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Do I need Freesync?

Tissue

Hey all!

 

I'm new to PC building and am putting together my first build. I have found a monitor for £87.98. Here's the link:

 https://www.scan.co.uk/products/23-acer-g237hl-zeroframe-ips-led-monitor-1920x1080-4ms-100m1-250cd-m-hdmi-dvi-black

 

Anyway, is this a good monitor? Do I need to have Freesync and is 4ms response time good?

 

Thanks,

 

Tissue :D

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Freesync will only be useful if you have an amd graphics card in the system.

 

The response time won't make too much of a difference, but lower tends to be better. (though between 1-5ms you'll most likely see no difference)

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For the price it seems a good pick.

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CPU: Intel Core i7 10700K @5ghz |~| Cooling: bq! Dark Rock Pro 4 |~| MOBO: Gigabyte Z490UD ATX|~| RAM: 16gb DDR4 3333mhzCL16 G.Skill Trident Z |~| GPU: RX 6900XT Sapphire Nitro+ |~| PSU: Corsair TX650M 80Plus Gold |~| Boot:  SSD WD Green M.2 2280 240GB |~| Storage: 1x3TB HDD 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda + SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB |~| Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini |~| Display: Toshiba UL7A 4K/60hz |~| OS: Windows 10 Pro.

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Well, the monitor doesn't have FreeSync. While it's nice to have, it's not essential and you'd be looking at spending more than that for a monitor with FreeSync (you'd also need a compatible AMD GPU)

 

4ms response time is basically meaningless. It doesn't relate to much in real world differences. The monitor will be fine (assuming for gaming)

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Unless you're a competitive gamer (plays CSGO and DotA 2) and absolutely need to eliminate input lag and absolutely need the fast response time, I don't think that you absolutely need freesync. Although, if you have the coin, I don't recommend against it.

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Just now, Jarl James said:

Unless you're a competitive gamer (plays CSGO and DotA 2) and absolutely need to eliminate input lag and absolutely need the fast response time, I don't think that you absolutely need freesync. Although, if you have the coin, I don't recommend against it.

Response times have nothing to do with input lag/delay. It's a measurement (an inaccurate and unreliable one at that) for the time it takes for a pixel to change from one colour to another (quoted in grey to grey, making it even less applicable). Input lag/delay is something separate, rarely quoted by monitor manufacturers, for the time it takes for a monitor to change upon an input. 

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1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Response times have nothing to do with input lag/delay. It's a measurement (an inaccurate and unreliable one at that) for the time it takes for a pixel to change from one colour to another (quoted in grey to grey, making it even less applicable). Input lag/delay is something separate, rarely quoted by monitor manufacturers, for the time it takes for a monitor to change upon an input. 

What I meant to say was that freesync monitors generally have fast response times. Freesync is for removing the input lag associated with using v-sync.

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Just now, Jarl James said:

What I meant to say was that freesync monitors generally have fast response times. Freesync is for removing the input lag associated with using v-sync.

Not entirely, as FreeSync doesn't exactly replace the functions of VSync but rather works alongside VSync when needed. Most implementations of VSync now days have the option to have adaptive VSync, which disables it when you drop below the monitor's refresh rate (to stop the halving on FPS that you get with VSync dropping below 60FPS, if we're assuming a 60Hz monitor). FreeSync will switch over to VSync when above the FPS goes above the monitor's refresh rate (or it will simply disable if VSync is turned off). 

While FreeSync tends to not have the input delay that VSync can introduce, it's not really a matter of one or the other, as they're used in different situations. 

 

Both Nvidia and AMD have done a shockingly poor job of explaining adaptive refresh rates, often marketing it as a replacement for VSync when it's actually not. 

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1 minute ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Not entirely, as FreeSync doesn't exactly replace the functions of VSync but rather works alongside VSync when needed. Most implementations of VSync now days have the option to have adaptive VSync, which disables it when you drop below the monitor's refresh rate (to stop the halving on FPS that you get with VSync dropping below 60FPS, if we're assuming a 60Hz monitor). FreeSync will switch over to VSync when above the FPS goes above the monitor's refresh rate (or it will simply disable if VSync is turned off). 

While FreeSync tends to not have the input delay that VSync can introduce, it's not really a matter of one or the other, as they're used in different situations. 

 

Both Nvidia and AMD have done a shockingly poor job of explaining adaptive refresh rates, often marketing it as a replacement for VSync when it's actually not. 

So would a 4ms monitor without FreeSync be ok or would I really regret it?

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4 minutes ago, Tissue said:

Ok thanks guys! How about this monitor?

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-acer-gf246-freesync-gaming-monitor-1920x1080-1ms-250-cd-m-100m1-dp-hdmi-vga

 

priced at £114.95.

 

I plan on using an RX480. So FreeSync won't really make a massive difference? I heard about screen tearing and stuttering though?

No, FreeSync/GSync can make a massive difference to how smooth the game feels. It's most noticeable when you get dips in FPS (big explosion goes off, physics simulations kind of thing) as the dips aren't as noticeable. Back when the technologies had only been out for a few months, GSync would occasionally disable itself and I could tell instantly when it happened. Just the general smoothness of the game changes a lot. 

 

It does depend what games you're playing and at what FPS. If you're playing a game that is always running at 100+ FPS without dips, there's not much point in going for FreeSync as it will never be used. If you're playing games that do dip below your monitor's refresh rate, it's worth having. 

 

 

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Just now, Oshino Shinobu said:

Not entirely, as FreeSync doesn't exactly replace the functions of VSync but rather works alongside VSync when needed. Most implementations of VSync now days have the option to have adaptive VSync, which disables it when you drop below the monitor's refresh rate (to stop the halving on FPS that you get with VSync dropping below 60FPS, if we're assuming a 60Hz monitor). FreeSync will switch over to VSync when above the FPS goes above the monitor's refresh rate (or it will simply disable if VSync is turned off). 

While FreeSync tends to not have the input delay that VSync can introduce, it's not really a matter of one or the other, as they're used in different situations. 

 

Both Nvidia and AMD have done a shockingly poor job of explaining adaptive refresh rates, often marketing it as a replacement for VSync when it's actually not. 

I see, well, after reading all these sheep on the internet that say that freesync and g-sync is a replacement for v-sync, it has forced me to believe the same. I never really cared much for freesync/ g-sync as I was too poor to afford a decent monitor anyway. I just wanted to try and help my PC building brethren on the internet by sharing the information that I've collected. 

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1 minute ago, Tissue said:

So would a 4ms monitor without FreeSync be ok or would I really regret it?

Just ignore the response time. They're practically meaningless for a whole load of reasons. For reference, even if they are accurate, the difference between 1ms and 5ms is 0.004 seconds which is not perceivable to any human. Benchmark yourself and you'll get an idea just how small that amount of time is http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime

Which monitor works better will really depend on what you're doing. One is IPS and one is TN. The IPS panel will have more vibrant colours and better viewing angles, but the TN has FreeSync. If you're playing mostly FPS games, you may want to consider the FreeSync panel. If you're playing games that will always be above 60FPS, go for the IPS panel. I'd also consider going for the IPS panel for the colours if you play things like RPG games. 

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3 minutes ago, Jarl James said:

I see, well, after reading all these sheep on the internet that say that freesync and g-sync is a replacement for v-sync, it has forced me to believe the same. I never really cared much for freesync/ g-sync as I was too poor to afford a decent monitor anyway. I just wanted to try and help my PC building brethren on the internet by sharing the information that I've collected. 

Well, on Nvidia's side they've always been poor on explaining their technologies. A lot of their tutorials on surround and SLI are still using GTX 480s as examples, so they haven't been updated for years. 

 

One of the key things that tipped people off to how GSync actually works was a driver/Nvidia control panel option that allows VSync to be enabled or disabled along with GSync. At first, it was GSync or VSync. 

 

To me, GSync is one of those things, kind of like a mechanical keyboard, where the difference of switching to it isn't that noticeable, but when you switch back, it feels horrible. 

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Cheers thanks a lot! Really appreciate the advice!

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3 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Well, on Nvidia's side they've always been poor on explaining their technologies. A lot of their tutorials on surround and SLI are still using GTX 480s as examples, so they haven't been updated for years. 

 

One of the key things that tipped people off to how GSync actually works was a driver/Nvidia control panel option that allows VSync to be enabled or disabled along with GSync. At first, it was GSync or VSync. 

 

To me, GSync is one of those things, kind of like a mechanical keyboard, where the difference of switching to it isn't that noticeable, but when you switch back, it feels horrible. 

Yes, I wouldn't notice cause I'm still stuck in 2009 when it comes to building computers because I'm a peasant and I buy only second hand PC parts. Where I'm from, people usually don't sell their stuff until it's absolutely unusable or horribly outdated. This LTT forum is helping me catch up with time. Thanks for all the info. :)

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