FPS swinging widly (with EDO still showing 60fps). And the fix i use.

[MrVaad]

With 60fps shown in the concourse or in the tutorial, i found the framerate "choppy" (don't know when this began, i don't think i had that problem with the first updates).
I have a ryzen 2600, Nvidia GTX 1080, 16GB @3200 CL14.

In this screenshot, FPS is the green curve, frametime is the orange curve (the first CPU% is global CPU usage, second CPU% is the highest CPU core usage).

1. Game Vsync : FPS is changing very very fast but still 60fps according to EDO.
2. Game Vsync + Game 60fps limit : FPS is smoother but there's still some problems.
3. Game Vsync + external 60fps limit : FPS is very smooth

My fix : If I use an external fps limiter (nvidia driver, rivatuner, or other), fps stays on target. Game Vsync still works, no tearing and runs very smooth.

Does someone have the same problem ?

 

[Koben]

I did a similar "fix"... limited FPS at 58 inside nVidia Control Panel (driver) with no Vsync and limited the FPS at 60 in Elite game settings also no Vsync.

Runs smooth as butter and no tearing...

 

[thistle]

Interesting, worth experimenting with.

 

[the100thmonkey]

What happens to framerates and frametimes when you visit a planetside settlement?

 

[Wizz15]

In the past I was wondering why I was never seeing FPS higher than 60, no matter where I was (even though I had vsync turned off and freesync enabled).

In my case it turned out to be a combination of having AMD Chill enabled (it always runs at the lowest FPS possible, which in my case was set to just below 60). After I raised this it became a fixed 60, but still no higher than that. Turns out I also had to set my windows display refresh rate higher than 60 (even though in other games this doesn't appear to matter and I could get higher framerates without messing with the windows refresh rate for my display).

So I think my situation is what others have also suggested (although I'm not using NVidia): limit the frames outside the game (in my case with AMD Chill) and then the FPS seems to be a lot more stable than doing it inside the game.

And apparently even with vsync disabled in the game and freesync enabled, the windows max refresh rate still gets applied (in my case). I believe I also had a FPS limit set in the game as well, at around 120FPS, but with AMD Chill I think this is probably not needed (not sure if I disabled the ingame limiter or not).

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Interesting. I'll give this a try.

 

[Frop]

I didn't really think this would work (on paper it sounds more like a placebo effect anyway), but I still tried it for science. I'm sorry to report I have noticed absolutely no change on my end, FPS is just as erratic as ever.

 

[MrVaad]

I didn't really think this would work (on paper it sounds more like a placebo effect anyway), but I still tried it for science. I'm sorry to report I have noticed absolutely no change on my end, FPS is just as erratic as ever.

It can improve the smoothness If you're using vsync and not under 60fps.
But it will not increase your FPS.

 

[Frop]

It can improve the smoothness If you're not under 60fps but it will not increase your FPS.

Yes, my bad, I should've mentioned it also doesn't offer any improvements in the circumstances where I'm able to get a stable 60+ (same experience as using the in-game limiter).

 

[MrVaad]

Yes, my bad, I should've mentioned it also doesn't offer any improvements in the circumstances where I'm able to get a stable 60+ (same experience as using the in-game limiter).

Yes, In my screenshots using vsync AND the game FPS limiter is quite an improvement.
But using the game FPS limiter without vsync (like you do) could also be working well.

I'm wondering if something in the game is not running at 60fps if you only use vsync.

And does it impact VR people ?

 

[CMDR Ylion]

i too noticed that deactivating vsync gave me better frametimes, which resulted in a less choppy feeling.
so can confirm number 2. on my part.
next time i boot the game i will try nvidias frame limiter, but it might take some time, as i (try to)take a break from gaming in general

 

[kiksunator]

Oh man, this dragged me way deeper than I intended to go when I decided to try it.

TL;DR: while it's not a performance booster, setting the FPS limiter in the driver can result in a much better GPU power usage and temperature, as long as the GPU can handle the current load. In-game FPS limiter doesn't seem to let the GPU to lower its core clock for some reason.

For reasons that I don't fully understand, enabling the FPS limiter in NVIDIA Control Panel (instead of the in-game one) somehow allows my RTX 3070 to have much better power/core clock management and in return much lower temperature in many situations.

With the in-game FPS limiter set to 90 (as I've had it set up normally) the core clock stays mostly at or near the maximum clock it can run at (1935-1980 MHz), no matter what. In a HazRes site, stations, on planets, you name it. It's the same even in the main menu (with the ship) where it absolutely doesn't have to. Only in some very light loads (like supercruise) it may lower down a bit.

With NVIDIA Control Panels FPS limiter set to 90 the core clock is way more dynamic, changing anywhere between 780 MHz to 1980 MHz. Here are some observations:

• GPU core temp went from 60-70C to ~50C in the same HazRes site when compared to the in-game limiter, due to core clock changing depending on the load
• In the main menu, core clock barely goes above 1000 MHz
• In stations on foot, there doesn't seem to be any difference
• In stations in ship, I guess traffic level can have at least SOME effect
• In supercruise, almost a solid 780 MHz until entering orbital flight
• On a planets surface, core clock seems to fluctuate a lot, which it should depending on the load
• In settlements, no difference, unless looking away from the settlement

GPU usage of course went higher overall with the lower core clocks, but there aren't any negative effects because of it (as there shouldn't be until things hit a 100%).

VSync I've had on for a while due to G-Sync.

Thanks for the idea to try this out and I may have to try it for other games too. As with almost everything, this was just my experience and yours may vary.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Something that may be related to this for underpowered gpus (for odd), limiting your FPS to 30 or 45 to provide headroom for spikes results in a far worse experience than leaving it at 60 and letting it fluctuate.

Don’t know enough about rasterisation algorithms to speculate what’s going on but it feels like it’s not bothering to render filler frames that crate the effect of smoothness when limiting to the lower refresh rates.

I tried limiting to 60 via rivatuner and in space definitely noticed and improvement.. oh wait I could limit to 30 too… i like the tweaking challenges by many multiples of playing the on foot gameplay..