G-sync not working

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1

I’m running the latest acer predator helios 300 15’ laptop with RTX 3070 Ti.

The problem with WOW is that G-sync simply doesn’t work - if I don’t enable vertical sync in-game, I get those infamous screen tearings and every now and then I get a broken frame where the lower part of the screen is black (as if it isn’t finished rendering when the frame is displayed)

It’s a problem specific to WOW. It’s running in native resolution, with correct 165 Hz, in proper fullscreen, so I have no idea what’s wrong.

2

Screen tearing is caused by the GPU rendering a new frame either too slowly or too quickly for your monitors refresh rate. Enabling vsync will cure this as vsync locks the GPU’s frame rendering to the monitors refresh rate.

3

It does, but shouldn’t G-sync take care of that?

4

I have no experience with GSync, I use AMD FreeSync, which in theory is just an open standards version of GSync, but in practice, its different.

That said, its not a magical bullet either, it is still possible to push my GPU faster than the monitor can keep up, resulting in screen tearing and half-renders, which will happen whenever the GPU renders frames faster than the monitors max refresh rate.

Remember, your monitor can change its vertical refresh to slower rates, which is what [x]sync enables, to keep the gpu and the monitor in sync, but it can never go faster than its max refresh rate.

Edit to add:
I guessing that my monitor told my GPU drivers what its max refresh rate is, so it never tries to render faster.

Maybe thats something that is failing to happen on your setup?

5

No, that’s what VRR enables. Vsync tells the graphics card to wait for the monitor to finish displaying a frame before sending the next frame.

That’s what vsync does. Maybe you have it enabled either in the game or in driver settings?

6

Gsync being inactive should not automatically result in tearing and a black bottom of the screen.
I would try reinstall or different set of drivers first. Use DDU to uninstall.

7

The laptop shipped with studio drivers, and I updated them to game ready ones, because GPU switching wasn’t working on the old ones and would always fall back to Optimus and throw “unable to change display mode” error.

Also, the issue is specific to WOW.

8

I have never heard of an error like this but I’m also not very experienced with laptops.
What I would try is to limit the fps to say 100 and see if that helps, or even 60(gsync is active above 40 fps).
It’s possible you are running into some sort of power limit.

Ok since I’m a bit bored I went and checked the support page. I assume your model is Predator PH315-54. There is a bios update from last year that says " 4. Support GPU VRAM over temperature protection."
Maybe that’s what’s causing the black screen? Worth trying if you haven’t updated bios.
Support page

9

you need to check if you pc has real g-sync or its only g-sync compatible.

an example of true g-sync is the asus swift monitors,they have an integrated cpu (inside the monitor) that will handle the variable refresh rate with it and leave your gpu alone.

a g-sync compatible monitor will use the gpu (not the monitor cpu) to handle the variable refresh rates.

thats why a asus swift with g-sync costs 700 euro and a g-sync compatible monitor costs 150 euro.

g-sync compatible doesnt work good since its using the gpu to emulate what a tru g-sync monitor can do with its cpu without using your gpu to emulate it.

this is a bad from nvidia since many people buy g-sync compatible monitors thinking they will have g-sync and its not true g-sync,just your gpu being stressed with a emulation.

also bad from nvidia dont clarify this better!

freesync is same has g-sync compatible.

only true g-sync will work in wow since wow is borderless and only g-sync cpu chip (inside good monitors) can gsync in borderless.

i guess you bought a g-sync compatible instead of true g-sync.

PS: i just checked and you monitor is g-sync compatible not g-sync.

you got jebaited by nvidia+acer false advertising.

if i where you i refund the pc for false advertising (g-sync compatible is NOT g-sync) and buy a real g-sync.

you can tell its real g sync when the monitor itself has a gsync cpu inside of it.(thats why its way more expensive true g-sync.

you can also try enabling g-sync and v-sync in control pannel at same time,you will get a vsync game at you maximum refresh rate and gsync game when its below you max refresh rate,but will never behave has true g-sync only.

10

No. Gsync will just hinder the stackering you have when your GPU is dropping below your monitor’s refreshing rate, as that refreshing rate will synchronize with the FPS.

So if you normally have 165 Hz but only 80 fps, your monitor will drop down to 80 Hz. With that the 80 fps will feel fluent to you while mostly not realizing that you dropped half of the possible pictures.

If your FPS are higher than the refreshing rate of your monitor, Gsync has basically no effect! Limit the FPS ingame to 165. In combination with gsync you will have a fluent experience without tearing. When the pre patch comes in a few days, you should also activate the mode for low latency with NVIDIA Reflex + Boost. On retail its currently not available yet, but it is in the pre patch afaik.

With that settings your input lag is hugely decreased while having no tearing.

Another hint could be the gaming mode in your windows. There you find an option “Grafic settings”, in which you can activate the “variable refresh rate”.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/bs429x/windows_10_1903_now_has_a_variable_refresh_rate/

Even though I am not sure how and if that works, but worth it a try I guess if you still have issues with limited FPS.

…

P.S.: You need to enable Gsync in the Nvidia settings and also make sure, it’s enabled for windowed and full screen mode.

11

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