Using FreeSync with Nvidia GPUs: How Well Does It Work?

[Julio Franco]

To the surprise of many, Nvidia has backed down from their G-Sync tower and enabled Nvidia GPU owners to use adaptive sync with a wide range of FreeSync monitors. The feature was announced during CEO Jensen Huang CES 2019 keynote and this week it's been enabled by the latest GeForce drivers.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/article/1779-freesync-and-nvidia-geforce/

 

[indiferenc]

Nvidia doing something pro-consumer? im shocked

 

[ShagnWagn]

Nice article. This really is showing a bump in incentive to upgrade. Two things have kept me from building a new rig:

1. Video cards - The bitcoin craze has set back the video card industry a couple years. Old cards are trying to be sold at near retail release prices. I am not seeing any hardly any benefit to drop coin on a new card.

2. Monitors - If I am upgrading a video card, I am going to upgrade to a nice 4K monitor with a solid adaptive refresh. I don't want to be tied to a video card manufacturer. The state of Sync has been holding me back. This article brings my hopes up. If the next release of video cards shows marked improvements, then I can see moving up depending on the video card industry.

 

[ZackL04]

Pretty cool all of a sudden adaptive sync is unlocked for me on my monitor I bought originally thinking I would be without

Thanks for the freebie Nvidia

 

[toooooot]

Damn it! I recently bought no name 144hz monitor. I should have waited and got one from the approved list.

 

[Vulcanproject]

I'm also interested in hearing about laptops. Surely this opens the door now to having virtually any decent new gaming laptop support adaptive sync.

Without any need for a Gsync certification manufacturers should be able to fit a good panel and have adaptive sync enabled via drivers whether it has AMD or Nvidia graphics.

 

[Shegunna_Blow]

Damn it! I recently bought no name 144hz monitor. I should have waited and got one from the approved list.

Literally the entire point of this article was to tell you the "approved list" doesn't matter.

 

[hahahanoobs]

48-60Hz VRR window...
What year is this?
When did Freesync come out again?
Acceptable because AMD is just acceptable, perhaps?
*smdh*

 

[MaXtor]

I definitely have some flickering issues using "gsync" with my Samsung 34" Ultrawide (CF791) and my 1080 ti. However, it's less of an issue in some games than others. I'm still happy to see Nvidia backing down off their high horse, but at least in my experience and of others I've now read about, they seem to be right that many freesync monitors are not quite up to par. Hopefully a future driver improves compatibility, however that seems unlikely since the same issues are present with AMD. /end-rambling

 

[DJMIKE25]

I definitely have some flickering issues using "gsync" with my Samsung 34" Ultrawide (CF791) and my 1080 ti. However, it's less of an issue in some games than others. I'm still happy to see Nvidia backing down off their high horse, but at least in my experience and of others I've now read about, they seem to be right that many freesync monitors are not quite up to par. Hopefully a future driver improves compatibility, however that seems unlikely since the same issues are present with AMD. /end-rambling

I'm also very happy to see Nvidia backing down a bit. I bought a Samsung 27 inch curved a couple of months back and figured I would never get to use the Freesync with my 1070. Luckily everything seems to be working great with GSync enabled. So far, no flickering to speak of.

 

[toooooot]

Literally the entire point of this article was to tell you the "approved list" doesn't matter.

my bro, nvidia has a list of approved monitors. it means something and if they say those re certified, I d rather go with that than try to do it on my no name display.

 

[Evernessince]

Just tried this on my Acer XF270HU and it works. Not surprising given the monitor has a range of 40-144 Hz.

 

[toooooot]

Just tried this on my Acer XF270HU and it works. Not surprising given the monitor has a range of 40-144 Hz.

What GPU? I am asking because I checked supported cards and 9XX line was there, but my nvidia control panel has no gsync option even after reinstalling drivers.

 

[PcePce]

Nvidia doing something pro-consumer? im shocked

Aside from producing & selling products which people want that wouldn't be available otherwise, you mean.

 

[corniel]

Just tried this on my Acer XF270HU and it works. Not surprising given the monitor has a range of 40-144 Hz.

What GPU? I am asking because I checked supported cards and 9XX line was there, but my nvidia control panel has no gsync option even after reinstalling drivers.

It clearly states in the article that only 10xx and 20xx support freesync,

I tried it with my gtx 1070 on my Acer KG271c (27' version of Acer KG251qf) and it works

 

[Bpsti]

Just tried this on my Acer XF270HU and it works. Not surprising given the monitor has a range of 40-144 Hz.

Same monitor, 1080ti, also works flawlessly. It does *not* work with 9xx series cards.

 

[Bubbajim]

Aside from producing & selling products which people want that wouldn't be available otherwise, you mean.

Carrying out their business function is hardly in the same category as making an altruistic move to allow more people to get the best from their hardware. This is a classy move from nVidia - for once.

 

[Evernessince]

What GPU? I am asking because I checked supported cards and 9XX line was there, but my nvidia control panel has no gsync option even after reinstalling drivers.

1080 Ti. From what I see on the Nvidia forums, it doesn't support 9xx series cards.

 

[mls067]

I have the Asus VG278Q monitor and enabled this, I am pleasantly surprised at how well it works. I am also a little blown away at how good games run/look with it on. I have a 1080ti btw

 

[Pastuch]

Terrific article. Does a Display port to HDMI 2.0 cable work with adaptive sync? Please test techspot!

 

[Percocetz]

Why the hell would they choose the TN panel over the IPS of the ASUS MG279Q??!! Sheesh!

 

[bandit8623]

Saw this on your YouTube Chan. Good vid. Would be interesting to see if an hdmi to displayport cable would make that last monitor work.

 

[bandit8623]

Literally the entire point of this article was to tell you the "approved list" doesn't matter.

my bro, nvidia has a list of approved monitors. it means something and if they say those re certified, I d rather go with that than try to do it on my no name display.

No. It just means they got around to testing those. Does not mean anything other than they have fully tested 12 monitors. This article proves this. The 7 tested were not on the approved list and worked great.

 

[WaltC3]

Great article. Without any rancor whatsoever, it's yet another reason why I will not buy anything nVidia makes--that's been true for me since 2002. IMO, The company simply refuses to be honest on a whole range of technical assertions about its products--although nVidia is regularly caught and slapped down publicly, which has been true since its origin, actually, the company continues with its prevarications. It's gotten so I instinctively do not trust anything the company alleges these days. Very sad--I have waited for nVidia to change--it hasn't happened. Enough about my sentiments about nVidia--I want to say a word about G-sync/Freesync.

I've never used it or wanted it or missed it, and here's why: dating back to the period of time preceding Freesync, I viewed with some amusement the so-called non-G-sync videoclips nVidia began circulating over the 'net that purported to show me what my non-G-sync monitor display looked like, side-by-side with another videoclip purporting to show me what a G-sync monitor looked like by comparison... (You may recall the "wind-farm propeller" videos that were supposed to illustrate the principle.) The amusing part for me was that my AMD-driven non-G-sync display looked *exactly* like nVidia's G-sync-monitor videoclip...! And I mean exactly! I said so in many places over the 'net at the time. Further, if my display ever looked as bad as the so-called non-G-sync display clip circulated by nVidia at the time it *would only have been because there was some kind of hardware/software *fault* causing it!... No, nVidia, my non-G-sync AMD GPU hardware has *never* looked as bad as you claimed non-G-sync hardware was supposed to look--and the irony is that without Freesync/G-sync support today, my display still looks perfect to my eyes. I do a *lot* of gaming, and have done so over the last thirty years, and I know that my eyes do not deceive me. And if your non-G-sync GPUs drive displays as poorly as your own videoclips show, nVIdia--Lord help your customers, is all I have to say. But I doubt that is the case anymore than it is with AMD GPUs.

I'm crazy-bonkers over my latest monitor acquisition, an AoC U3277PWQU I bought new on Amazon a few months back for ~$400. It's not Freesync and it certainly isn't G-sync, and I find the 3840x2160 display (powered by my RX-590/480 multi-gpu system) to be hands down the best monitor of any description I have ever owned--I only use Display Port, of course. I often easily exceed the 60Hz limit by turning off vsync (I get very little tearing these days from Vsync-off with this monitor) and with older games, jumping to literally 100's of frames per second is commonplace. Some games love to tear, however, and for those I find that the Enhanced Sync driver setting eliminates ~90% or more of the tearing while providing ~90% of the vsync-off frame-rate performance--should it be needed. Don't miss Freesync at all--and won't touch G-sync.

Believe it or not, the purpose of this post is not to simply bash nVidia... I'm glad to see them dragged kicking and screaming into supporting an open standard like Freesync, because nobody buying these GPUs deserves to be locked into a certain brand of costly GPU/monitor and pay through the nose for custom features that are completely unnecessary--even if that is what nVidia would obviously prefer to do. Right after AMD announced Freesync, in response to nVidia's G-sync claims, the company made it plain that it had no objection to nVidia using Freesync, too--whatsoever! Glad to see nVidia responding--better late than never.

Rather, I signed up here just to congratulate Techspot on a fine article! This is the kind of thing sorely needed in the community today, otherwise, people can be sitting ducks for unscrupulous companies with, shall we say, less-than-objective marketing departments. (Ready to "real-time ray trace"? *cough*)

Last, it may be that my next monitor will be Freesync2, but if so, it will not be because I go out and seek it as a must-have feature. All of the other features I want must be there first, as well as value for the dollar! If I get Freesync2 then it will simply be as icing on the cake--and if I don't need it I may wind up turning it off...

 

[Capaill]

Aside from producing & selling products which people want that wouldn't be available otherwise, you mean.

Carrying out their business function is hardly in the same category as making an altruistic move to allow more people to get the best from their hardware. This is a classy move from nVidia - for once.

Classy, but...
Anyone with a FreeSync monitor would have only bought AMD cards but now they can buy Nvidia cards too.
Anyone with a GSync monitor can only buy Nvidia cards.
So this move has opened up the market in favour of Nvidia.
AFAIK, AMD cannot do the same as GSync is specific to Nvidia, whereas FreeSync was available to all if they chose to support it.