Experiences with "non-60Hz" games and VRR (FreeSync and G-Sync)

General
#1

As you may already know, Retroarch features an option for VRR Displays.

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Arcade games does not run exactly at 60 Hz, actually some games run at 54 Hz like Mortal Kombat, even some of them run higher than 60 Hz, like 61 or even 70Hz. Also PAL consoles run games at 50 Hz.

Having the original refresh rate is a must for faithful representation of every game so I think this feature is a big deal, in the same level than emulation of CRT and bezels physics (through shaders like @HyperspaceMadness Mega Bezel). If I understand correctly, VRR equipped monitors have a refresh rate low limit around 48 Hz. Going below that, Low Framerate Compensation (LFC) kicks in, and you actually have double scanning, for example 90Hz for a game running at 45Hz.

So, I created this thread to share experiences of using G-Sync, FreeSync or any other Variable Refresh Rate. Does it worth it? Does affect input lag? Please share it with us!!!

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#2

Well, yeah. It works flawlessly for me (monitor with hardware g-sync module.) I couldn’t live without it, be it emulators or modern PC games. Always looks like you’re using vsync ON but with input lag that’s the same as with vsync OFF. What more do you want? :smiley:

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#3

I use both a gsync monitor (integrated) and a CRT monitor with the 120hz option, which is the second best option. For games that run close to 60 hz, the crt monitor is as smooth as the gsync monitor. It is also very smooth in the case of dosbox Staging. If you combine this with the crt superior motion technology, it actually surpasses the gsync monitor in overall results in 2d and 3d games.

However in the case of Mortal Kombat 1 and Samurai Showdown II, smooth motion is only possible with a VRR monitor and in the case of amiga CD32 where refresh falls below 50hz, the crt flickers during the CD32 logo. No such issue on the gsync monitor.

Also crt has to constantly switch refresh rates, and resolutions, which do not always ensure stable output

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#4

I didn’t know RA was able to run analog monitors in non-standard refresh rate. I thought that was locked by the Operative System, unless HDMI or Display port was used and VRR was enabled. I guess for games running close to 50 or to 60, that works ok. How do you connect your CRT to a modern graphic card? External converter or with a DVI-I output? In any case, my idea is to use HDMI or DP and CRT shaders to “replace” CRTs. If you want to have the “real thing”, you need a 15 KHz CRT with CRTEmudriver and GroovyMAME, or RA with SwitchRes enabled. Thanks for your reply anyway.

#5

I use a standard hdmi or displayport- to vga converter to connect a vga monitor. I use Linux Mint. Advantage with Linux distros is that if you edit the xorg.conf file you can bypass the Edid presets and unlock many custom resolutions without all the extra software and hardware additions required by newer Windows. I then use cvt command to determine whether that resolution can be accepted.

Only requirement is for resolutions and refresh rate not to surpass the lower and upper limits of monitors vertical frequency, usually 30-70 kHz in most cases.

Though even then it is better to set refresh at 122-124 instead of 121 because the desktop manager is likely to crash and switch to higher refresh rate.

Also if I set 320x240 at 150+ refresh to match the vertical frequency, there is a chance that picture becomes garbled with white dots.

So 600x240 or 200 at 122-124 hz is the best balance.

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