My NVIDIA Inspector Reference

This page shows relevant NVIDIA Inspector settings, a description of what they do and what to expect when using them in-game. Some settings are not shown.

NVIDIA Inspector is a program made by Orbmu2k. Download from here.

Frame Rate Limiters and Frame Rate Controls

Frame Rate Limiter - This parameter, other than allowing the user to cap the fps, sets FRL 1.0 in all applications. FRL is a feature in the driver that dynamically caps framerate for stability purposes. Setting this to Off allows unrestricted render on the GPU (without frametimes check). What can be expected depending on the game: better or worse frametimes, better or worse latency.

Frame Rate Limiter Mode - This parameter, other than allowing the user to cap the fps, sets FRL 2.0 in all applications. This acts in a similar way but it's supposedly a better version of FRL 1.0. Setting this to Limiter V2 - Force Off will instead make use FRL 1.0.

Frame Rate Limiter V3 - This acts similarly to FRL 1.0 and FRL 2.0 but it's an even newer version. Setting to Off enables FRL 2.0 instead.

Frame Rate Monitor - Frame shifting settings for framerate control. What can be expected depending on the game: This can affect FBO in pretty unknown ways. According to specifications and practice, it is not 100% clear how this could affect performance, but it surely can affect how the frames look like on screen (the "smoothness").

Frame Rate Monitor Control - Specifies the way of controlling framerate control in combination with the several shifting settings. What can be expected depending on the game: Input changes (usually worse) and smoothness changes (usually better).

Buffers

What to expect when changing all these values: The lower, the better input and the worse fps. The higher, the better fps and the worse input.

OGL_PULL_MEM_BUFFER_SHARED_THRESHOLD - This controls a dynamic threshold by setting a value to which the memory pull buffer "moves". Not adviced to set this below 0x00000080.

OGL_PULL_MEM_DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE - Default memory pull buffer size (starting value). Not adviced to set this below 0x00000080.

MCFORCEHOSTSTAGINGBUFFERSIZE - Sets the Host Staging Buffer Size. This is a global buffer that changes pretty much everything in the GPU queue. Not adviced to set this below 0x00000020.

MAX_PENDING_CMD_BUFFERS - Sets the max pending command buffers that are allowed at the same time. Not adviced to set this below 0x00000001.

Async Values

What to expect when changing all these values: Async values on OFF or Force Sync always provide the best input, but might cause fps drops, stuttering or frametimes issues depending on the game.

ASYNC10_ENABLE - Controls Async10 mode (technically for DX10 and higher).

ASYNC10_NVAPI_MODE - Controls Async10 NVAPI Mode (use 0x00000000 when forcing off).

ASYNC10_OOO_QUERY_LIMIT - Query limit when using Async10 (the maximum amount of elements in the async buffer, before discharging). Not adviced to set this below 0x00000020.

ASYNC10_PRESENT_MODE - Present mode for Async10 (WARNING: crashes NVIDIA Inspector after applying if used in latest graphics drivers).

ASYNC9_ENABLE - Controls Async9 mode (technically for DX9, 9.x, 9Ex, Aero Extensions in Win7 and below).

ASYNC9_PRESENT_MODE - Present mode for Async9.

NVIDIA Control Panel settings

SILK Smoothness - Unlock by putting EnableRID61684 dword in (driver service)\FTS and set to 1. SILK Smoothness creates a smoothing post-processing buffer and uses motion estimation techniques to reduce microstuttering. Programs and games need a special flag named "SILK Test App" for this to work. Enabling / increasing this can cause input problems in specific games.

Low Latency Mode - Limits GPU's flip queue (prerendered frames) according to this value. Ultra means the flip queue should be 1.