not the culprit.

Solution:

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One solution is to use DirectX 9 in your game and put your game's settings at 60hz to match your Windows display settings.

Alternatively, dropping the Windows 8 display settings down to 59hz while keeping your game at 59.9hz makes the alt tabbing very quick as well.

I guess my questions for you guys are these: Can you replicate this problem? Can you replicate this problem using an ATI card? Can you replicate this problem using something other than an HDMI cable? Can you get your DX11 game to run at 60hz in Win8? If so, how?

If we find some more conditions pertinent to this problem, I'll update this post.