How is Free Sync different then V Sync?

[Truex98]

Hi everyone, been researching parts for my brothers build and think ive decided on the RX 480 for him. Mainly due to Free Sync monitors being cheaper then G Sync monitors, and if years later he wants more gpu power, he can buy another 480 to crossfire. But i honestly am not even sure how Free Sync differs from V Sync. I know that on my desktop I have a 1060 and a regular 60hz monitor. With V sync off, I can hit around 85-90 fps in GTA V but it tears. When i enable V Sync, it becomes smooth but im limited to 60 fps because its a 60 hz display. So does Free Sync do the same, where it will limit him to 60 fps if its a 60hz Free Sync monitor? Or will it be like magic and match the monitors refresh rate to the fps the gpu is putting out? Thanks for the responses. 

[PlayStation 2]

What FreeSync and G-Sync do is properly pace the frames to an adaptive refresh rate, meaning that it doesn't jump from 16.667ms to 33.333ms at a framerate like 54fps.

[Mira Yurizaki]

VSync locks the frame rate to the refresh rate or a factor of it. For example, for a 60Hz refresh rate, your frame rates are locked to 60, 30, and 15. FreeSync makes the monitor's refresh rate match the frame rate. Ditto with GSync.

[MorganO]

3 minutes ago, Truex98 said:

Hi everyone, been researching parts for my brothers build and think ive decided on the RX 480 for him. Mainly due to Free Sync monitors being cheaper then G Sync monitors, and if years later he wants more gpu power, he can buy another 480 to crossfire. But i honestly am not even sure how Free Sync differs from V Sync. I know that on my desktop I have a 1060 and a regular 60hz monitor. With V sync off, I can hit around 85-90 fps in GTA V but it tears. When i enable V Sync, it becomes smooth but im limited to 60 fps because its a 60 hz display. So does Free Sync do the same, where it will limit him to 60 fps if its a 60hz Free Sync monitor? Or will it be like magic and match the monitors refresh rate to the fps the gpu is putting out? Thanks for the responses. 

what freesync monitor?

[xwboy]

Free sync will make the monitor have variable refresh rate (often 45-75 Hz, but check the product page to be sure) that matches the FPS being pushed out by the GPU. This means that if the game is running at 65 FPS, the monitor will have a refresh rate of 65 Hz. If the game drops to 55 FPS, the refresh rate will drop to match and therefore the game should appear to be smooth and stuttering will be eliminated.

[Techicolors]

freesync doesn't necessarily limit your fps. basically the monitor is always in-sync with your graphics card, so during gameplay you don't get tearing and stutters. gsync does the same thing 

[Truex98]

The display i was thinking of picking for him was probably this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824116778 . Thats sort of cool, so if the PC is able to push 84 fps in some random game for example, the monitor will match that in its refresh rate?

[ivan134]

In addition to what other people said, FreeSync also gets to rid of screen tearing and doesn't give you input lag like vsync does.

[pagani123]

it works the same way just in a different order, and it doesn't limit your fps

[Truex98]

Would it be worth it then to just give him my monitor and picking up a G Sync monitor since i have a 1060. They just seem so expensive compared to the Free Sync ones.

[ivan134]

4 minutes ago, ivan134 said:

In addition to what other people said, FreeSync also gets to rid of screen tearing and doesn't give you input lag like vsync does.

Never mind. I didn't read the whole post. You already knew it gets rid of tearing. Buy yea, no input lag like vsync.

[ivan134]

2 minutes ago, Truex98 said:

Would it be worth it then to just give him my monitor and picking up a G Sync monitor since i have a 1060. They just seem so expensive compared to the Free Sync ones.

Get your brother a FreeSync monitor. Don't be that guy

[i_build_nanosuits]

26 minutes ago, Truex98 said:

Hi everyone, been researching parts for my brothers build and think ive decided on the RX 480 for him. Mainly due to Free Sync monitors being cheaper then G Sync monitors, and if years later he wants more gpu power, he can buy another 480 to crossfire.

this is just to advise you that i will later today forward this portion of your post directly to nvidia forums so that ''maybe'' some nvidia staff gets the chance to read it...because this is very telling about why nvidia is loosing sales ATM...Gsync monitors, now 3 years down the road like that, should no longer be that much more expensive than freesync monitors and SLI capabilities should not have been removed from the GTX 1060...it's a better GPU overall but i do get your point and i know they already know about this but i don't want this story to repeat itself for future generations of graphics cards and monitors. Not that i recommend goind dual GPU with mid-range cards like that...IMHO a single more powerful card is ALWAYS a better choice and selling the RX 480 later and get something fresh will most likely be a better idea...i still want them to be aware of this problem.

 

I would get a 4GB RX 480 with a freesync monitor for now, and upgrade GPU later when he need more performance.

[Truex98]

9 hours ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

this is just to advise you that i will later today forward this portion of your post directly to nvidia forums so that ''maybe'' some nvidia staff gets the chance to read it...because this is very telling about why nvidia is loosing sales ATM...Gsync monitors, now 3 years down the road like that, should no longer be that much more expensive than freesync monitors and SLI capabilities should not have been removed from the GTX 1060...it's a better GPU overall but i do get your point and i know they already know about this but i don't want this story to repeat itself for future generations of graphics cards and monitors. Not that i recommend goind dual GPU with mid-range cards like that...IMHO a single more powerful card is ALWAYS a better choice and selling the RX 480 later and get something fresh will most likely be a better idea...i still want them to be aware of this problem.

 

I would get a 4GB RX 480 with a freesync monitor for now, and upgrade GPU later when he need more performance.

Thats a great idea. I wish I would of known this a few months ago when I bought my 1060 and my monitor. I remember asking people here on the forum if my current monitor was a good idea. They said yeah if your ok with 60 fps. Which at the time I thought, "my gpu and cpu will put more frames then that". Which i was right they can, but then I discovered this awful monster screen tearing. Playing around with the settings in GTA V I learned this thing called V Sync would fix that but i couldn't go above 60fps. So i just left it on because without it, it would rip. I then later started reading and learning that if your gpu can put up a higher fps then your monitors refresh rate it will tear. Then on top of that, i bought the 1060 a week after it came out, not realizing that SLI could of been a bonus to have in the future instead of buying a new current gen gpu. Then another on top of that I learned how expensive G Sync monitors are. Its ridiculous, I honestly would give my brother my current monitor because he absolutely loves it. But G Sync monitors are crazy expensive. I had my mind between the RX 480 and the 1060 originally but at that time there were no partner cards out for the 480 and i really wanted a MSI variant. So i picked the 1060 because only a few days after launch MSI had already shown pictures of their 1060's. Meanwhile AMD hadn't said a thing about anything but the blower style cards. So I picked the 1060 and ended up only paying 200 on amazon due to a little fluke from them. But still, every time I look over and see that glowing MSI logo, it still makes me feel good.