"Highest Available" Preferred Refresh Rate Setting in Nvidia CP Not Working

[Killeanaire]

I've had a high refresh rate display for a little while now (the AOC G246PG). In the past, the "Preferred Refresh Rate" setting in the Nvidia Control Panel - if put on "Highest Available" - would override whatever the currently running game's default refresh rate was and force it up the monitor's max of 144hz. This was very useful to me as I prefer to have my secondary monitor (which is 60hz) match my main monitor when I'm just doing productivity work. Of course, there were always a couple of games that ignored what the NVCP told them to do, but these games were definitely in the minority.

 

But, as of recently, it seems as if this "Highest Available" option just isn't doing anything at all. All of my games are behaving as if its always set at "Application-Controlled." Most games will ONLY run at 144hz if the global desktop refresh rate has been set to 144hz beforehand. The Witcher 3, Borderlands 2, Portal 2, & Far Cry 3 are all games that I know worked in the past, but that now require me to change the desktop settings to get them to go to 144hz. 

Games that do have a built-in refresh rate setting - like Overwatch or Tomb Raider - do switch properly. Previously, if I had "Highest Available" turned on, changing the in-game refresh rate setting would make no difference since the graphics drivers just ignored it. This is no longer the case. It just acts as if its set on "Application-Controlled" and the monitor's refresh will change based on the game's setting. Particularly interesting is Skyrim - a game which is more or less hard-coded to run at 60hz. Previously I'd have to make an exception for that game, but now, even if the desktop is set to 144hz and "Highest Available" turned on, Skyrim will force the monitor down to 60hz. There is no way that is "Highest Available."

Anyone else experiencing this or have any ideas what's going on? I'm not sure if this is the result of a recent windows update, driver release, both, or something else entirely.

[Jurrunio]

but why dont you use 144Hz on the desktop and 2D apps as well?

[Killeanaire]

13 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

but why dont you use 144Hz on the desktop and 2D apps as well?

I have a second monitor that is limited to 60hz, and for whatever reason when I have my main monitor set to 144hz and the second one set to 60hz there is a subtle but very annoying visual "lag" on the secondary monitor. This is not the case if they are both set to 60hz. For the video editing work I regularly do across both monitors, its something I try to avoid.

 

Obviously this is not a huge issue by any stretch of the imagination. Switching the monitor's refresh before a game takes two seconds. Really, the reason I'm bringing this up is mostly because I'm trying to see if this bug is just something I'm experiencing or if other people have noticed at as well / if it was the result of a recent driver or windows update. The "Highest Available" setting did work for me previously, but it doesn't anymore.

[Jurrunio]

14 minutes ago, Killeanaire said:

I have a second monitor that is limited to 60hz, and for whatever reason when I have my main monitor set to 144hz and the second one set to 60hz there is a subtle but very annoying visual "lag" on the secondary monitor. This is not the case if they are both set to 60hz. For the video editing work I regularly do across both monitors, its something I try to avoid.

 

Obviously this is not a huge issue by any stretch of the imagination. Switching the monitor's refresh before a game takes two seconds. Really, the reason I'm bringing this up is mostly because I'm trying to see if this bug is just something I'm experiencing or if other people have noticed at as well / if it was the result of a recent driver or windows update. The "Highest Available" setting did work for me previously, but it doesn't anymore.

the refresh rate settings could be within resolution settings. They could say something like '1920x1080 60Hz', '1920x1080 120Hz' sth like that.

[Killeanaire]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

the refresh rate settings could be within resolution settings. They could say something like '1920x1080 60Hz', '1920x1080 120Hz' sth like that.

What are you referring to, exactly? I know where the refresh rate settings for the windows desktop are, and certain games (like Overwatch) do have in-game refresh rate settings that look like what you're describing, but that's not the problem. The issue is that the nvidia driver "Preferred Refresh Rate - Highest Available" setting isn't doing what it claims to do.

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, Killeanaire said:

What are you referring to, exactly? I know where the refresh rate settings for the windows desktop are, and certain games (like Overwatch) do have in-game refresh rate settings that look like what you're describing, but that's not the problem. The issue is that the nvidia driver "Preferred Refresh Rate - Highest Available" setting isn't doing what it claims to do.

my point is that you'd better do it in each individual application's settings menu. Nvidia Control Panel is almost like a phased out app, pretty useless in everything but monitor overclocking and color settings. I ditched it since driver version 355.xx when fast sync no longer works through NVCP.

[Killeanaire]

12 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

my point is that you'd better do it in each individual application's settings menu. Nvidia Control Panel is almost like a phased out app, pretty useless in everything but monitor overclocking and color settings. I ditched it since driver version 355.xx when fast sync no longer works through NVCP.

I agree that it would be the most optimal just to do it in each application's individual settings as that would give you the most flexibility, but quite a few game's don't have a refresh rate setting and just default to using whatever the current desktop refresh rate is (like the Witcher 3, for example). It would be cool if there was some way to pick specific refresh rates (not fps limits) per game profile in the control panel, but alas this is not possible.

Once again, this more of inquiry to see if anyone else has encountered problems with the "Preferred Refresh Rate" setting specifically. From your comment though it does seem like the NVCP is just generally pretty unreliable, so that definitely is something to take into consideration. If the setting is broken at the moment, then it's broken - I just wanted to see if it was just me or not.

[Jurrunio]

witcher 3 needs changing the .ini file it seems. I never tried using NVCP when I played the game from the start.

 

Back when I had my monitor at 144Hz, the other 60Hz montor stutters sometimes. I changed it from 144 to 120, and the problem is gone. I later overclocked it to 150Hz, and still no problem. I guess it's just the default refresh rate settings playing up?