Windows 11 to Enable Dynamic Refresh Rate on the Desktop - A Hint of Support for Multi Chip Module GPUs?

[Raevenlord]

Microsoft seemingly has one more trick up its sleeve to increase attractiveness of Windows 11. Via a Microsoft blog post, the company revealed that Windows 11 will introduce support for Dynamic Refresh Rate on the Desktop, the 2-D realm of work e-mails, personal accounting, and social media. This means that Windows will be able to dynamically change your screen's refresh rate to save power consumption - scaling it to the scenario at hand.

For example: if you are reading a TechPowerUp article, Windows will dynamically reduce the refresh rate down to 60 Hz while you do so to conserve power. However, should any user interaction occur, such as a mouse movement or other input (like moving the browser window down and revealing a TechPowerUp wallpaper), Windows will automatically restore the refresh rate to its user-defined value.





This feature will naturally be more useful for battery-powered devices, but power savings should be had wherever possible, right? There are some requirements to the enablement of this feature, however: an adaptive refresh rate monitor, (FreeSync or G-Sync) with 120 Hz or greater refresh rates. Graphics cards will need to support the new WDDM 3.0 standard - another exclusive to Windows 11. There is improved graphical support for Linux apps, and adds the ability to assign different apps to different GPUs simultaneously - which sounds a bit like OS-supported, Multi Chip Module (MCM) graphics card design to me. And the feature will have to be an app-supported one to work anyway - games will only support it if they have any creative gain for it, I wager.
Anyone want to see a 120 Hz Penumbra game that scales down to 60 Hz when you're going insane?

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[King Mustard]

It would be nice if it lowered down to 10/25 Hz on static content, like phones can.

 

[londiste]

There is improved graphical support for Linux apps, and adds the ability to assign different apps to different GPUs simultaneously - which sounds a bit like OS-supported, Multi Chip Module (MCM) graphics card design to me.

That sounds like a (very) long shot. Since this requires OS to be aware of different GPUs, letting OS or drivers to run the multi-GPU system does not seem like a good way forward. SLI/CF are already dead. MCM as per the current idea would present itself as single GPU to OS which does not match the use case of having different GPUs.

This is much more similar to Nvidia's Optimus and AMD's Switchable Graphics which Microsoft has been trying to natively implement - and step-by-step actually implementing - in Windows for a while now.

 

[xtreemchaos]

sound good to me, anything that saves power is a+ thats if it works ok. i should of said looks .

 

[dgrdsv]

Have you even read the blogpost?

5. Can I use DRR on my external display?
No, DRR is only available on laptops.

It's a laptop feature, it won't be coming to desktops or externally connected monitors anytime soon.

And "MCM GPUs" have zero relation to that since GPU's power consumption changes very slightly between refresh rates. It's the LCD panel power consumption which goes up significantly.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
So does this mean it's a baby carrot on a stick feature.

 

[Metroid]

I hope this is optional, I mean, you can turn it on or off because low refresh rate is bad for the eyes, the greater the refresh rate the better your eyes will feel if you spend hours and hours looking a computer screen. I have special eye glasses, the ones that block blue light and this eyeglasses have helped me a lot, however, I'm still on 4k 60hz monitor, my next purchase is a 4k 120hz or higher. So I have no idea why microsoft wants to add a dinamic refresh rate, the power saving will most likely be very small, you will end up spending 100000 times more money on a eye doctor than saving power from this feature.

 

[Space Lynx]

wow M$ just doesn't get it at all. high refresh just isn't for gaming. it makes EVERYTHING better. scrolling on sites just feels more fluid, etc.

eh it's whatever.

 

[Camm]

Does someone want to convince Dell their business line monitors should be 120hz now?

There's some great features on those, but the lack of 120hz is a little annoying, but obviously not an issue in the workplace.... but if I can now get a better desktop responsiveness, this just became an important feature for when I next do a monitor rollout.

 

[qubit]

Interesting for tablets and laptops, pointless for desktops. The iPad Pro has had this feature since the second gen in 2017 and it works seamlessly.

 

[mechtech]

True 10-bit colour on the 2D desktop would be nice also.

 

[Ferrum Master]

True 10-bit colour on the 2D desktop would be nice also.

The new wallpaper is ugly gradient 8bit jpg...

They never learn...

 

[Space Lynx]

The new wallpaper is ugly gradient 8bit jpg...

They never learn...

perhaps its time you join us, dual boot and use Windows only 10% of the time, Linux Mint 90% of the time. You know you want to.

I just switched to Linux Mint (latest beta release) I AM FREAKING IN LOVE!!! TAKE CARE WINDOWS 10 and 11 LMAO

So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth! It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working. Steam has an awesome...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Ferrum Master]

perhaps its time you join us, dual boot and use Windows only 10% of the time, Linux Mint 90% of the time. You know you want to.

I just switched to Linux Mint (latest beta release) I AM FREAKING IN LOVE!!! TAKE CARE WINDOWS 10 and 11 LMAO

So first impressions so far today... it's smooth!!! So smooth! It's very user friendly... I have already installed Steam with two clicks, updated all my drivers from the welcome window that pops up on first install, installed proprietary Nvidia driver, got gsync working. Steam has an awesome...

www.techpowerup.com

I do have a dual boot with linux. I have no preferred distro really. Tend to switch them around just for the lulz.

Knowing all that.. linux had dynamic rendering refresh rate FPS for years imho...

I haven't tested any of my 10bit PNGs yet. Previous Windows GUI parts were hard coded to convert anything to 8bit and having a 10 bit feature was no easy feat without rewriting everything.

 

[Valantar]

wow M$ just doesn't get it at all. high refresh just isn't for gaming. it makes EVERYTHING better. scrolling on sites just feels more fluid, etc.

eh it's whatever.

Did you miss the part where it dynamically ramps up refresh rates on user interaction? I.e. when scrolling, moving the mouse, etc.?



I agree that the author's take that this relates to MCM GPUs is way, way out there. This sounds specifically geared towards improving dynamic performance and battery life on laptops (and tablets) with two discrete GPUs. For MCM GPUs to work at any reasonable level of performance they would need to appear to the OS as a single GPU anyhow.

 

[Space Lynx]

Did you miss the part where it dynamically ramps up refresh rates on user interaction? I.e. when scrolling, moving the mouse, etc.?



I agree that the author's take that this relates to MCM GPUs is way, way out there. This sounds specifically geared towards improving dynamic performance and battery life on laptops (and tablets) with two discrete GPUs. For MCM GPUs to work at any reasonable level of performance they would need to appear to the OS as a single GPU anyhow.

Something tells me its going to misread indie games when I am idle/reading text in-game... ruining the immersion. Luckily I am on Linux Mint for indie games now, so M$ can take care regardless.

 

[Valantar]

Something tells me its going to misread indie games when I am idle/reading text in-game... ruining the immersion. Luckily I am on Linux Mint for indie games now, so M$ can take care regardless.

How would it ruin immersion? If it ramps down the refresh rate when the screen is static and then immediately ramps it up at input or on-screen movement, how will you ever be able to tell? The entire point of a dynamic system is that it is dynamic. And there is no indication that this is only dependent on user input (like, for example, Radeon Chill).

 

[TumbleGeorge]

It would be nice if it lowered down to 10/25 Hz on static content, like phones can.

Static is bad for health of display matrix?

 

[Valantar]

Static is bad for health of display matrix?

.... such a feature would obviously need displays capable of running at refresh rates that low. And given how common this is in phone LCDs and OLEDs, it's hardly a problem.

 

[GerKNG]

it has been two years and there is still no way to disable this .... "Feature".
it's frustrating and extremely annoying. does anybody have an idea how to permanently disable this crap?

 

[chrcoluk]

It sounded good until I read lowers down to 60hz, thats my daily config anyway, 120hz on desktop just feels weird.

However I still like the idea, as I dont like that when allowing higher refresh rate for games globally, it forces me to run desktop at that refresh rate, the two shouldnt be linked.

Also consider there is monitors out on the market being used by many people that run out of spec at their highest refresh rates (custom overclocked timings), not good for the components, dropping back to 60hz on desktop is good for those also.

 

[GerKNG]

if you are happy having the panel drop to 60hz constantly just to shoot back up to X Hz when you scroll... good for you. i want MY monitors to run at the refreshrates that i want...

 

[chrcoluk]

if you are happy having the panel drop to 60hz constantly just to shoot back up to X Hz when you scroll... good for you. i want MY monitors to run at the refreshrates that i want...

I dont want it up for scrolling, 60hz is plenty smooth for me (cant tell the difference between 60hz scrolling and moving a book up and down in front of my eyes). I want it locked at 60hz for the entire desktop, whilst still been able to set 120hz to be available for games if I want it, this just isnt possible, I think I would need to set it individually on games and would only work full screen as I think windowed inherits DWM. But yeah thanks for pointing out this isnt going to keep 60hz, it will go up on scrolling and stuff.

Luckily though this isnt a major issue for me as I rarely play at higher than 60hz, 60fps is fine for me, so my comment was more of a nice to have rather than I am especially bothered by it.

 

[GerKNG]

i still want to know how to permanently disable this. i tried so many different ways without success. it's disgusting how their eco extremism rules about my own property.

 

[chrcoluk]

i still want to know how to permanently disable this. i tried so many different ways without success. it's disgusting how their eco extremism rules about my own property.

You mean this new behaviour? The article says its coming but not here yet.