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P: Cursor stuttering & screen flickering in Photoshop on high refresh rate G-sync monitors

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If you're a nvidia gsync user and experiencing mouse stuttering in Ps (and all Adobe apps), try turning off gsync to see if that resolves the issue.
Basically what happens is that any activity in an Adobe app will result in 2-3 seconds of micro-cursor stuttering (looks like frame rate dropping) and the occasional 3-4 seconds of cursor freeze. Disabling gsync fixes the issue. This behavior appears only in Adobe apps and none other.

{Thread title edited by moderator}

Windows

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decker1222

Inspiring

I mentioned this before, and I'm always glad to jump on an Adobe "fix your buggy programs" hate-train, but this stuttering issue is not an Adobe problem.

Whatever display libraries or DLLs that Adobe products are using, and how those libraries interface with Gysnc in Windowed Mode are the source of the problem.

Those same library are being used by plenty of other programs not related to Adobe and they all exhibit the same problems. Go ahead and download/install Corsair iQue (even if you don't have a Corsair product) and you'll see it does the same thing. There are several games that have the same problem, FireAlpaca does it as well, I believe Handshake also does it.

The solution is to go into nVidia Control Panel and disable Gysnc for Windowed Mode. That's all you have to do. You don't have to make Gsync exceptions for every Adobe app in the control panel- just turn it off globally.

You are not missing out on anything by keeping it enabled. Despite it's important sounding name, you are not gaining any advantage to having this turned on. If you fresh install nVidia drivers, you'll find it isn't even turned on by default any more. Gsync for Windowed Mode has nothing to do with Gsync for when you're playing games or doing something in full screen. Just leave the Full Screen option turned on.

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asdfB833

Participant

Many games and applications, especially for Game Pass titles, do not support fullscreen. Windowed mode only isn't an option for me.

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decker1222

Inspiring

You're welcome to do your own independent research, but Gsync in windowed mode is kind of a hackjob implementation compared to how it works in exclusive fullscreen. It has to work within the desktop window management layer of Windows which has compatibility issues depending on the game engine.

DX12/Vulkan and (most) UWP games work properly at a high refresh rate in any screen mode regardless of this setting, but at some point Microsoft made changes that broke nvidia's ability to override DWM in windowed/borderless DX9/10/11/OGL. Your desktop window management layer is running in Vsync anyway, so for those games you're getting neglible benefits from having this Gsync for Windowed mode setting enabled anyway.

In the end you'll have to choose between your productivity software and what is probably a small subset of your games. I have tons of DX9/10/11/OGL titles that I run in Windowed mode and they all run fine at 144hz without any issues, and I have this Gsync setting disabled, so you may be pleasantly surprised to find out there's no actual difference in your windowed games when playing them with this setting disabled.

While this has been a problem with the Adobe CC software for years, I doubt Adobe will do anything about it, because it's not really a problem for them to fix. There are plenty of posts about this on Reddit and the blurbusters forums if you want to do some more investigation.

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Anonymous

Really wish Adobe would fix this Gsync issue! Older version of Photoshop there's no problems..but when update to the newer version I get this stupid frame rate stutter! Now I've no choice but to turn off Gsync...I can't turn it off in the 3d settings for Photoshop because I get this black screen when I make any changes ADOBE DO SOMETHING!! Same goes for all Adobe programs

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G-Star5FD8

Participant

the same for me since the last versions.

If I activate Gsync in full screen mode only and I deactivate gsync on the photoshop.exe profile I get 2s black screens as soon as I click on a tool.

my screen: Acer Predator Z321QUbmiphzx

it is very annoying but unfortunately since the time that the problem persists I doubt that Adobe will do something.

the only solution that works is to deactivate gsync permanently ...

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nikunj.m

Legend

Hi,

We're sorry about the trouble with Photoshop on you're G-sync monitor. We have asked the product team to investigate the issue. For now, please continue using Photoshop the G-sync disabled.

Another workaround you can try is to enable the option to Deactivate Native Canvas by going to Preferences, then Technology Previews.

Regards,

Nikunj

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bayred

Participant

Same problem with Ae. In ae even disable the gsync not work it.

My refresh rate is 165hz. When i make it 60 hz, problem is gone with all adobe app. Plesae fix it.

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martinl78073354

Participating Frequently

Since the last PS update, I have been experiencing unacceptable lag across a variety of tools, including brushes and the crop tool. At worst, the programme has been unresponsive for up to a minute, including when saving files. This seems to happen once, early on in a session at a random point, affecting whatever tool I am using at that time. After the programme has unfrozen, the issue does not generally repeat, or if it does, not with the same severity. I have not had these problems before. I have completely reinstalled CC, Photoshop and Lightroom and have manually reset my preferences. All drivers are up to date, as are Windows updates. I have not added any new hardware or software to my PC. I have also run checks on my drives, memory and have watched for suspicious behaviour via Task Manager. There seems to be nothing wrong with Windows, any other programme, or my hardware.

PS 22.5.1

Windows 10

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10920X CPU
Installed RAM: 64.0 GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660

ITB SSD for OS, also used as the scratch disk

4TB HDD
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Wacom tablet

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3DARTAL

Participant

The your PS stay fixed? I came across this post because I was having the same problem. I'd start PS and it would be unresponsive for about 20 seconds right off the bat or become unresponsive when trying to use a tool, like the move tool or brush. I think the problem was that I had G-Sync set to both Full Screen and Windowed modes. I turned that to only Full Screen in the NVidia Control Palel and it's working fine now.

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3DARTAL

Participant

You can turn off G-Sync for Photoshop specifically by going into NVidia Control Panel > 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings, click on the Program Settings tab, pick Photoshop from the dropdown menu, scroll down to Monitor technology, set it to Fixed Refresh, and click apply.

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NathanaelFisher

Participant

I have a 120hz refresh rate monitor and for some reason, the last two updates to photoshop have caused the interface and menus to flicker uncontrollably. I have up-to-date graphics drivers for my Nvidia graphics card. I have also tried disabling GPU advanced options in Photoshop to see if that would help and it only made photoshop respond even slower. The last version of photoshop that worked at 120hz was version 22.4.3. All newer versions have unfortunately had this flickering issue. When I put the monitor's refresh rate back to 60hz, the flickering issue stops and Photoshop becomes snappy and responsive again. I have fully uninstalled and reinstalled both Photoshop as well as my Nvidia graphics driver. I even used the Nvidia display driver uninstaller to completely remove the driver and its software to make sure I really removed everything for a fresh driver install. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Hello, IIRC, in the past some customers reported fixing some display issues by deactivating G-Sync in their drivers.

I would also try to check "Deactivate Native Canvas" in the menu Edit/Preferences/Technology preview (Pc) or Photoshop/Preferences/Technology preview (Mac) .
This is not a fix, but rather a way to check if the issue appears only with the new technology, and should be reported to the Ps team.

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Daniel2437625499te

Participant

I have a 165hz monitor and gsync, this solution is the only one that has worked for me. they should fix it.

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t-home2

Participant

Same here... a year later!? Mouse and GUI lag extremely with GSync turned on.
There are lags of the mouse, but also Lightroom freezes for several seconds to minutes.
Turn off GSync = problem solved

Lightroom 10.3
NVidia driver 471.41
Windows 10 21H1 (19043.1110),

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FeedbackCommunityMember

Inspiring

Yup, this is true. I am facing this issue as well. It also stutters badly when minimizing photoshop sometimes. Everything else is butter smooth on my 165hz monitor. Some apps like adobe animate doesnt really stutter as bad as photoshop & illustrator.

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Earth OliverAuthor

Legend

could be. I mention the gsync issue in that thread and it's also what inspired me to create this )
i did a little more testing yesterday and the issue happens when you enable the option for Fullscreen and Windowed apps, but not when Fullscreen only.
PS-49914 is the bug and i've asked around to see if anyone has a gsync machine they can test with, but doesn't seem like there is one... maybe Noel?

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J453

Legend

I wonder if the OP here has gsync enabled: Photoshop CC 2020(21.2) : App literally became critically slow with frequent stuttering

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dannyinformal

Known Participant

Hey lads,

I have an nvidia graphics card and a gsync screen. Adobe Photoshop CC and all other Adobe programs, for that matter, somehow trigger Gsync.

Whenever I launch an Adobe programme and perform a simple action like dragging an image in Photoshop, Illustrator or a video in Premiere, the refresh rate starts jumping around from 165 all the way to 17 and back. As soon as I stop the action I was performing, my refresh rate jumps back to its default (which is 165 in my case).

All my drivers, obviously including my graphics card's drivers, are up to date.

I have an Asus Gsync screen and an nvidia 2070 Super, but this problem also occurred on my previous graphics card.

Somehow Adobe software triggers the variable refresh rate, which should only be the case in video games.

Does anyone know of a fix, besides disabling Gsync every time?

Thanks!

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dannyinformal

Known Participant

No one? Seriously?

Are there any Adobe customer service people available?

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Svenbo

Participant

Hey,

i have the same Problem since updating my GPU from GTX 980ti to RTX 2070 Super.
FPS drops low to 17, struggeling around 50ths and coming back to 120 after doing not more action in adobe creative products.

Looking for a solution, but cant find this problem at the internet.

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