What to look for when buying a gsync monitor?
Posted: 21 Nov 2018, 22:23
I really like the concept of gsync but don't really have any way to actually try it out myself. So to avoid having to buy monitors and return them, what things should I look out for when buying a gsync monitor?
One thing I'm worried about is the default refresh rate of the monitor. A refresh rate of 144 or 165 seems like it could cause issues in games/applications that expect a 60hz refresh. I suppose I could manually change the refresh rate to 120, but I'd rather not have to constantly switch the refresh rate depending on what I'm doing. In that case I would probably be looking at a 240hz monitor since 120hz monitors don't seem to be as popular anymore.
Another thing I'm concerned about is what kind of manual controls/overrides the monitor provides. Since gsync is a relatively new technology I would like to have the most options available to mitigate any issues that arise from incompatibilities. For example, driver settings may not be enough to fix an issue, so I would like to have even more controls available at the hardware level as well. Do certain monitor brands offer more options/controls over things that affect gsync performance than others?
I make heavy use of my computer for emulation (arcade and console) and also use legacy operating systems on real hardware like DOS (70hz) and windows 98 (lots of games have weird refresh rates). Having robust controls over the aspect ratio (correcting 320x200 DOS games to 4:3) or even the refresh rate independent of the OS would be nice. My current monitor can't correct 320x200 to 4:3 but it does display 70hz without stuttering. Having a variety of scaling options on the monitor itself would be nice too.
Are there any monitors that are recommended? I suppose a cheaper model would be nice but getting an optimal gsync experience is paramount. I currently just have a 100 dollar 1080p Asus VS239H-P 23" IPS that I have no issues with other than not having gsync. I would be fine with 1080p but 1440p seems to be more common.
I'm sure there are other things to look for (flickering?) that I don't know about because I can't try it out for myself so any other information would be appreciated.
I could potentially just wait until VRR gets standardized in HDMI and becomes more mature but I've had bad experiences with AMD's drivers (opengl) and I doubt nvidia is going to support it.
One thing I'm worried about is the default refresh rate of the monitor. A refresh rate of 144 or 165 seems like it could cause issues in games/applications that expect a 60hz refresh. I suppose I could manually change the refresh rate to 120, but I'd rather not have to constantly switch the refresh rate depending on what I'm doing. In that case I would probably be looking at a 240hz monitor since 120hz monitors don't seem to be as popular anymore.
Another thing I'm concerned about is what kind of manual controls/overrides the monitor provides. Since gsync is a relatively new technology I would like to have the most options available to mitigate any issues that arise from incompatibilities. For example, driver settings may not be enough to fix an issue, so I would like to have even more controls available at the hardware level as well. Do certain monitor brands offer more options/controls over things that affect gsync performance than others?
I make heavy use of my computer for emulation (arcade and console) and also use legacy operating systems on real hardware like DOS (70hz) and windows 98 (lots of games have weird refresh rates). Having robust controls over the aspect ratio (correcting 320x200 DOS games to 4:3) or even the refresh rate independent of the OS would be nice. My current monitor can't correct 320x200 to 4:3 but it does display 70hz without stuttering. Having a variety of scaling options on the monitor itself would be nice too.
Are there any monitors that are recommended? I suppose a cheaper model would be nice but getting an optimal gsync experience is paramount. I currently just have a 100 dollar 1080p Asus VS239H-P 23" IPS that I have no issues with other than not having gsync. I would be fine with 1080p but 1440p seems to be more common.
I'm sure there are other things to look for (flickering?) that I don't know about because I can't try it out for myself so any other information would be appreciated.
I could potentially just wait until VRR gets standardized in HDMI and becomes more mature but I've had bad experiences with AMD's drivers (opengl) and I doubt nvidia is going to support it.