GPU Performance Tweaks To Eliminate Screen-tearing, Micro Stutters, and Reduce GPU temperatures.

NOTE: The guide below is intended primarily for Desktops. However it can also apply to laptops, though the recommended Fan Curve below is not recommended for laptops.


How to fix GPU Micro-stuttering, eliminate screen-tearing, AND keep GPU temps low:

BIOS settings:

1. If your CPU is overclockable, go into the BIOS and DISABLE Intel Turbo Boost (and Speed-Step if that option exists). NOTE: Please do research on your motherboard/CPU before performing an overclock.
2. Check the "boost clock" of Turbo Boost. Then overclock your CPU to the same clock speed as Turbo Boost... EX: i7 6800k @ 3.4Ghz, Turbo speed is 3.8Ghz. Disable Turbo boost and Overclock the CPU to 3.8Ghz.
3. Disable Intel Virtualization Technology in the BIOS as well if you do not use "virtual" machines.
4. Save and exit the BIOS, restart

Programs you will need:

1. Download and Install these two programs: MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner Statistics Server v6.5.1 (or greater)
2. MSI Afterburner comes with an option to download Rivatuner, however do NOT download it via the Afterburner install wizard - the version MSI uses is outdated. Download Rivatuner separately from the link above.

MSI Afterburner:

1. Inside the MSI Afterburner program, UN-link your GPU power and GPU temperature target.
2. Change your GPU power target to 98%
3. Change your GPU tempurate target to 72C
4. Create a Custom Fan Curve via the MSI Afterburner application for your GPU. Recommended Curve is: 0-64C @ 40% fan speed, 65-71C @ 45% fan speed, 72-76C @ 55% fan speed, 77-79C @ 65% fan speed, 80C+ @ 75% fan speed.
5. Save everything as Profile 1
6. Set MSI afterburner to auto-open on Windows Startup, and start minimized.
7. Save and Minimize MSI Afterburner

Rivatuner Statistics Server:

1. Inside Rivatuner, set your FPS (frames-per-second) limit to whatever you want. Please do research on your display monitor, you want the FPS limit to be at/near the refresh rate of your screen. My monitor is 60Hz, so I set my FPS limit to 58.
2. Make sure Open on Windows Startup is turned on.
3. Disable all on-screen monitoring.
4. Minimize the application.

NVIDIA Control panel settings:

1. Change most NVIDIA control panel settings to whatever you want
2. Change Power Management to Adaptive. "Optimal" is going to cause your GPU to get unnecessarily hot. Additinally, "Optimal" has been known to cause other issues.
3. You want V-SYNC to be Application-controlled and Triple Buffering to be application controlled also (if triple buffering only has an on/off option, choose OFF)
4. If you use another program such as NVIDIA Inspector to control your FPS limit, you'll want to DISABLE the FPS limit in all other applications. We want Rivatuner to be controlling that.
5. Within your gaming application, make sure in-game V-Sync is turned ON.
6. For triple-buffering, this is optional - however I personally choose to turn it ON.

After all steps have been completed, restart the system and double-check that MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner are indeed starting on OS boot. if not, simply toggle those options back on.

 

huh, interesting, thanks for the write-up

 

Great guide!

What does capping the fps at 58 and turning VSync on do? Seems like it should drop it to 30 fps.

 

I have not experienced this issue at all, I get a rock-solid 58 FPS on all of my games with those settings

Please note: I have discovered that my FPS fluctuates when NVIDIA V-SYNC is toggled on, but setting this to Application-controlled and turning V-SYNC on via in-game options keeps the FPS at exactly 58 FPS, which is right where I want it to be.

EDIT: I have also played around with setting the FPS limit to 55, and my applications still run at exactly 55 - it does not default to 30. I would imagine you can lower this number even further.

 

I more just mean if your at 58 fps what is VSync actually doing? Like on my desktop if I cap at 58fps with or without GSync VSync doesn't do anything at all on some settings or forces it to 30 on others. I don't think VSync does anything at any other frame rates besides 60 and 30 that I'm aware of. I could be wrong though I haven't overly messed with it.

 

I have experienced screen-tearing on my 60Hz monitor with my FPS capped at 58 and V-SYNC is OFF. Turning V-SYNC ON eliminates the tearing.
I do not know the technical details behind why I still experience screen-tearing when my FPS is capped at 58, so I can't really say. After hours of tweaking, V-SYNC ON definitely eliminates the issue, and I maintain my desired FPS.

 

Some misunderstandings and technically unsound advice about VSync, TB, and FPS limiting being given in this thread, and no mention of how G-Sync, Fast Sync TB, and Max-Prerendered Frames factor into the equation. Also a lot of it is personal preference at end of the day, so not all suggestions here are one-size-fits-all.

 

In my case I set VSYNC to Fast (with fps limit below screen hz) because VSYNC ON (still with fps limit) causes stuttering. Maybe driver related. VSYNC OFF causes tearing even with fps limit.
All in all very helpful guide.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

I don't want to poo pop the good intentions of this guide. But I do have to agree.

Having vsync 'on' induces stutter by its very nature if your frame rate drops below the target. Which as you've mentioned isn't going to be the same for everyone as we all have different hardware capabilities.

Turning vsync off (in absence of Gsync) is a better solution if the target of the OP's thread is to reduce stuttering.

Also why not just have a more aggressive fan curve if reducing temps is the goal of the thread? Rather than neuter performance.

Lastly having Hyperthreading in the BIOS doesn't do anything to alleviate stuttering or cpu/gpu performance. This is a myth.

 

Yup. In double-buffered VSync scenario, if you limit to 58 FPS as OP suggests, it would cause constant stuttering from the 2 duplicate 33ms (instead of 16ms) frames every second. I've also seen this recommended as a (misguided) way of reducing VSync input lag by not allowing the render ahead queue to fill up. No, you should be setting Max Pre-Rendered Frames to its lowest value (1), not limiting FPS below monitor refresh rate, if you want lowest input lag without causing stutter or breaking VSync.

Without VSync or G-Sync, tearing can happen at any FPS, doesn't matter if it's at, above, or below monitor's refresh rate. So limiting FPS alone will not eliminate tearing. Tearing happens in the first place as a result of de-synchronization between GPU render rate and monitor VBlank, not due to FPS exceeding refresh rate as many people mistakenly assume.

Should point out that the triple buffering setting in Nvidia driver only works in OpenGL applications, so it only applies to a few games. Fast Sync is nothing more than a fancy name for classic discarding back buffer triple buffering (the other OGL-only TB setting cannot discard back buffer and always flips to front buffer).

 

I'm getting wildly different results with these settings than what you're describing. My frames are smooth, no stuttering or any other issues.

Maybe more testing needs to be done, but I've achieved these results on two different machines with completely different hardware inside of them.

I appreciate the feedback, if anyone can play with these settings and let me know if you get different results, that'd be great. For now, I'll leave this guide up.

 

Cool, thanks for the guide. Going to look into it.

 

I have max pre-rendered set to 4 globally and set fastsync and 3x buffering in game profiles on games that tear with it vsync off.

Dishonored 2 ran fine for me maxed with a prelaunch driver.

 

V-Sync is fine if you can't stand tearing but it introduces horrible input lag:

 

To be quite frank, I only needed to cap fps to 58 plus V-Sync on my Optimus laptop to eliminate annoying stuttering, desktop doesn't display it, but I imagine it's a case of YMMV And I didn't consider disabling Turbo Boost but rather have the CPU clocked at the user-set Turbo Boost clocks.

Overall, great tips

 

Omg that video is brilliant.

 

Setting the quality mode to High Performance in the Nvidia Control Panel should help as well.

 

So very clear and succinct. I like his accent and how he says "buffa" (buffer) lol. Too bad he didn't have a G-sync LCD to test input lag there. Interesting how more FPS reduces input lag regardless of the refresh rate of the LCD.

I'm not sure how fast-sync will really ever improve though because it's the same issue as V-sync with triple buffer. You will get some lag or stutter because of this. The only real best option now is G-sync or Free-sync and hope for 240Hz or faster LCD's in the near future.

 

I haven't seen any in 1080p or 1440p 60hz personally (the two machines I use regularly and have fast sync) but I haven't tested with a system that regularly gets lower FPS than the screen's refresh

 

I was curious about fast sync before I really knew what it was and in many cases the FPS shot up well above my refresh of my LCD and noticed some annoying microstuttering. I noticed that in that person's video too. I don't think it's a great solution, I'd rather have tearing than that microstuttering to be honest.

 

I'd rather have tearing and limit my fps manually.

The input lag is not worth it in games such as Overwatch and CSGO for me.

 

I still use Gsync but it's way overrated in my opinion. It doesn't magically make low fps feel nice to play.

 

Well, that's not the intent. It's simply to eliminate tearing. You can't make 30fps feel like 60fps no matter how you slice it. The only thing that can fix that is a faster GPU!

G-sync is one of those things that once you use it, it's hard not to use it anymore. I never was too sensitive to tearing. But once I started using G-sync, if I use a system that doesn't have it, tearing drives me nuts now. I just don't like the price premium it demands. Overall everything is so much more fluid though because the LCD refresh matches the rate that the GPU pushes out frames. No microstuttering either.

The real solution is a high FPS G-sync LCD (like 120Hz+) with an adequately powered GPU that can push FPS near the max refresh of the LCD. I don't think 60Hz LCD's are the best option for G-sync because it's borderline useful. I think 45-50FPS is where the benefits START. My desktop G-sync LCD is 3440 x 1440 at 90Hz and FPS vary between 50-90 most of the time with my 980 Ti, and it's the perfect "sweet spot". Would prefer higher minimum FPS though, which hopefully a 1080 Ti will fix.

 

Exactly, I hear it alot of people saying 40fps feels like 60fps etc etc which simple isn't true. It's a smooth 40fps is what it is.

There's no replacement for displacement as they say.
Not to say it's not a valued addition but it's not a game changer in my view.

 

Whenever I can get my hands on a 120+ screen I'll definitely check it out. I think I've just been lucky at 60Hz with FS.

 

FS? Flight Simulator?

 

fast sync, sorry.

 

Thanks so much for this guide!

just a question - for a MSI GS43VR (GTX1060), the MSI AB's Power Limit and Temp Limit bars are grayed out, and the red link icon between them is dim. How do I enforce a temp target?

Thanks!

 

Some of the settings will not work for a laptop GPU, these two values are normally locked at max for BGA laptops.

 

Does that mean there is no way to reduce the power or temperature targets in this case?

Also - I can use the voltage/frequency curve adjustment successfully - but if I reduce voltage by dragging the curve, it simply steps up the frequency to compensate. How do I keep frequency constant and only reduce voltage?

Thanks again!

 

I have grown accustomed to my 144Hz and 120Hz monitor and anything slower drives me crazy and with Gsync those occasional dips don't look so bad.

 

As far as I know, limiting FPS manually does not fix tearing, only G-Sync, Freesync, Fastsync, V-Sync, etc fix tearing.

 

Setting the FPS limit manually, +-1 or 2 from refresh rate can alleviate tearing, and effectively eliminate it; I've been doing this for many years before G-sync

It doesn't always work, but most of the time it does, if not completely eliminate it it at least reduces it noticeably which is enough to declare success so I can move on and enjoy the game.

FPS limiting also eliminates other annoyances like fans running too high due to unlimited frame rate loading on the CPU / GPU.

G-sync when optimal may be nice, but I've seen a lot more pain from trying to get G-sync operational, and stay working through Nvidia updates to worry about not having it.

 

I have been trying out various settings on both my desktops and laptop, I have been trying to get the least input lag without and blurriness. For BF1 this seems to be with both Vsync/Gsynv off and a cap set to120. As you can see in the attacked graph there are only a few drops below 120 and during the game they were unnoticeable. I definitely get a better K/D ratio with theses settings, it may not be scientific but with theses setting I seem to come out on top of the close quarter battles. the temps and usage are lower thus reducing wear and tear.

 

Plus FPS limiting also lowers temps a TON by putting less stress on CPU/GPU.

 

Yes, my GPU is as low as 50-60 degrees when limited to 63 FPS in heavy games.

 

I might have bricked my laptop after tinkering with Afterburner (checked unlocked voltage control and reset) and now it's just a black screen. Tried the EC reset at the back of my GT72S turned off and attached the AC but still a black screen.

 

disabling speed step removes custom OC options I use to OC.

 

How do I disable those without getting to bios?