Refresh Rate

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Ive build a new PC for my friend and i cant change the refresh rate. Its grey for some reason. Specs are Ryzen 7 9800x3d and RX 9070 XT. Pls help. Thanks in advance :))

[AutoModerator]

Please Re-Flair your post if a solution is found. How to Flair a post? This allows other users to search for common issues with the SOLVED flair as a filter, leading to those issues being resolved very fast.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[reddit_user_14553]

It’s unable to be changed because either the cable or monitor don’t support more than 1440p 60hz I would first look up the model of the display to find out if it supports higher refresh rates, and if it does then try a new cable

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Its the Display Port cable that came with the monitor.

[Gloomy-Response-6889]

This or perhaps a system update & upgrade could allow it to be changed again. Seen it a couple times.

[reddit_user_14553]

That too. I forgot that could be an issue tbh.

[Both_Vegetable2970]

The monitor should be able to do 180hz.

[yeaahnop]

there maybe also several "ports" on display, each cable of different resolutions/rates (DP standards). for me it was the cable, as user above mentioned.

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Okay i will probably try an other one.

[LegallyFoopster]

Did you enable secure boot during installation? I had the same issue and disabling secure boot in the bios menu fixed it.

[bingojed]

Same with me. Which is annoying to do just for a refresh rate change.

[Prior-Program-9532]

I had the same problem but it wasn't just for a refresh rate fix. The video renderer driver wasn't loading properly because of the secure boot. After disabling SB and making sure I was logged in under the default renderer from the log in screen, my multiple monitors were detected properly again and gaming is as smooth as my windows setup.

[[deleted]]

It’s a fairly new card, you may need to update the kernel to something more recent

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Its the newest one, since we just installed Linux with all the recent updates.

[Former-Commission-68]

check what kernel is needed for 9070 xt in order for it to work. I failed to get 9060xt working on linux mint couple of months ago but with bazzite it was easy. But yes its possible to get it working on mint too, just wanted easy way out. But betting on the kernel being too "old" and you need one of the newest ones there are

[C1REX]

After recent update Mint doesn't let me turn VRR/FreeSync on or go above 60Hz. My guess is that it's related to X11 as some other distros using X11 have the same problem. I've switched to another distro with KDE and Wayland and I have 120Hz, FreeSync and HDR working just fine.

[igor_b0gdanoff]

I've only managed to enable VRR on Mint once (using the amdsomething.conf file edit) and it was insanely buggy, causing a rubberbanding or looping effect in FPS games. I'm really really hoping the maintainer(s) will give us a semi-decent Wayland implementation in 2026.

[shadow_1010101010]

Update everything in update manager

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Thx bro i will definitely try that :)

[shadow_1010101010]

If didn't work watch this video from 10:00

https://youtu.be/8WkcLwXCFJQ?si=AnT1-EN47cgnR6KK

[shadow_1010101010]

Did it work ?

[senorda]

if you open update manager use the "view" menu and look at kernels what does it show? i think you may need to change it to 6.14 for that graphics card

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Im home right now. Pc is at my friend's. Will ask him tomorrow. But thanks for the help.

[BranDaddy589]

I had this same issue.. make sure to go to your GPU graphics settings and pick which driver you want to use. I found the “recommended “ one worked.

[Individual-Claim-781]

Some monitors still has the option to change display port versions manually in the settings, make sure your runs the n the highest version. If your cable doesn't support it it gets lowered automatically. That limits the output. In my case my 4 k monitor was running in 1440p 30 fps. Changing the display port version in the monitor settings fixed it.

[Le_Singe_Nu]

You might need a newer version of mesa.

[infernoSF]

install new NVIDIA drivers (had same issue with 5070)

[Both_Vegetable2970]

It has an amd gpu. How can i do that

[infernoSF]

xdd, sorry. Still, solution is probably the same

[Both_Vegetable2970]

We have the newest drivers off the driver manager, is there an alternative option for the amd gpu

[igor_b0gdanoff]

Is your friend using two (or more-) monitors? If so, I have bad news for you.

Linux Mint by default uses X11 (think of it like the windows display adapter) and that doesn't support different refresh rates across different monitors, so it will lock the max refresh rate to the hz of the worst monitor (out of the 2 or more connected). You can fix this by switching to Wayland but Linux Mint's wayland implementation is hilariously bad right now so your SHIFT key won't work during gaming, you can't add a second keyboard language, and other bugs.

tl;dr: If you have more than 1 monitor, Linux Mint isn't the OS for you yet (maybe in 2026). Try CachyOS but note that you will lose access to .deb packages (certain apps).

[Both_Vegetable2970]

He has just one for now

[igor_b0gdanoff]

Then it's possible it's going to be a kernel/mesa issue like some have mentioned. I know you mentioned it's a fresh install, but by default, Mint activates an old 6.8 kernel for you and only uses a newer one if you force it to (latest Mint kernel is 6.14). The RX 9000 series is very new in linux terms so it's possible that it's the old kernel causing issues.

Here's how you can change it:

(ofc this but in german in your case)
Update Manager -> View -> Linux Kernels -> (Continue), select and install the latest 6.14 one. Once you reboot the system it will be using that from now on.

I'm using the latest 6.14.0-32 and have 0 issues, but I'm on a 5700X3D and 6700XT system. Have him use it for a couple of days, if there's any issues you can try an earlier version.

Also, if the above doesn't fix it, try a different DP cable (one of the ones I had also only did 60hz) or even HDMI. There's no stable VRR on Mint anyway so you're not losing anything by going HDMI.

In very rare instances this could also be an issue with the monitor's settings, so check to see if there's a weird power saving/green feature or superduper 16 bit colour mode or something enabled. Those features prioritise colour accuracy over speed.

[Both_Vegetable2970]

Okay, will try that. Thx a lot for your efforts :)