FreeSync is here!

Oh man, FreeSync just came out and it's a doozie. Not only are FreeSync monitors undercutting equivalent or worse specced G-Sync monitors by hundreds, the FreeSync technology itself has some key advantages over G-Sync.

Spoiler: FreeSync vs. G-Sync

G-Sync carries a small 3-5% performance penalty due to VBLANK polling. FreeSync does not.

Furthermore, and this is the key one for me, G-Sync forces V-Sync on whenever frame rate falls out of the range in which G-Sync is effective (30-144Hz). Not only does FreeSync have a wider dynamic refresh range of 9-240Hz (although the first shipping FreeSync monitors are somewhere around 40-144Hz), it gives you the choice of whether to enable or disable V-Sync outside of that range.

To give you an example of how large the cost disparity between FreeSync and G-Sync is right now, get this. The Acer XG270HU 27" 1440p 144Hz IPS FreeSync monitor only costs $499 while the G-Sync equivalent, the XB270HU, costs a whopping $799.

And because FreeSync is a based off of a free and open standard, Adaptive-Sync, which has been part of the Embedded DisplayPort spec for years, it could potentially find its way into notebooks sooner than G-Sync.

 

Just make sure you take the PCPer review with a grain of salt, because they focused a lot more on what Freesync DIDN'T do outside the VRR window, as opposed to what it DOES when inside said window, and how it compares to GSync overall. The entire review reeks of bias, and that Allyn guy is clearly on nVidia's payroll.

And apparently they think Freesync causes ghosting.

Then again it's PCPer so why should I even be surprised.

 

I actually haven't read any reviews so far, at least not all the way through. But thanks for the pointer, I'll be sure to avoid that one!

 

#GimmeFreeSyncPlsAndTy

 

#BuyAnAMDGPULaptop

#NvidiaMayNeverSupportFreeSync

 

He's quite defensive when it comes to Nvidia to say the least.. Not sure if he's in a payroll but you never know- usually I switch off after hearing him geek out for 30 minutes about SSD nands. What gets me is how him and Jeremy play down the 970 fiasco like it's not a big deal...
Anyway I still enjoy their casts more so for Josh and Ryan's input - tends to be more objective.

Back on topic, the stars might be aligning for AMD. Free sync and a Nvidia spanking GPU is just what the industry needs.. Some undisputable competition.

 

8GB 390X Lightning + waterblock + Freesync monitor

My wallet is reeling in fear already

But for once I'm glad I didn't impulse buy the ROG Swift. Being locked into nVidia's ecosystem is the last thing I want.

 

I remember Allyn Malventano calling BS and giving Gamenab a hard time on OCN when the mobile G-Sync news first broke. Ofc when it was proven to actually work, then PC Per published an article on it. Jumping to conclusions before proper investigation and fact-checking, what kind of journalism is that.

But I digress. 390X + FreeSync (especially that Acer monitor) looks like a winning combo. Cheaper and better than Nvidia. Exciting.

When I saw the price tag on that thing and the fact that it was still TN, my gut instinct was like "nawww"

 

Well to be fair, if you take away the GSync module, which sold for $200 or $250 if memory serves, the ROG Swift comes down to $550-600, so on par with the BenQ Freesync. Although the BenQ is IPS Oops misread, it's actually TN, but there is a cheaper Acer option available.

Actually what prevented me from pulling the trigger on the ROG Swift was the QC issues. Impression I got was you basically had to play panel lottery to get that perfect panel. That was utterly unacceptable to me, because for $800, I expect nothing less than perfection.

 

That's true. But that massive BOM cost increase from the G-Sync FPGA and the licensing fee added on top of it is one of G-Sync's major drawbacks.

Besides the massive price difference, what really strikes me about the FreeSync launch compared to the G-Sync launch (*cough* more like delayed rollout over many months) last year is the sheer number of quality monitors with seemingly immediate availability. G-Sync monitors took forever to become available for sale and for the longest time all you could get was 1080p TN gaming junk. Now with FreeSync we have 1440p, 144Hz, IPS, 21:9 ultrawide right out of the gate. Of course, it helps that FreeSync's open nature encourages monitor vendor adoption and G-Sync laid the groundwork for proving the viability of variable refresh rate technology, but still.

 

I may just jump over to AMD this time around. Would be nice for an R9 M390X with G-Sync 1440p laptop LCD.

 

I no understand. Don't you mean FreeSync laptop LCD?

 

Oops... yes freesync... Nvidia grabbed my brain cells.

 

And your wallet! Think of your poor wallet.

 

No kidding.

Come on AMD, hurry up and do something already! TAKE MY MONEY! I'm holding out for the Clevo Batman with AMD R9 m390x, Intel Skylake, and Windows 10... Then I will gladly shell out $2500 for the laptop of my dreams*

*disclaimer - laptop for a year.

 

Little review here

 

Shots fired - nVidia explains why G-Sync is superior to Freesync

Regardless of the technical merits and drawbacks of Freesync right now, if AMD has nVidia this worried then I think they must be onto something.

Also this part made me LOL

 

"Only available for AMD cards."
I thought FreeSync was supposed to be universal. Or am I confusing it with Bulldozer (or something)?

 

Tom Petersen is definitely very quotable. Jen-Hsun taught him well.

FreeSync is AMD's implementation of VESA Adaptive Sync. Adaptive Sync is an open standard and Nvidia can choose to support it, but whether it will is a different question entirely.

Bulldozer is an AMD CPU.

 

^^ I was about to say this. Just like it was with Mantle... We have a name for it already, it's nGreedia - if they can't make money out of something, they wont support it.

 

Hmmm. Not very familiar with AMD names. The thing I had in mind was some universal driver.

 

Oxymoron

 

That cheaper Acer freesync monitor is a TN panel vs the IPS panel of the gsync version. While I do have a nvidia card the one display port restriction is a deal killer for me. Bring on freesync!

 

Yeah, you're right. There were some sites that were mistakenly saying it is IPS. Still, it compares very favorably to the ROG Swift in terms of price ($499 vs. $749) and has identical specs save for a 10Hz higher min refresh rate. The IPS G-Sync Acer XB270HU is $800 and I expect the FreeSync equivalent to be much cheaper when it releases.

 

I'm very much be out of touch here...feel free to chime in.. But I wonder if a hack/3rd party software/driver would ever get these working with Nvidia cards? Zero chance?
I'm guessing even if possible it wouldn't be easy seeing how long it's taking AMD to bring it.

 

Might be possible (more or less same technology, different implementation/hardware), but I'm pretty certain that nVIDIA has tied it up all nice and dandy, so a massive rework would be needed. We wont know for certain unless someone digs into it.
I'm guessing here, but it took them so long mostly because they had to interact with VESA about moving/implementing standards back and forth and etc, so everyone could benefit (where nVIDIA just made it proprietary, so it save them the hassle and ""as a side effect"" they are cashing on it). At least half of the delay is because of this. Again, guessing.

 

It's nVidia, they'd rather club a baby seal than allow a competitor's technology to work with their stuff.

Ignoring all the ghosting brouhaha about Freesync atm, I'm just really glad I can finally grab a 144Hz 1440p monitor for less than $700. Screw nVidia and G-Sync.

 

Right now the Asus equivalent MG279Q is supposed to go for $599 with a release date of early to mid-May.

 

Sweeet. With the $200 one saves going for FreeSync one could potentially get a much faster GPU even.

 

Freesync looks like it's going to be a real win. Nvidia need to yield on this one... the greedy bustards.

 

http://www.techspot.com/news/60298-asus-joins-freesync-market-1440p-144-hz-ips.html

*Drools*

 

that looks really good, wish they would have made the gsync one IPS also, hopefully they release an IPS one.

 

As mentioned in the article, the closest G-Sync equivalent is the Acer XB270HU which costs $800. Linus reviewed it here:

 

TechReport also has a review on BenQ's XL2730Z Freesync monitor.

While they also touch upon the ghosting issue, compare the language used with PCPer's, especially this bit here:

And then the conclusion:

Gotta say, it's really refreshing to not see reviewers go all goo goo ga ga at anything nVidia and shower it with praise regardless of whether it's deserved or not.

So there you have it folks, TR has basically confirmed what I said earlier about the PCPer "review" really being an anti-Freesync propaganda piece, possibly sponsored by nVidia. Not surprised given PCPer's stance during the 970 vram fiasco, but you'd think they'd at least have some journalistic integrity -- NOPE.

Also extremely ironic considering they implied the 970 vram issue was mountain out of a molehill, yet they're doing the exact same thing with Freesync's ghosting issue. I swear, some read/hear the word "AMD" in a sentence and they immediately start spilling trash out of their pie hole.

sorry for the rant

 

Just curious since I haven't read any reviews (AnandTech & TechSpot) that touch upon the ghosting issue, is it inherent to FreeSync itself, or is it due to IPS' higher response time or the specific panels that are used in the review monitors?

 

Don't know about other panels, but in the case of this BenQ monitor (TN panel btw), it's because for some reason when Freesync is turned on it forces overdrive off, which causes ghosting. I've seen some users report that disabling Freesync and turning overdrive on completely eliminates any ghosting. So yeah should be as simple as a driver fix or at worst a firmware upgrade. Not sure why PCPer didn't bother testing something so simple and went straight to the doom and gloom conclusion.