Mysteoa :
This will be VESA standard for display port. Adaptation will be very wide while gsync will be very expensive and requiring agreement each time between manufacturer and nvidia.
It is an optional feature. If manufacture want to implement it, they need to make a scaler chip so the GPU to drive the V-blank interval.
And this takes time+R&D funds, which is why NV just gave up and did it themselves. As of a the freesync announcement according to NV they STILL haven't done their scaler jobs yet. We'll see if AMD can prod them into doing it now. But I'll be shocked if they give that R&D away at the same cost. Your monitor price will go up until it's recovered. The scaler people will charge the monitor people for their chip R&D. The monitor people will charge us. Free usually isn't free. NV did what the scaler people will have to do also and it won't be FREE. It also probably won't be as good.
AMD isn't giving away anything here. They did nothing but submit a request for something to be added to the standard that was already well known on laptops/eDP and NOT on all of them (kind of like apple patenting rounded corners we already had). Did they come up with ANYTHING here (a driver to work with it, but that's it, everyone has to do that)? No. They are now hoping scaler people will foot the bill to complete the solution, but they know that won't happen. It's kind of misleading saying this is FREE. But for them at least, people will think they had nothing to do with the price hike of the monitors (good business I guess...LOL...where it gets pinned on NV for actually solving it alone when they had no choice). Neither side really has a choice if they want to fix the issue properly (full solution), but there will be a price on either side and as always, WE have to pay it. The companies just pass it on. For the scaler people to do it right they will probably have to add cache also (again not free). I doubt they will just give away 768MB to do away with lag to help AMD call it FREEsync. Anyone thinking a FULL solution is free doesn't understand the problem here. A 2/3 solution will be what (without cache I guess) like $20 cheaper? If the scaler people fail to comply, AMD will have to do it themselves like NV no matter what monitors do. AMD won't do THAT work for free. Will we rename it moneysync if that happens?...LOL.
http://techreport.com/news/25878/nvidia-responds-to-amd-free-sync-demo
"Both have said that the biggest challenge to widespread adoption of the tech on the desktop is support among panel (
and scaler ASIC) makers."
"My sense is that AMD will likely work with the existing scaler ASIC makers and monitor makers,
attempting to persuade them to support dynamic refresh rates in their hardware."
Nvidia apparently failed to persuade them, but with gsync out maybe AMD will have better luck as his last paragraph in that link suggests. People have seen this tech now and want it, so maybe scaler makers will step up and profit from it. If they're hurting in this economy, or bean counters tell them it won't make them a dime they'll blow AMD off too.
Also, you still need a monitor+vid card if you're not on the latest vid cards already. I am one of those. I need BOTH, no matter which tech I choose and a cable too in AMD's case. To be fair NV needs a cable here also if they adopt it I guess. Monitor makers will be forced to get that label on their monitor, but scaler makers have no such obligation.