AMD FreeSync Monitors Shipping in December, $100 Cheaper Than Identical Nvidia G-Sync Displays.

[MetroP]

So this is exciting. According to AMD, specifically AMD's Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy. FreeSync monitors will begin shipping in December and will be available in the market between December and January.
AMD will be shipping a driver to support this feature next month. According to Huddy FreeSync monitors can cope with a refresh rate that goes up to 240Hz and down to 24Hz. However panel makers will have the freedom to make monitors with any refresh rate they like. SO you can have a 24-90Hz monitor for example that's cheaper than a 24-144Hz monitor.

The bombshell perhaps in all of this is that according to Richard Huddy, AMD estimates that FreeSync monitors will be about $100 cheaper than "identical" Nvidia GSync enabled ones. Due to two reasons, #1 AMD doesn't impose any licensing fees for FreeSync because it's an industry standard, #2 FreeSync doesn't require expensive hardware such as an FPGA and a frame buffer like G-Sync does. According to Huddy the AMD graphics cards can handle all of that functionality without any additional hardware thanks to the advanced integrated display controller.

You can find the original article here.
And the presentation by Richard Huddy here.

[MrSuperb]

OH a AMD markting guy says that their product is 100$ cheaper then the competition.

This must be true then ...

 

 

Let us wait for real products ...

[lucasdenison]

Does this indicate that compatibility with NVIDIA cards would be possible as well?

[GodSpoon]

Sounds pretty baller! Im hyped

 

Wonder how Nvidia will respond...this would eat out any chances for G-sync...

 

[twovaliant2]

hmmm...AMD is out for blood this morning in the news section.

[qwertywarrior]

Does this indicate that compatibility with NVIDIA cards would be possible as well?

nvidia is too invested in Gsync

i doubt they will use the open standard any time soon

and by open standard im talking about adaptive sync

[eelnico09]

Not new coming from amd, usually their strong thing is price-performance. Though nvidia usually doesn't give a fuck.

[Thebman712]

well, does this work with the old cards (280x/7970 Ghz) cause GIMIE GIMME GIMME

[dragosudeki]

I'd like to see what monitors can take the firmware update, and what steps we can take to do it, if its possible like they say in the article. Guess it will depend if the monitor manufacturers reveal this.

[Kameegaming]

Sounds pretty baller! Im hyped

 

Wonder how Nvidia will respond...this would eat out any chances for G-sync...

 

Only if the products are identical or AMDs solution is better. If G-Sync is superior to Freesync then it's not so straightforward.

[Altecice]

well, does this work with the old cards (280x/7970 Ghz) cause GIMIE GIMME GIMME

 

As long as the Displayport if 1.4 compatible then yeah you just need a monitor with the same and you will be compatible.

 

 

OH a AMD markting guy says that their product is 100$ cheaper then the competition.

This must be true then ...

 

 

Let us wait for real products ...

 

 

Considering that Gync needs new hardware inside the monitor (hence the cost) vs this implementation that only requires a DP 1.4 connection and the GPU does the rest then why wouldn't it be cheaper? AMD are mostly always cheaper than rival company's, that's what keeps them alive.

[Thebman712]

As long as the Displayport if 1.4 compatible then yeah you just need a monitor with the same and you will be compatible.

yay yay yay yaya yaya yayaya yayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayayyayayayaya

 

awwe yeah

 

hope they have a rog swift competitor  up quickly, at 500$

[AlwaysFSX]

Watch the monitors end up shipping later than they expected, in the beginning of 2015.

 

Deadlines, pssh.

[Octagoncow]

I really hope this actually ends up being true (just because someone in marketing says it will be, doesn't mean much to me). This could end up being very interesting for the market if it is.

[patrickjp93]

well, does this work with the old cards (280x/7970 Ghz) cause GIMIE GIMME GIMME

Nope, requires DP 1.2a and beyond. Most existing card are only DP 1.2

[patrickjp93]

As long as the Displayport if 1.4 compatible then yeah you just need a monitor with the same and you will be compatible.

 

 

 

 

Considering that Gync needs new hardware inside the monitor (hence the cost) vs this implementation that only requires a DP 1.4 connection and the GPU does the rest then why wouldn't it be cheaper? AMD are mostly always cheaper than rival company's, that's what keeps them alive.

DP 1.2a, not 1.4. Also, there might not be royalty costs associated with DP, but it does cost money to implement. It's new tech, but it's not as expensive as the FPGA Nvidia uses for the GSync module.

 

We also have yet to see real-world performance.

[TroubleKlef]

Isn't AMD's implementation of frame syncing slightly less powerful than G-sync?

 

I read that G-sync still holds the advantage since its hardware based but AMD proponents are saying the differences are negligible. Either way, I like where the market is heading. Really want to see 60hz IPS displays with frame syncing. 

[alexyy]

I'm glad, G sync is a massive rip off and might force them to drop prices so normal people can afford them. 

[KeltonDSMer]

We also have yet to see real-world performance.

 

That's all I really care about at this point. It seems fruitless to discuss differences in pricing and such when we are not sure if the two approaches to dynamic refresh provide an equal experience.

 

I'm really looking forward to reading some comparison articles, and to see some panels put to the test!

 

My guess is the hardware guys are all ready to go, but are waiting on AMD to finish the driver/software on their end. I really hope it works well, not to smash the competition but so that most PC gamers (except Intel graphics users obviously) have some sort of useable variable refresh available.

 

I'm glad NV pushed Gsync and produced a product that is ubiquitously recognized as good and worthwhile, now I'm hoping AMD can do the same for their user base.

[Orblivion]

I really hope there is a 4k monitor in there somewhere.  I have a new PC build I will be doing around Christmas time, and it would rock if I could get a 4k monitor with freesync at the same time.

[silberdrachi]

Does this indicate that compatibility with NVIDIA cards would be possible as well?

 

If you mean that plugging in a nVidia card will get a display output, yes.

If you mean that you will get the freesync benifits from this display, no.

 

Right now even though freesync is essentially an open free standard, nVidia is choosing not to support it. But that doesnt mean you cant buy one of these monitors if you have a GTX770 now, and whenever you replace it you could get an AMD card to get the benifits for freesync then.

[Orblivion]

If you mean that plugging in a nVidia card will get a display output, yes.

If you mean that you will get the freesync benifits from this display, no.

 

Right now even though freesync is essentially an open free standard, nVidia is choosing not to support it. But that doesnt mean you cant buy one of these monitors if you have a GTX770 now, and whenever you replace it you could get an AMD card to get the benifits for freesync then.

 

AFAIK, for any modern nVidia card it would just be a software issue.  So perhaps we will see some 3rd party nVidia drivers that can unlock the functionality.

[silberdrachi]

AFAIK, for any modern nVidia card it would just be a software issue.  So perhaps we will see some 3rd party nVidia drivers that can unlock the functionality.

 

Thats the theory, all they need to do is add support for vblank commands. How much work this would be for nVidia or a third party... no clue at all. But at this point nVidia is very clearly drawing a line at supporting it in any way. Everything they have said about it in press releases is that it is an inferior copy of G-Sync (which i can understand), and they would rather have people pay the extra money to get the superior experiance. But if more screens coming out with freesync support and they sell better than G-Sync, maybe they will patch in support? (I can only hope, i loathe propriotary standards.)

[Psykomantis00]

Does this indicate that compatibility with NVIDIA cards would be possible as well?

No. This means that you will have to pick your monitor based on your video card. however with AMD's option being free, it could be built into a monitor with gsync so you could have the best of both worlds (but you would still pay 100+ for the gsync capability).

[silberdrachi]

No. This means that you will have to pick your monitor based on your video card. however with AMD's option being free, it could be built into a monitor with gsync so you could have the best of both worlds (but you would still pay 100+ for the gsync capability).

 

Uh this isnt true though, the screen will still work with nVidia GPUs. It just means its not compatable with nVidia G-Sync.