Nvidia G-Sync vs AMD FreeSync vs Adaptive Sync in 2024

welcome back to monitors unboxed have you ever been researching your next potential monitor purchase only to run into terms like g-sync freesync adaptive sync vrr and not really know what these mean or what the difference is do you want to know how gsync compares to freesync and whether your graphics card will work with your monitor we're going to be answering that in today's video in a way that's relevant for the current monitor Market in 2023 and 2024 adaptive sync is the generic name for a feature that is crucial to Modern gaming monitors it allows the display's refresh rate how many times it updates the image on screen per second to synchronize with your PC's render rate how many frames per second your GPU is rendering when the refresh rate and render rate are synchronized the display refresh rate will adapt to the output from your PC or other input device and Vary the refresh rate as necessary hence the name adaptive sync or variable refresh rate you might have even seen this abbreviated to vrr when adaptive sync is supported enabled and working correctly corly the refresh rate of your display will match the FPS you're getting in your game provided this FPS Falls inside the refresh rate range of your monitor for example a game running at 126 FPS on a 144hz monitor with adaptive sync enabled will actually see the monitor run at 126 HZ instead of 144 HZ if the game starts to run at say 114 FPS instead the monitor will reduce its refresh rate to 114 htz adapting to the FPS output and in its refresh rate this has several benefits while gaming Whenever there is a mismatch between FPS output and refresh rate say running that 126 FPS game on a fixed 144hz monitor you will get a subpar experience in one of two ways if you are not using vsync you will see screen tearing as the display and GPU output are updating at different rates when the GPU begins rendering a new frame while the display is in the middle of a refresh cycle where it updates the image of the screen you'll see a tear between the two frames this can be an ugly visual artifact especially when there is a significant difference between the frames if you are using vsync which is not the same as adaptive sync the GPU will hold back its freshly rendered frame until the start of the next display refresh cycle to ensure it's displayed fully without tearing however if the display is updating faster than the GPU can output new frames vsync will cause frames to be duplicated on screen resulting in stutter and jutter as you switch between sometimes getting a new frame on every display update and sometimes seeing a repeated frame vesync also increases input latency as the GPU is required to buffer and hold back each frame until the next available refresh cycle which understandably introduces a bit of latency adaptive sync solves both issues as the refresh cycle and render rate are synchronized the display will not receive a new frame in the middle of its refresh preventing tearing and as the refresh rate varies to keep up with the gpu's output the GPU does not need to duplicate frame preventing jutter and it doesn't need to hold back frames lowering input lag when discussing the modern implementation of adaptive sync into monitors graphics cards and software freesync and gsync are effectively brand names from AMD and Nvidia for the technology AMD uses freesync and Nvidia uses gsync when adaptive sync was a new technology there were significant differences between freesync and g-sync if you owned an AMD graphics card only freesync monitors were compatible and if you owned an Nvidia graphics card only g-sync monitors were compatible however in the vast majority of circumstances these days this is no longer true freesync and g-sync monitors work on both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards that's right freesync monitors work on Nvidia gpus and gsync monitors work on AMD gpus there is little difference in 2023 so as it stands right now in most circumstances freesync and gsync are simply being used as marketing tools allowing manufacturers to slap logos on the box and add these known brand names to their spec sheet Nvidia tries to encourage owners of their gpus to buy g-sync AMD tries to encourage owners of their gpus to buy freesync but fundamentally this is just marketing and isn't a requirement if you see a freesync monitor and a worried it may not work on your Nvidia powered PC don't worry it'll work just fine Nvidia has supported free sync monitors for nearly 5 years now full adaptive sync compatibility is possible over display port on GTX 10 series gpus or newer and over both display port and HDMI on gtx1 16 and RTX 20 series gpus or newer this means that for the vast majority of current Nvidia graphics card owners free sync monitors and therefore all adaptive sync monitors are fully supported it's a bit more confusing and complicated on the AMD side but basically AMD GPU owners can access adaptive sync functionality on all g-sync compatible branded monitors and all monitors that use a g-sync module released since roughly the end of 2019 this is because in late 2019 Nvidia updated the g-sync hardware module to support generic adaptive sync as well as nvidia's early proprietary solution this means that early gsnc monitors only work with Nvidia graphics cards but basically anything else released in the last four years works just fine on both Nvidia and AMD gpus as well as Intel gpus and some consoles for that matter and I know because I've tested some of them I have some g-sync module monitors here and I've tested them on both Nvidia and AMD gpus and these days the latest ones at least they do work just fine what's g-sync compatible you ask what's the g-sync module well let's break down nvidia's g-sync branding so you know how Nvidia are currently marketing it adaptive sync as a technology has to be implemented into both a monitor and graphics card to work so Nvidia have branded their implementation into their Graphics CS as jsyn originally this referred to nvidia's proprietary solution custom technology from Nvidia integrated into their gpus and gsync branded monitors nowadays we have more generic industry standard adaptive sync Solutions with broad compatibility that don't require Nvidia specific Hardware but Nvidia still Brands their implementation of generic adaptive sync as gsync there are three main classes to gsync there's gsync compatible gsync so just gsync and jyn ultimate pretty confusing but they each have distinct meanings jyn compatible refers to a monitor that supports generic adaptive sync and Nvidia claims to have certified to work with their products Nvidia say they validate these monitors to ensure they don't flicker pulse or show other artifacts while gaming and will automatically enable adaptive sync for these products in the driver by default Nvidia continually updates their driver whitelist for GN compatible products with new monitors being added to new drivers on a regular basis g-sync branding without the compatible part refers to monitors that use nvidia's Hardware g-sync module a type of display scaler Nvidia producers that can be used in place of regular display scalers that support generic adap aptive sync modern g-sync modules support both nvidia's Legacy proprietary adaptive sync solution and generic adaptive sync use of the g-sync module allows for certain performance benefits like variable overdrive which is usually found in g-sync branded monitors but is rarer in gsync compatible or non- gsync branded monitors Nvidia also performs more extensive tuning on gsync monitors including color calibration usually although not always producing better than average results some g-sync monitors support Nvidia exclusive features like ul mbb2 and the reflex analyzer however the g-sync module does have some downsides it's expensive to produce typically raising the price of a display relative to a similar model that uses a regular scaler it's somewhat power hungry increasing power consumption and usually requiring the use of active cooling via a built-in fan and in its current version it doesn't support some Modern Display features like HDMI 2.1 as time has gone on more monitor vendors are opting for gsync compatible products over gsync products gsync ultimate refers to monitors using the gsync module that also support an increased level of HDR Nvidia says these monitors have 1,000 nits of brightness multizone backlights and wide color gamet support along with the highest resolutions and refresh rates in addition to the benefits of g-sync monitors with the g-sync module at one point gsync ultimate guaranteed true HDR support by mandating full array local dimming LCD backlights or OLED panels but this was diluted several years ago and now also includes crappy edgelit panels so it's less of a good indicator of top de HDR now than it was g-sync Ultimate monitors are rare these days with many true HDR products including most oleds using regular scalers instead of the g-sync module meaning they cannot be classed as g-sync ultimate in short g-sync compatible monitors are those with generic adaptive sync support that Nvidia claims to certify and will have adaptive sync enabled by default in the driver g-sync branding is a higher tier that uses nvidia's g-sync Hardware module with more tuning and certification gsync ultimate is the highest tier reserved for monitors that support HDR and use the gsync module the only real consistent difference we've seen across extensive monitor testing between One display branded as gsync compatible and one with no g-sync branding is that the monitor without g-sync branding will not have adaptive sync enabled by default on an Nvidia GPU that's it the absence of g-sync branding does not mean the product sucks or would fail in video certification and it does not mean it is incompatible with Nvidia gpus in fact some of the best monitors on the market today like the Alienware aw 3423 DWF are not gsync compatible but deliver excellent performance and work just fine on Nvidia gpus with full adaptive sync support if you do purchase a monitor not branded as gsync or gsync compatible all you have to do to get adaptive sync working working on an Nvidia GPU is open the Nvidia control panel head to set up g-sync then click the check box at the bottom that says enable settings for the selected display model this checkbox notifies you that the display is not validated but when enabling it it'll work just fine especially if it's a more recent product the vast majority of which have great adaptive sync implementations like gsync AMD has their own set of branding for free sync split into several classes free sync so regular freesync freesync premium and freesync premium Pro let's break down the differences free sync is the most basic tier of free sync monitor which only ensures the monitor supports adaptive sync technology AMD claims these products are certified to support adaptive sync not every monitor that supports generic adaptive sync receives free sync branding but a significant number of them do like with g-sync a monitor that doesn't have freesync branding could still support adaptive sync and work just fine on AMD and Nvidia gpus it just means the manufacturer has chosen not to Brand it with freesync so standard marketing stuff freesync premium is an extension of free sync that requires at least a 120 HZ refresh rate at a minimum 1080p resolution and support for a feature called lowf frame rate compensation or LFC this is an important feature that extends variable refresh rate support below the monitor's rated minimum refresh rate through duplicating frames to a higher refresh rate for example a monitor with a 48 to 144 HZ refresh rate range could still run a game at 36 FPS with adaptive sync functionality through the use of LFC the display would just show every frame twice and run at 72 HZ instead nvidia's g-sync branded monitors the ones with a g-sync module also use an equivalent of LFC which Nvidia markets as allowing for the full variable refresh rate range or down to 1 Hertz this at times has led to the misconception that only g-sync monitors will effectively support full adaptive sync functionality down to 1 Herz but this isn't true other adaptive sync monitors EG those with free sync syn branding can also effectively work down to 1 Herz provided they support LFC essentially all new gaming monitors with refresh rates at or above 144 Herz work in this way and support LFC but 5 years ago with early implementations this was a more significant issue which I think is why it was included in the freey premium spec these days what's effectively happened is that gaming monitors with higher refresh rates get freyn premium branding while lower tier or office monitors get freesync branding yes even 60 HZ displays can support adaptive sync usually with a narrow refresh rate range but only those with above a 120 HZ refresh can qualify for freesync premium freesync premium Pro is branding for monitors that support adaptive sync and HDR capabilities this includes compatibility with amd's specific HDR processing pipeline as well as what AMD describes as meticulous color and luminance certification freesync premium Pro does not mandate a certain level of brightness like gsync ultimate does a monitor simply has to support HDR and support the freesync premium pro HDR pipeline to qualify both AMD and Nvidia claim to certify and validate products branded with their respective freesync and gsync Brands although this has never been a guarantee of good performance I've come across plenty of mediocre freesync products and plenty of mediocre gsync products despite AMD claiming that freesync premium Pro monitors have meticulous color certification and that g-sync compatible products do not show artifacts these brand names are not a guarantee of quality with that said in my experience products that are branded as g-sync and use the g-sync module are more likely to deliver good levels of performance than any of the other tiers and branding again this isn't a guarantee that g-sync equals good performance and of course there are far fewer gsync products than other branded products freesync and gsync compatible certification appears to be relatively minimal with a wide spectrum of displays qualifying for those Brands both good and bad like with non- gsync branded products on Nvidia gpus products that haven't received free sync branding will still work just fine on AMD Radeon gpus to ensure adaptive sync is enabled on your monitor simply head to radio on software and under gaming display you should see a toggle to enable adaptive sync or free sync depending on The Branding your monitor has most of the time this will be enabled by default but not always so it's worth checking to ensure it's enabled and our recent how to set up a gaming monitor guide goes into more detail on this a lot of what we see now across adaptive sync free sync and gsync branding was established years ago when variable refresh rates were a developing technology now that adaptive sync is much more mature and most display vendors have converged on generic industry standard Solutions with broad compatibility freesync and gsync don't carry as much weight it's really not important to get a product that has this branding AMD and Nvidia are largely using these brands for marketing purposes these days rather than to signify something special or unique it's also the case these days that pretty much every gaming display supports some form of adaptive sync whether it has no branding freesync branding or gsync branding it's a ubiquitous feature and I would never recommend a gaming monitor without it there are some products a minority where adaptive syn isn't supported in all modes or has issues with flickering and I typically class those as deal-breaking flaws that make a product difficult to recommend but most monitor manufacturers have a good grasp on how to produce an Adaptive syn supporting product these days and they get it right most of the time as is always the case the stickers on the box or brand names on a product page are not what makes a product good it's the performance features and price that actually matter anyway that's it for this look at g-sync freesync and adaptive sync hopefully you now know the differences between these Technologies and your monitor purchases will be informed with the knowledge that you don't really need to look out for adjacent compatible or freesync branding it doesn't really matter all that much with the current landscape of monitors and gpus if this video has assisted you and helped you we do have a lot of other monitor content on this channel so buying guides reviews other interesting content it's probably worth subscribing and if you do want to support our Channel directly we have our patreon and float plan accounts links are in the description below you get access to some cool benefits as well like our Discord community and can get some great monitor recommendations in there so thanks for watching I'll catch you in the next [Music] one [Music]

Channel: Monitors Unboxed

Views: 396,032

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Id: CQdo67SjIHk

Length: 16min 42sec (1002 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 10 2023