The AMD Driver Thread

[loftie]

Thought I'd report in, my Samsung C24fg73 has always had flickering(in some games at some FPS) and a colour/contrast shift when toggling Freesync. I updated to 18.5.1 and while on Stardew Valley I noticed there was no colour/contrast change when enabling/disabling Freesync. Great! Then I thought, is working?

I ran the windmill demo - which isn't great as it locks to 60Hz and I couldn't any tearing. Then I ran the test pattern and I could see tearing. Now 60Hz is in the LFC zone for my monitor, and I saw a result while googling of someone complaining that the windmill demo doesn't support LFC. Is this true?

Anyway, I ran off and used the GSync demo, as it's more customisable, and the Pendulum looked fine, also with no colour shift - I can actually use the Radeon Overlay with the GSync demo too! Then I loaded the test pattern. It looked good, no tearing and I messed about with the FPS sliders. I noticed that occasionally at 40FPS, the line would tear as if Freesync had a brain fart. I turned off Freesync to see what it was like in case it was just not working and I was only noticing the occasional tear, and yea massive amounts of tearing it was unmissable.

I also noticed, not sure if this is new or not, that Radeon settings reports the Freesync range if you hover over the AMD FreeSync toggle in the options under Display. Is it supposed mention LFC at all anywhere?

TL: DR - Freesync seems to occasionally fail to sync frames causing infrequent tearing.

Cheers for any info!

PS, I'm connected via DP

 

[Panos]

Thought I'd report in, my Samsung C24fg73 has always had flickering(in some games at some FPS) and a colour/contrast shift when toggling Freesync. I updated to 18.5.1 and while on Stardew Valley I noticed there was no colour/contrast change when enabling/disabling Freesync. Great! Then I thought, is working?

I ran the windmill demo - which isn't great as it locks to 60Hz and I couldn't any tearing. Then I ran the test pattern and I could see tearing. Now 60Hz is in the LFC zone for my monitor, and I saw a result while googling of someone complaining that the windmill demo doesn't support LFC. Is this true?

Anyway, I ran off and used the GSync demo, as it's more customisable, and the Pendulum looked fine, also with no colour shift - I can actually use the Radeon Overlay with the GSync demo too! Then I loaded the test pattern. It looked good, no tearing and I messed about with the FPS sliders. I noticed that occasionally at 40FPS, the line would tear as if Freesync had a brain fart. I turned off Freesync to see what it was like in case it was just not working and I was only noticing the occasional tear, and yea massive amounts of tearing it was unmissable.

I also noticed, not sure if this is new or not, that Radeon settings reports the Freesync range if you hover over the AMD FreeSync toggle in the options under Display. Is it supposed mention LFC at all anywhere?

TL: DR - Freesync seems to occasionally fail to sync frames causing infrequent tearing.

Cheers for any info!

PS, I'm connected via DP

Check if there is a firmware update for the monitor. I saw one recently been mentioned, fixing most of the Samsung monitors.
There was a review about on guru3d with links.

 

[Panos]

After 10 months I put my FuryX back because the 1080ti is sold (woohoo) and the 64 Nitro is expected tomorrow (huzzah)

What I realised was that without changing anything (drivers or monitor) the colour and detail even on the videos (BluRay) looks much better with the FuryX than the 1080Ti.
And haven't fiddle with the colour settings on either card. Is it my perception or someone else has the same experience? (btw using the 18.6 drivers).

 

[Ree]

i noticed this also when i went from 1060 to 480 and noticed it again when i went from 1080 to vega 64. really is a difference between the two.

 

[Nexus18]

IIRC, with nvidia you need to set the RGB format to full as by default it is on limited or something like that.

Also, for videos, AMD enable their processing settings by default to try and "improve" IQ, however, you shouldn't be using these as they over sharpen etc.



Let madvr and MPC HC handle the processing.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

AMD have a higher Saturation level at default, as i noticed when going back to Nvidia, the colours looked washed out, but increasing the Digital Vibrance a bit (which is their Saturation equivalent), sorted it out.

 

[Panos]

Guys there isn't only the colours it seems. I was playing WOT, first time the new engine with AMD card and had to run on the laptop to test on the training map because I was seeing some weird stuff that draw my attention like was seeing them the first time. And I have tens of thousands of battles on this game so I have seen the same places so they are imprinted on my brain.

(I play the game on max settings at 100% render so it doesn't cut graphics due to distance, and yes had to delete my 1080Ti game settings before configure the FX)

Smoke and foliage on many maps (Westfield & Overlord for example) is so real (and dense) looking on the FuryX compared to the 1080Ti and the GTX1060 and initially thought my eyes were playing tricks. Nope. On the laptop (same max settings), half the foliage is missing (as used on PC also with the 1080Ti), while the smoke at Overlord map (near D8 as you look from J7) was barely noticeable looking like we just put some charcoal on the BBQ to cook some meat. On the FuryX looks thick black and swirling like a whole fleet of tankers full of diesel are on fire. Which is so striking that I got shot by enemies while looking at the smoke.

True the FuryX gives 100fps LESS (70-80 range) than the GTX1080Ti (high 170s). But the game looks so much more better on exactly the same settings. Textures are more detailed even 500m away.

Call me crazy if you think so, but I will try to take some screenshot tomorrow before I put the Nitro 64 on.

(Update the windows reflections on Paris map also is a another thing that the game pops right now)

 

[loftie]

Check if there is a firmware update for the monitor. I saw one recently been mentioned, fixing most of the Samsung monitors.
There was a review about on guru3d with links.

Cheers for the response, but nope. The Guru3D article that I saw was about the HDR monitors, the only driver for mine is back from april last year. It is odd that freesync seems to occasionally 'break' for a split second on the tearing test. I've not really noticed it in game, but I'm probably running Vsync tbh.

As for the colours etc, there was a thread on here about Battlefield with something similar a while back wasn't there?

 

[ltron]

Guys there isn't only the colours it seems. I was playing WOT, first time the new engine with AMD card and had to run on the laptop to test on the training map because I was seeing some weird stuff that draw my attention like was seeing them the first time. And I have tens of thousands of battles on this game so I have seen the same places so they are imprinted on my brain.

(I play the game on max settings at 100% render so it doesn't cut graphics due to distance, and yes had to delete my 1080Ti game settings before configure the FX)

Smoke and foliage on many maps (Westfield & Overlord for example) is so real (and dense) looking on the FuryX compared to the 1080Ti and the GTX1060 and initially thought my eyes were playing tricks. Nope. On the laptop (same max settings), half the foliage is missing (as used on PC also with the 1080Ti), while the smoke at Overlord map (near D8 as you look from J7) was barely noticeable looking like we just put some charcoal on the BBQ to cook some meat. On the FuryX looks thick black and swirling like a whole fleet of tankers full of diesel are on fire. Which is so striking that I got shot by enemies while looking at the smoke.

True the FuryX gives 100fps LESS (70-80 range) than the GTX1080Ti (high 170s). But the game looks so much more better on exactly the same settings. Textures are more detailed even 500m away.

Call me crazy if you think so, but I will try to take some screenshot tomorrow before I put the Nitro 64 on.

(Update the windows reflections on Paris map also is a another thing that the game pops right now)

This is really interesting, will be keen to know whether the Vega card also looks better.

 

[ED209]

Thanks ED, I've sent you an email.

Hey Matt, just so your aware I sent a reply Thursday

Regards

 

[Panos]

18.6.1 drivers feedback.
Installed the Nitro+ 64 today. The Vega 64 has no Freesync (XL2730Z) flickering issues with the updated Clausewitz engine (EUIV, Stellaris, HOIIV) nor with World of Warships.

The flickering on the Clausewitz games appears to being prominent as the game progresses.
It is not there at the start of a game or when the game is paused, but occurs when the game progresses. I bet is engine issue and not drivers.

 

[Freezy]

TL: DR - Freesync seems to occasionally fail to sync frames causing infrequent tearing.

Cheers for any info!

PS, I'm connected via DP

Hey there, I just signed up to confirm this exact thing happening to me, too.
I run a Sapphire RX 580 Nitro+ with a Iiyama ProLite XUB2792QSU-B1 (27 inch 1440p screen, 48-70 Hz Freesync range, no LFC, connected via DisplayPort. Not the best, I know, but FreeSync should work nontheless).
I noticed a while ago that Freesync has those split-second moments where it seems to forget that the screen supports FreeSync. I sit comfortably in the FS range, then a tear & stutter occurs, then back to FreeSync. All while the fps don't move. With the screen OSD open, I can see that the screen pops out of FreeSync for a short while and shoots up to 70 Hz before settling back to syncing with the GPU.
If i had to pinpoint it, this all started around the big Windows 10 1803 update (I think). I completely reinstalled Windows from scratch, nothing installed but Steam and my game (Rising Storm 2: Vietnam in this case, other games show the same behavior), Radeon Software 18.5.2 WHQL and the same thing happens.

Would be great if this could be looked into.

My specs:
Intel Core i5 3570k
Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H
16 (4x4) GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM
Sapphire RX 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Iiyama ProLite XUB2792QSU-B1 (reported as PL2792Q in Radeon Settings)

 

[loftie]

*snip*

Interesting, not just me then. Not a case of a micro stutter on your end causing the FPS to momentarily dip out of FreeSync range without the fps counter registering? I assume that could be possible, maybe @AMDMatt might have more of an idea? Mine has LFC, so I suppose it could be LFC breaking, or FreeSync breaking.

TBH, I've found the lowest FPS I kinda want games to hit is 48fps, so that Freesync range isn't bad tbh. Any lower and I can feel it. I can only assume mine was with my last driver update, I could be wrong and I've only just noticed it thanks to the colour/contrast shift.

EDIT: How does the 580 handle 1440p curiously?

 

[EastCoastHandle]

Use 3 monitors and have done for years.

That's what I thought. Could you try something?
Open the program or game into a window (You want the 3 icons to show in the upper right corner).
Physically drag the program onto the screen you want to see it on. Even if it's now on the screen you want it on just drag it from left to right
In the upper right corner select the middle icon that looks like a square.
Select the X to the right of the square
Exit out of the program/game.
Restart it
Is it found on the screen you want?

 

[Freezy]

Interesting, not just me then. Not a case of a micro stutter on your end causing the FPS to momentarily dip out of FreeSync range without the fps counter registering?

EDIT: How does the 580 handle 1440p curiously?

Maybe, that 3570k is getting a little old, but I'm trying to hold out for the 7nm Ryzen.

The 580 manages 1440p quite well. I adjust some settings here and there and it also helps that I'm rarely playing the latest iteration AAA games like Assassin's Creed etc.

 

[nashathedog]

Yay! The OP's finally been updated.

 

[loftie]

Maybe, that 3570k is getting a little old, but I'm trying to hold out for the 7nm Ryzen.

The 580 manages 1440p quite well. I adjust some settings here and there and it also helps that I'm rarely playing the latest iteration AAA games like Assassin's Creed etc.

I'm on a stock 4690K and most of the time the CPU isn't an issue - there will always be games that are but mostly I'm gpu limited. Jealous of your nitro though, I've got the Pulse and it's struggling in the heat with Ark, even in an RV02 case. Can't complain too much as got it very cheap from a mate who'd pre-ordered it and the price dropped to stupid money and it shipped at that price.

Annoyingly I discovered a dark spot on my samsung monitor the other day, only had it since xmas

 

[LtMatt]

No idea if ive a save game file as it's an online game. I can see if I can start a single player game and get to that part of the map.

We've been unable to reproduce this issue so far after navigating to that area Tony. Did you have HBCC segment enabled?

I notice there have been several updates to the game since you reported this, do you still see this issue on 18.6.1 and the latest game build via Steam?

 

[D1craig]

Guys there isn't only the colours it seems. I was playing WOT, first time the new engine with AMD card and had to run on the laptop to test on the training map because I was seeing some weird stuff that draw my attention like was seeing them the first time. And I have tens of thousands of battles on this game so I have seen the same places so they are imprinted on my brain.

(I play the game on max settings at 100% render so it doesn't cut graphics due to distance, and yes had to delete my 1080Ti game settings before configure the FX)

Smoke and foliage on many maps (Westfield & Overlord for example) is so real (and dense) looking on the FuryX compared to the 1080Ti and the GTX1060 and initially thought my eyes were playing tricks. Nope. On the laptop (same max settings), half the foliage is missing (as used on PC also with the 1080Ti), while the smoke at Overlord map (near D8 as you look from J7) was barely noticeable looking like we just put some charcoal on the BBQ to cook some meat. On the FuryX looks thick black and swirling like a whole fleet of tankers full of diesel are on fire. Which is so striking that I got shot by enemies while looking at the smoke.

True the FuryX gives 100fps LESS (70-80 range) than the GTX1080Ti (high 170s). But the game looks so much more better on exactly the same settings. Textures are more detailed even 500m away.

Call me crazy if you think so, but I will try to take some screenshot tomorrow before I put the Nitro 64 on.

(Update the windows reflections on Paris map also is a another thing that the game pops right now)

this sounds like it would bring the AMD cards a lot closer on benchmarks and stuff if they where both set to the same settings. another cheat from nvidia?

 

[Panos]

this sounds like it would bring the AMD cards a lot closer on benchmarks and stuff if they where both set to the same settings. another cheat from nvidia?

What I am sceptical about, is that my Vega 64 Nitro at 1742/1000 beats clearly my old GTX1080 @ 2190, on Time Spy Graphic Test 1, however loses 11.7% on Graphic Test 2.
I know Graphic Test 2 is been blamed for some different code paths used on NV compared to AMD cards, but the different is massive for equal performance GPUs on Test 1