I just got a second monitor, the specs for the new and the original are below. I need help figuring out how to configure my PC to best fit my needs and my systems capabilities. Both monitors have G-SYNC enabled by the way.
My FIRST and biggest concern is that whenever I launch a game and have it focused, the screen on my new monitor flickers pretty severely regardless of which monitor I have the game on. If I have the game focused from my new monitor this only happens during the loading process and then it resolves once it's completed. If I have the game focused from my old monitor, then the new monitor will still flicker even after loading. When I focus a different application than the game, the screen almost completely stops flickering even if the game is still displayed on the old monitor. I say almost because there is still a teeny tiny flicker every now and then when something new is processing (anything from opening a small file to inputting a move command in a game could cause it on occasion). The old monitor never flickers. Any clues as to how I can fix this? Do I just need to lower my settings to give my system an easier time? Would disabling G-SYNC and enabling MPRT instead help? I'll put the rest of my system details down below too.
SECONDLY, and definitely less importantly there are some games that I'd prefer to play on my old monitor for a few reasons: it has a faster refresh rate, not every game supports ultrawide (cough cough Elden Ring for some reason...? pretty dumb, huh), and because my layout is such that I can turn my old monitor to use from a nearby couch haha. I have most games set to borderless windowed mode so that I can access the other monitor quickly and so that I can move games to the old monitor if I want to play from my couch. For the record, the flickering issue occurs regardless of this setting.
I guess I've only tried this on Elden Ring so far since its the main one I still plan on playing from my old monitor, but since my new monitor is set as the system default, any games launch there and I then need to use [Shift+Win+Right] to move them to my other monitor (see image 1). The issue is that when I do this, the game still thinks its on my new monitor, so the resolution stays the same and 21:9 gets smushed into 16:9. When I alt+tab away from the game and then back again, the aspect ratio fixes itself, but I'm left with the same resolution so a quarter of that gets pushed off screen. 23.8% if you're a nerd. In which case, I'd say: "You're a nerd". The game recognizes the monitor it was launched on as an ultrawide, and only shows ultrawide resolution options in the in game display setting menu so I can't switch it to 2560x1440 from there (image 2). I've tried putting the game into fullscreen, while it's on the 16:9 monitor, and when I do, it moves to my 21:9 as it transitions to full screen, BUT it automatically changes the resolution to match the 16:9 it's moving from. So now it's set at 2560x1440 stretched across my 3440x1440 screen (image 3). From here if I swap it back to the other monitor, like before, the resolution remains the same, 2560x1440, so it's where I want it and it fits the screen, but it's in fullscreen mode when I'd like it to be in borderless (image 4). Switching it back to borderless moves it to the widescreen monitor and again changes the resolution so we're back where we started: Elden Ring running in 3440x1440 in borderless windowed on the new monitor (image 1 again). I assume that if I could get the game to launch from the secondary monitor in the first place then it would all run smoothly, but is there a way to do that without setting it as my primary monitor before every time I launch the game?
Original Monitor - Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ - 2560x1440, 165 hz, 1ms
(I have it running at 144 hz to avoid taxing my system too much and to match my other monitor; is this necessary?)
New Monitor - VIOTEK GNV34DBE2 - 3440x1440, 144 hz, 1ms MPRT / 6ms GTG
PC Components
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
RTX 3060 Ti
The rest is at the link if you need/want to see it
Pictures
1- display settings immediately after launch
2- display settings after moving application to second monitor
3- display settings after switching to fullscreen
4- display settings after moving application to second monitor again
My FIRST and biggest concern is that whenever I launch a game and have it focused, the screen on my new monitor flickers pretty severely regardless of which monitor I have the game on. If I have the game focused from my new monitor this only happens during the loading process and then it resolves once it's completed. If I have the game focused from my old monitor, then the new monitor will still flicker even after loading. When I focus a different application than the game, the screen almost completely stops flickering even if the game is still displayed on the old monitor. I say almost because there is still a teeny tiny flicker every now and then when something new is processing (anything from opening a small file to inputting a move command in a game could cause it on occasion). The old monitor never flickers. Any clues as to how I can fix this? Do I just need to lower my settings to give my system an easier time? Would disabling G-SYNC and enabling MPRT instead help? I'll put the rest of my system details down below too.
SECONDLY, and definitely less importantly there are some games that I'd prefer to play on my old monitor for a few reasons: it has a faster refresh rate, not every game supports ultrawide (cough cough Elden Ring for some reason...? pretty dumb, huh), and because my layout is such that I can turn my old monitor to use from a nearby couch haha. I have most games set to borderless windowed mode so that I can access the other monitor quickly and so that I can move games to the old monitor if I want to play from my couch. For the record, the flickering issue occurs regardless of this setting.
I guess I've only tried this on Elden Ring so far since its the main one I still plan on playing from my old monitor, but since my new monitor is set as the system default, any games launch there and I then need to use [Shift+Win+Right] to move them to my other monitor (see image 1). The issue is that when I do this, the game still thinks its on my new monitor, so the resolution stays the same and 21:9 gets smushed into 16:9. When I alt+tab away from the game and then back again, the aspect ratio fixes itself, but I'm left with the same resolution so a quarter of that gets pushed off screen. 23.8% if you're a nerd. In which case, I'd say: "You're a nerd". The game recognizes the monitor it was launched on as an ultrawide, and only shows ultrawide resolution options in the in game display setting menu so I can't switch it to 2560x1440 from there (image 2). I've tried putting the game into fullscreen, while it's on the 16:9 monitor, and when I do, it moves to my 21:9 as it transitions to full screen, BUT it automatically changes the resolution to match the 16:9 it's moving from. So now it's set at 2560x1440 stretched across my 3440x1440 screen (image 3). From here if I swap it back to the other monitor, like before, the resolution remains the same, 2560x1440, so it's where I want it and it fits the screen, but it's in fullscreen mode when I'd like it to be in borderless (image 4). Switching it back to borderless moves it to the widescreen monitor and again changes the resolution so we're back where we started: Elden Ring running in 3440x1440 in borderless windowed on the new monitor (image 1 again). I assume that if I could get the game to launch from the secondary monitor in the first place then it would all run smoothly, but is there a way to do that without setting it as my primary monitor before every time I launch the game?
Original Monitor - Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ - 2560x1440, 165 hz, 1ms
(I have it running at 144 hz to avoid taxing my system too much and to match my other monitor; is this necessary?)
New Monitor - VIOTEK GNV34DBE2 - 3440x1440, 144 hz, 1ms MPRT / 6ms GTG
PC Components
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
RTX 3060 Ti
The rest is at the link if you need/want to see it
Pictures
1- display settings immediately after launch
2- display settings after moving application to second monitor
3- display settings after switching to fullscreen
4- display settings after moving application to second monitor again
