Drivers & Software

[Gio_93]

Hi Everyone,

   As for the title post I'm trying to enable VRR on my new 6900XT but i can't find the way to enable it.

I've updated the TV to the latest firmware that enables VRR for the Sony A80J, then I've updated the drivers to the latest release 22.4.2, then i've enabled the enanched format on the TV(VRR option) but in the Catalyst Driver there Is no toggle for VRR, but only the one referring to Freesync that the Sony doesn't support.

The GPU is connected to the TV with an HDMI 2.1 certified cable, on the HDMI 4 that is one of the 2  ports that supports 2.1.

Any tips please 🥲

[cvzone]

Despite the specification "HDMI™: HDMI™ 2.1 VRR and FRL" on AMD's website, the whole 6000 series seems not to support HDMI VRR over HDMI 2.1 at the moment. LG C9 Users (which doesn't support freesync) are left alone since release as well...

If you contact AMD support the tell you that there is no known driver bug or even don't know what HDMI VRR is...

PS: and if you asked on reddit for help, 90% of users there don't know the difference between freesync and HDMI VRR or tell you that your TV does not support VRR, so useless.

[Gio_93]

Yes, infact I've read about this topic on older threads, I hoped that maybe in the meantime someone have fixed it

I've studied about VRR and and Freesync and as you said the most of the people doesn't know the difference, I suppose that even in AMD Group they doesn't know the difference.

In my opinion if a GPU is branded as HDMI 2.1 VRR capable and it is not is not fair and false advertising, since I bought the Sony because they updated the firmware tu support VRR.

Thanks for your answer, who will know when AMD will address this issue, (maybe a class action should speed up the things )

[Slacker]

I  have the same issue with my 6800xt and Sony X90J.  I posted about it in another thread a while ago.  AMD needs to fix this issue with their drivers.  It looks like false advertising to me.

Anyone from AMD care to comment on this?

[cvzone]

On the LG C9 you can trick the TV to HDMI 2.0 TMDS Mode. In TMDS the AMD driver can use HDMI VRR, but you are limited to 4K60. So it seems to be a problem with Fixed Rate Link (FRL)in the driver.

[nintendoeats]

I have an A90J and 6800XT, and am also very frustrated by this. It is not very nice that I cannot use a feature that both my very expensive TV and very expensive GPU are advertised to support, particularly when I know that people who went with Nvidia have this working fine.

I even messed around with faking EDID info. I was able to get VRR to work by adding the freesync field, except it was useless because the screen would go black at random (I'm guessing when the framerate went too low or too high).

[nintendoeats]

Wahey! I decided to try again with EDID spoofing, and had more success this time.

Download Custom Resolution Utility by ToastyX and run it.

Select your TV from the list.
Click the CTA-861 extension block.
Click  the HDMI 2.1 support data block.
Click edit.
Take note of the listed VRR range.
Click cancel.
Add a new "Freesync range" data block.
Set the correct VRR range from the previous step.
Click ok.
Unplug and plug in the HDMI cable to the TV.

For me, this did enable VRR. Unfortunately on the A90J it's 48Hz, which is a pretty high threshold, so in the most demanding test I ran (RE8 with raytracing) there was still some tearing in very specific spots (like, you are looking at this room from such and such an angle and I guess that causes the framerate to dip just below the threshold). It might be possible to force a lower threshold and not totally break, I haven't tried that yet. I know it doesn't go down to 20-25 for my TV, because that was what I had tried originally.

And to be clear, I really really shouldn't need to do this whole dance to make it work -_-

[cvzone]

With CRU Freesync entry the C9 can also enable the VRR/Freesync Switch in the driver. But it is useless and doesn't work.

Have you checked if it is really working (AMD Windmill or Nvidia Pendulum Demo)?

I suggest the pattern test. This shows very cleary if it is working or not. 

[nintendoeats]

Thanks for the suggestion, I agree it is good to do a more thorough test.

I just ran the pendulum test. In the test pattern mode and set to fixed 60 fps, the difference between VRR on and VRR off is huge. With it off, I was actually able to see a large tear stay at more or less the same height for a full cycle of the test line across the screen. There were many other tearing artifacts visible as well, such as the whole line jittering into and out of a staircase pattern for a while.

With the VRR toggle enabled in the AMD drivers (and no other changes), the test line was rock solid in the same test case. There was some visible tearing as I reduced the frame rate below 48 FPS, consistent with what I saw running RE8.

[Gio_93]

Oh great, finally a savior I followed your instructions and finally the VRR toogle appear, so i clicked It and It seems that VRR is enabled.

Just to be curious, how do I know if it's really enabled? I mean I tried the Pendulum demo but I can t understand if it's enabled or not, i don t see much difference with VRR enabled or not.

Thanks again for you incredible support AMD should learn how to give support from its community

[Yatounoneko]

I am not Sony a80j but I use the pg32uq+avr-x2700h. Because the AVR device does not support AMD freesync, I have successfully started VRR through your method, but the screen is still Black screen randomly. And I found that I can't add freesync support directly when I add it. I can only add it by deleting an option in one of the data blocks. I wonder if it has anything to do with this. orz.....

[nintendoeats]

I'm no expert, but I assume that if the AVR does not support freesync then you are SoL. HDMI (prior to HDMI 2.1) embeds the audio in the frame data, so I'm surprised your VRR is playing sound at all.

In my case, I'm just tricking the TV and graphics card into acknowledging that they support a feature they already have. In your case, you are trying to force the AVR to pretend that it has a feature it was never designed with. That could work if VRR were used as a differentiating feature between products in a stack, interesting thought...

Anyway, in my case I got screen dropouts when the actual frame rate went below the lower bound of what the TV supported. I had to set the lower bound exactly, even lowering it by one frame could cause dropouts.

[Yatounoneko]

Sorry, I need to clarify that the selling point of this AVR is hdmi2.1, and the official document also confirms that it supports VRR function. I asked the Denon official and they said that vrr can be supported through the rtx3090 graphics card (even if the monitor does not support g-sycn, vrr can be enabled on the g-sycn interface). ANYWAY, I've always feel amd software logical error to be suffocating.

[nintendoeats]

Sorry I missed this message

I found the "test pattern" mode where it scans a line across the screen to be most useful. The difference was extremely obvious, with VRR on there was virtually no tearing. With VRR off it was...AWFUL...

[oversemper]

As of mid of August, XR-77A80J (firmware 6.5929) + 6900XT (22.5.2 latest stable release) 120 Hz 4:4:4 RGB works alright but win 10 does not recognize the screen as VRR compatible. AMD, please, fix it officially coz they ARE COMPATIBLE.

[cvzone]

Try 22.7.1 or newer. These drivers finally activate VRR (for TMDS) on TMDS/FRL HDMI 2.1 Displays without any EDID/CRU tricks

But as VRR only works in TMDS mode with AMD drivers since years, you are limited to 4K60 8 Bit. For Fixed Rate Link (everything higher than 4K60 8Bit) VRR does just not work. Driver shows VRR as enabled with support from 40-120 Hz, but the image will tear.

[oversemper]

Thank you for the information! I've read a lot about 22.7.x and 22.8.x beta drivers and there are tons of complains from 6xxx users about broken openGL and hardware accel right in the common desktop programs like MS edge. It's like AMD tries to prove that these are BETA drivers. Scary to update. Gonna wait for a WHQL one with, hopefully, fixed hardware accel and openGL stuff.

[noko]

Sony XR A90J, AMD drivers 22.8.2, XFX MERC 6900XT

Drivers, in the AMD Display settings, VRR is enabled, Display Specs shows FreeSync Range 48 to 120hz. Using HDMI 4 port with VRR enabled on TV settings -> Still no VRR, Tearing is very evident in RDR2 looking at vertical polls, side of buildings etc. Fullscreen resolution with fps within the FreeSync range.

With my 3090, VRR seems to work perfectly on this TV.

Is there an update to this, any AMD response? For a company that promotes open standards but yet only supports their standard on something that is so beneficial is egg on their face. Very dissappointing.

[cvzone]

Unfortunately not, AMD is completely ignoring this problem. There were some fixes in 22.7.1 but as it still does not work, I guess the hardware is not capable of HDMI VRR with Fixed Rate Link Connections. In TMDS Mode (4K60) it works fine.

[Elyeu]

I just wanted to ask how it looks in the meantime.
I read on Reddit that Freesync/VRR works just fine on the A90K. (Even if it is not supported according to official specs).
I'd like to upgrade to the 7900XTX, but if VRR doesn't work properly on my A90J that would be a bummer. And i maybe just buy Nvidia because of that...

[oversemper]

Also waiting for confirmation about VRR 120hz support on 7900xtx, if there isn't one, moving to a green card, which supports it even on the 30 series.

[Anonymous]

FORGOT TO SAY! SUPER IMPORTANT. DIRECT CABLE CARD TO TV no adaptors no converters.. no audio visual receivers. no display port to HDMI .. 1 port to 1 port HDMI to HDMI or DP to DP. nothing in between. ever.. its a latency thing. it cant work if something else doesnt have freesync low latency .. like umm vinyl record output audio if you put a series of cheap old mp3 players in between the wires its stop working. 

people dont know the difference between freesync and VRR because there is 0 difference all VRR has freesync built into the TV, but its hollywoods name for when a TV works well with freesync as originally intended in the TV standard. the other thing is, its always nice to rename freesync once in a while while being exactly the same. Lots of people make a cheapest tv and when freesync is decades old use the minimum decades older specs and people mistake freesync displays as being less good and not "INFINITELY BETTER" freesync2premiumproHDR is literally identical to freesync original.. but they tacked on some HDR as its something the TV's use but freesync2's HDR is true colour Sc RGB full 444 colourspace using ciel labs SCRGB and supporting aperture exposure values and other cool stuff in the standard so all your titles with freesync2 premium pro HDR are identical freesync 1 but with higher mininum specs for things like input latency which used to be 16ms or something modern VRR re-releases freesync 1 and freesync2 as they're the same, with the HDR added of freesync2 and hopefully the game software specs of make games look more photorealistic like freesync 2 premiumpro HDR.. but VRR has.. LOWER LATENCY support for up to 300hz refresh rates or something i dunno its the same freesync but newer with a tacked on TV stuff that people keep adding on features and pretend awesome freesync isnt awesome that the free and open standard thats open source that anyone can use isnt AMD tech and isnt as good as physically possible decades ago.. but yeah assuming you have a VRR display, you use the buttons on the TV or the remote control buttons menu and on my samsung displays its found under EXTERNAL DEVICES > game mode > freesync. (thats what VRR is) once  you set your display to GAME MODE and enable FREESYNC your windows 11 OS can then let you TOGGLE VRR in the windows display subsections. and your adrenaline driver may say freesync/vrr either ones fine they're both the same damned thing.

[cvzone]

Sorry, this is wrong. HDMI VRR has no build in freesync and is a different standard. Yes, it does the same but it is not the same.

[oversemper]

To update the current situation: sony 77A80J, firmware v6.6070 (latest as of now), win11 pro 22h2, 6900xt drivers 22.11.2 latest available for 6900xt and whql certified. TV is plugged directly via HDMI to port 4 with VRR mode in the TV settings enabled for port 4. Radeon driver settings recognize a VRR-able panel "right from the box" and allows to tick VRR settings to ON/OFF. However, as @cvzone kindly reported above, VRR physically works only at 60hz mode. Actual FPS must be capped below 60hz (e.g. at 59) to remove all screen tearing. Overall, it is unusable, because few games (which you would play on a tv) allow to cap FPS and third-party FPS-capping apps introduce lag comparable to vsync making them senseless. The best option as of now is to play at VSYNCed 120hz mode and, if your game/hardware is not 120fps stable, enable "half vsync" (at least tomb raider games support it), which outputs each frame twice thereby providing stable tearfree 60fps with a lower input lag due to 120hz mode.

Dear AMD, how come that the AMD PS5's hardware is 120hz VRR capable but 6900xt is not?

[macxd]

I have a Hisense U78G and VRR 120hz works perfect for me on my 6700XT. i don't know whats going with Sony, but 120hz VRR works on 6000 series cards. 

You have 120hz selected in the windows display settings correct? 

[oversemper]

Thanks for the info! I checked two reviews of Hisense U78G and Hisense U7G (they are the same?), and they say it supports freesync. So maybe it works in your case due to the TV's support of freesync which is a different protocol than VRR even though they do the same thing.

Of course 120hz is selected, it brakes the VRR support, at 60hz (full RGB 4:4:4 8 bit) it works, at 120hz (full RGB 4:4:4 8 bit) it does not. At 4k 160Hz (full RGB 4:4:4 8 bit) I have perfact freesync working on my monitor (LG 27GP950) on the same PC.

[macxd]

if you select 120 in windows display setting and freesync/vrr is turned on in your tv options, and if it is then greyed out or not selectable in adrenaline software then you have a bandwidth problem, ie you don't have a good hdmi 2.1 cable or the port is set to 2.0. 

vrr and freesync are the same thing vrr is just the most basic standard of freesync. 

[oversemper]

It is selectable, selected and indicated as working but in fact it does not work, there is still screen tearing. VRR and Freesync are trademarks owned by different companies under which trademarks they market their implementation of VESA Adaptive Sync technology. They are similar but not the same. PS5 supports VRR but won't work with a freesync-only monitor, radeon rx 550 supports freesync but won't work with a VRR-only TV (like sony bravia).

[oversemper]

Wow, guys! Just clean-installed the new 23.2.1 whql. Looks like 120hz VRR is up and running! Tested the windmill demo at 60fps, actual fps is about 60.5, and when you click the freesync toggle it removes the tearing and you can see a slight gamma shift which is a known side affect of the working VRR. Before the new drivers the windmill worked only at 60hz mode at 55fps. Tested in Rise of the Tomb Raider and it is also smooth as butter at flactuating fps from 70 to 110 (4k, 120hz, all maxxed out, SMAA). Please check and report with your rigs.

[nintendoeats]

I'll try this out as soon as I can. For me, even when I hacked the EDID to make VRR work, I would get random video dropouts of one or two seconds, so I'm really interested to see if that is fixed.

[oversemper]

Since the 23.2.1 update I've played a lot of rise of tomb raider and MGS 5, all with vsync turn off, MGS is locked to 60 fps, VRR boosts its gamma, I lowered gamma one click in the TV settings to compensate the pixel overcharge due to the 60 hz. Rise of tomb raider fluctuates between 75 and up to 150 fps, slight tearing can be noticed when it's over 120 fps, but it is very seldom and hardly noticeable, the more the frequency the lesser tearing is noticeable. On my 4k 160Hz monitor (LG 27GP950) when I play CS GO with no FPS cap I just cannot manage to see tearing coz it's so fast that my eyes cannot catch it. So, overall, I am very satisfied with the implemented VRR, it is pretty much perfect, the gamma shift is inherent to the LG OLED panels and cannot be avoided, but it is really not that much of a deal if you generally stay above 60 fps or lock it to some value.

[nintendoeats]

The good news is that I am also now getting VRR as an option without any dirty EDID hacks. Unfortunately the behaviour is exactly the same as when I did have the EDID hacks: random audio dropouts (sorry, that's what my original comment should have said). Fortunately they are rare enough not to be a real issue, and since my whole setup is rather complex its hard to say where the audio stream is being lost.