My 144hz Monitor doesn't output 144hz in Steam games but only outputs 144hz in the Home Screen and Minecraft only?

[PCMasterRace4816]

I have an ASUS VG248QE 144hz monitor. In the Windows 10 home screen and in Minecraft, the monitor outputs 144hz (I know this because in the monitor menu it shows how many hz it is set at.) But when I play Steam games and check the monitor menu, it says its only at 60hz. Is this a Steam thing because I get the 144hz on the desktop and in Minecraft, but when I play Steam games its only at 60hz. Is there something I could do to make Steam games run at 144hz or am I missing something?

My system Specs: (Just in case)
Case: Corsair 350d
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus VII Gene
GPU: GTX 980 TI (Reference)
CPU: i7 4790K 4.0 GHz
Liquid Cooling: Cosair Hydro H80i
Ram: 16gb of Cosair Dominator Platinum 2133 MHz
Hard Drive(s): Seagate 2TB
Os: Windows 8.1

 

[bignastyid]

In many games you set the refresh rate in the game and most default to 60.

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

In many games you set the refresh rate in the game and most default to 60.

So does that mean there is a way to set the refresh rate to 144hz in Steam games? If there is, how?

 

[bignastyid]

The setting will be in the games graphic options.

 

[photonboy]

1) Monitor SHOULD still be at 144Hz so that's confusing.

2) VSYNC is probably not the issue since that should synch to the monitor refresh which in this case is 144Hz (144FPS) or else the number would keep changing if monitoring using FRAPS (GPU output not monitor refresh rate which is still 144Hz).

3) Why 60Hz then?
Apparently it's a STEAM issue, but I see no settings in Steam for this.

4) Game setting then?
Again, that would be VSYNC ON or OFF which would be based on 144Hz.

5) Then what?
I'm Googling...

*Please use FRAPS, start a few games with VSYNC OFF and confirm what the MAXIMUM frame rates you can get are. Temporarily drop settings to LOW.

Use an in-game benchmark if you want (Steam game) but basically tell us if FRAPS (or the Steam in-game FPS tool) reports above 60FPS.

 

[iamacow]

I believe you need a display port for the 144hz

 

[photonboy]

Update:
My above post is a bit confusing but basically there are TWO different things to compare:

1) Monitor refresh rate (should be 144Hz), and

2) GPU output rate (variable unless locked using VSYNC or capping tool)

*It does NOT matter what the monitor refresh rate actually is when VSYNC is off as FRAPS will simply report what the GPU is outputting. This proves nothing.

If games are hitting a 60FPS ceiling when VSYNC is ON that does indicate that 60Hz refresh rate is now forced on. I'm still trying to figure out why if true.

So to confirm:
1) Start a Steam game
2) Turn VSYNC OFF
3) Use FRAPS or other tool
4) Drop resolution and settings to LOWEST to get above 144FPS (if not possible choose a different Steam game)

*Once you confirm above 144FPS reported then try these two things in order:
1) VSYNC ON in game, then
2) Adaptive VSYNC forced in with NVidia Control Panel

If you're synching to max 60FPS then yes Steam seems to be forcing a 60Hz mode but I don't see how yet.

 

[photonboy]

I believe you need a display port for the 144hz

He's getting 144Hz mode on the desktop and in Minecraft so connectivity is not the issue.

 

[bignastyid]

Iamacow with that monitor a dual link dvi cable also works for 144hz.

 

[photonboy]

I'm stuck, and most of what I said you can ignore above. But perhaps confirm:

1. Which games have you tried?

2. When VSYNC is ON what is the MAXIMUM stable frame rate? (60FPS?)

3. You can also try forcing "Half Adaptive VSYNC" started from NCP-> Manage 3D settings-> Add game..." That forces a synch to 72FPS for 144Hz mode but should force to 30FPS if 60Hz mode is on).

(When VSYNC is ON you should avoid gaming below the target. What happens if you can't output 144FPS or higher from the GPU is that you hit or miss the target so end up with FRAME TIMES that are multiples of 1/144th of a second so in a single second this combination of different frame times is AVERAGED to say 100FPS but what you get is a stutter effect. That's why Adaptive exists.

Back to this conversation, if your game stabilizes for a long time at 72FPS then again 144Hz mode is on. This Half Adaptive VSYNC method is ideal for many game scenarios. If screen tearing is annoying but you can't output 144FPS at least 90% of the time for example).

4. Where is it reporting 60Hz mode is enabled exactly?

Anyway, I can't find any answer to this issue or anybody with the same problem aside from some games being capped. However, most games I believe are uncapped so finding at least one over 60FPS should be easy.

Other:
I got an error trying to open the online manual for your monitor but it sounds like you have a number of FEATURES for the monitor some related to blur (any for smoothing?) I'm not sure if any of these can cause problems. Probably not at least for this issue.

 

[bignastyid]

I have that monitor and have never had a problem getting my games(most are on steam) to run at 144hz. On some of those games I do have to set it to 144hz in the games options menu but that's not something specific to steam. I have done it using the dual link dvi cable it came with and more recently a displayport cable.

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

1) Monitor SHOULD still be at 144Hz so that's confusing.

2) VSYNC is probably not the issue since that should synch to the monitor refresh which in this case is 144Hz (144FPS) or else the number would keep changing if monitoring using FRAPS (GPU output not monitor refresh rate which is still 144Hz).

3) Why 60Hz then?
Apparently it's a STEAM issue, but I see no settings in Steam for this.

4) Game setting then?
Again, that would be VSYNC ON or OFF which would be based on 144Hz.

5) Then what?
I'm Googling...

*Please use FRAPS, start a few games with VSYNC OFF and confirm what the MAXIMUM frame rates you can get are. Temporarily drop settings to LOW.

Use an in-game benchmark if you want (Steam game) but basically tell us if FRAPS (or the Steam in-game FPS tool) reports above 60FPS.

Yeah, vsync is not on

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

I have that monitor and have never had a problem getting my games(most are on steam) to run at 144hz. On some of those games I do have to set it to 144hz in the games options menu but that's not something specific to steam. I have done it using the dual link dvi cable it came with and more recently a displayport cable.

Yeah I am using the Dual link DVI bable it came with so I dont know why 144hz isn't working for steam games

 

[bignastyid]

What game(s) are they?

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

What game(s) are they?

The games are Payday 2, Dayz Standalone, and a few other games. It isnt all my steam games but its some of them

 

[bignastyid]

Well payday is locked at 60hz refresh rate with a 60 fps cap by default and you have to modify a game file to increase this. Same with Dayz
http://steamcommunity.com/app/221100/discussions/0/558747287787056297/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/218620/discussions/14/618457398970892290/

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

Thanks, i will try this tomorrow!

 

[PCMasterRace4816]

Wow! All I had to do was go to the game files and backspace the "=60 next to refresh rate to 144. Thanks guys, the games look amazing now!

 

[Mr0Magicman]

Preface: using nvidea graphics card
Hey if there is anybody who couldn't get their monitor to run 144hz on any games like mine did, make sure that you have updated your geforce experience client, in my case I had to uninstall everything nvidea and redownload to get the optimize games feature back, not that I used it. This may have been a fluke on my part, but as few solutions as there are for when the 60fps lock gets stubborn, I'd thought I'd add what made it work for me.