Page 26 - Computer Power User - February 2017

There are some other notable caveats
with FreeSync technology. To start,
FreeSync monitors feature both a
minimum and maximum variable
refresh range, and the supported range
varies widely by monitor. The variable
refresh rate might be as little as 40Hz to
60Hz, or as wide as 30Hz to 144Hz. The
maximum variable refresh range typically
matches the maximum refresh range of
the monitor, but the minimum could be
as high as 48Hz.
When FreeSync was first released,
the standard was criticized because it
had no way to handle frame rates that
dropped below a monitor’s minimum
variable refresh rate. In such cases, your
system would revert back to Vsync, if
you had it turned on, or introduce screen
tearing, if Vsync was off. AMD’s Crimson
driver added LFC (low framerate FreeSync works with many existing Radeon graphics cards, such as the R9 290 pictured here.
compensation), which is an adaptive-sync
algorithm to adjust the GPU’s output
and refresh rate for smooth motion when the monitor’s minimum refresh rate to purchase. Fortunately, many of the
below the monitor’s minimum refresh support LFC. FreeSync displays released in 2016 offer a
rate. There’s a catch, though, because a Again, the lack of strictly defined much wider variable refresh range. If you
FreeSync monitor must boast a maximum parameters requires you to research a often game at more than 75fps—or below
refresh rate that’s 2.5 times (or more) monitor’s FreeSync capabilities before 40fps—it’d be worth your time and effort
to find a FreeSync monitor that supports
the variable refresh rates you play at.

G-SYNC
NVIDIA was the first to develop
adaptive-sync technology in 2013.
G-SYNC is supported by GeForce GTX
650 Ti or greater GPUs, so it works
even if your NVIDIA GPU is a few
generations old. Even some of NVIDIA’s
mobile GPUs support G-SYNC,
including the GeForce GTX 965M,
970M, 980M, and 10-Series notebook
GPUs. With a dedicated GPU, you’ll
need to connect to a G-SYNC monitor
via the DisplayPort cable.
On the monitor front, supported
panels feature a G-SYNC chip that’s in
charge of the variable refresh rate. The
approach helps NVIDIA to have a bit
more control when using adaptive sync.
NVIDIA indicates, for example, that
G-SYNC displays don’t have a minimum
refresh rate limit and the maximum
AMD introduced Low Framerate Compensation to FreeSync with its Crimson driver.
refresh rate matches up with the panel’s

26 February2017 / www.computerpoweruser.com