First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheaper

Talk about AMD's FreeSync and VESA AdaptiveSync, which are variable refresh rate technologies. They also eliminate stutters, and eliminate tearing. List of FreeSync Monitors.
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glenster
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First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheaper

Post by glenster » 27 Dec 2014, 22:40

The first ever FreeSync capable monitor has arrived in UK stores. It’s a 4K model and is a whopping $170 cheaper than the G-Sync equivalent. This coincides perfectly with our exclusive report a month ago when we told you that FreeSync capable monitors will begin shipping this month and will be significantly less expensive than their Nvidia G-Sync counterparts.

The FreeSync 4K monitor costs 390 British Pounds, which is equivalent to about $600 USD. It uses an identical panel to Acer’s 4K G-Sync monitor the Predator 4k2k XB280HK. Which costs 500 British pounds at the same e-tailer, roughly $770 USD. Both monitors also share functionally identical stands. As far as we can tell the only difference in functionality between both monitors is that one supports G-Sync while the other supports FreeSync. Even though the FreeSync monitor from iiyama actually ends up with a longer warranty of 3 years vs the 2 year warranty from Acer.

AMD had originally estimated that FreeSync monitors would cost $100 less than identical G-Sync enabled ones. As it turns out this estimation was actually fairly conservative as the difference at least on these two particular aforementioned models amounts to roughly $170. In fact from what we can tell the FreeSync enabled monitor from iiyama actually costs exactly the same as other 4K monitors of the same sort of spec that don’t support variable refresh rate.

AMD Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy Presenting at PDXLAN FreeSyncThere’s a small caveat however for this particular model. Iiyama claims that while the monitor is compatible with the FreeSync / Adaptive-Sync VESA standard it will require an update to enable this functionality. The company is currently offering a free of charge service to do this upgrade for you. However we suspect that the update merely requires a Firmware/BIOS update as AMD’s Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy has indicated before. So you may be able to update it yourself without taking/shipping it to the company.

In any case this is the first FreeSync capable monitor to arrive in the market, with many models shipping this month and arriving the next. The number of FreeSync compatible monitors will be quite large. So potential buyers will have a good variety to choose from. We’ll make sure to keep you updated as more models are released. We’re certainly hoping that the upcoming ones from Samsung, Acer, Asus, Dell and the rest will be just as good of a deal as the one we saw today.
http://wccftech.com/amd-freesync-monitor-launched/

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glenster
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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by glenster » 28 Dec 2014, 00:48

It's the Iiyama ProLite B2888UHSU-B1 28" 4K 60Hz 1ms FREESYNC Gaming
Widescreen LED Monitor - Black.
- Supports FREESYNC / Adaptive Sync (iiyama will offer a FREE upgrade to FREESYNC)
- Display Screen Size: 28" (70.8cm)
- Resolution: 3840x2160
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- Panel Type: TN
- Brightness: 300cd/m2
- Contrast Ratio: 1000:1 (Typ)
- Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 10,000,000
- Resolution: 3840x2160 (Only over DisplayPort at 60Hz)
- Response Time: 1ms (GTG)
- Viewing Angle (H / V ): 170 ° / 160 °
- Connectivity: 2x HDMI (30Hz), 2x DisplayPort (60Hz), 1x DVI, 1x Analogue
- USB Hub: Yes
- Speakers: Yes
- PIP, POP
- Height adjust stand
- Blue light reducer
- Flicker Free Technology
- Reduced input lag (1 Chip Solution)
- Warranty: 3yr
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-119-IY

MarkJohnson
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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by MarkJohnson » 28 Dec 2014, 01:11

Cool, does this mean it will work on any system supporting display port no matter the video card since adaptive sync is for DP as long as it's V1.2a or newer? Is the new HDMI going to support this as well?

I read nVidia won't support adaptive sync, which may hurt sales big time. I'm sure they'll add it after seeing all the money they will lose.

Too bad I already bought the Acer 4K2K monitor (XB280HK) with Gsync. But I have a pair of GTX 780s so I'm good to go.

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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by Sparky » 28 Dec 2014, 02:12

MarkJohnson wrote:Cool, does this mean it will work on any system supporting display port no matter the video card since adaptive sync is for DP as long as it's V1.2a or newer? Is the new HDMI going to support this as well?

I read nVidia won't support adaptive sync, which may hurt sales big time. I'm sure they'll add it after seeing all the money they will lose.

Too bad I already bought the Acer 4K2K monitor (XB280HK) with Gsync. But I have a pair of GTX 780s so I'm good to go.
I think you overestimate how much money Nvidia will "lose" by refusing to support variable refresh on adaptive-sync monitors, you need to account for the opportunity cost of selling g-sync monitors to people that already have nvidia graphics cards.

Two things need to happen in order for Nvidia to have a clear business case to support it: Widespread adoption, and enough time for the people that already bought adaptive-sync monitors to be looking for new graphics cards. I doubt we will see official support for it within a year, even if Nvidia already has it working on alpha drivers.

I kind of hope there are two competing solutions for a few years, if only because it will motivate R&D funding for further improvements(and yes, there is still a lot of room to improve on g-sync/adaptive-sync). Standardization is good for driving costs down, but it can easily cause stagnation.

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GameLifter
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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by GameLifter » 28 Dec 2014, 04:45

I wasn't expecting them this early. I'm curious to see how Freesync compares to G-Sync.

flood
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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by flood » 28 Dec 2014, 11:39

at best its no better performance-wise but cheaper and more compatiblr

at worst it's like using vsync at all framerates

Edmond

Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by Edmond » 28 Dec 2014, 12:21

flood wrote:at worst it's like using vsync at all framerates
Sweet Jebuz... if that turns out to be the case then freesync is 100% worthless.
It has to be AT THE VERY LEAST as good as gsync or its pointless.

Cuz, honestly... we had way to mitigate these monitor issues for a long time. Dont need anymore treatments. Gsync looks like an actual solution.

I really hope thats not the case tho and freesync is exactly as good as gsync. Cuz we need the competition in the monitor world... ffs, we are FINALLY are seeing 1080p 60hz TN standard die. I personally think the death isnt violent enough.

Alamar
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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by Alamar » 28 Dec 2014, 13:35

I don't want higher resolution or bigger size monitors (but would like to see monitors massprod. change to 16:10 ratio and some good interpolation for playing older games). I hope there will be monitors with good strobe option beside freesync and freesync won't be worse vs. gsync. Good thing, freesync has chance to drop prices for all monitors with this technologies.

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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by sharknice » 28 Dec 2014, 17:14

Supports FREESYNC / Adaptive Sync (iiyama will offer a FREE upgrade to FREESYNC)
So they still aren't releasing a FREESYNC monitor out of the box. When will they release the update to make FREESYNC work?

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Re: First AMD FreeSync Capable Monitor Arrives – $170 Cheape

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 28 Dec 2014, 20:55

For those interested:
Blur Busters affiliated link to this monitor: Link to Ilyama Prolite 4K 60Hz Freesync Monitor

GSYNC has a massive head start, and is the only tech currently available at 120Hz+ at this time. But, it is good to see some friendly competition.
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