G-Sync/FreeSync & Why I'm Not Buying Either

[Scepsis]

I would like to preface this small rant by saying that I see the obviously tangible benefits of both of these (nearly identical) technologies and am not bashing either of them, but I am bashing their implementation and the anti-consumer system that they effectively put into place.

 

 

As many of you are already aware, Nvidia G-Sync has been out for a while and now AMD FreeSync will be hitting the marketplace shortly. These new technologies are without a doubt game changers that will eliminate both input lag and screen tearing, but I won't be jumping on board with these new technologies in the near future, distant future, or maybe even ever.

 

Why?

 

Because both of these technologies will force you to stay with one particular brand of GPU, effectively allowing both AMD and Nvidia to lock in their customers when they buy one of the G-Sync or FreeSync displays. This is incredibly anti-competitive and greedy on the parts of these two companies.

 

I refuse to buy into either of these technologies because I am GPU agnostic and will buy a pair of whatever GPUs give me the highest framerates and lowest frametimes. I don't care whether or not it comes from team green or team red, I just want the damn thing to preform and I outright refuse to be locked into a certain brand of GPU because the competitor's GPU won give me the full functionality of my monitor.

 

I refuse to award companies with my money when they actively try to fuck me over.

 

What are the LTT forum's thoughts?

Agree/Disagree with me?

I'd love to hear what you guys think!

[EarthboundHero]

This is nVidias fault, for not accepting FreeSYNC even though it's open source.

[Jobbe03]

FreeSYNC is open source. Nvidia made a poor choice. 

[Scepsis]

FreeSYNC is open source. Nvidia made a poor choice. 

I agree, but Nvidia will never allow FreeSync on their monitors, so in the end open source is irrelevant.

[Lays]

This is nVidias fault, for not accepting FreeSYNC even though it's open source.

 

FreeSYNC is open source. Nvidia made a poor choice. 

 

 

Nvidia already spent lots of money I'd imagine developing G-Sync & selling the modules to monitor companies, if they just "gave up" on it, they would of sent that money down the drain.

 

It's a bad consumer choice for us yeah, but if they just abandoned it, that'd be a poor business decision IMO.

[JAKEBAB]

Well fingers crossed Nvidia will allow freesync but wouldn't hold my breath.

[EarthboundHero]

Nvidia already spent lots of money I'd imagine developing G-Sync & selling the modules to monitor companies, if they just "gave up" on it, they would of sent that money down the drain.

 

It's a bad consumer choice for us yeah, but if they just abandoned it, that'd be a poor business decision IMO.

Yeah, but I think they'll lose a lot more money from people not wanting to have to buy a certain monitor if they have a certain card. Except the nVidia fanboys which will use this against AMD. Not an AMD fanboy BTW.

[Lays]

Yeah, but I think they'll lose a lot more money from people not wanting to have to buy a certain monitor if they have a certain card. Except the nVidia fanboys which will use this against AMD. Not an AMD fanboy BTW.

 

 

I'm fairly sure they would have already made money, selling the modules to the monitor companies.  So whether or not someone buys the display doesn't effect them, it'd affect the monitor producer

[EarthboundHero]

I'm fairly sure they would have already made money, selling the modules to the monitor companies.  So whether or not someone buys the display doesn't effect them, it'd effect the monitor producer

That's true, but if no one buys the monitors the monitor producers won't buy the modules.

[Lays]

That's true, but if no one buys the monitors the monitor producers won't buy the modules.

 

 

I suppose, but I think either way people monitor companies will be buying them, since some people will buy nvidia's solution and some will buy AMD's.

 

I agree it's totally a clusterF, and it should just be the same either way, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon

[EarthboundHero]

I suppose, but I think either way people monitor companies will be buying them, since some people will buy nvidia's solution and some will buy AMD's.

 

I agree it's totally a clusterF, and it should just be the same either way, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon

Probably not, it's funny how PC gaming has become so segregated.

[Scepsis]

Probably not, it's funny how PC gaming has become so segregated.

Almost like *shudders* console gaming.  

[Guest Strangerbob]

Ye, i dont care. Ill get the one that works better and enjoy it.

 

Let the rules of natural selection among companies work out the rest...  

[Scepsis]

Ye, i dont care. Ill get the one that works better and enjoy it.

 

Let the rules of natural selection among companies work out the rest...  

You have no ill will for companies locking you to a specific brand of GPU? Like, at all? :blink:

[Guest Strangerbob]

You have no ill will for companies locking you to a specific brand of GPU? Like, at all? :blink:

 

Ill never buy something like a titan anyway, that was just charity towards nvidia.

 

But i will always go for the best price/perf gpu thats in the mid or high range. Both companies usually have the same price/perf for those gpus, they dont dare to do otherwise, so it doesnt matter.

[Scepsis]

Ill never buy something like a titan anyway, that was just charity towards nvidia.

 

But i will always go for the best price/perf gpu thats in the mid or high range. Both companies usually have the same price/perf for those gpus, they dont dare to do otherwise, so it doesnt matter.

Say you have a Nvidia GPU and a G-Sync display, then AMD comes out with a much better GPU at the same price, but since AMD can't utilize G-Sync you get fucked out of a feature of your monitor.

That wouldn't piss you off? Seriously?

[KyonCoraeL]

I remember Intel showing interest for Mantle. It wouldn't be completely out of the question to see Intel show interest in freesync technology as well. If Intel and AMD both supported freesync, I would think that it would place alot of pressure on Nvidia to incorporate the freesync. I completely agree with the OP. Variable refresh display technology isn't new but the recent push to standardization sparked by G-sync will take a couple of years to sort out. Just like HDMI 2.0 and DP1.2 MST as connectors for 4K monitors had done in the last 2 years. As much as I want to buy a freesync / g-sync monitor, I am just gonna wait and eventually a monitor is gonna have both. I am awaiting for freesync vs g-sync benchmarks. This is an exciting time for display technologies.

 

1080p your deathclock has started! I write as I read this forum from a 1600x900 laptop display.

[Guest Strangerbob]

Say you have a Nvidia GPU and a G-Sync display, then AMD comes out with a much better GPU at the same price, but since AMD can't utilize G-Sync you get fucked out of a feature of your monitor.

That wouldn't piss you off? Seriously?

 

Nvidia will make the same price/perf gpu very soon after... i dont HAVE to have the best gpu @ every moment

 

Not to mention, i wont upgrade anyway, unless there is something good to play that needs the power, like DOOM4 or whatever

[Scepsis]

Nvidia will make the same price/perf gpu very soon after... i dont HAVE to have the best gpu @ every moment

 

Not to mention, i wont upgrade anyway, unless there is something good to play that needs the power, like DOOM4 or whatever

This kind of blasé attitude is why these companies can get away with fucking the consumer over... :unsure:

[Guest Strangerbob]

This kind of blasé attitude is why these companies can get away with fucking the consumer over... :unsure:

 

Dunno what to tell you. Im not gaming again with tearing/lag/stutter, im done with that.

 

I however hope that freesync is as good as gsync. Then i can go with AMD and get Mantle too and save some 100EUR. And even you yourself could support AMD then, cuz theyr at least letting everyone use an open standard. If nvidia doesnt, then people should vote with their wallet against nvidia until they do.

[Scepsis]

Dunno what to tell you. Im not gaming again with tearing/lag/stutter, im done with that.

 

I however hope that freesync is as good as gsync. Then i can go with AMD and get Mantle too and save some 100EUR. And even you yourself could support AMD then, cuz theyr at least letting everyone use an open standard. If nvidia doesnt, then people should vote with their wallet against nvidia until they do.

I would support AMD if they had a better GPU out, not because of FreeSync or Mantle. Besides, Mantle games are few and far between. Even PhysX (which is retarded as all hell) has more titles supporting it.

[DigitalHermit]

I honestly don't care about either at my price point... I'm more concerned on something that will work best for me and xsync (I'll call them that) are just extra features... (one reason I didn't go nvidia was all the features that I'm paying for but will never use)

[exyia]

this thread is stupid

 

nvidia saw the potential in variable refresh rate - and went to create a FULL solution.

AMD was literally sitting on verge of it's tech completely CLUELESS of it's potential

 

nvidia has ALWAYS been a company about offering a FULL, ease-of-use solution for it's consumers. GeForce Experience driver update reminders, GFE recommended settigns (because, NEWS FLASH, there are lots of PC gamers out there that don't care to waste time tweaking settings, believe it or not), shadowplay and easy twitch streaming, GPU Boost 2.0, no extreme over-volting in FAVOR of reliability for consumers, removing features/configs because they don't always work (remember when you used to be able to SLi cards with different vram amounts? nvidia removed it because it wasn't 100% reliable - they would rather remove possible frustration from more consumers than they would offer the ability to the select few) 

 

nvidia wants consumers to know that if it's their product or tech, that it will work. The only way to do G-sync to a level acceptable by their standards, was by doing the module themselves. You don't see G-Sync modules slapped in every monitor out there do you? NO - because nvidia is tuning EVERY single panel that it goes in themselves. They are committed to providing FULL solutions that carry their name.

 

http://overlordforum.com/topic/603-nvidia-g-sync/page-5

 

So here is where GSYNC for Tempests stand:  in queue.

Since Nvidia handles all the board design for all the OEMs on the planet, for any and all panels they request, Nvidia is a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  I was told yesterday that Nvidia only has so much "bandwidth" (person hours) for GSYNC design and those engineers are working their tails off trying to get all the boards done as soon as possible.

What does this mean for our requested panel design?  We are not in process yet, but their engineers want to get ours out.  However, the larger OEMs are first to be served, which makes sense since Overlord is very small compared to all the others.  For now it seems only TN-related panels are being designed.

It is good news that Nvidia's engineers want to tackle our panel and OC PCBs - it is somewhat bad news that there isn't enough hours in the day to get everything done!  I was told our panel will be designed, but not when.  There also seems to be some discussion as to what extent the overclock on the panel would be set and how that all would work.  That discussion is for a later time once the engineers take a look at our gerbers and decide how to best tackle GSYNC and our panel.

Overall, this means once the design is complete we would offer the same deal going for the ASUS 248 panel (and others that will be coming in the next 6 months with GSYNC) - a pre-done panel with GSYNC, a mod service, and a kit (that is the plan at this moment).  Of course, all of this can change at any time since we are at the mercy of Nvidia and their schedule.

 

I love how NOBODY remembers that AMD couldn't admit that nvidia came up with a good idea and implemented it before them

 

what's that? you think that's bullsh--??

 

go read here:

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/174371-amd-claims-it-can-offer-the-benefits-of-nvidias-g-sync-with-a-free-driver-update-nvidia-rebuts-fight

 

 

 

At CES this week, AMD made an unusual announcement about Nvidia’s new G-Sync technology. According to the company’s senior engineers, they can replicate much of the advantages of Nvidia’s G-Sync tech through the use of what are called dynamic refresh rates.

 

Multiple generations of AMD video cards have the ability to alter refresh rates on the fly, with the goal of saving power on mobile displays. Some panel makers offer support for this option, though the implementation isn’t standardized. AMD engineers demoed their own implementation, dubbed “FreeSync,” on a laptop at the show.

...

AMD has stated that the reason the feature didn’t catch on was a lack of demand — but if gamers want to see G-Sync-like technology, AMD believes it can offer an equivalent.

 

 

 

 

and another:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7641/amd-demonstrates-freesync-free-gsync-alternative-at-ces-2014

 

 

AMD has been relatively silent on the topic of NVIDIA’s variable refresh rate G-Sync technology since its announcement last year. At this year’s CES however, AMD gave me a short demo of its version of the technology.

 

According to AMD, there’s been a push to bring variable refresh rate display panels to mobile for a while now in hopes of reducing power consumption (refreshing a display before new content is available wastes power, sort of the same reason we have panel self refresh displays).

 

 

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

BUT THAT'S NOT THE STORY AMD WANTS YOU TO REMEMBER. THEY WANT YOU TO REMEMBER THE NAME FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - SYNC.

 

They want you to think of Free-Sync as the white knight savior to the world. They want you to constantly think that what nvidia did was wrong.

 

Nvidia is pushing graphics tech beyond just graphics cards yet again. Gamestream, DSR, g-sync.....and they are committed to the technologies they research and develop. They want it to work fully - and they did. They committed to it. But no - you all have to buy into AMD's marketing. That seeing a flaw in current display technology, recognizing the problem, recognizing a solution, and fully committing to provide a FULL solution - yes, what a GOD AWFUL thing to do for a company........BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CHARGE FOR THEIR WORK? OH GOD THE HORROR!

Edited January 24, 2015 by Glenwing
Removed excessive font size

[Monkey Dust]

On one hand it's frustrating, but display tech is moving fast at the moment. Already for a high monitor you have to chose between 144Hz on a TN panel @ 2560x1440, with TNs associated drawbacks, or 60Hz at 4K. Those who bought a high end monitor now will probably be looking to replace it in a couple of years, by which time the sync market could have settled down. My bet is that a huge number of monitors will support Freesync as it will cost the manufactures very little to implement, so for the sake of a extra feature in the specs they stick it on, which in turn will hurt Nvida's GPU sales causing them to support Freesync on their cards. Or a 3rd sync solution could be developed.

 

Like the OP I don't have any brand loyalty to a GPU manufacturer, and I am a little disappointed that buying a sync display will likely tie me into one brand for as long as I own the monitor, but I hate screen tearing too. I haven't settled on which one I'm going for in my next build, I'm waiting for Freesync reviews, but worst comes to worst I'll just have to swallow a two or three hundred quid loss on the monitor when I stick it on ebay if I want to change sides. I won't be bound for life.

[Prlme]

Theres a whole lot of QQ from OP.

 

Just go to Burger King. You can have it your way there.