Does FreeSync only fixes the problems of screen tearing or it also help remove ghosting, smearing, blurring problems in monitor?

[vikaskumar2299]

Hi. I understand that FreeSync help fix screen tearing problems. But suppose a 60Hz monitor has high response time (e.g. 8 ms or even 20 ms, instead of low response time like 1ms or 4 ms) and you're playing games at 60 FPS. And you notice the games have ghosting/blurring/smearing problems. Now you enable FreeSync:

 

Then, does FreeSync only fixes he problems of screen tearing and stuttering or does it also help remove ghosting, smearing, blurring problems caused by bad (high) response time?

 

PS: I am not sure if this was the right thread to ask this question. Please let me know if I should have posted it in PC Gaming instead?

[jaslion]

Only tearing.

 

The other things are monitor specific issues.

 

Stuttering is on the computers end

[porina]

Basic FreeSync is just the variable refresh technology, but FreeSync Premium and any of the G-sync variations also includes requirements for display quality, so seeking a monitor with any of those will have some quality level.

[baronvonsatchel]

It's just there to reduce tearing. All it does is vary the refresh rate to match the frame rate. This means you don't get a new frame while still drawing the last one, which is what causes tearing.

 

It can sometimes help with visible stuttering compared to traditional vsync. If your frame rate is less than your refresh rate, vsync will sometimes hold a frame back for two refresh cycles which helps with tearing, but you will perceive it as a micro-stutter. Freesync or Gsync will display frames as they are rendered without sticking to a rigid "schedule," up to the monitor's maximum refresh rate, which prevents tearing without the stutter.

 

The response time numbers from manufacturers are mostly BS, cherry picked from unrealistic testing conditions. A couple times on LTT they have talked about VESA's new clear motion standard which is meant to counteract this, but afaik it's not been rolled out yet. If you care about ghosting and other response time-related artifacts, for the time being you'll have to look at reviews.

[vikaskumar2299]

4 hours ago, baronvonsatchel said:

It's just there to reduce tearing. All it does is vary the refresh rate to match the frame rate. This means you don't get a new frame while still drawing the last one, which is what causes tearing.

 

It can sometimes help with visible stuttering compared to traditional vsync. If your frame rate is less than your refresh rate, vsync will sometimes hold a frame back for two refresh cycles which helps with tearing, but you will perceive it as a micro-stutter. Freesync or Gsync will display frames as they are rendered without sticking to a rigid "schedule," up to the monitor's maximum refresh rate, which prevents tearing without the stutter.

 

The response time numbers from manufacturers are mostly BS, cherry picked from unrealistic testing conditions. A couple times on LTT they have talked about VESA's new clear motion standard which is meant to counteract this, but afaik it's not been rolled out yet. If you care about ghosting and other response time-related artifacts, for the time being you'll have to look at reviews.

I am buying 75Hz monitor. Dell S2421HN. Luckily I found review about it on Rtings.com. They say it's decent but not good. Saying it has blurring ghosting problems. The official response time is 8ms (normal), 5ms fast, 4ms extreme. But review says it has around 20ms actually! So I was worried. I have played some games mostly on my Dell Inspiron laptop at 60Hz. Never noticed any ghosting problem or maybe I didn't notice. Only issue was low fps due to bad GPU. Unfortunately they don't mention laptop screen response time. Now, not sure if this monitor I am buying would be worse than laptop screen in terms of ghosting. 

[baronvonsatchel]

Yeah that is a very budget-oriented monitor that isn't really targeted at gaming. So they haven't paid much attention to things like ghosting, but the marketing guys still wanted to put some numbers on the box. Maybe someone like Hardware Unboxed has done a "cheap gaming monitors roundup" type video that could help you find something decent.