Answer ID 4662
WHY ARE THERE TEARING ARTIFACTS ON WINDOWED APPLICATIONS WHEN I USE A QUADRO SYNC OR QUADRO SYNC II CARD WITH WINDOWS 10?
Issue
Customers deploying multi-display solutions using multiple GPUs with Quadro Sync or Sync II under Windows 10 may encounter visual artifacts when synchronizing applications in windowed mode.
Visual artifacts include image flickering and tearing.
Explanation
Starting with Microsoft Windows 8, there is no longer an option to disable the Microsoft Windows Desktop Window Manager (DWM).
The Windows DWM is responsible for creating the desktop image, which is formed by rendering windows to off-screen surfaces in video memory and combining with other graphical elements (such as the taskbar) before combining to form the desktop image on the display.
In previous versions of Windows, the graphics driver could disable DWM in order to control the presentation of windowed contents to the display. This allowed Quadro Sync/ Quadro Sync II cards to synchronize the update of windowed contents. With DWM in operation, the graphics driver cannot synchronize the update of windowed contents, and this results in the tearing artifacts.
Resolution
DWM is not in operation for applications in full-screen mode. Therefore, the most viable solution is for the application to render in full-screen mode, allowing the graphics driver to correctly update application contents. This may require modification of the application if it is not able to render in full-screen mode.
In some cases, an application may render to a viewport. In such a situation the proposed solution would be for the application to render full-screen even though the viewport itself covers a smaller region of the desktop. This allows the graphics driver to synchronize the updates for the viewport.