The AMD Driver Thread

[5t3v0]

matt on amd forums said vsync and freesync works great together as is sometimes prefered way to use freesync with vsync on. As vsync limits the fps to freesync max range but freesync removes the latency caused by vsync alone thats why he says it is a good pairing of the two technologies. Dunno about enhanced sync tho as i never use it cos heard a lot of problems with it and most ppl say keep it off.

No sync technology limits the frame rate. It synchronizes the gpu output with the monitor refresh cycle to ensure it only receives full frames, thus preventing tearing. Your gpu can still produce more frames than the monitor can show, just the ones inbetween the refresh are ignored. This is why limiting frames with Chill, Rivatuner or in game settings can save power by not rendering those wasted frames.

As for enhanced sync being buggy and unstable, is that based on experience? Its the newer and superior technology compared to vsync so should be better. My experience of it has been positive. Need to be careful perpetuating other posters opinions

 

[Aztec2Step]

@5t3v0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing (See sub-heading 'Complications') The GPU won't pump out more frames than the monitor can display when V-Sync is on.

 

[5t3v0]

@5t3v0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing (See sub-heading 'Complications') The GPU won't pump out more frames than the monitor can display when V-Sync is on.

Ah oops yes. I have been using enhanced sync so long, i forgot vsync does that. Sorry

 

[ShiWarrior]

so, do i need to have both on then?

 

[5t3v0]

so, do i need to have both on then?

Either freesync + enhanced sync or freesync + vsync. Dont think vsync and enhanced sync are compatible. I'd try both combinations and see which you prefer

 

[Aztec2Step]

I tried Enhanced Sync a few drivers back but I didn't notice any benefitso ver Freesync+V-Sync, and it caused instability in one or two games.

What gets my goat up are those game engines where tearing occurs even if your framerate is within the Freesync range, so you have to enable V-Sync which then knocks your performance (can't think of a specific title off hand but I'm sure others have experienced it)!

 

[5t3v0]

Quite a few games render cut scenes at 30 fps which is prone to tearing without enhanced sync or vsync on. Agree its annoying.

I think while I've got lots of indoor time on my hands I'm going to try a comparison between freesync + frame limiter, freesync + enhanced sync and freesync + vsync to see which is best. I've been believing the AMD hype and blindly using enhanced sync for ages now so need to put to the test. Is there a good way to repeatably measure smoothness or is it just a subjective compare?

 

[SkeeterUK]

I tried Enhanced Sync a few drivers back but I didn't notice any benefitso ver Freesync+V-Sync, and it caused instability in one or two games.

What gets my goat up are those game engines where tearing occurs even if your framerate is within the Freesync range, so you have to enable V-Sync which then knocks your performance (can't think of a specific title off hand but I'm sure others have experienced it)!

X4 has tearing on my system even if its within the range i have to use vsync ingame to get it to be tear free. Mainly the landed in a station areas like a wharf. Makes me wonder if fs works on that game its a pure vulkan game if that matters.

 

[Aztec2Step]

Enhanced Sync is supposed to be about minimising input latency so you'd have to have something to measure it for it to be a worthwhile test. Screw that lol!

Doom Eternal is Vulkan only and that doesn't tear with FS on and V-Sync off (within FS range, of course) so the issue isn't API related.

 

[5t3v0]

Enhanced Sync is supposed to be about minimising input latency so you'd have to have something to measure it for it to be a worthwhile test. Screw that lol

Like a high speed camera capturing hand movement and screen display in the same shot? Yeah screw that.

The issue I've got is that in intense BL3 battles I get horrendous stuttering but the frame rate counter doesnt show any dramatic fps drops which leads me to think that it's a sync issue. I guess I'm going to have to play the same section repeatedly for each setting combo and capture the video to compare and contrast

 

[shankly1985]

Enhanced sync only works when your frame rate is above your refresh rate. When fps is above you won't get any screen tearing.

This is why enhanced sync and Freesync are good for each other. Freesync kicks in when frame rate is between the sync range and enhanced sync kicks in when frame rate is above refresh rate.

 

[Orange Nexus]

Like a high speed camera capturing hand movement and screen display in the same shot? Yeah screw that.

The issue I've got is that in intense BL3 battles I get horrendous stuttering but the frame rate counter doesnt show any dramatic fps drops which leads me to think that it's a sync issue. I guess I'm going to have to play the same section repeatedly for each setting combo and capture the video to compare and contrast

I'm almost finished with BL3 and I do not notice any tearing. But, I have a regular 4K 60Hz monitor downscaled to 1440. Like I said earlier, tho, I got it at the lowest settings. Game is cartoonish, so really does not need any higher.

I lied, it seems the game does not setting to 1440 in Windows and just sets it to 4K and my overall settings for visuals is Medium. Vsync off. My monitor is 1ms, tho.

According to Visual Settings my rez is 2160P but it is greyed out. I checked some screenshots of the game and the files are in 1440 rez. Confusing but i believe it is set at 1440. The 4K setting is too much for a 5700.

 

[5t3v0]

I'm almost finished with BL3 and I do not notice any tearing. But, I have a regular 4K 60Hz monitor downscaled to 1440. Like I said earlier, tho, I got it at the lowest settings. Game is cartoonish, so really does not need any higher.

I lied, it seems the game does not setting to 1440 in Windows and just sets it to 4K and my overall settings for visuals is Medium. Vsync off. My monitor is 1ms, tho.

According to Visual Settings my rez is 2160P but it is greyed out. I checked some screenshots of the game and the files are in 1440 rez. Confusing but i believe it is set at 1440. The 4K setting is too much for a 5700.

You must be getting some high fps with 1440 & medium settings on a 5700. On my Vega 56 I get around 90-110 fps at 1440 with everything on max except volumetric fog and reflections. However I limit to 70 to stay within my freesync max and use enhanced sync so dont see tearing. What I do get is occasional horrendous choppiness when the action is full on e.g. m4 slaughter shaft. Fps doesnt seem to drop that badly so wondering if a sync or driver issue. Needs investigation before DLC2 comes out

 

[jokerguv]

Its random sometimes they both go black sometimes it's the 1080p monitor

But once it goes black somtimes it will recover for 1 min then black again so once it fails I just hard reset

I used to get the same on my system. It eventually stopped after a few bios updates. That would be my first port of call as the hardware is still relatively new. Your motherboard even though you bought recently might still have a fairly old bios.

In my case when the black screen occurs, a somewhat baffling solution instantly brings back the screen.

Re-routing of sound device.

I've got a Dell P2715Q connected via DP- HDMI cable on a Sapphire Nitro+ RX 5700XT, speakers are connected via the audio jack on the monitor.

When I connect my USB headphones, Windows automatically switches the sound device to "Speakers (USB Audio)" in place of "AMD High Definition Audio" that are on default at startup.

So whenever the black screen occurs (very rare now unlike before), I simply connect my USB headphones, wait for a second, cycle the monitor's input back and forth (I've got a PS4 Pro connected on other input) and, voila the screen always comes back on. I then disconnect the headphones so the audio reverts back to "AMD High Definition Audio" and everything works as normal.

I've had the Sapphire Nitro FuryX before and the exact same setup but never had any black screens, however, this re-routing of sound device method has always consistently worked for me to this day.

 

[Phixsator]

Arg i'm so ******* at microsoft. Now i'm getting black screens randomly as well and funny enough it started happening after a recent update to win 10. Doesn't matter that i've factory reset the drivers including user settings or DDU'ing. Sometimes its 0 black screens a day other times it's 3 and completely random to.

 

[Dave2150]

Arg i'm so ******* at microsoft. Now i'm getting black screens randomly as well and funny enough it started happening after a recent update to win 10. Doesn't matter that i've factory reset the drivers including user settings or DDU'ing. Sometimes its 0 black screens a day other times it's 3 and completely random to.

?

This is not a Microsoft issue. W10 is in use on over a billion devices. If an update caused black screens, it would be all over the news (especially now that concurrent w10 users is at an all time due to work from home etc).

You likely have an AMD black screen issue - they are still trying to fix their drivers to completely eliminate these, but don't hold your breath. If you want a quick fix, try using Intel onboard GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA card, the black screens will go away.

 

[shankly1985]

?

This is not a Microsoft issue. W10 is in use on over a billion devices. If an update caused black screens, it would be all over the news (especially now that concurrent w10 users is at an all time due to work from home etc).

You likely have an AMD black screen issue - they are still trying to fix their drivers to completely eliminate these, but don't hold your breath. If you want a quick fix, try using Intel onboard GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA card, the black screens will go away.

This isn't true at all.

A window update can effect some computer configuration while other users can be problem free.

I am not saying his issue is a Windows issue

 

[Orange Nexus]

?

This is not a Microsoft issue. W10 is in use on over a billion devices. If an update caused black screens, it would be all over the news (especially now that concurrent w10 users is at an all time due to work from home etc).

You likely have an AMD black screen issue - they are still trying to fix their drivers to completely eliminate these, but don't hold your breath. If you want a quick fix, try using Intel onboard GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA card, the black screens will go away.

Nvidia as a dedicated card to avoid black screens? They are having issues too. Go visit their latest driver forum. It has been off and on with driver releases.

 

[5t3v0]

Anyone using Radeon Boost? I just enabled it for BL3 in an attempt to fix the horrid choppiness I've been getting on the recent drivers without having to permanently drop the quality settings and wow, it really seems to work a treat. While farming the Warden, the average fps was 62.4 and the bottom 1% was 35.6 without Boost, but with Boost the average was 69.3 and bottom 1% was 53. 12% of frames were below the Freesync lower threshold of 48 fps without Boost on, where as with Boost, no frames were below it. Since it only drops visual quality on the fast moving action, I genuinely couldn't tell any difference. I don't why it's taken me this long to take the plunge with it

 

[gpuerrilla]

?

This is not a Microsoft issue. W10 is in use on over a billion devices. If an update caused black screens, it would be all over the news (especially now that concurrent w10 users is at an all time due to work from home etc).

You likely have an AMD black screen issue - they are still trying to fix their drivers to completely eliminate these, but don't hold your breath. If you want a quick fix, try using Intel onboard GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA card, the black screens will go away.

Stop talking nonsense Dave.