• acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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    10 months ago

    Adjusting the refresh rate to the performance of the desktop is one.

    That’s the definition, isn’t it? Why is this better than a fixed refresh rate? Can the monitor scale the rate down to consume less power or something?

    I also heard it would make it easier to manage multiple monitors sporting different refresh rates, although I haven’t had issues with that personally.

    I heard that too and got similarly confused. I work with two monitors with different refresh rates (75 and 60) on Mint and it seems fine. Is X downgrading my 75 Hz monitor to 60 silently? I don’t know how to check that.

    • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
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      10 months ago

      Can the monitor scale the rate down to consume less power or something?

      In theory, yes. However, I have never seen it used that way. The only widely used applications for VRR are games and video playback.

      Would be interesting to do some power measurements though.

      Is X downgrading my 75 Hz monitor to 60 silently?

      Yes, X does not support different refresh rates. Wayland does.

    • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago
      1. To avoid having to skip frames to make the desktop look more fluid, thus matching the refresh rate of the monitor.

      2. I think the whole desktop runs at the higher refresh rate when you have mismatched monitors? Not sure. Wayland and X11 might differ as well on how they handle this.

      • Fisch@lemmy.ml
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        10 months ago

        X11 runs the whole desktop on the lowest refresh rate and Wayland can run each monitor at a different refresh rate