Gsync - Black Flickering on FPS Drops

This has been an issue for me since gsync launched on Linux. When playing CS:GO or other high intensity games, any time my framerate drops even momentarily below 30FPS (single frame over 16.67ms) the entire display flickers black. This even happens in non-game applications if they’re using gsync.

In Windows if something drops my framerate below 30FPS I see a slight stutter as it redraws the last frame, but in Linux it appears to just black out the screen entirely which is highly distracting.

Relevant specs are:
nvidia 349.16 on a 780 ti
Asus ROG Swift (2560x1440 144Hz gsync)
Arch Linux running Gnome Shell (3.16.1 right now, also occurred on other versions and DEs)

Nvidia bug report
The above has an outdated Xorg log included, GDM stopped using Xorg.0.log by default. I’m running Linux 4.0 right now, any logs above indicating older versions are being pulled from old logs. Including gdm-related lines from journalctl below:
gdm log from systemd

Just updating this thread to confirm the issue still exists with 352.09. Especially annoying on games that drop under 30 often like the settings menus in CS:GO which stutter when you go to the inventory screens or start loading a map. I can reproduce it in just about any game or fullscreen application though.

Thanks for reporting this issue.

  • Are you playing game via steam? Is any special settings done in Game? Is the issue occur on specific map?
  • Please provide video recoding which shows this issue?

Hello,

Got same problem in many games, any driver version, any settings, only under GNU/Linux (CS:Go, HoN, Springrts,…). The most often is when game loading level/map, but occurs while playing too.

Got Core i7 6core + GTX TITAN.

G-SYNC under GNU/Linux giving me headaches and is not reproducible with same games under Windows.

Please, NVIDIA, fix this black flickering G-SYNC Linux problem. :)

Uploaded a video:

http://trekker.guru/gsyncfail.mp4

This is in Invisible Inc. It happens in all games though, seems to only happen when the framerate drops I think. In this case it was when loading new content, but it happens in CSGO when loading the map or sometimes when going into new areas.

I’ve even had it happen in KDE’s desktop back before I blacklisted Plasma 5 from using gsync.

Internally we are tracking this issue under bug 200121961

Hello, I can confirm this issue. 980GTX with drivers 352.21 + Acer XB270HU with gsync. As you can imagine, after hearing about how an incredible gaming experience gsync is and investing in the hardware, the result is quite disappointing for us linux gamers.

I have faith in your ability to fix the situation. And if while doing that you manage to give us windowed gsync, you are truly forgiven :)

Regards,

I too am experiencing this issue with a Windows 10 x64 install with GTX 980 with driver 353.62 installed, with AOC G2460PG. I’ve experienced this issue with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. I have not tested other games on Windows 10 yet.

This does not happen while doing any other computing. I cannot tell if this issue happens with FPS drops or not, I am getting this black flickering which feels like 1 frame or close to it, and it happens intermittently, not so often but enough to notice it a few times within a half hour.

I’ve grown tired of Microsoft new policies so I decided to go back to Linux. I am currently running Xubuntu 14.04 x64 with nvidia 355.06 - driver came from xorgedgers ppa and I am not experiencing any black flickering with gsync on.

Just wanted to update my experiences for you all.

Hello, have you tried with games like HoN (Heroes of Newerth), Counter Strike GO or springrts ?

Thanks

Hello,

I earlier reported some flickering issues in here. Well, I installed 358.09 that was beta-released a few days ago and oh miracle, they are completely gone, gsync is working as it should. (mostly testing with league of legends under wine FYI).

Thanks for the fix, nvidia linux devs.

Hello,

Seems there is a regression in v367.35(linux) with g-sync compared to v367.27.
(maybe internal bug 200121961).

With the 367.35, there is many white flashes (flickering) while playing games like Counter-Strike Source.
Revert back to 367.27 workaround it.

Thank you NVIDIA for tracking and fixing this potential regression.