Getting bored of chasing numbers

[Relentless81]

Hi all,

Really in two minds of what to do, since I upgraded my monitor to 1440P I think I've stopped enjoying gaming, I dont seem to play as well as I used to in on line shooters like BF4 and I thought it was down to my new res and my GPU so I changed the GPU and even though there is a noticeable performance increase and I stay above 60FPS I cant help but think it doesnt feel as fluid as everything did at 1080P

Also Freesync, I'm not sure its all its cracked up to be to be honest, gaming at 1080P no Freesync and 1440P Freesync and I notice FPS drops more at 1440P with Freesync and they irritate the hell out of me, at 1080P no Freesync everything was super smooth I never noticed anything

I'm really sensitive to FPS, the higher the better for me but I dont like eye candy too so its a catch 22.

I've had my GPU a week, I'm seriously considering returning it, selling my 1440P freesync monitor and either getting a TV and turning my PC into a 1080P 60FPS Steam machine

Or

Just reverting back to 1080P and getting an RX480

Am I crazy? I just want to game again, I seem to spend most of my time messing around with settings rather than gaming and I dont enjoy it anymore.

Before anyone suggests console, no. I want at least 1080p 60fps

 

[Relentless81]

I think my old monitor was more responsive, I had it for a few years and was quite attached to it, shouldn't have sold it. That was back in March so been using 1440p since then

Mouse changed but had no choice, old one had double click issues, new one is better spec

I have a Fury, Vsync disabled in Global Profile, I will double check later but pretty sure its set to Force Vsync off in all applications

Not really interested in OCing anymore, thats just more messing about, cant really OC a Fury anyway. I only ever use 2 x MSAA at 1440P, might just switch it to off and see how I get on

 

[Relentless81]

Yes like I say Vsync is forced off for all apps in Global Profile, I will double check this later.

DP cable I use the one that came with the monitor, no black screen flicker which is the only issue a DP cable can cause as far as I know

Freesync is activated on Benq XL2730Z and Fury Nitro. CPU is 8350 at 4.2GHZ

 

[Relentless81]

I think I'll try Freesync disabled and see how I get on but if my performance suddenly improves then I'm selling the monitor and going back to 1080p none freesync and returning the GPU

I need to read up on different AA types, I just always go for 2 x MSAA at 1440p

 

[Relentless81]

Did you go up I size as well as resolution? If so, it's probably the bigger screen size that is making gaming feel so different.

As far as I know lots of competitive gamers use 24" screens for this reason

No, both screens 27"

 

[Relentless81]

I do wonder about upgrading my CPU but last time I asked about it everyone said just to keep it if its just for gaming and that wasnt that long ago

Plus I'm trying to wait for Zen

BF4 however runs nicely if you look at the stats, FPS never below 60 but when there is a large fluctuation I can definitely tell its there. I just cant put my finger on what is causing my performance to drop

Maybe I'm just getting old!

 

[Relentless81]

Cpu mentioned above

Never seen it drop out of the range and I've watching fps closely, I think it's minimum 35 on this monitor so it's not that

 

[Relentless81]

I'm going to toy with AA settings first based on advice given, if that doesn't work then I'll disable freesync and see how that performs, I'm returning the gpu if freesync is causing the issue and going back to 1080p

I'll be surprised if its the CPU, its had a number of GPUs running with it now and all have been fine, the only time I've started to notice issues is now I've gone to 1440p and Freesync

 

[Relentless81]

I would say this, tweak settings to keep the fps as close to 90 - 100fps as you can as this seemed to be the sweet spot for my 290, im sure higher than this would be good too, also use a frame limiter to cap it from going above 144hz, if this happens you go outside of the freesync range as well, i have the same BenQ monitor as you i believe?

Yeah I have a frame cap set in global settings

If its as simple as dropping settings to maintain a better FPS which I sincerely hope it is then I will tinker some more tonight but I still dont understand why BF4 maintains higher than 60FPS but I still play like a noob

What are the best ways to check Freesync is working, that windmill demo or something else?

 

[Relentless81]

Windmill demo is probably the safest bet, i limit to 143fps as i heard 144 can be buggy.

Make sure V-Sync is turned off, also i think the BenQ screen has some blur reducution stuff? im pretty sure i turned all mine off as i think i read it can interfere with the feel as well?

I also setup my BenQ with a Custom ICC Profile from TFT Central and read up on the Freesync stuff, have a read through this

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_xl2730z.htm

Worth checking that your BenQ (if thats what you are using?) is the correct version without the Freesync issue.

Hmmm guess what my fps is limited to!

I read up on the screen before buying, blur reduction is off and it has v2 firmware, I'll have a read through the link as a refresher thanks

I think something a lot of people take for granted with variable refresh rate displays is thinking that Freesync/Gsync will make variable framerates 'smooth'. Well no, they dont. At least not completely. It'll certainly help the smoothness out and do it without tearing, but a capped, consistent framerate is always going to be smoother than a variable framerate.

Basically, if you are quite sensitive to framerate variations, Freesync/Gsync is not going to be a magical solution for you whatsoever. It may work as a bandaid for the times that you see drops, but you're still better off capping a game at the performance level you're comfortable with and that the game can reliably hit. The great thing about variable refresh rate displays is that this doesn't have to be 30fps, 60fps or 120fps or whatever. You can pick anything. 67fps. 91fps. 45fps(so long as your Freesync range goes down that low). Whatever.

Of course you'll have to do this on a per-game basis, which does require a teeny bit of extra fiddling, but I'd really recommend trying this and seeing if that doesn't help you. Rivatuner Statistics Server(RTSS) is a great program for limiting framerates.

I think you're right, I've been so used to just setting everything to max with 2xmsaa that I didn't even know about all these other aa modes and just threw another gpu at my system thinking I'll get the same experience at 1440p that I did at 1080

I'll try some different aa types and see what happens, maybe 1440p with 2xmsaa is just too much and if I want higher fps I need fxaa or smaa hopefully it's as simple as that

 

[Relentless81]

Apart from the cpu that might be bottleneck on single core games.

The cable coming with the 2730Z is not DP1.2a certified. Please buy a new one. I have this monitor and if you do not believe me search online the code the cable has printed on. At best 1.1 certified at worst 1.0.

The monitor Freesync is working on 39-144 fps. Bellow 39 it wont work.
Make sure the latest firmware is installed on the monitor, because last year the first batch had issues when some settings were turned on deactivating the freesync on scaller level.

Use the 16.7.2 drivers not the 16.7.3 since they do have couple of issues.

Many answers about this monitor can be found in the 2730Z discussion thread.
I have the monitor with a Nano and runs within the freesync range everything maxed out with msaa 2x

This is why I keep using BF4 as an example, it isnt a single core game

What are the issues with the current drivers?

I read the thread extensively before purchase, the included cable is fine, the only issue I can see that will be caused with the cable is black screen flicker which I am not experiancing

Using cable that came with my BenQ XL2730Z all working fine, my frame rate even goes down to 35-144
Nothing wrong with stock cable in my end.

Same, I really cant see any issues regarding the cable, my issues seem to be around performance or what could potentially be input lag, image quality is fine, no tearing but sometimes noticeable changes in FPS which Freesync isnt ironing out maybe because I expect too much from it and all of these issues seem to point toward me having my settings too high for my res and system spec so far from what people have replied

i know its a long shot.. but maybe, since you changed your card.. have you uninstalled the old GPU drivers using DDU before installing the new drivers?
Made a big difference for me when i went to a new card, even though both were nvidia :/

I use DDU every time I remove a driver and install a new driver

 

[Relentless81]

Its interesting and makes me wonder whasts the point in Freesync if thats the case, maybe for more cinematic games? But yeah I do monitor my FPS religiously recently due to the problems I am experiencing and in BF4 which is the fastest paced shooter I play it very rarely drops below 60FPS and never out of Freesync

Like I said above, its more of an input lag problem or FPS spikes/drops due to running settings too high

 

[Relentless81]

This just isn't true. Variable refresh rate monitors do not completely mask variable framerates. It simply transitions them in the best way possible. But if you are sensitive to framerate fluctuation, then variable framerates are still going to be somewhat jarring and make a game feel worse to play.

Hence why I suggested still using a framerate cap/limiter.

This is what I am going to basing the issue on and hopefully resolving it by double checking my setting, trying different AA etc

Isnt the CCC FPS cap good enough? Why would I need a different one

 

[Relentless81]

At home looking at my settings, reset everything and started again in Global Profile -

Vsync forced off in CCC
AMA is set to high on the monitor as recommended by TFT Central
Blur Reduction is off as not compatible with Freesync
Changed FPS cap from 144 to 143
Power efficiency is off in the driver
Freesync is on in Display
AA set to application decides

Done the Windmill test, pretty hard to tell IMO but there is a slight difference, much easier to tell in the line test and Freesync is definitley working. Not sure why the demo is locked to a max of 60FPS

Just need to fire up a game now and change 2xMSAA to either SMAA or FXAA and see what happens

 

[Relentless81]

Ok so just fired up BF4 and set MSAA to off and post to Medium (I think this is FXAA)

No more massive FPS fluctuations, still stays above 60 and up to 100ish but there are no more huge spikes and dips that are noticeable at critical moments

I dont know if this is just AA being switched off, I cant tell the difference in terms of quality buts its definitely smoother, I also noticed my latency dropped from the usual 30 to 23 (Belgian Server)

I think 1440p and any AA was too much for my setup, either that or resetting the Global Profile and setting preferences again sorted something

Thats BF4, going to fire up Max Payne 3 in a bit as I fancy playing it again and see how it runs

 

[Relentless81]

Turning AA off has helped a lot, I'm used to 1080 and using AA, cant even tell its off in 1440 but the performance is there now, Max Payne 3 looks amazing and runs like a dream

 

[Relentless81]

You mentioned you changed your mouse? A rodent with acceleration turned on by default can make things feel dramatically off in games, and dodgy mouse software can cause problems too. There's been some absolute crap out there being sold under big brand names. What are you using now?

Mionix Naos, I'll be looking into that next but it sees this issue is sorted and it was down to one very simple thing unless power efficiency had somehow switched itself on again

I've been so used to maxing out 1080p with MSAA that I didnt realise at 1440p MSAA isnt needed as much and such a perfomance hit, its not just the FPS numbers as with MSAA on I was still above 60 in BF4, its the massive dips and spikes it seemed to cause

Turning it off completely seems to have resolved it, I am getting higher FPS without the noticable dips and spikes and best of all I cant tell the difference in image quality

 

[Relentless81]

Latest AMD drivers no longer support Mantle, have to use DX, crashes on startup with Mantle

 

[Relentless81]

A bit late to the party and obviously haven't read my most recent posts but thanks anyway