Games Lag Only When They Have Focus

[Kai__M]

Hello,

I have a triple-monitor setup and recently decided to try using it for gaming. I already use this PC for gaming but had only run games on a single monitor.

So I tried a couple games on triple-monitor using Nvidia's Surround feature in the Nvidia Control Panel, and both games ran near flawlessly. Later that day I decided to show a family member so I started a couple different titles and both of them lagged terribly (get almost exactly 5 FPS). I thought that those titles must have been too unoptimized or demanding so I tried one of the games that I knew already worked but that too was now running at 5 FPS.

Upon looking into it further myself I discovered that if the game doesn't have focus (for example, I launch a Windows Explorer window in front of it) the game runs smoothly behind it. As soon as I click within the game to refocus it, the frame-rate drops back to 5 FPS.

I am a technical person and not new to troubleshooting issues with software and hardware, but I'm frankly quite stumped by this. To make things more confusing I did find a game that doesn't lag on triple-monitor: Minecraft. I haven't the slightest clue as to why Minecraft would not lag, yet everything else would. Even simple 2D game menus lag in triple-monitor as long as the game has focus.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I'm quite stumped to say the least.

Here are my specs:
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core Processor @ 3.50 GHz
GPU: EVGA GTX 950 SC 2GB
RAM: 12GB DDR III
OS: Windows 10 Pro

EDIT: See https://youtu.be/JzUT2Ec9NYw for example of switching a game between focused and unfocused

 

[AppleGwava]

Maybe something to do with the settings,try something allong the lines of truefull screen and fullscreen

Also,post your full system specs

 

[Kai__M]

Maybe something to do with the settings,try something allong the lines of truefull screen and fullscreen

Also,post your full system specs

I've added my specs, and one more important detail: that I'm using Nvidia's Surround feature to enable multi-monitor gameplay, which doesn't give me a very wide variety of settings to adjust. Should there be a setting for "truefull" and "fullscreen" there, or are you referring to running games in a border-less window vs. in actual fullscreen?

 

[Jim90]

Just for interest, if you're using a triple monitor setup with a 2GB GTX 950, what two games did you play that initially ran 'near flawlessly'?

- and at 1080p x 3 resolution?

 

[Kai__M]

Just for interest, if you're using a triple monitor setup with a 2GB GTX 950, what two games did you play that initially ran 'near flawlessly'?

- and at 1080p x 3 resolution?

Need For Speed: Most Wanted (2012) at max settings (except super-sampling disabled)
and Minecraft maxed out

 

[Jim90]

The reason I asked about the games is that gaming at 5760x1080p (or higher) I thought would have required a crazy priced gfx card or two to get playable framerates, unless of course the game eye candy is reduced. On the other hand, I don't game in multi monitor and so can't really comment on how NVIDIA helps ease things with it's surround method.

You've probably already checked out a bunch of on line tutorials on setting up the 3 displays for the NVIDIA card, however it would be good to have a quick look back over these. It may be that there's a particular recommended way to hook things up etc NVIDIA and/or others mentions.

For a couple of quick searches try:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/multi-monitor-gaming-eyefinity-surround,review-33084.html
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/280207-triple-monitor-usefulness-a-small-nvidia-surround-reviewopinions/

 

[Kai__M]

The reason I asked about the games is that gaming at 5760x1080p (or higher) I thought would have required a crazy priced gfx card or two to get playable framerates, unless of course the game eye candy is reduced. On the other hand, I don't game in multi monitor and so can't really comment on how NVIDIA helps ease things with it's surround method.

You've probably already checked out a bunch of on line tutorials on setting up the 3 displays for the NVIDIA card, however it would be good to have a quick look back over these. It may be that there's a particular recommended way to hook things up etc NVIDIA and/or others mentions.

For a couple of quick searches try:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/multi-monitor-gaming-eyefinity-surround,review-33084.html
https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/280207-triple-monitor-usefulness-a-small-nvidia-surround-reviewopinions/

Thanks! I'll take a look at those.

Yes, actually, I didn't expect much when trying to run any game in triple-monitor, so I was quite pleasantly surprised when those two games worked well. All that I can determine so far is that it's not actually a performance issue as games only lag when in focus, if I leave a game running and bring another window in front the game plays smoothly in the background.

I took a quick video (only showing center monitor) of Star Wars Battlefront (this game is pretty demanding so I set it to low quality). In the video I alternate between focused and unfocused and you can see the huge difference. https://youtu.be/JzUT2Ec9NYw

Something else odd is that when the games are lagging they all lag at 5FPS. I had another game running @ high and got 5 FPS, so I turned it to low and it still gets 5 FPS.

Also tried Rocket League just now. Same story. Laggy when focused smooth when unfocused.

 

[Kai__M]

Anyone? Hardware mystery of 2017? 🙁

 

[aquielisunari]

Anyone? Hardware mystery of 2017? 🙁

This sounds as if background programs have been given priority.

 

[Kai__M]

Anyone? Hardware mystery of 2017? 🙁

This sounds as if background programs have been given priority.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Unfortunately it looks like mine is already set to "Programs" rather than "Background Services", so I guess it wasn't causing the issue. Thanks anyway though!

 

[aquielisunari]

Anyone? Hardware mystery of 2017? 🙁

This sounds as if background programs have been given priority.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Unfortunately it looks like mine is already set to "Programs" rather than "Background Services", so I guess it wasn't causing the issue. Thanks anyway though!

Please explain in greater detail what you mean by behind it. Yes, that seems self-explanatory. How do you know the game is running smoothly Behind it is what I am wondering. I can't see MSI Afterburner's OSD behind Windows Explorer Windows. I can't judge FPS by sound. The only way I can open Win E is by Alt Tabbing and opening it. That means you are gaming in Windowed mode which you haven't said. Even if you are what program or program setting makes the focused window transparent enough to see the game behind it? Pretty sure I know, but what I think you are doing doesn't match the description.


When you go to Processor power management and change both the min and max Processor State to 100% does that change anything?

What is the Priority and Affinity for the games set to?

This sounds like a Windows Settings issue. I would see about going to an official M$ forum. Would they know more than those here at Tom's? Probably less but you never know.