The fact that Nvidia decided to offer FreeSync functionality was definitely one of the most interesting CES announcements. Basically, the company revealed adaptive sync, VRR support for GeForce. While at the moment support is limited, more improvements should come in the future. The only ones that get the support at the momenta are 1-series Pascal and 20-series Turing GPUs.
While Nvidia promised FreeSync support for the G-sync brand, this is not as simple as it sounds. For example, 400 monitors were tested, and out of those, only 12 were found able to deliver an adaptive sync experience that would match the imposed standards.
How does it work with an entry-level setup?
While the dozen displays should work great, we were curious to see what the experience be with an entry-level kit. Tests were made by Eurogamer with an Asus VP28U, and a GTX 1080 Ti. Here is what how the tester explained it:
“In common with many entry-level FreeSync screens, the Asus VP28U can only support VRR in a tight 40-60Hz window, or more specifically with 16.7ms to 25ms frame-times. If your game performance falls out of that window, you lose all the benefits for VRR. One of the many advantages of ‘pure’ G-Sync is low frame-rate compensation, designed to smooth off the experience if you do drop out of the VRR window. It’s a very useful feature that’s only available on a subset of FreeSync screens.”
It appears that the experience is truly revolutionary. That is because the GPU takes charge when a new frame shows up on the screen. Nonetheless, it is very important that settings are adjusted in order to remain in the VRR window of the display. As long as you do this, your games will greatly improve.
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