The ATI/AMD Radeon low refresh rate bug is a notorious legacy issue where older games (typically utilizing DirectX 7, 8, 9, or OpenGL) automatically force your monitor to drop to 60Hz (or even lower) upon launch. This occurs regardless of your desktop being configured to a high refresh rate like 144Hz or 240Hz.
The bug is driven by legacy ATI Catalyst/AMD Adrenalin driver behavior, modern Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) conflicts, or games failing to recognize modern display timings. Use a Modern API Wrapper (Highly Recommended)
Legacy games struggles to talk directly to modern graphics drivers. Wrappers intercept old game code and translate it into modern APIs, completely bypassing the refresh rate bug. DXVK (DirectX 9 to Vulkan): Download the latest DXVK release on GitHub.
Extract the d3d9.dll file from the x86 folder (for 32-bit games) or x64 folder (for 64-bit games).
Paste the DLL directly into the main directory next to the game’s executable file (.exe). This forces the game to run on Vulkan, naturally enforcing your monitor’s native high refresh rate. dgVoodoo 2 (DirectX 1–8 & Older OpenGL): Download dgVoodoo 2.
Copy the core DLL files from the MS/x86 folder and paste them into your game folder.
Launch the dgVoodooCpl.exe utility, navigate to the General or DirectX tabs, and explicitly lock the Refresh Rate to your monitor’s maximum limit. Configure AMD Adrenalin Settings
Modern AMD software contains specific features intended for power-saving or synchronization that routinely cause older engines to lock up or throttle back to low frame states.
Fixing refresh rate bug in latest ATI radeon drivers – Mattiesworld
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