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How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 18 Apr 2017, 20:15
by lukeman3000
I'm sure this question has been asked ad nauseam but I'm having some difficulty making a determination because of conflicting data. So as of this point in time, which technology is better, and why?

What reasons might I consider for choosing one over the other?

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 18 Apr 2017, 20:41
by Sparky
The main distinction on what you should buy is whether you have an Nvidia or AMD video card, because g-sync only works on Nvidia video cards and freesync only works on AMD.


If you get a freesync monitor, make sure it's one that supports low framerate compensation(maximum refresh rate needs to be more than double the minimum refresh rate).

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 18 Apr 2017, 20:51
by jorimt
I don't know as much about FreeSync as I do about G-SYNC, but I'm pretty sure FreeSync lacks the ability to adjust overdrive every frame (G2G transitions), and thus it can't prevent variable framerate ghosting as well (or at all) when compared to G-SYNC.

Very few monitors implementing FreeSync are tested for quality standards as well, so FreeSync quality/performance can vary wildly from monitor model to monitor model, while all monitors using G-SYNC must meet a certain standard. This is one of the reasons G-SYNC costs more; the other is that it is hardware-based, and must replace the display's standard internal scaler with its own proprietary chip/module.

Finally, I know FreeSync once had issues in the minimum refresh range (under 30 fps), but I'm not certain if that's still the case.

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 18 Apr 2017, 21:08
by RealNC
jorimt wrote:Finally, I know FreeSync once had issues in the minimum refresh range (under 30 fps), but I'm not certain if that's still the case.
It's still the case. FreeSync monitors have a range where Freesync can work in. If you go above or below, freesync deactivates. There are 144Hz freesync monitors out there that have a range from 45Hz to 90Hz, for example. Anything below or above will get freesync to deactivate.

G-sync always works with the whole range of the monitor's refresh rate. From 1Hz up to the monitor's maximum refresh rate.

So when buying a freesync monitor, you MUST make sure to check what the freesync range is in order to avoid nasty surprises. Also, it's very important to consult reviews of the monitor to see if there's any overdrive issues while freesync is active. As jorimt mentioned, overdrive in freesync monitors is implemented by the monitor vendor, not by AMD. Overdrive quality can vary a lot there. With g-sync, you always get at least a decent overdrive implementation.

The bottom line is: if a freesync monitor has a large range (at least from 30Hz and up to the monitor's max) and its overdrive implementation is good, then it's not going to be inferior to g-sync in any way. Except for under 30FPS situations, but a decent GPU should be able to keep that from happening. Unless you're playing games locked at 30FPS (not common, but there's a few of those.)

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 21 Apr 2017, 16:11
by Chief Blur Buster
jorimt wrote:I don't know as much about FreeSync as I do about G-SYNC, but I'm pretty sure FreeSync lacks the ability to adjust overdrive every frame (G2G transitions), and thus it can't prevent variable framerate ghosting as well (or at all) when compared to G-SYNC.
While true in the past, NIXEUS has a new upcoming monitor with variable overdrive with FreeSync.

I think this is a feature of FreeSync 2.

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 22 Apr 2017, 14:52
by jorimt
Ah, good to hear. The more quality adaptive-sync can reach a broader audience (and with the announcement of FreeSync over HDMI, hopefully on TVs and consoles soon as well), the better.

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 26 Apr 2017, 11:02
by lukeman3000
So, long story short, G-Sync is still superior to FreeSync?

Also, I read through the recent G-Sync guides posted (as well as past G-Sync guides) but am still having a bit of trouble understanding the difference between G-Sync+V-Sync and G-Sync+Fast.

Which is preferred in a given scenario and why?

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 26 Apr 2017, 11:50
by jorimt
@lukeman3000, G-SYNC + Fast Sync acts exactly like G-SYNC + v-sync on within the G-SYNC range (inside max refresh rate of display). There is only a difference between those scenarios when you exceed the G-SYNC range, at which point (with G-SYNC + Fast Sync + no fps limiter), G-SYNC disables, and Fast Sync enables.

You can see the chart here, if you haven't already (Fast Sync input latency numbers will be updated once I'm finished with my input latency re-tests, which are currently in progress):
http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-range/

For a variety of reasons, there is zero benefit to using G-SYNC with Fast Sync in my opinion.

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 04 May 2017, 18:34
by lukeman3000
jorimt wrote:@lukeman3000, G-SYNC + Fast Sync acts exactly like G-SYNC + v-sync on within the G-SYNC range (inside max refresh rate of display). There is only a difference between those scenarios when you exceed the G-SYNC range, at which point (with G-SYNC + Fast Sync + no fps limiter), G-SYNC disables, and Fast Sync enables.

You can see the chart here, if you haven't already (Fast Sync input latency numbers will be updated once I'm finished with my input latency re-tests, which are currently in progress):
http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-range/

For a variety of reasons, there is zero benefit to using G-SYNC with Fast Sync in my opinion.
Furthermore, if I'm using an FPS limiter to stay below my monitor's refresh rate, then it really doesn't matter whether or not I have V-Sync or Fast selected, because I should always stay within G-Sync range, which is preferable... right?

Also, how many FPS below the monitor's refresh rate do you recommend to cap at? And is RTSS still recommended, or is there a better option?

Re: How does FreeSync look compared to G-Sync at this point?

Posted: 04 May 2017, 19:51
by Sparky
lukeman3000 wrote:
jorimt wrote:@lukeman3000, G-SYNC + Fast Sync acts exactly like G-SYNC + v-sync on within the G-SYNC range (inside max refresh rate of display). There is only a difference between those scenarios when you exceed the G-SYNC range, at which point (with G-SYNC + Fast Sync + no fps limiter), G-SYNC disables, and Fast Sync enables.

You can see the chart here, if you haven't already (Fast Sync input latency numbers will be updated once I'm finished with my input latency re-tests, which are currently in progress):
http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-range/

For a variety of reasons, there is zero benefit to using G-SYNC with Fast Sync in my opinion.
Furthermore, if I'm using an FPS limiter to stay below my monitor's refresh rate, then it really doesn't matter whether or not I have V-Sync or Fast selected, because I should always stay within G-Sync range, which is preferable... right?

Also, how many FPS below the monitor's refresh rate do you recommend to cap at? And is RTSS still recommended, or is there a better option?
There *should* be no difference in that situation, but the outliers in frame time could introduce one. Say you have a normal frame, a long frame and a short frame in that sequence, both will display the normal frame twice, and fast sync will drop the long frame in favor of the short one, while v-sync will display all 3. So the median latency is identical, fast sync recovers from hitches faster, but v-sync recovers from hitches more smoothly.


In game cap is always preferable if it's available, other than that, RTSS is fine.