g-sync vs lightboost?
Posted: 22 Feb 2014, 00:05
What are the noticable differences? Is it worth modding your monitor for fps games?
ULMB is the sequel to LightBoost, and I already wrote about GSYNC versus ULMB towards the end of my GSYNC Preview #2, found at http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/preview2CrazyEyes wrote:What are the noticable differences? Is it worth modding your monitor for fps games?
Blur Busters GSYNC Preview wrote:Should I use G-SYNC or ULMB?
Currently, G-SYNC and ULMB is a mutually-exclusive choice – you cannot use both simultaneously (yet), since it is a huge engineering challenge to combine the two.
G-SYNC: Eliminates stutters, tearing and reduces lag, but not motion blur.
LightBoost/ULMB: Eliminates motion blur, but not stutters or tearing.
Motion blur eliminating strobe backlights (LightBoost or ULMB) always looks best when strobe rate matches frame rate. Such strobe backlights tend to run at high refresh rates only, in order to avoid flicker (to avoid eyestrain-inducing 60Hz style CRT flicker).
We found that G-SYNC looked nicer at the low frame rates experienced in both Battlefield 4 and Crysis 3, while ULMB looked very nice during Counter Strike: GO. We did not yet do extensive tests on input lag, but preliminary checks shows that ULMB adds only approximately 4ms (center/average) input lag compared to VSYNC OFF or good frame-capped G-SYNC. If you do, however, use ULMB, and you prefer not to fully lock the frame rate to refresh rate, then using a close frame rate works well (e.g. fps_max 118) as a latency compromise, if you prefer the motion clarity of ULMB.
It is a personal preference whether to use G-SYNC or ULMB. As a rule of thumb:
G-SYNC: Enhances motion quality of lower & stuttery frame rates.
LightBoost/ULMB: Enhances motion quality of higher & consistent frame rates.
Yes, the G-SYNC upgrade kit includes ULMB. ULMB works in multiple monitor mode (much more easily than LightBoost) even if G-SYNC can only work on one monitor at a time. Currently, G-SYNC only works on the primary monitor at this time, with current NVIDIA drivers.