AMD's FreeSync Finally Available; New Tech Details, Too

[Wisecracker]

It remains to be seen, however, whether AMD's FreeSync actually performs as well as or better than Nvidia's G-Sync.

While they may be entering the market second with their version of the technology, AMD has laid the groundwork with FreeSync for the ideal adaptive sync standard going forward. The company has delivered on their promises to create a cheaper, more flexible, open standard for variable refresh, which compared to Nvidia's closed G-Sync implementation, makes it the better choice for gamers.

AMD FreeSync Review from TechSpot

 

[TechGuru_7]

Well it sucks that my monitor only supports dvi and Hdmi :/

 

[epobirs]

Hey guys there is a much more detailed write-up at Tech Spot.

Thanks for that, it is a much better write up and sort of pre-review. It looks like I still need to wait for a monitor... need 24-96hz support or so, 24-25" and 1440/1600p, with a small bezel. I can dream at least, I doubt it will ever come to be.

You'd think the film/movie industry would pick up on this so they could make their 24/30/48/60 content all they like without having to have the TV do gimmicky things to their content.

The HDMI people tend to do their own thing and are a bit oblivious to the rest of the applications for displays. This is why DisplayPort came into existence in the first place, to have something the computer industry types didn't see as an ugly TV oriented kludge.

Watch the HDMI people come up with their own sync standard, just to make it take that much longer before you can shop for a display that satisfies a checklist without a lot of compromises. I have to wonder if between hardware requirements and licensing if it is possible to make a sing 4K display that understands all sync standards.

 

[17seconds]

With that small list of compatible video cards, this will take some time to gain traction. According to the Steam survey, all those cards combined amount to less than 2% of all video cards in the survey.

 

[r0llinlacs]

"Of course, gaining 0.2 percent or losing 1.5 percent of your performance is really not much to write home about. Despite losing 1.5 percent of its frames when enabled, G-Sync will still make the game feel much smoother than if you were to leave it disabled."

Of course, when AMD is the faster choice, it's nothing to write home about. When Intel/Nvidia are the faster choice, AMD doesn't get the "despite this, despite that, but AMD is still good" rebuttal sentence.

 

[r0llinlacs]

"It remains to be seen, however, whether AMD's FreeSync actually performs as well as or better than Nvidia's G-Sync."

Yes, cast doubt on AMD you paid shill. You have the benchmark in front of your face that shows AMD is faster, yet you still cast doubt. Propaganda.

 

[Guest]

"It remains to be seen, however, whether AMD's FreeSync actually performs as well as or better than Nvidia's G-Sync."

Yes, cast doubt on AMD you paid shill. You have the benchmark in front of your face that shows AMD is faster, yet you still cast doubt. Propaganda.

Yet you seem to take AMD's "numbers" on face value with absolutely no testing/gathering protocols detailed. Of course AMD is going to show their stuff is better. How about you wait for complete independent testing before spouting nonsense and then we'll see which is better or not? My guess is they will be very similar.

Who is the "shill"? Methinks its you.

 

[r0llinlacs]

"It remains to be seen, however, whether AMD's FreeSync actually performs as well as or better than Nvidia's G-Sync."

Yes, cast doubt on AMD you paid shill. You have the benchmark in front of your face that shows AMD is faster, yet you still cast doubt. Propaganda.

Yet you seem to take AMD's "numbers" on face value with absolutely no testing/gathering protocols detailed. Of course AMD is going to show their stuff is better. How about you wait for complete independent testing before spouting nonsense and then we'll see which is better or not? My guess is they will be very similar.

Who is the "shill"? Methinks its you.

Right. AMD is paying me to promote AMD as opposed to Intel/Nvidia paying the most popular tech website on the internet to promote them. Let's be realistic here, buddy.

 

[BulkZerker]

Is this working for any monitor or just certain ones? If it only works for limited number of monitors well...useless.

It only works on certain combinations of video cards and monitors (ie, both the video card and monitor must support FreeSync/G-Sync). Also, G-Sync and FreeSync are competing and aren't compatible... so it's kind of a mess right now. Kinda like the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, it's probably best to stay on the side lines until a winner is declared.

Gsync requires additional hardware. Freesync just requires a monitor that will be built after march 2015 (more or less) since freesync uses a standard that's been in place for years now. Tl Dr buy a new monitor.

 

[redgarl]

The reason why displayport is such a superior port. I cannot believe only Panasonic is making 4k TV with displayport available. Totally unacceptable for the PC community.

 

[Traciatim]

Gsync requires additional hardware. Freesync just requires a monitor that will be built after march 2015 (more or less) since freesync uses a standard that's been in place for years now. Tl Dr buy a new monitor.

Also a video card unless you have an 295X2, 290X, 290, 285, 260X or 260... since they are the only ones that support the variable refresh rates.

 

[Wisecracker]

The AMD Kaveri APUs with GCN 1.1 cores support FreeSync -- there are 5 or 6 of them. This potentially could be quite a boon for gaming as the prices for the monitors come down and they expand the low-end of the refresh rate (you have to read the TechSpot article).

And I suspect that an nVidia GSync monitor with minimum Displayport 1.2a spec will also support AMD FreeSync unless nVidia succeeds in blocking it.

 

[Traciatim]

The AMD Kaveri APUs with GCN 1.1 cores support FreeSync -- there are 5 or 6 of them. This potentially could be quite a boon for gaming as the prices for the monitors come down and they expand the low-end of the refresh rate (you have to read the TechSpot article).

And I suspect that an nVidia GSync monitor with minimum Displayport 1.2a spec will also support AMD FreeSync unless nVidia succeeds in blocking it.

True, I never really count those since I'm not really interested in 720p low setting gaming so I seem to forget about them.

 

[Wisecracker]

From Forbes: Are AMD's Latest Kaveri APUs Ready For 1080p Gaming?

720p (or 16x9), especially in a FreeSync environment should provide quite a nice low-budget experience.

The new Godavari APUs should move these numbers a bit further, and the next-gen Bristol Ridge with DDR4 might finally kick the door down if memory bandwidth takes a big leap.