Windows 10: Stutter on multiple monitor setup with different refresh rates.

It's been years since Windows 10 released and Microsoft still has not addressed this issue that plagues multiple monitor setups with different refresh rates.


For those not aware of the issue, Windows 10 forces vsync on all monitors if any application needs hardware acceleration/graphics and also runs on windowed mode/borderless fullscreen. Which means my 144hz monitor will constantly switch to 60hz and show noticeable stutter/lag, making it a frustrating experience. Running games on fullscreen seems to be the only way to bypass this issue, but it defeats the purpose of having a multiple monitor setup if I can't seamlessly switch monitors, and alt+tab can make some games crash.


Will I really have to downgrade to Windows 7/8.1 to get this basic Windows OS feature back.

:)

 

Refresh rate Problem

Hi Robert,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

Screen refresh rate is the rate at which the data displayed on screen is refreshed; it may be an image or some text document. Most of the users would like to set it to a higher rate but this also depends on the capacity of graphic
card and monitors. If the refresh rate is slow, the images on the display looks as flickering to the user eye and makes it uncomfortable to work.

Nowadays the latest monitors available in market will have minimum 60 Hz of refresh rate and it is very good option to set it to 70 Hz if you your monitor is compatible. Normally a high performance or quality monitors can reach
120 Hz of refresh rate. So I would suggest you to set your monitor refresh rate as higher as possible, below given steps describes how to access this feature on your Windows 8.1/10 PC.

• The default refresh rate setting is 60 Hertz (HZ); however, your monitor may support a higher setting. Check your manufacturer's documentation for information about the settings that your monitor supports.
• If you use a higher refresh rate, you can reduce the rate that your screen flickers; however, if you specify a refresh rate that is too high for your monitor, your screen may become unusable and your hardware may be damaged.
• Changes to the refresh rate affect all users that log on to the computer.

I would, as of now, suggest you to visit the computer manufacturer's support website and install the latest display and chipset drivers available for the latest operating system (currently it would be 8.1 in the list).

Hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to reply in case you face any other issues with Windows in future.

 

How do I delete or disable a specific monitor refresh rate ?

Hello Cyntil,

We realize your requirement in this regard.

Generally, you can only adjust the refresh rate of your monitor on Windows 10. The default refresh rate setting is 60 Hertz (HZ); however, your monitor may support a higher setting. Check your manufacturer's documentation for information about the settings
that your monitor supports. If you use a higher refresh rate, you can reduce the rate that your screen flickers; however, if you specify a refresh rate that is too high for your monitor, your screen may become unusable and your hardware may be damaged. Changes
to the refresh rate affect all users that log on to the computer.

Sadly, we don't have an option to delete or disable this feature on Windows 10, instead you can change it to different value. To get started,

• Right-click on Start and select Control Panel.
  
• Click Appearance and Personalization, and then click Display.
• On the left pane, click Adjust resolution. Then click
  Advanced settings.
• Click the Monitor tab, and then click the screen refresh rate that you want to use.
  

Keep posted if you require further assistance.

Thank you.

 

Please fix multi-monitor stutter in Windows 10

Presently, in Windows 10 if you're running a multi-monitor setup and the monitors are not running at a multiple of or equal refresh rate the Desktop Windows Manager running behind the Explorer process causes stutter either in web video/apps (YouTube, Twitch,
Sling TV) and in games running Windowed Borderless or Windowed.

You can set a game to run Fullscreen but the stutter will still occur on the secondary monitor.

The fix: Turn my 165hz main monitor down to 120hz so it's running at a multiple of the secondary 60hz monitor.

The real fix: Revert to Windows 7 and disable Aero so you can run your hardware as it is intended to run.

The developers of Windows 10 need to do a better job of multi-monitor management. I didn't even touch the scaling incompatibilities with DPI changes if you're not running a program built on UWP - which maybe by the EoL of 2020 for Windows 7 MIGHT become
standard.