i have an idea (another g sync if you will)

[TechyInAZ]

Now we all know that g sync and freesync monitors require hardware and GPU support. However what if you could bring the same lag free experience with all monitors and GPUs. However, G sync/freesync would still look a lot nicer.

I was thinking, you could create a special driver where in games the driver sets/forces the GPU to render at a constant 60fps. However, for the gpu to keep up the steady frame rate it would decrease the games resolution until it could render scenes at 60fps at the users required resolution. So for example, your playing an FPS game at 1080P, and when you get into a extremely detailed area the GPU then decreases to 1650 x 1050 to keep up the 60fps.

would this even be possible?

 

[viewtyjoe]

Is it being scaled to the output resolution? If so, congratulations, you just reinvented downsampling, which has been around for a long time now, and anything that's not an even fraction of the native resolution will look like crap. Is the resolution being dynamically changed on the monitor? Guess what, that's a hardware thing that no one wants to throw money at, and no one wants to have their monitor flipping out every half second changing resolutions.

Also, the last thing you want to add is another drive you have to keep up to date on. People are bad enough at keeping important drivers up to date, let alone peripheral stuff.

 

[bystander]

Now we all know that g sync and freesync monitors require hardware and GPU support. However what if you could bring the same lag free experience with all monitors and GPUs. However, G sync/freesync would still look a lot nicer.

I was thinking, you could create a special driver where in games the driver sets/forces the GPU to render at a constant 60fps. However, for the gpu to keep up the steady frame rate it would decrease the games resolution until it could render scenes at 60fps at the users required resolution. So for example, your playing an FPS game at 1080P, and when you get into a extremely detailed area the GPU then decreases to 1650 x 1050 to keep up the 60fps.

would this even be possible?

This idea is being done on the Xbox1. Microsoft was demoing and marketing it when G-sync was first being introduced. However, this won't always work, because it is not always the GPU that is holding back performance (depending on the target FPS at least). In some games, the CPU is holding back performance, and changing the resolution won't help. It's obviously not a perfect solution, but it is an interesting fix.

It is called "dynamic resolution".
http://gearnuke.com/xbox-one-already-has-an-answer-to-nvidia-g-sync/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbMv0NQwaMY