Freesync VS Gsync

[Virgule]

After seeing a few CES 2015 Freesync pannel videos, I noticed that a few tech gurus introduced freesync pannels with the following bullet points :

 

- Freesync works in a specific range of FPS, in which it will synch the refresh rate of the pannel to the FPS output of the GPU (by making the pannel's refresh wait for the GPU's frame);

- The minimal FPS over which freesync works (typically 40) is dictated by the pannel maker. A low minimal FPS number is difficult to acheive because too low of a refresh rate strains the eyes;

- The maximal FPS under which freesync works (typically 60 but also 120/144 on some pannels) is dictated by the pannel maker and the I/O's capability (120 Hz 4K over DP or HDMI is not yet possible);

- Over the maximal FPS, you can enable Vsync if you desire;

 

These were details that I always associated to Gsync and no one seemed to point any differences between Gsync and Freesync. Now leaving aside the fact that it costs less for manufacturers to implement Freesync compared to Gsync and leaving aside the obvious difference that it requires a different GPU than Gsync, is there any difference between freesync and gsync ?

 

Also, I waited patiently for 4K Freesync pannels, but seing that the first generation will only work between 40 and 60 FPS, I don't think it really is worth it. Thoughts ?

[gozzygozborn]

Freesync does not need a dedicated chip in the monitor like gsync does.

[Virgule]

Freesync does not need a dedicated chip in the monitor like gsync does.

Regardless of that...

[TheRetiredSlave]

Regardless of that...

 

We don't really know.. We'll have to wait for actual reviews/tests of the actual products that actually ship to reviewers and consumers before we actually know for certain how they perform and what the specific differences are..

[Grrizz]

The upper limit is just the panels max refresh rate and the lower limit is something inherent to LCDs if they aren't updated often enough the pixels begin to fade and you will see a pulsing/flickering, G-sync gets around this by doing 2 refreshes per frame when necessary (but at those frame rates your experience isn't going to be ideal anyway). At this point its hard to say if one will be better than the other because no ones really had a good chance to properly try free-sync but if things go well for free-sync they should be very similar if not the same a g-sync albeit on a slightly more limited range of cards ATM.

 

Freesync does not need a dedicated chip in the monitor like gsync does.

It kind of does, it needs a DP1.2a or higher scalar with the optional adaptive-sync support which is what the g-sync module replaces.

[Virgule]

The upper limit is just the panels max refresh rate and the lower limit is something inherent to LCDs if they aren't updated often enough the pixels begin to fade and you will see a pulsing/flickering, G-sync gets around this by doing 2 refreshes per frame when necessary (but at those frame rates your experience isn't going to be ideal anyway). At this point its hard to say if one will be better than the other because no ones really had a good chance to properly try free-sync but if things go well for free-sync they should be very similar if not the same a g-sync albeit on a slightly more limited range of cards ATM.

 

It kind of does, it needs a DP1.2a or higher scalar with the optional adaptive-sync support which is what the g-sync module replaces.

Thanks for the input

[Notional]

The monitors actually go down to 30 fps, which is standard. Adaptive Sync/ Freesync does support down to 9fps/hz, but no panel can handle that so far.

 

When Freesync/Adaptive Sync reaches max supported hz in the panel in the monitor, VSYNC will automatically set in as an FPS limiter (no reason to render frames, that cannot be shown). As such the VSYNC should be without tripple buffering, causing latency.

 

Afaik, more Adaptive Sync monitors have been announced already, than G-sync monitors exist. So not only do you have more monitor vendors, with more scaler vendor chips, but also in more sizes (like 21:9@75hz).