Changing refresh rate for seamless alt-tabbing

[robotica34]

Hello Tom's Hardware forum,

I've recently been trying very hard to solve slow alt-tabbing in and out of games (in fullscreen, without the "borderless" setting). After a long search, I found out that matching the game's refresh rate with my monitor's was the solution, and most of my games were at 59 Hz. However, the alt-tabbing sped up only OUT of a game, not back into it, and I noticed that 50 Hz (same frequency as my outlet) helped it out A LOT.

1. How come an LCD display have issues with refresh rate, even though it was CRTs which were more vulnerable to mismatched refresh rates with the outlet?
2. Is it at all possible to have a hasty alt-tab with fullscreen games in spite of changing the refresh rate of the monitor?

If it helps, here are my specs:

Monitor: BenQ GL2460
CPU: Intel i5-7600 @ 3.5 GHz (up to 4.1 GHz)
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti BOOST
RAM: 2x8 GB DDR4
Storage: 250 GB SSD & 1 TB HDD (although that's not the bottleneck here, is it?)
PSU: Corsair RM550x 550W 80+ Gold (it's an incredible one)
Motherboard: ASRock H170/Pro4 Hyper

I'll look forward to your answers.

 

[gaborbarla]

This is a strange question. The LCD displays do not have issue with refresh rates as far as I know. I have for example 2 displays. An old 19" Benq 1280x768 that goes up to 75Hz, and a newer ACER 27" that goes to 144Hz.

Both monitors have multiple settings, E.g. 60Hz 75Hz and many more. If you graphics card can properly handle those Hz, you should not have any issues. It also depends on the game as the game must properly detect the Hz that your are currently running. I can basically set my monitors to any setting and any Hertz and still alt tab without issues. (while using full screen).
Most games default to native resolution of my monitor which is also my desktop resolution (1440p)

To summarize, the wall outlet Hz has nothing to do with resolving your issue. The main reason why things work better at 50Hz is probably because something else is struggling to match the higher Hz when you alt tab.
I never have any issues or very very seldom crash when using alt tab in and out of games at 144Hz on my main monitor (and desktop) and 60Hz on my secondary monitor. Even if the game I run is older and does not support 144Hz it wont crash.
What do you experience when Alt tabbing? Do you crash? Black screen?


"1. How come an LCD display have issues with refresh rate, even though it was CRTs which were more vulnerable to mismatched refresh rates with the outlet?"
This should not be the case. Perhaps your monitor is not detected correctly by windows. The outlet does not affect alt tabbing from what I know about this issue.

"2. Is it at all possible to have a hasty alt-tab with fullscreen games in spite of changing the refresh rate of the monitor?"
Absolutely, I alt tab all the time in various games and it is not an issue. CS GO has a longish pause when alt tabbing but it is the only game that I have an issue with and even that continues after a couple of seconds of pause.

 

[robotica34]

Thank you for your answer.

See, the problem I'm having is that my games (apart from GTA V) don't let me choose 60 Hz as the refresh rate in full-screen. I never thought it was a problem so I went on with my life and having alt-tab make a 5 second long black screen. However, I once heard from my friend (who's using a laptop and he's no computer expert) that he has no delay in alt-tabbing any game, even when completely full screen. I then started looking for a solution to this problem, finally finding that the game's refresh rate must match the monitor's refresh rate for alt-tab to work seamlessly. 59 Hz was the highest available option between my games and my monitor, and though it worked for some games, GTA V outright stopped working and other games still had the black screen after alt-tab when coming back from desktop.

So I tried 50 Hz (ignoring the GTA V problem for now), and my alt-tab became completely seamless! Funnily enough, that's also the alternating rate of my outlet, to which I made a correlation, but it may not have been the cause. Nevertheless, I don't want my monitor capped at 50 Hz, because that extra 10 Hz does make a substantial difference.

I believe that my computer (which I built three months ago) is capable of alt-tabbing without problem. I can watch YouTube up to 8K 24 fps with almost no dropped frames (which is a CPU intensive load), and the GPU is plentiful for the games I play (even GTA). I use an HDMI connection with no adapters, and I'm sure it's not the bottleneck here. But I cannot stand having a pause in alt-tab in an intense battle when the only thing I need to check is a Skype message that reads "k".

Also, it breaks the immersion.

If I'm at all unclear, please let me know.

 

[DRagor]

It sounds like your monitor has slow reaction to resolution switching. What is your resolution/refresh rate set in Windows? 50 Hz?

 

[robotica34]

I play all my games at native resolution, if I can, and they still cause my mentioned problems. The native refresh rate of the monitor is 60 Hz, which I had been running it at for the entire time I owned it. I had tried setting it to 50 Hz to check if it solves the alt-tab problem (which it does and other solutions do not work), but I don't want my monitor to be capped out at 50 Hz. I want it to run at 60 Hz and that games would be able to recognize 60 Hz as a refresh rate option.

 

[robotica34]

This is a strange question. The LCD displays do not have issue with refresh rates as far as I know. I have for example 2 displays. An old 19" Benq 1280x768 that goes up to 75Hz, and a newer ACER 27" that goes to 144Hz.

Both monitors have multiple settings, E.g. 60Hz 75Hz and many more. If you graphics card can properly handle those Hz, you should not have any issues. It also depends on the game as the game must properly detect the Hz that your are currently running. I can basically set my monitors to any setting and any Hertz and still alt tab without issues. (while using full screen).
Most games default to native resolution of my monitor which is also my desktop resolution (1440p)

To summarize, the wall outlet Hz has nothing to do with resolving your issue. The main reason why things work better at 50Hz is probably because something else is struggling to match the higher Hz when you alt tab.
I never have any issues or very very seldom crash when using alt tab in and out of games at 144Hz on my main monitor (and desktop) and 60Hz on my secondary monitor. Even if the game I run is older and does not support 144Hz it wont crash.
What do you experience when Alt tabbing? Do you crash? Black screen?


"1. How come an LCD display have issues with refresh rate, even though it was CRTs which were more vulnerable to mismatched refresh rates with the outlet?"
This should not be the case. Perhaps your monitor is not detected correctly by windows. The outlet does not affect alt tabbing from what I know about this issue.

"2. Is it at all possible to have a hasty alt-tab with fullscreen games in spite of changing the refresh rate of the monitor?"
Absolutely, I alt tab all the time in various games and it is not an issue. CS GO has a longish pause when alt tabbing but it is the only game that I have an issue with and even that continues after a couple of seconds of pause.

It sounds like your monitor has slow reaction to resolution switching. What is your resolution/refresh rate set in Windows? 50 Hz?

I made a video showing how it looks like to alt tab with various refresh rates:
[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzYMaztqJNU"][/video]

 

[DRagor]

When you alt-tab back to game, can you hear game sounds BEFORE screen goes back?

 

[robotica34]

When you alt-tab back to game, can you hear game sounds BEFORE screen goes back?

Yes.

EDIT: Also, I forgot to mention that the original recorded clips did NOT contain the black spots. I edited them out to resemble what I saw on screen. And now that you've asked this question, I realized that it's a lot more to do with my monitor than my PC, if i'm not mistaken?

 

[DRagor]

Definitely monitor fault then. Go to Nvidia control panel, Resolution change option, and what you have listed under Refresh rate? (assuming you have nvidia card)

 

[robotica34]

Definitely monitor fault then. Go to Nvidia control panel, Resolution change option, and what you have listed under Refresh rate? (assuming you have nvidia card)

Here:

By the way, I updated my previous comment before noticing yours, seems like my speculations were correct.

 

[DRagor]

Select here same refresh rate as in game and you should have shortest black screen. So if wanna play GTA at 60 hz, select 60 hz here too.

 

[robotica34]

Select here same refresh rate as in game and you should have shortest black screen. So if wanna play GTA at 60 hz, select 60 hz here too.

Yes, but:
1. I don't want to keep changing my refresh rate every time I start playing another game;
2. 59 Hz for games like World of Tanks still don't quite make it the shortest black screen, I have to drop it down to 50 Hz

Is this caused by a poor quality monitor (and buying a reputable one would fix this) or is this inevitable?
Can games be forced to be set to any refresh rate I want?

EDIT: I just launched GTA V in fullscreen (had been playing in windowed borderless the entire time) and the issue persists, even though the refresh rates match, EXCEPT for both at 50 Hz (which, for some reason, now works). What the hell? This is bugging me a lot more than I'd like.

 

[DRagor]

Whenever you alt-tab, your monitor has to change resolution/refresh rate from that used by game to that used by desktop. It takes some time to change the display to new values. But such times as at your video seem way too long. It may be caused by monitor itself, but also it could be caused by poor quality video cable. Also maybe you have more then one device connected to monitor at the same time?
Your first step should be read the monitor manual and see if it has any settings that could be changed so it would react faster to resolution change. Next step would be trying different video cable (if using hdmi maybe try dvi instead). Last option (and expensive one) is to change monitor.

 

[robotica34]

Whenever you alt-tab, your monitor has to change resolution/refresh rate from that used by game to that used by desktop. It takes some time to change the display to new values. But such times as at your video seem way too long. It may be caused by monitor itself, but also it could be caused by poor quality video cable. Also maybe you have more then one device connected to monitor at the same time?
Your first step should be read the monitor manual and see if it has any settings that could be changed so it would react faster to resolution change. Next step would be trying different video cable (if using hdmi maybe try dvi instead). Last option (and expensive one) is to change monitor.

But I'm changing neither the resolution nor the refresh rate of the output! I play at my native resolution and at the same refresh rate (except the case in a few games where 60 Hz isn't an option, however, 59 Hz isn't also perfect). I used to use a VGA cable I had one from my old monitor (from a DVI-I port with an adapter) and the problem was still there. How can I be sure that even buying a new monitor will fix this?

 

[DRagor]

Do few more tests to find out more about the problem:
- if you have iGPU on your comp, use it with your monitor - would let you see if the effect is not somehow caused by GPU
- grab a TV and connect it to GPU - would let you see if problem is limited to your monitor only
Also, I've made a look at your monitor's specs, and I think you should check if you have Eco mode turned on - and if it's on, try turning it off.

 

[robotica34]

Do few more tests to find out more about the problem:
- if you have iGPU on your comp, use it with your monitor - would let you see if the effect is not somehow caused by GPU
- grab a TV and connect it to GPU - would let you see if problem is limited to your monitor only
Also, I've made a look at your monitor's specs, and I think you should check if you have Eco mode turned on - and if it's on, try turning it off.

I sadly don't have any flat panel LCD screen that I could test my GPU with, and when tested with my iGPU results were the same (except games running hellishly slow). I don't have Eco mode turned on, nor do I have several connections going to my monitor. I have read the entire manual only to find instructions on how the integrated menu works. Do you also experience the same issue? Why are games only letting me select 59 Hz as my maximum refresh rate of the monitor?? (E.g. Hearts of Iron IV, World of Tanks)

 

[DRagor]

Never had any delay longer then 1 sec, mostly it just takes a blink of eye (literally) to switch to desktop.
I've noticed interesting thing on NVCP screen you've posted: connection is listed as HDMI. But looking at monitor specs, I don't see it having HDMI?

 

[robotica34]

Never had any delay longer then 1 sec, mostly it just takes a blink of eye (literally) to switch to desktop.
I've noticed interesting thing on NVCP screen you've posted: connection is listed as HDMI. But looking at monitor specs, I don't see it having HDMI?

The spec sheet is simultaneous for different models of monitors, and mine has an HDMI connection. I doubt that it's due to the connection, maybe the monitor is just terrible? I don't think it's a plain coincidence that it can handle 50 Hz way better than 60 Hz. I wonder how well it performs in the USA.

 

[Muhííí]

Sooo if anybody would wonder about this topic. I had the same problem. I overclocked my monitor to 76hz (from 60hz) and when i played PUBG and alt-tab it went black for 5s +-.
I Solved it - Only for Nvidia users: Go to Nvidia Panel -> Adjust desktop size and position -> Perform scaling on -> Change this setting to -> Display/Monitor -> apply. This solved everything for me and now i have ALT-TAB in less than a second. Hope i will help someone