Question VLC + Gaming

[Kreskova]

Hello Guys,

Specs
CPU: Ryzen 3700x
MOBO: TUF B450-Plus Gaming Rev X.0x
RAM: 2x16/2x8 TUF Team Delta T-Force
GPU: GTX 1080 FTW Hybrid
PSU: BQT P7-PRO 550W
ADATA SX8200PNP - 480gb M.2
KINGSTON SA400S37 - 240G 240GB SSD

Screens
1x 75hz Asus - Primary gaming screen
1x 60hz Benq - Secondary, mostly for movies

I have the following issue.
When watching a movie in full screen on the Seconday Display, any game on the Primary will lag like hell.
I don't even play demanding games, I recently was just playing some Wotlk(private server) and Dota2.

What I noticed is that if I open a file explorer window and place it over the view on the secondary display, the game will work OK.
So basically, every time the Video is in the foreground, the Primary display will lag.
This however is not an issue if I keep the Video as Windowed, as keeping the video windowed will not cause any game to lag.

In this screenshot you can see 69 FPS, but that is only what the GPU is drawing, in reality it feels like 15 FPS

https://imgur.com/ZpyuXOi

View: https://i.imgur.com/ZpyuXOi.jpeg


IF I put ANY window in front of the video, the game on the right screen WILL work OK.

https://imgur.com/vTizRr2

View: https://i.imgur.com/vTizRr2.jpeg


I've tried recording and showing you the output, but the second I turn a recording soft on, the game no longer lags, because its drawing on top of VLC.
I tried messing with VLC's output, and OpenGL seems to do the trick, but then subtitles no longer work, and there are a whole bunch of other issues.

Please help.


EDIT: I noticed that turning off GSync in my PRimary monitor's settings will cancel this issue.
What I don't understand is why this has only became a problem now. I have a fresh isntall of windows 11, and I had no updates recently.

Is there any other solution than turing GSYNC off on the monitor?

 

[Darkbreeze]

The Expanse huh? Nice.

There are probably other methods of resolving this issue, but since I've seen this problem before, how attached are you to VLC? Are you ok with using another media application and getting rid of VLC if it solves the problem?

 

[Kreskova]

The Expanse huh? Nice.

There are probably other methods of resolving this issue, but since I've seen this problem before, how attached are you to VLC? Are you ok with using another media application and getting rid of VLC if it solves the problem?

Hello,

Not that attached, what I like the most about it is that it can download subtitles, even if half of the time it dies when doing it.
What other app do you have in mind?

 

[Math Geek]

i prefer media player classic. will also download subtitles when loading a movie. it's free and will play anything and everything out there. i get it with the k-lite codec pack but it's probably available stand alone

https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

however i do not know if this will solve your problem. i've just seen that vlc can do that and know using something else has helped others.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And I prefer Potplayer. I've had so many various issues with VLC over the years that they refuse to address that I've given up on them. I use Potplayer exclusively and have never had any of the problems I had with VLC. That doesn't necessarily mean you'll have the same success as I have, if the problem is something else, but it WILL at least tell us if the problem is VLC.

Global Potplayer

potplayer.daum.net

Also, it's probably not a bad idea to also download and install the standard K-lite codec pack as suggested by Math Geek. Just use the default configuration for everything unless there is something specific you know you configure differently, which is almost certainly not going to be the case.

 

[lordmogul]

It is most likely an issue with both running at the same time. I've noticed the same with youtube in chrome. Whenever I have a video running on my secondary screen the game on the primary screen becomes "stuttery. When pausing the video the issue goes away.
Since then I went over to putting videos on a secondary system, which is not a fix for the original issue, more of a workaround.

You could try experimenting a bit with hardware acceleration and different video players. Maybe there is a combination where the video doesn't influence the game.

 

[LinuxDevice]

I'll make a side note, not directly what you are asking: You're using unmatched RAM:
"RAM: 2x16/2x8 TUF Team Delta T-Force"

It is likely this is running single channel, which slows the RAM down. The Ryzen CPUs are somewhat sensitive to RAM speed. It is quite possible that part of the problem is that you're just pushing more memory through and this would be somewhat of a bottleneck on performance. If this is running dual channel, then any solution would probably be better versus single channel.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, if the full amount of memory is being recognized and configured by the system, it is NOT likely, at all, that it is not running in dual channel. It's certainly possible that since they are using multiple kits the motherboard is unfavorably reconfiguring the kits with way looser timings or reducing the speed, or that it isn't even actually running the full capacity, but if it is running both kits and recognizing all four DIMMs it's virtually impossible that it wouldn't be running in dual channel unless there was literally a physical problem with one of the DIMMs (In which case, it probably wouldn't even be using it, or running) or the motherboard. In which case, it probably STILL wouldn't be recognizing and running it all.

It would be very good to know the EXACT model of BOTH memory kits, assuming that this IS only two kits, one with 2 x16GB and one with 2 x8GB, rather than just being memory on hand that he mentioned since he's tried both kits. In truth, there is likely very little reason to run anything more than the 2 x16GB kit, because it's EXTREMELY unlikely that you'll see any gains whatsoever from using more than 32GB even if you are watching movies, gaming, and doing some light streaming, all simultaneously. I'd pull the 2 x8GB kit, install the 2 x16GB DIMMs in the A2 and B2 slots, reset the BIOS, reconfigure any custom BIOS settings that you wipe out by clearing it and try it again. It's possible it's a memory issue as mentioned. Unlikely, but possible. But in any case it's likely to allow better performance anyhow.

Or, you can install CPU-Z and take screenshots of the SPD and Memory tabs, and on the memory tab you'll need to take a screenshot for each DIMM slot in the drop down menu on the left hand side of the tab.