G-SYNC 101: External FPS Limiter HOWTO


In-game vs. External Framerate Limiters*

*As of Nvidia driver version 441.87, Nvidia has made an official framerate limiting method available in the NVCP; labeled “Max Frame Rate,” it is a CPU-level FPS limiter, and as such, is comparable to the RTSS framerate limiter in both frametime performance and added delay. The “Nvidia Inspector: 2> Frame Delay” setup detailed further below is legacy, and does not apply to the “Max Frame Rate” limiter, the setup of which is also now detailed below it.

As described in G-SYNC 101: In-game vs. External FPS Limiters, In-game framerate limiters, being at the game’s engine-level, are almost always free of additional latency, as they can regulate frames at the source. External framerate limiters, on the other hand, must intercept frames further down the rendering chain, which can result in delayed frame delivery and additional input lag; how much depends on the limiter and its implementation.

In-game framerate limiters, however, aren’t available in every game, and while they aren’t required for games where the framerate can’t meet or exceed the maximum refresh rate, if the system can sustain the framerate above the refresh rate, and a said option isn’t present, an external framerate limiter must be used with G-SYNC to prevent V-SYNC-level input lag instead.

RTSS is a CPU-level FPS limiter, and introduces up to 1 frame of delay, whereas Nvidia Inspector uses a driver-level FPS limiter, which introduces 2 or more frames of delay. See G-SYNC 101: In-game vs. External FPS Limiters for complete details, along with input latency tests comparing the two external solutions against an in-game limiter.

RivaTuner Statistic Server: <1 Frame Delay

RTSS is available standalone here, or bundled with MSI Afterburner here.

If only a framerate limiter is required, the standalone download will suffice. MSI Afterburner itself is an excellent overclocking tool that can be used in conjunction with RTSS to inject an in-game overlay with multiple customizable performance readouts.

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: External FPS Limiter HOWTO

RTSS can limit the framerate either globally or per profile. To add a profile, click the “Add” button in the lower left corner of the RTSS windows and navigate to the exe. To set a frame limit, click the “Framerate limit” box and input a number.

Nvidia Inspector: 2> Frame Delay

An unofficial extension of the official Nvidia Control Panel, Nvidia Inspector (download here) exposes many useful options the official control panel does not, including a driver-level framerate limiter.

Nvidia Inspector can limit the framerate either globally or per profile (more details on profile creation can be found here).

To set a frame limit, locate the “Frame Rate Limiter” dropdown in the “2 – Sync and Refresh” section, select the desired limit, and then click the “Apply Changes” button in the upper right corner of the Nvidia Inspector window.

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: External FPS Limiter HOWTO

As of Nvidia Profile Inspector version 2.1.3.6 and Nvidia driver branch R381 or later, a new “Frame Rate Limiter Mode” dropdown has been introduced with a “Limiter V2 – Force Off” option:

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: External FPS Limiter HOWTO

This option claims to reduce the limiter’s input lag; exactly by how much, and with what combination of settings, remains to be determined.

NVIDIA Control Panel: <1 Frame Delay

As of Nvidia driver version 441.87, Nvidia has made an official framerate limiting method available in the NVIDIA Control panel labeled “Max Frame Rate.”

To set a framerate limit, navigate to the “Manage 3D settings” section in the NVCP, locate the “Max Frame Rate,” entry, select “On,” set the desired limit, select “OK,” and finally select the “Apply” button after it appears in the lower right corner of the NVCP window.



3005 Comments For “G-SYNC 101”

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dandyjr
Member
dandyjr

Hey Jorimt, I have a question regarding the issue of avoiding the G-Sync ceiling. I recently purchased a 280Hz Freesync monitor (it’s not official G-Sync Compatible but after testing in multiple games, it seems to mirror my 144Hz officially G-Sync Compatible monitor in accuracy) and I’ve noticed an issue that has happened on previous monitors I’ve owned as well. This monitor doesn’t have an OSD that I can have toggled on at all times so I had to manually open the menu to check each time but I’ve noticed that there are multiple moments where the refresh rate will read as 280Hz instead of whatever framerate the game is reading as at the time. For example, I tried with in-game and external limiters, I can cap the frames at 240fps and the game will read as 240fps but when I open the menu of the monitor, it reads as 280Hz for that moment (causing me to believe that G-Sync has disabled in that moment and Vsync has toggled on). Then I’ll close the menu and reopen it and then the refresh rate will read as some variation under the 280Hz ceiling. That lets me know that G-Sync does engage, but there are moments where it’s not engaging even when it should. I tested this in multiple games with multiple forms of framerate caps and noticed the same trend. The closer I capped to 280Hz, the more times I would see 280Hz in the monitor. The only way to stop it from happening was to cap the framerate far below the ceiling. Capping at 277fps, for example, in RTSS caused the 280Hz readout to never change at all (which would indicate that G-Sync was not engaging) which caused me a lot of frustration. I would think that it’s possibly due to the monitor not being offically G-Sync Compatible but the same issue would happen with my 144Hz monitor as well (with lower framerates of course because the ceiling is lower) and that monitor had an OSD that I could leave toggled on. I would see the numbers rapidly change and by watching very closely, you could see the 144Hz flash multiple times within the mixture. Am I overthinking this or are the monitors actually reading correctly and G-Sync is disengaging and re-engaging constantly even with framerate caps below the ceiling? It’s sad to think that the 280Hz ceiling is useless because framerates need to be capped far below the ceiling even with external limiters that appear to be perfect in execution.

TkoSeven
Member
TkoSeven

Thanks for the wonderful article.

2 questions!

Adjust desktop size and position section,
“Perform scaling on: Display or GPU” (also override the scaling mode set by games and programs)
does it matter in terms of how g-sync monitor
interacts with GPU?

2nd question on “Max frame rate” on Nvidia settings,
if a game was designed to be locked at 60fps, like Tekken 8,
Nvidia panel set to 58 fps, does it work by limiting frame data transferred to display even though
the logic of the game (application) actually went through generating data for 60 frames?
or
does it actually limit the game to only generate 58 frames?

thank you in advance.

eeayree
Member
eeayree

Hi jorimt. I myself am from another country and therefore I hope that the translator will do his job correctly. Now I’m playing Metro 2033 and this game can produce from 80 to 120 fps on my system and at the same time the GPU is not working at full capacity. It works within 85 percent. Your tuning guide states that it is best to enable low latency mode in cases where the frame rate does not always reach or exceed the refresh rate. Am I doing the right thing if I leave low latency mode on if the video card is not loading at 99%? And at what percentage values ​​does the delay appear exclusively at 99%? On 95, 96, 97 will everything work with minimal delays?

SovonHalder
Member
SovonHalder

HI jorimt, I can’t thank you enough for writing this article. I read pages 1 through 15 multiple times to understand as much as I cound and i’t’s incredibly useful for folks like me who are new to PC gaming. Just wanted to acknowledge that adn say many thanks brother.

So I set up things for my 144hz 32GR93U exactly as you described: In nvcp Gsync+Vsync+Low latency ultra and the in game Vsync, double or triple buffering off and fullscreen on. I have 2 questions basically.

1. In most games I’ve tried so far like alan wake 2, god of war, stray the fps is capped automatically to 138 as it should but in red dead online (vulkan) it maxes out at 144. I use rtss to set it custom 138 but the question remains. Why doesn’t it happen automatically?

2. The new nvidia app reports an Average PC Latency in their overlay. For me above 60ms with mouse and controller feels sluggish whereas when it’s below 30ms the game feels much more responsive. I want to implement that on my RTSS stat overlay. (I find rtss overlay more robust and feature rich and I can see frametime grap and nvidia overlay is finicky and slow.) Could you share some insight as to how they are calculating that number?

Ezi
Member
Ezi

I have a question, so i did the settings you suggested and my gpu usage went from 99% usage to hovering around 70-88ish. Is this normal? Cause if i were to default everything back, the usage would go back to 99%

these are the settings i have in NCP:
– vsync on in NCP, off ingame
– set fps limiter -3
– gsync enabled – full screen
– LLM set to ultra since ingame doesnt have a limiter

my pc spec is:
– 4080 super FE
– 7800x3D
– M32U 4k 144hz monitor

wpDiscuz