G-SYNC 101: G-SYNC Fullscreen vs. Borderless/Windowed


DWM Woes?

Requested by swarna in the Blur Busters Forums, is a scenario that investigates the effects of the DWM (Desktop Windows Manager, “Aero” in Windows 7) on G-SYNC in borderless and windowed mode.

Unlike exclusive fullscreen, which bypasses the DWM composition entirely, borderless and windowed mode rely on the DWM, which, due to its framebuffer, adds 1 frame of delay. The DWM can’t be disabled in Windows 10, and uses it’s own form of triple buffer V-SYNC (very similar to Fast Sync) that overrides all standard syncing solutions when borderless or windowed mode are in use.

To make sure this was the case, all combinations of NVCP and in-game V-SYNC, as well as the Windows 10 “Game Mode” and “fullscreen optimization” settings were tested to see if DWM could be disabled, and tearing could be introduced; it could not be, so Game Mode and fullscreen optimizations were disabled once again, and NVCP V-SYNC was re-enabled across scenarios for consistency’s sake.

The question is, does DWM add 1 frame of delay with G-SYNC using borderless and windowed mode?

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings

Overwatch, shows that, no, with G-SYNC enabled, both borderless and windowed mode do not add 1 frame of delay over exclusive fullscreen. Standalone “V-SYNC,” however, does show the expected 1 frame of delay.

CS:GO was also tested for corroboration, and ought to have the same results, as DWM behavior is at the OS-level and should remain unchanged, regardless of the game…

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings
Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Latency & Optimal Settings

Sure enough, again, G-SYNC sees no added delay, and V-SYNC sees the expected 1 frame of delay.

Further testing may be required, but it appears on the latest public build of Windows 10 with out-of-the-box settings (with or without “Game Mode”), G-SYNC somehow bypasses the 1 frame of delay added by the DWM. That said, I still don’t suggest borderless or windowed mode over exclusive fullscreen due to the 3-5% decrease in performance, but if these findings are true across configurations, it great news for games that only offer a borderless windowed option, or for multitaskers with secondary monitors.



2774 Comments For “G-SYNC 101”

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ULA
Member
ULA

Hi there!

First of all, thanks for the guide! helped a lot.

Now, to my question. I am looking to play Cyberpunk with the path-tracing settings, which is obviously a computional nightmare—even for my 4090. This would be the first time I will enable DLSS 3.0, which I will refer to as frame-generation (FG) from here on it. I will be using the perfomance-mode of DLSS 2.0, since I game at 4k and I want to mininze the input lag from FG; I believe the higher the native frame rate, the lower the input delay due to FG.

Now, from what I know, is that I should still enable V-sync from the NVIDIA control pannel. However, it is not needed to set the frame rate 3FPS below the monitor’s refersh rate, since that is automatically done by Reflex (which will be enabled by default when using FG).

However, I would still like to cap my frame rate below my native 120FPS, say at 100FPS, so that the frame rate is consistent. But, I noticed that the frame-rate limiter (both in-game and in the NVIDIA control panel) has zero affect. Is this beheviour expected?

Dogelol
Member
Dogelol

I used the Gsync on – Vsync on (in NVCP) and frame rate cap to 160 (165hz max) from RTSS however I experience varying degrees of flickering in menus mostly but in some games too.

From what I know there is no way to fix the flickering as it is something normal for VA/OLED’s.

My question is if I can not detect tearing (most likely there is some but either high fps/oled smoothness or simply my eyes not detecting it)

I am thinking about playing with Gsync off and no vsync on and just an fps cap. Would that impact my experience?

Ideally I would like to keep gsync on due to the smoothness I feel with it however the flickering is a deal breaker for me.

What is the best combination if I do not wish to use Gsync, should I keep vsync and fps cap, or only the fps cap?

Thank you!

august
Member
august

best settings for eafc 24?

rec0veryyy
Member
rec0veryyy

hi, i have been playing cs2 for several weeks, my monitor is 1440p 144hz with gsync compatible, in the nvcp i have gsync on + vsync on, i also limit the fps to 141 inside the nvcp, then inside the game vsync off and the nvidia reflex off, i get 138fps as expected and everything works fine, but i have a question, should i play like this or disable the vsync in the nvcp for cs2 to go to 200 or 300fps? because as I understand the more fps the less frametime in ms, now I would have about 7.2ms but if I unlimit it and I go to 250fps I would have 4ms, is this really so and would it make any difference?

HarmVJ
Member
HarmVJ

So windows 10 has something called VRR in the graphics setting. Should it be used in tandem with G-Sync + NVCP Vsync. Some sources and review just say to turn it on along with g-sync.

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