LS100 Video Lightning effects remove G-Sync + cause FPS drops

Hi,

As soon as I activate "Video Lightning" while playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the G-Sync function is disabled and I loose roughly 10-15fps. Activating "static lighting" for example in iCUE reactivate G-Sync and FPS goes back to normal.

• I already excluded iCUE.exe from using G-Sync in the Nvidia control panel
  
• I have updated latest Icue 3.35.125
  
• I have LS100 latest firmware 0.9.16
  
• I am running the game in full screen
  
• My W10(64) install is quite fresh and clean (less than 6months)
  

And sure I already spotted multiple thread about this issue on the Forum but so far there is no thread with a proper answer/work arround for this problem.

Hope someone could help

Thanks for the feedback

BR++

Chris

I'm not an expert on this, but I believe this is related to the way iCUE captures colors.

In fact, it's quite common on other ambient lighting apps as well. When I tested Hue, only one app managed to avoid the conflict by using Desktopmagic to take the screenshots. The efficiency could be much lower than other methods but at least it has no conflict with G-Sync. Hope Corsair could implement similar methods as a compatibility option.

In terms of FPS losses, iCUE has to process the images to get colors, so I guess it's just a sacrifice you have to make (unless you leave the processing and even capturing to another device).

Coming over from https://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1071306#post1071306

I'm not an expert on this, but I believe this is related to the way iCUE captures colors.

In fact, it's quite common on other ambient lighting apps as well. When I tested Hue, only one app managed to avoid the conflict by using Desktopmagic to take the screenshots. The efficiency could be much lower than other methods but at least it has no conflict with G-Sync. Hope Corsair could implement similar methods as a compatibility option.

In terms of FPS losses, iCUE has to process the images to get colors, so I guess it's just a sacrifice you have to make (unless you leave the processing and even capturing to another device).

I don't seem to get any conflict between Video Lighting and G-Sync - I can have both enabled and they run well together. I've got an RTX 3070 and Asus monitor if that helps, and run all games in Exclusive Fullscreen.

I suppose that makes sense, I would hope there would be a way to make it not effect performance so much. Regardless of how little/much performance affect there is, Corsair should mention this somewhere in their documentation so the consumer can decide if the performance drop is worth it prior to purchasing. I still love the effect but depending on what game I’m playing I’ll turn off video lighting so my FPS won’t drop!

I suppose this is fair enough, since it has to use a few CPU cycles to sample the display. I think the effect is worse in CPU intensive games - HZD uses 60-70% of the CPU in open areas and I feel that is impacted the most (from ~110FPS to ~90FPS and stuttering). I tried Wolfenstein Young Blood and the effect is much less apparent there - I went from ~160FPS to about ~155FPS in open areas. In Nier: Automata there's no difference at all, but that game is locked to 60FPS. I couldn't tell a difference in The Outer Worlds either, even with that game running at 100FPS.

I also tested runs in Unigine Valley but having Video Lighting did not seem to affect my score at all. Will give 3DMark a go soon to see if it does anything.

"Will give 3DMark a go soon to see if it does anything."

Just posted in other thread - 20k with ambient lighting off, 17800 with it on in timespy, so yeah, pretty big impact

Coming over from https://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1071306#post1071306

 

 

I don't seem to get any conflict between Video Lighting and G-Sync - I can have both enabled and they run well together. I've got an RTX 3070 and Asus monitor if that helps, and run all games in Exclusive Fullscreen.

 

Did you tried checking with the G-SYNC indicator [control panel>display>g-sync indicator] just to be sure ?

Because I also have an Asus monitor and a RTX2080ti and I'm positif that video lightning remove G-SYNC on all my games and also on GPU bench like Superposition.

Would be great to have a statement from Corsair directly

Did you tried checking with the G-SYNC indicator [control panel>display>g-sync indicator] just to be sure ?

 

Because I also have an Asus monitor and a RTX2080ti and I'm positif that video lightning remove G-SYNC on all my games and also on GPU bench like Superposition.

 

Would be great to have a statement from Corsair directly

I just tried that out in a couple games - it still says "G-Sync On" when video lighting is (obviously) enabled. My monitor's OSD also says that it is on and I can see that it is changing its refresh rate according to the FPS in game.

I have exactly the same problem. I have a LG 32GK650F monitor with G-Sync/Freesync enabled. And I have noticed the major performance impact in Cyberpunk 2077 for example.

I have average 55 fps in one of the scenes when ls100 "video lighting" is on.

And around 70 average fps in exactly the same scene with the same graphical settings when Icue is off or ls100 lighting mode is changed to any other.

How can i fix that? I can't use ls100 functions without that, I did not find any mention in the manual that the ls100 should be that much of a decrease in performance. Can you help me with that.

I have exactly the same problem. I have a LG 32GK650F monitor with G-Sync/Freesync enabled. And I have noticed the major performance impact in Cyberpunk 2077 for example.

I have average 55 fps in one of the scenes when ls100 "video lighting" is on.

And around 70 average fps in exactly the same scene with the same graphical settings when Icue is off or ls100 lighting mode is changed to any other.

How can i fix that? I can't use ls100 functions without that, I did not find any mention in the manual that the ls100 should be that much of a decrease in performance. Can you help me with that.

I've stopped using video lighting, probably going to take the strips off and use them elsewhere... I have an LG monitor with inbuilt ambient light, not as good as LS100 but no real impact on FPS. Impact with LS100 is INSANE in games!

Can't believe this is being talked about as a bigger issue, assuming most people who are buying LS100 are gamers looking for more immersive experience

I've stopped using video lighting, probably going to take the strips off and use them elsewhere... I have an LG monitor with inbuilt ambient light, not as good as LS100 but no real impact on FPS. Impact with LS100 is INSANE in games!

 

Can't believe this is being talked about as a bigger issue, assuming most people who are buying LS100 are gamers looking for more immersive experience

Can you tell me the model of your monitor please?

Did corsair answer you anything?

"Will give 3DMark a go soon to see if it does anything."

 

Just posted in other thread - 20k with ambient lighting off, 17800 with it on in timespy, so yeah, pretty big impact

Can confirm I lost a bunch of points in 3DMark with Video Lighting.

Without:

13.7k points, with 14.1k for GPU and 12k for CPU

With:

11.9k points, with 11.9k for GPU and 11.7k for CPU

So also lost about 2k points with Video Lighting active.

Installing now, did it fix your FPS impact issues?

No change for me ... 19975 in Timespy without video lighting, 18120 with it on.. unacceptable impact

I'm inclined to just leave it be at this point - I'm sticking to using Video Lighting in some games, like MMOs, where it looks fantastic in raids and a drop of a few FPS (like from 160 to 155) doesn't really matter. If I really need to squeeze out a few extra FPS like in Cyberpunk I just set them to off in the game's CUE profile.

Reckon I've got the hardware to keep Video Lighting on in like 90% of the things I play without noticing an impact unless I'm staring at the FPS meter and taking notes. I treat it as another graphical quality setting.

I gave up on this feature.. Yes in AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk 2077 it looks gorgeous but it clearly screw g-sync and perf.

So I would finally consider LS100 as an over-expensive static back light system from now on

Yeah, I'm sticking with the sphere lighting on my LG monitor for video lighting, works ok and without the FPS impact.

LS100 now against the back edge of my desk casting against the wall, matching case RGB... Looks pretty good.

Still, hopefully Corsair can fix this

On 2/24/2021 at 5:32 PM, Corsair Notepad said:

Purely due to the nature of the effect there is going to be a performance impact. The iCUE software is already a hardware accelerated program that utilizes the GPU and now you have the video lighting effect that has to directly utilize the GPU in order to properly pull in the data and make the effect work properly. If you are unhappy with the impact that it has on your performance when gaming in specific titles then we would recommend that you disable the effect when playing those games.

Wait what?
iCUE itself lowers FPS too?? Why would it do that?!


Also getting lower FPS with video ambient lighting mode.
What I am curious about is whether that's also the case with other products like this, though I am guessing those receiving information from the monitor instead of the GPU might not have an FPS impact, but possibly a cause higher delays on the monitor?