I recently upgraded from a 60Hz display to a 120Hz monitor with VRR. My hardware cannot maintain 120 FPS in every game, so I have been capping some titles at 60 FPS. However, 60 FPS feels noticeably more stuttery and laggy on the new display than it did at native 60Hz on my old one.
The only fixes I have found are disabling G-Sync for the game and using Adaptive V-Sync at half refresh rate, or manually switching Windows to 60Hz before launching the game. Neither seems like a good long-term solution, especially since newer NVIDIA software no longer exposes the old Adaptive Half Refresh Rate option.
Is there a monitor, VRR, or driver setting I am missing? I would like VRR to work properly without creating custom overrides for every game.
3 Answers
Make sure adaptive sync or G-Sync is enabled in the monitor menu and for both fullscreen and borderless modes. Some games override the Windows refresh-rate setting or interfere with VRR in exclusive fullscreen, so disabling fullscreen optimizations or forcing the display to use its maximum refresh rate can help.
The usual setup is to enable VRR and driver-level V-Sync globally, disable in-game V-Sync, and let the display follow the game's frame rate. You generally do not need to force a 60 FPS cap unless you are trying to control power use, temperatures, or frame pacing. If you do cap it, keep the cap below the monitor's maximum refresh rate and make sure 60 FPS is inside the panel's VRR range.
Start by checking the monitor's actual VRR range. Some displays advertise 120Hz VRR but have a minimum refresh rate above 60Hz. If 60 FPS is below that minimum, VRR may not behave as expected; lowering the range with a tool such as CRU may help if the panel supports it. Also enable the monitor's refresh-rate overlay and confirm that it is dynamically tracking the game.
If the game can only hold around 60 FPS, a cap can still be reasonable for consistent frame pacing. The important part is verifying that VRR is actually active at that frame rate rather than assuming the monitor is adapting.