G-SYNC Upgrade Board Giveaway - FIVE boards! [complete]

[Solar]

$200 actually isn't that bad considering the FPGA used in G-Sync appears to retail at roughly $1000. As long as we have access to the features it might offer such as being programmable for mods or future updates, it should be well worth the price.

Wow -- which FPGA would that be? I guess they haven't come up with dedicated circuit (ASIC) for G-SYNC use just yet, at least for 1920x1080p 120Hz.

AMD's FreeSync isn't running at 1920x1080 120Hz, so presumably, the FPGA is necessary here.

This article http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphi ... c-review/2 states that it uses the Altera Arria V GX series of FPGA which seem to range in price from $300 - $1000+. It doesn't say which specific model it is though.

I'm not sure why they used it here, except maybe to have the ability to easily make changes to G-Sync monitors down the line. I would imagine that future displays with G-Sync will end up with their own dedicated circuit. I just hope there will be benefits to having the FPGA in terms of modding the operation of G-Sync or ULMB (possibly combining them) or maybe we'll be able to program it to run at 240Hz like cirthix did with his custom board. Nice work btw!

[Chickenfeed]

Shooter wise, I've been able to get most pegged at 120, but like you said things such as Crysis 3 ( Metro Last Light and Arma III as well), that's just not going to happen. Myself I play Guild Wars 2 a lot and it is extremely cpu limited ( and scales horrible with higher end hardware and multiple gpus) and has the most erratic performance of any game I've played so its the thing I'd be most interested in using GSync with. Getting 120fps pegged, even 60, is a pipe dream in the game's busy areas.

[Guy]

Does ULMB offer a 144Hz option or is it still limited to 120Hz?

[Chief Blur Buster]

Does ULMB offer a 144Hz option or is it still limited to 120Hz?

85Hz, 100Hz, and 120Hz are available with ULMB as has already been reavealed. (Alas, 144Hz ULMB isn't avaiable -- I correctly called-out 85Hz, but failed on 144Hz).

I've persuaded NVIDIA to support other rates, and to add strobe-length adjustments (for adjustable persistence). So we shall see.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Winner #4 - nimbulan

Winner #5 coming (tonight), plus consolation prizes (which probably continues tomorrow -- it's getting late here!)

I'm Nimbulan, and I've been a PC gamer all my life. I recently upgraded to an Asus VG248QE from an ancient 19" panel and it's made a massive difference in my gaming experience. I bought this monitor knowing that it's G-sync upgradable and suspect that G-sync will make a large difference in my experience as well. I've built every computer I've used for gaming and pride myself on being the most knowledgeable person among my group of friends with regards to PC components. I frequently help them with builds, upgrades, and troubleshooting as well.

A few years ago I had a power supply fall victim to capacitor plague. I repaired it myself (which was a difficult job since good quality capacitors are larger than the originals and would not fit on the PCB.) I got 5 more years out of that power supply before I finally had to replace it this year. I've built a number of electronic devices over the years (radios and the like,) and still use some of them today.

My proudest moment though, was repairing my parents' old Marantz receiver from the 70's. Over the years the volume control had worn down to the point where you could only get clear sound out of the left channel and turning the dial produced a lot of static. There is no replacement part that I was able to find so I removed the dual variable resistor, pried the casing open, cleaned the internal contacts and now it works like new.

As for non-electronic DIY, I have done a good amount of work on cars over the years, including helping my father replace the front right axle on his car.

My favorite Blur Busters article is the G-Sync preview. It does a great job explaining and demonstrating how G-sync addresses the different visual artifacts that result from variable framerate rendering and fixed refresh rate displays. http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/preview/

I plan to use G-sync to test a wide variety games, especially those that stutter badly with vsync on such as Far Cry 3 and the Serious Sam series. I find screen tearing extremely distracting and the visual stuttering that results from the tearing almost always looks worse than it does when vsync is on. Since vsync also stutters quite badly in some games, I am hoping that G-Sync is the solution. Another problem I would like to test G-sync with is games with 64 Hz engine timing (Doom 3, Gamebryo engine games such as Divinity 2 and Skyrim) since that often leads to constant stuttering and high input lag no matter what you do.

My current specs:
Windows 7 64 bit
Intel Core i5-4670k @4GHz
8 GB DDR3-1600
MSI GTX 760 Gaming
Asus VG248QE (of course)

[TwistedEndz]

AWww CONGRATS!!!

[Chief Blur Buster]

As I already mentioned earlier, we picked too many, so....

I'm randomly drawing the 5th winner (before things escalate to a head-to-head FPS deathmatch contest...) I've now crumpled up pieces of paper and throwing it in my old homemade wooden pencil box (Grade 7 project) and then closing the lid to rattle the crumpleballs a bit. Keep tuned with baited breath!!!!

[PoWn3d_0704]

Hey, two John's, both in Oregon and with the Asus monitors now w/ Gsync! Whats the odds?

[Chief Blur Buster]

Winner #5 -- TheExodu5

(drawing made, from final candidates, out of old pencil box I hand-made in Grade 7 wood workshop about 25 years ago)

Hi there! I'm Jason, also known as TheExodu5. I'm a bit of a PC gaming enthusiast, among other self proclaimed hobbyist titles. I have built several PCs for myself, as well as a dozen or so friends. It's a service I like to offer to encourage friends to jump into PC gaming. Other DIY projects I've done include a recyclable sorting device for my CEG capstone project and a few pocket headphone amps among other pet projects.

I'll go ahead and mention the page that brought me to Blur Busters in the first place:
http://www.blurbusters.com/zero-motion-blur/lightboost/

Lightboost was a complete revelation, and brought me back to the CRT glory days.

Finally, what do I plan to do with G-Sync? I plan on using it and I would like to detail exactly what it fixes and what possible issues may be. I have actually had interest in seeing G-Sync implemented for a while now...I actually made a thread a year ago on NeoGAF talking about the benefits of variable refresh rate displays, and no one seemed to take notice:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=86581189

So, I have a few things I really want to test out. First off, I want to test a game where I can't maintain 60fps to experience the full benefit of G-Sync. Second, I want to test a game that runs at 60fps, but is known to have judder issues (e.g. The Witcher 2, Darksiders 2)...I have a strong hope that G-Sync will fix these games. Third, I want to test a game that runs fine at 60fps, but has noticeable input lag with vsync on (e.g. Street Fighter IV), as I think G-Sync will be monumental in making these games finally playable. Lastly, I'd like to see if this can be any help with emulation, especially SNES emulation, as no emulator out there can currently maintain perfect audio/video synchronization.

I should add that I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to judder and input lag. I always thought I was crazy when I was bringing up these issues in different threads and no one else would notice them. It feels like my craziness has finally been validated by the introduction of G-Sync.

[Solar]

Congratulations to the winners! It's good to know these are going to some very capable people who will put them to good use.