Dual 144hz/60hz monitors locked at 60hz watching video while gaming

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MagmaticWolf

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Sep 3, 2015
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*******FOR SOME REASON I AM GETTING FEW RESPONSES ON THE NVIDIA FORUM ABOUT THIS AND THE FEW I DID GET WERE FROM A GUY WHO WANTED TO BE AN ASSHOLE FOR NO REASON. THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE THIS A TRY HERE**** Sorry for Caps and also sorry if this thread is not in the proper place, I didn't really know what to label this.

Anyways!....


27in 1440p 144hz G-sync Monitor & 27in 1080p 60hz monitor
MSI 980ti
Windows 10 Post Creators Update

I have seen this issue before in a few other places and even on this forums but I will explain this in my own words anyway.

If I am playing a game on my main screen at 144hz and I watch a video at the same time on my second monitor (60hz) This will lock my game to 60hz and cause FPS drops on top of that.

This is triggered by every form of video I have tried. Using Netflix,Youtube,Twitch (Chrome and Firefox), Videos played on WMP and VLC, and even just GIFS being on the screen.

This all started after I updated to the newest drivers (August 24th release I believe)

Here are a couple threads with the same or similar issues:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4i4399/dual_monitor_144hz_60hz_framerate_lock_is_a_bug/#bottom-comments


https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1010105/geforce-drivers/fps-drops-and-stutter-with-external-g-sync-monitors-like-asus-swift-pg248q-different-refresh-rates-fix/


^^^^^This one I actually posted on and found a temporary fix^^^^^

That fix was to roll my drivers back to 378.92. That fixed it for me 100% but the problem now is I now have performance problems in some games and in certain games like Battlefield 1 they actually force you to update your drivers now or you can't play.

The only other common fix I have seen is to set my main monitor to 120hz instead of 144hz. That did nothing for me. Oh that and some more ridiculous ones like "Oh bro just buy another 144hz monitor and it's fixed"

My conclusion so far has been that this is a driver issue and doesn't seem to be fixable other than what I did already or until Nvidia puts a fix for it in a new driver. Also seems to be more common on the 900 series just based on my own research.

If anyone could confirm my suspicions or offer any insight on another possible fix it would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. Sorry for the rambling unorganized mess of a post.

 
Solution
B
I do understand the set up you are thinking of. I just don't think that is a common way to use your PC. A few years ago, I used to home sales (selling roofs). I went into multiple homes a day. I saw peoples workstations a lot and it was extremely rare to see more than 1 monitor hooked up to one PC, and those were almost always for work purposes. It is true that there are a few out there that do it like you do, but most would rather use a full sized TV to watch movies/Netflix. I personally don't like to use it, because it's distracting from my gaming. I'd rather watch a movie, or play a game, not both.

Anyway, it's not that important. I do think a much cheaper way to solve your issue, may be with a $50 GPU, rather than a $300...
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Actually borderless window is what isn't working. If I run games in fullscreen the problem goes away completely. I do a lot of video watching and tabbing in and out while gaming so playing in fullscreen is not going to work for me. Im sure most people that use 2 monitors understand that pain.
 
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Someone had given me this response on the geforce forums:



the desktop window manager will attempt to vsync the video content being played on the 60hz screen and not be able to meet a divisible interval of the primary display when it is operated at 144hz, where as at 120hz both screens will work without issue.

Windows 7 has the benefit of being able to disable dwm, at the expense of tearing.
Windows 8 and 10 do not have this luxury.

it is not a driver issue, it cannot be rectified by a driver.




Now to most people that might sound like a reasonable response and cause for this issue but to me this makes no sense.

My problem 100% started from updating my video card driver and is fixed immediately by rolling back to the older driver. Now am I insane or is this not an nvidia issue 100%?


Either way I have still not found a fix for this. Im at the point of contacting Nvidia directly to see what they have to say about it.
 
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Anyways, I'm sure something changed in the drivers, but this is one of those things which may never be fixed, as you are such a tiny minuscule percentage of the user base, that not enough noise will be made to warrant a response. In the past, these types of issues can take years before they are fixed, by accident, but sometimes they do get fixed. It's just unlikely.

Other possible work arounds might include putting in an old, low powered 2nd GPU and attach your 60hz monitor to it. It might be more likely to work with an AMD low end GPU, so each card has its own driver. (yes, you can run both brands at the same time, you just can't enable GPU accelerated physX with AMD as the primary renderer).
 
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My only option seems to be to deal with it as is.

I refuse to spend money to fix something that is clearly a driver issue. so far those options have been get a second gpu to run the monitor on or buying a second 144hz monitor. Little ridiculous I must say.

AMD is starting to look better and better...

Anyways thanks for trying to help guys.
 
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From my experience, AMD has always had similar types of issues. I'm not sure this particular one would exist or not, but when doing things that are not main stream, bugs tend to exist a lot more.

You don't necessarily have to buy a 2nd GPU. Most people have had PC's from the past. Use an old GPU you no longer need.
 
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Idk I think my setup is super mainstream now a days. Lots of gamers have a higher quality 144hz gaming monitor and a secondary monitor usually a more common 1080p 60hz one. That's just my opinion from what Ive noticed though.

Yeah I think I have my old 680 around here somewhere so I guess Ill throw it in and try it. How does that work having 2 different cards in? Would my 680 work fine with my 980ti drivers?

 
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The problem is only when he's running a video on the 60hz screen at the same time he's gaming on the 144hz screen.

A lot of people have lower hz 2ndary monitors, but not many are watching videos as they game.
 
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Tons of people have videos playing while they game and if its not video is just playing youtube in the background Very common for gaming today.

Thats irreverent anyway because its not just watching videos that is the problem. Any form of moving image causes this. If it was just videos that causes the issue I could find a work around or a new way to watch crap while I gamed but it's not.

Idk if you're familiar with the game Path of Exile but looking at the skill trees on their website cause this issue too.

https://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAABAIBAFb6W6_dRhR1jbmE2b3mFyZlTY1973oRL2wIk5DTb04qN9QRgY2B459d8gBe32-Nv2yMFf3vj3gZePnQrQUtshkmlUMxKgvBoH7dBbVkr702QdBDE5oXidMABloa51TrY4GsPs9NkmKs7g6MNjy-UUfWB4o4dO0j9sLsRfTxisM6vqfawWNwDPJHfoTFYnnPeggum7Vh4p2qZ6CHdu0_eoSpeS5TIuqbJhHVm43kau2Dpcszkn8rNj0qODIBYEFwUisKb1cV9jB86NbY1dN-TP9VSxmOV5ck_ed0koBfcNvntMXDM__eg21jp_1uyMwWvw2NSn38xQ==

My point being its not just videos there are lots of causes and it shouldnt be happening
 
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Multi-monitors are becoming less common?? Lmao I haven't laughed like that in a while. You must live under a rock.

Anyways you are welcome to your opinion.

I like how this became super off topic and in the mean time not a single helpful thing has been added in days.

Forums don't seem to be a place to get any real help now a a days. Oh well...I went straight to Nvidia for help anyway so I will see how that turns out.
 
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What I attempted to open your eyes to, is the likelihood you'll get help from Nvidia on this situation, so you'll look at a solution that doesn't involve waiting forever. And just because you, and a few of your RPG friends use multiple monitors, it seems most people have moved away from it. How many people talk about their eyefinity/surround setups these days? Not many, but it used to be constantly talked about on these forums and they were considered pretty unconventional then. Now, most those same people get a single large 4K monitor instead. Or an ultra wide screen. Those who like to multitask, often use a tablet instead of a 2nd monitor.

I'm not saying 2nd monitors aren't used, just that they aren't all that common place. I have one, and have always had little bugs to deal with from AMD, and some from Nvidia too. They've always told us how uncommon these setups are. These long standing nagging bugs they've always seemed to have, should show how much they care about us.

It's easy for us to assume that because we use 2 monitors, that they are mainstream, but they are rather far from mainstream. They are uncommon at best. High Hz, gaming monitors paired with low Hz, video watching monitor is what I'm saying is ultra rare.
 
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I think you confused what type of set up I was referring to. Im talking about just having 2 monitors plugged in. You game on one and you can have netflix, youtube or your game information, whatever the hell you want etc. I wasn't referring to the whole stretching games across your 2-3 monitor set ups. Either way we can agree to disagree.

Anyways....

I have already contacted nvidia about my issue and have been going back and forth with them for 2 days now.

At this point I don't think its solvable unless they figure out the driver issue on their end OR I do one of the more ridiculous fixes and buy myself another 144hz monitor to go with main one. This problem is quite annoying so I may actually give that some thought here lol.

 
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I do understand the set up you are thinking of. I just don't think that is a common way to use your PC. A few years ago, I used to home sales (selling roofs). I went into multiple homes a day. I saw peoples workstations a lot and it was extremely rare to see more than 1 monitor hooked up to one PC, and those were almost always for work purposes. It is true that there are a few out there that do it like you do, but most would rather use a full sized TV to watch movies/Netflix. I personally don't like to use it, because it's distracting from my gaming. I'd rather watch a movie, or play a game, not both.

Anyway, it's not that important. I do think a much cheaper way to solve your issue, may be with a $50 GPU, rather than a $300 display.
 
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Solution
Two possibilities. Your watching other stuff is using up a lot of power and thus your game lags. (not that much so that your game will be on 60fps)
Second, make sure your gsync 144Hz monitor is set as primary and have gsync turned on for fullscreen and windowed. But for me, 2 monitors at 60Hz one without gsync, it kinda stutters while gaming, since the first one is locked to the frames of the GPU. Now since I don't have a 144Hz to test this, it might be that your gsync also applies to the other monitor, in which case you should just disable it while gaming. Since the GPU will try to make your refresh rate equal to what you are watching or the game, both cases, one monitor will suffer.
I actually wrote Firefox a message about this but I haven't got an answer yet.

As I now saw your other message, buying another monitor won't solve the issue. gsync is really annoying apparently. Until browsers fix this, since normally this should work okay with windowed/fullscreen gsync enabled. For me twitch stutters with gsync on even when I'm not doing anything else.
 
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This probably won't help the G-sync issue, but the stuttering might be helped by disabling GPU acceleration in the Firefox settings.
 
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