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

[Earth Oliver]

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}

[fantastic_Symphony5E16]

Where can I find G-sync in Nvidia Control Panel?

[CShubert]

@fantastic_Symphony5E16 

[migueld78563742]

I am experimenting the same issue, Adobe please fix this nonesense. Just make it a priority.

[justindk]

I've been experiencing this issue for a few years now and the only way to fix it for me is to turn off GPU acceleration in Ps/Lr or turn off G-Sync altogether. All of my software and drivers are up to date and G-Sync is off in relevant profiles. Like a previous user said, I've been using Adobe products for years and G-Sync since 2014 and never ran into this issue until a few years back.

[ckbeattie]

My only solution to this so far has been changing the global setting to 'Monitor Refresh Rate: Fixed Refresh Rate'. If you are gaming or using software that uses G-SYNC, you must manually set their profiles to Monitor Refresh Rate: G-SYNC to involke it or if there's a setting that overrides that in the game preferences, use it. Adobe could easily fix this by adding an option in preferences: 'Request Max Frame Redraw (Uses more power)' to tell the GFX card to overlay a redraw layer that utilizes the maximum refresh rate of the monitor independent of the redraw capability of Photoshop. That would solve the problem of flickering on default enabled G-SYNC drivers.

[ckbeattie]

Sorry, by 'Monitor Refresh Rate' I actually mean 'Monitor Technology' in my previous post. 🙂

[jessekhill]

Thank you - I had a brand new 4090 and was experiencing this weird issue, as well. Turned off G-sync and it works perfectly. How strange.

[ব্যাকরাউন্ড]

বাগরাউন্ড 

[DeDaDo]

Aloha zusammen!

Ich weiß nicht, ob es zum Unterhaltungstyp "Fehler" passt, aber...

Wenn ich den Mauszeiger von der Fläche mit dem zu bearbeitenden Bild zu den Fenstern (Farbfelder, Eigenschaften, Ebenen, etc..) wechsle, genauer gesagt, ich überquere die Scrollleiste nach rechts in die Fenster, dann ruckelt die ganze App inkl. des Mauszeigers für ein paar Sekunden. Dann ist wieder alles in Ordnung und ich kann in den Fenstern weiterarbeiten.

Auf dem Weg zurück ruckelt es nicht.

Das Gleiche habe ich beim "Betreten" der Menü-/Symbolleiste oben.

Das Spiel wiederholt sich jedes Mal, wenn ich den oben beschriebenen Weg gehe.

Ich konnte das Problem lösen, indem ich unter (Bearbeiten >) Voreinstellungen > Leistung > den Haken "Grafikprozessor verwenden" wegmache.

Schade eigentlich. Ich hätte gern meine RTX 4090 im Hintergrund gehabt, die mich unterstützt.

Ich benutze PS 25.5.0.

Die nVidia-Grafiktreiber ist erst kürzilch aktualisiert worden.

Weiß jemand, wie ich den Grafikprozessor verwende UND keine Ruckler auftreten?

Lieben Dank für einen Gedankenanstoß! 😆

[Sameer K]

Hey, @DeDaDo. I'll need more info to help you figure this out. Please share the system info from Photoshop Help > System info > Copy & paste into a text document > upload & attach here. 

Does this happen after a specific series of steps? If disabling GPU helps, you can follow the variety of suggestions: https://adobe.ly/3TtsbcG

There are a few things you can check at the OS level.
1 - Try disabling G-Sync from the Nvidia Control panel. 

2 - Try changing the Screen Refresh rate in Windows Settings & check the same in the Nvidia Control panel for Photoshop specifically. 

Let me know how it goes. Thanks! 
Sameer K

[DeDaDo]

Hi Sameer, 

thanks for reaching out! 🙂

As I have a RTX 4090 I think that this graphics card is quite compatible 😄

I even did a screen capture video of my pointer while "crossing the border" to the property windows on the right.

I am seeing a stuttering pointer but in the video there's nothing stuttering.

Disabling G-Sync works. No stuttering in Photoshop anymore. 

But I don't think this can be the answer as I am gaming more often on this machine than using PS.

The screen refresh rate of my desktop is 144 Hz - just like my monitor. Via the nVidia Control Panel I had set the refresh rate for PS to 144 Hz a while ago, as well as VSync to "on".

Undoing those two settings unfortunately remained without success.

Only disabling G-Sync seems to help. But sorry, that is no option for me, because the older PS versions worked fine even WITH G-Sync enabled! 😞

System info is attached.

Can I do something else to solve this problem? 😞

Thank you very much!

[DeDaDo]

@PECourtejoie Merci beaucoup!

Checking "Deactivate Native Canvas" did the trick for me! If I check that option and restart PS, the stutter is gone!! ❤️ Thank you! Now I can keep G-Sync and GPU support in PS enabled! 😄

[DeDaDo]

Hi folks!

Unfortunately I have to amend my claim, where "deactivate native canvas" did the trick.

Now, after a few updates "deactivate native canvas" just vanished from the Edit/Preferences/Technology Preview menu and the stuttering came back to life.

WTH, Adobe?! 

Taking away useful solutions is definitely NOT the way of making software better...

Can Adobe please put that option back into that menu? Thanks!

EDIT:

Enabling the last option "Älterer GPU-Modus (vor 2016)" (in german) in that said menu and a restart - works!

[DeDaDo]

Hi Sameer,

I am afraid the stutter problem came back 😞

"deactivate native canvas" did the trick.

But now, after a few updates "deactivate native canvas" just vanished from the Edit/Preferences/Technology Preview menu and the stuttering came back to life.

Can Adobe please put that option back into that menu? Thanks!

EDIT:

Enabling the last option "Älterer GPU-Modus (vor 2016)" ("Older GPU mode (before 2016)" in german, I guess) in that said menu and a restart - works!

[Mohamed28663683dmnn]

I was experiencing the same issue while using Photoshop 2024, at first i tried unchecking "use Graphics processor" from the performance tab,  and it was fixed however I know that this can affect my overall experience with PS, then i came across this fix in Technology Previews tab I checked "Older GPU mode (pre 2016)" since I am using Geforce GTX 1060 6GB GPU card which was released in 2016. and the issue was resolved without having to disable my graphics card use in PS. 

hope this helps.

[carlomontie]

The most reliable solution for me is just turning off G-sync straight up, but I do play games on the same computer I use Photoshop on, so always going to the control panel every time I play and use Photoshop to switch G-sync gets annoying.

Fortunately, someone made a program to switch G-sync on and off more convenient: GsyncSwitch by kwizatz88 on GitHub. The program allows you to switch G-sync, as well as other monitor tech, directly from the System Tray.