On my Windows 10 desktop, anytime I select Roon as the active window, my refresh rate plummets from 144hz to below 30hz, sometimes down to single digits. I don’t even have to play anything. Just selecting Roon as the active window causes the problem. Anyone else ever experienced this?
How is the refresh rate being tracked? Are you noticing this issue outside of a FPS counter (i.e. can you feel the impact of this besides the counter)? While Roon is running is this affecting other apps that are running too?
If you disable G-Sync does the same behavior occur?
I had not tried turning off G-Sync. The problem goes away when G-Sync is disabled.
The monitor has an FPS counter that shows the rate plummeting, but I can also feel it. Whenever Roon is the active window, the cursor stutters when you move the mouse. When another window is active, the cursor is as smooth as you’d expect at 144hz.
If Roon is running but minimized, the refresh rate stays at 144hz.
It’s not a perfect solution, but I’ve just realized that if you choose to enable G-Sync only for full screen apps in the Nvidia Control Panel, rather than both full screen and windowed mode, the issue is resolved. I don’t know why Roon trips up G-Sync when no other apps in windowed mode cause the same issues, but at least this works for now.
In case you’re still dealing with this issue and want G-Sync enabled on the windowed programs as well have a look at this community post, it worked for me!
You basically disable G-Sync for Roon specifically so all your other applications still use it.
A better solution for this is to go to the Nvidia control panel, then to “Manage 3D Settings”, “Program Settings”.
Now just add Roon into the list by hitting add, selecting Roon and then “Add selected Program”, then now scroll down to “Monitor Technology” and select “Fixed Refresh”.
Finally, just restart the Roon app and you should be good to go.