What is FreeSync Brightness Flickering? Can You Fix It?

FreeSync brightness flickering frequently bothers you when you toggle your FreeSync setting area. Right? The positive aspect is that it can be fixed.

Fix FreeSync Brightness Flickering

FreeSync has increased in popularity since its release. Because as a result of this technology several known problems are eliminated with conventional Vsync techniques.

Brightness flickering is a common systemic issue you may have with FreeSync. You won’t ignore it if you want to achieve the best gaming experience. Here in this write up you’ll get all sufficient know-how about FreeSync brightness flickering, and of course with a valid fix. Let’s start;

What is FreeSync? How does it work?

FreeSync technology prevents screen ripping for a more smooth gaming experience. It reduces input lag associated with other display technologies, such as G-SYNC monitors. It synchronizes the refresh rate of your monitor with your graphics card.

With FreeSync technology you’ll experience less input lag, screen tearing, and stuttering since the technology monitors your refresh rate and adjusts it to meet your graphics card’s rendering speed.

Why Does FreeSync Cause Brightness Flicker?

FreeSync can occasionally result in brightness flickering with FPS changes on some high refresh rate displays, particularly VA.  High refresh rate VA panels are typically affected by FreeSync brightness flickering, but it can also affect displays based on other panel technologies, including IPS, OLED, and TN, but this is less common. Now, every game won’t necessarily have this problem. 

You may experience intolerable brightness flickering in some games but in others, it may function seamlessly. In some cases, it may only happen during loading screens or in-game menus.

Why does it happen? Remember that some VA monitors can also cause delayed dark to bright pixel transitions, typically brought on by temporal anti-aliasing, to appear as though particular textures on the image are flickering.

Fixes to FreeSync Brightness Flickering 

Let’s discover fixes to FreeSync Brightness Flickering.

Refresh Rate Decreasing Technique 

You can do it in two ways by changing your refresh rate from Auto to 90Hz. You can avoid FreeSync Brightness Flickering by these techniques but there is no assurance that these techniques will end your flickering problem permanently, but the majority of people have experienced success after using them.

A. Change It Manually

  1. Right-click on any empty spot in the menu on display in AMD settings then select Displays from the menu.
  2. Select Display Adapter Properties at the bottom of the screen.
  3. When you’re in the monitor properties menu, select your monitor from the dropdown menu under the Monitor tab.
  4. Next, select Monitor Information > Graphics > Advanced View.
  5. Select Monitors (or Refresh Rates for Acer monitors) and set your monitor’s refresh rate to 90Hz. Then, save your changes.

B. Using Third-party Program

  1. In Monitor Information, click on the Display Adapter Properties tab.
  2. Then select Graphics > Advanced View. 
  3. Choose the entry for your display by clicking on it.
  4. Change the refresh rate to 90Hz.
  5. Save your changes.

Fix FreeSync Brightness Flickering With NVIDIA Cards

Fix FreeSync Brightness Flickering using Nvidia cards

It mostly happens that LFC behaves slightly differently while running FreeSync with a convenient NVIDIA graphics card through the G-SYNC Compatible mode than it does with AMD devices.

Therefore, if your monitor has a 120-144Hz VRR range and you are getting 60 frames per second, the refresh rate of the monitor will adjust to 120Hz, however, with AMD cards, LFC wouldn’t operate and you would receive a fixed 144Hz (or 60Hz if VSYNC is enabled).

Likewise, when using an NVIDIA GPU, the LFC threshold is typically different. For instance, LFC starts working with NVIDIA cards at about 60FPS with several 48-144Hz FreeSync monitors!

As a result, FPS variations around the LFC threshold will cause the refresh rate of the monitor to rapidly rise and fall, resulting in brightness flashing.

You may follow these instructions:

  • You may use CRU to reduce the range of a 144Hz monitor’s 48-144Hz VRR range to 90-144Hz. 

Reason:

Because there isn’t a considerable variation in brightness between 90Hz and 144Hz, the flickering won’t be apparent or will be much less perceptible. Consequently, you’ll receive a smooth VRR performance between 90 and 144FPS.

  • You must limit your FPS in more demanding games to 72 or below (to prevent the FPS from going over 72).

Reason:

To prevent tearing below 72 frames per second, LFC will double (45–72FPS) or triple (30–48FPS) the frame rate into the 90–144Hz VRR range, again without obvious brightness changes.

In contrast, this means that between 72 and 90FPS, you won’t get a variable refresh rate. Though, depending on the game and your frame rate, you can experiment with wider VRR ranges, such as 80-144Hz.

A reddit user also shared this guide to prevent Freesync brightness flickering using NVIDIA cards and you may find it helpful.

Fix Brightness Flickering With AMD Cards

AMD FreeSync Technology

The two main causes of brightness flickering are continual FPS fluctuations and LFC. So, when your FPS (Frames Per Second) drops to 47FPS or fewer while using an AMD graphics card and your gaming monitor has a variable refresh rate range of 48-144Hz, LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) will kick in.  

LFC increases your framerate to stop screen tearing even if it falls below the monitor’s VRR range. So, if you have 48 frames per second and, consequently, 48 Hz, and then, in the next second, your FPS dips to 47, and your refresh rate soars to 141 Hz. The brightness of your display fluctuates because it is brighter at higher refresh rates.

When LFC rapidly turns on and off, which results in brightness flickering, if your FPS is consistently around 48FPS. It’s fixable by lowering your picture settings to keep a higher frame rate. To extend the VRR range, you can also use CRU (Custom Resolution Utility). Increasing the VRR range will differ between different display units, much like it does with overclocking.

Therefore, you might be able to expand the VRR range on one display to 30–144Hz while it might not even be possible on another unit of the same monitor to go to 47–144Hz.

LFC with AMD cards only functions if the lower end of the VRR range is at least twice as fast as the maximum refresh rate. For instance, LFC is supported for the 30-60Hz VRR range, but not for the 31-60Hz range.

When LFC is disabled, you must rely on VSYNC to eliminate screen tearing at lower frame rates, however, FreeSync at higher frame rates works without any problems. On some monitors, the refresh rate may inadvertently increase to the maximum level (144Hz, for example), which might also result in brightness flashing.

 In this situation, you might want to consider keeping the VRR range three below the maximum (48-141Hz). Even if it isn’t close to the LFC threshold, FreeSync brightness flickering can still happen with FPS variations. This generally occurs in poorly optimized games where your FPS fluctuates.

FreeSync Compatible Monitors?

FreeSync is a fantastic technology that gives players a slicker, more fluid experience. Additionally, it is backward compatible with V-sync, so if you wanted to enable triple buffering and synchronize the refresh rate of your monitor with your GPU rather than your other settings, it would also function.

In 2015, AMD introduced the market to FreeSync, a proprietary technology. It’s been dubbed “the future of gaming display technology” and is essentially an improvement over NVIDIA G-SYNC. FreeSync was created for gamers who seek stutter- and lag-free gameplay without having to suffer from tearing.

FreeSync Brightness Flickering — FAQs

Q1. Can FreeSync Affect Framerate?

Answer:

AMD claims that when a game runs at 75 frames per second on an 8-millisecond panel, there will often be a delay of 8.33 milliseconds between each frame rendering on the monitor, causing players to suffer tearing and stuttering. By enabling you to change your monitor’s refresh rate from 0Hz to 75Hz, FreeSync can solve these issues.

Q2. How often G Sync causes flickering?

Answer:

This typically occurs when your monitor’s specifications are out of sync with your graphics card. If your display is AMD FreeSync compatible, it would be wise to look into this technology right away. Because FreeSync immediately makes adjustments to prevent the flicker from happening again, G-SYNC flicker should only last a moment. 

If it does, you might want to think about lowering your monitor’s brightness or raising the black level on it because it only occasionally occurs for a quick period.

Q3. Why does FreeSync brightness keep flickering?

Answer:

The range settings of the monitor are probably to blame for this issue if you use an AMD FreeSync-enabled monitor. The majority of people appear to believe that if brightness flickers, it is because they are using the incorrect range for their screen.

There is a suggested refresh rate for every display, however not all graphics cards can support these ranges. For instance, if your AMD card can only handle 60Hz but your FreeSync monitor can go up to 75Hz, the brightness will flicker every 20 seconds as it tries to adjust to its highest setting.

Q4. Why does FreeSync cause a monitor to turn on and off?

Answer:

Your game experience won’t be significantly impacted by these issues, which should be minimal. It would be wise to look into this technology right now if your display is AMD FreeSync compatible.

In Summary 

FreeSync brightness flickering affects almost all Samsung displays and other panel technologies, including IPS, OLED, and TN. Every game you play won’t necessarily have this problem. You may experience outrageous brightness flickering in some games. In other games, it may function well. In some cases, it may only happen during loading screens or in-game menus or while you toggle the FreeSync setting. But luckily you can fix it in a few ways — or just decrease it.

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