Finally tried G-sync

porina · August 10, 2017

I got a 1440p 144 Hz G-sync monitor about a week ago, and only just got round to actually put some games thought it. My first choice of Portal 2 wasn't the best, as I sat on the 144 Hz limiter pretty much continuously. I need something more stressful for even my ageing 980 Ti. Picking another random game from my long Steam list, was Colin McRae Rally. For some unknown reason the fps counter just wasn't showing. It looked smooth enough, but I had no external reference.

Ok, bite the bullet and put my main focus on it: Final Fantasy XIV. Was a bit lazy and haven't copied my control configuration from my main setup yet, but I quickly set borderless window and it felt much more snappy than my 60 Hz panel I normally use up to this point. On the 60 Hz panel, if I rotate the view rapidly, I usually got what felt like a bit of latency, but there was none of that now. fps varied depending on scene up to 120's. Then I realised I wasn't on the maximum quality setting. Firing up GPU-z and task manager, I saw the CPU maxing out on one core, with GPU around 80% load. Putting it to maximum... I was barely over 60fps. GPU load maxed out, CPU... with a lot more breathing space.

Seems like if I want both quality and framerate I'll need a beefier GPU. Now, which 1080Ti do I go for?...

I may soon have the 3440x1440 60Hz ultra-wide going redundant...

Ryuhayabusa132 · August 11, 2017

If you want to experience the full 144hz experience you want with that resolution you will need two FREAK GPUs. But custom cards dont differ that much. Just pick the cheapest one from either EVGA, MSI, GIGABYTE, PALIT or Asus.

porina · August 11, 2017

7 hours ago, Ryuhayabusa132 said:

If you want to experience the full 144hz experience you want with that resolution you will need two FREAK GPUs. But custom cards dont differ that much. Just pick the cheapest one from either EVGA, MSI, GIGABYTE, PALIT or Asus.

My pockets aren't exactly shallow, but getting TWO 1080 Ti is pushing it! Anyway, part of the point of G-sync is not needing to max out the fps continuously, so I will see how I get away with a single 1080 Ti to start with... wonder if people are doing more builds, even they seem to be in reduced supply compared to the recent past.

porina · August 11, 2017

Ok, I swapped over monitors and have the G-sync on my main system. I played about with the settings in FFXIV and it definitely feels snappier. Sticking mostly to desktop high preset, framerates vary from around 100 to 200+. Is that right? I have the G-sync status indicator turned on in the driver, so I know that's working. I also have the framerate showing in driver, and that matches the in game setting. Now here's the bit I don't get. The monitor is 144 Hz, and I can go over that. Below 144 fps, I see the GPU load around 98%+. Above 144 fps, the GPU load drops. I'm wondering if the frame rate is actually capping at 144 fps, but indicating what it would be if it were unlimited. Does that make sense? I've tried turning on v-sync in driver (with g-sync still on), and also messing around with the game framerate limiter. Neither affects it.

I also saw how much Win10 sucks when it comes to multi-monitor support. How can they make it worse than Win7? They managed it. Also the resolution scaling really sucks too.