G-Sync monitor crashing RX6800 - possible?

[Haggisman]

I recently upgraded my monitor from a Benq EX3501R (Freesync) to an Alienware AW3821DW (Gsync Ultimate). My system was previously pretty stable, however since the upgrade I've been experiencing some strange "crashes":

• Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition - I have to set the refresh rate in windows to 60Hz or the game will "crash" as soon as the intro video loads.
• PUBG - I have to limit the in game FPS to 75, or the game will crash quite frequently, however this was an issue before (the game is just generally unstable!) However now, even with this limit set, every few games when I join a match it will "crash" as soon as the game loads.
• Division 2 - I had a single proper crash in this, although this is probably unrelated, I noticed my GPU was getting very hot (mid 90s!), tweaked some fan settings to keep it in the mid 80s and it was fine after that.

I've put "crash" in quotes because the game doesn't actually crash, it's just the display stops responding. The game will carry on running in the background, the audio is normal, and it will respond normally to inputs (e.g. I am able to quit and restart Windows using keyboard commands).

I've tried resetting the display driver using the CTRL+SHIFT+WIN+B combination, and it beeps as if it's resetting, but it doesn't fix the issue - the only thing which works is a hard reset of the PC.

The only thing which has changed is the monitor & displayport cable, and the main changes are:

Resolution: 3440x1440 -> 3840x1600
Refresh rate: 100hz -> 120hz (the monitor is capable of 144hz, but only with 8 bit colour, so I have it set to 120hz/10bit)
Freesync -> Gsync ultimate

I can't see the resolution increase affecting the stability (although obviously the performance).
The refresh rate increase could possibly affect it I guess? Especially given the "fixes" I've found above.
Is it possible that the change in VRR tech is causing these issues? I'm going to try disabling VRR in the driver later on to try.

I have been able to play a couple of other games - Hunter COTW works flawlessly, Cyberpunk 2077 is fine, HL: Alyx works fine (although doesn't really use the display, so I guess ignore this!).

Of course it's possible I'm just seeing an issue which isn't there - PUBG has always been very unstable for me ((although is definitely worse now!), and Metro has been a bit hit & miss.

I guess wondering if anyone else has experienced similar issues when using an AMD card with a Gsync monitor?

 

[Haggisman]

Quick update, turned Adaptive Sync off for Metro in the AMD driver and it runs fine...

Did the same for PUBG and was able to start a couple of games, again seemed to be working fine, although this will need more testing as it was intermittent anyway.

I guess I need to hook my old monitor back up and see if it works with that :s

 

[ICDP]

It might be worth doing a DDU to ensure you have a clean driver install. I know some people say DDU is not required and 99% of the times they are correct but there have been times it has worked for me when switching GPU or monitor for example.

 

[Haggisman]

So far, disabling adaptive sync for Metro and PUBG seems to have done the job managed to get a couple of hours on both yesterday and not a single crash, I might give DDU a go just in case though thanks!

 

[Haggisman]

Thought I'd post back the solution for this.

I noticed it was only ever occurring in loading screens (e.g. when the framerate either plummets or soars); I checked the adaptive sync range reported by the monitor in the Radeon software, and it was showing 1-144hz.

Finally got around to installing CRU today, and changed this range to 40-120hz, and this has fixed the problem! All the games which were previously giving a black screen now work perfectly, and I can see that adaptive sync is working because the monitors FPS counter is bouncing up and down along with the in game one.