Using FreeSync with Nvidia GPUs Examined

2021 Update: Since Nvidia opened upward to support FreeSync monitors with GeForce GPUs, the gaming monitor marketplace completely shifted gears and today most gaming monitors are fully capable of VRR (variable refresh rates) on GeForce and Radeon graphics cards without a trouble. Hither are some more contempo articles and tests we've performed:

FreeSync and G-Sync: What You Need to Know
Best Gaming Monitors 2022: 1440p, 4K, Upkeep and Ultrawide
FreeSync on Nvidia GPUs Revisited

Our original commodity follows below, citing various monitors we tested for FreeSync compatibility with Nvidia GPUs...

To the surprise of many, Nvidia has backed down from their G-Sync tower and enabled Nvidia GPU owners to apply adaptive sync with a wide range of FreeSync monitors. The feature was appear during CEO Jensen Huang CES 2022 keynote and this week it's been enabled by the latest GeForce drivers.

At present you might be thinking, "wide range, that'southward not right, Nvidia just announced that 12 monitors would be supported!". Simply that's non actually the case. Nvidia's proclamation of this characteristic was a trivial misleading, and so we'll clarify it here. Nvidia's support for adaptive sync displays now comes in the form of four tiers. Yes, four...

At the pinnacle is G-Sync Ultimate, the new name for G-Sync HDR. Monitors that are G-Sync Ultimate certified accept Nvidia's Thousand-Sync HDR module inside, and support the full suite of HDR features. G-Sync Ultimate monitors include the Acer Predator X27, the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ and the new HP Omen 10 Emperium 65.

One pace down is regular G-Sync.

These are the monitors we've had for many years now, that include a One thousand-Sync module simply don't support G-Sync HDR. These are the adaptive sync monitors that have e'er worked with Nvidia GPUs and Nvidia GPUs but, and the ones that command a college price tag than their FreeSync counterparts.

And then nosotros get down to "G-Sync compatible" monitors.

These are FreeSync monitors that Nvidia has certified to laissez passer their strict G-Sync performance metrics. They don't have a G-Sync module, simply they do support the VESA Adaptive Sync standard, so they besides work with AMD GPUs. With the latest Nvidia drivers, these monitors now work with adaptive sync on Nvidia GPUs by default.

So far, Nvidia has announced that 12 monitors are G-Sync Compatible, you can see the list in a higher place. If you own any of these monitors and install Nvidia'southward latest driver, adaptive sync will be enabled automatically and you can use it merely similar you would with any Grand-Sync monitor.

Nvidia claims that Chiliad-Sync compatible is still junior to regular onetime G-Sync, they have this table here showing that Chiliad-Sync monitors are certified with more image quality tests, have a full variable refresh rate range, variable overdrive and are factory color calibrated. Even so, at that place is no reason why a M-Sync Compatible monitor couldn't also be manufacturing plant calibrated or accept a full variable refresh rate range, Nvidia just isn't requiring these things for the monitor to receive a G-Sync compatible sticker, while G-Sync monitors must have those features.

There's also a quaternary tier that Nvidia only talks about briefly. And that's the ability to use any FreeSync or VESA Adaptive Sync monitor with an Nvidia GPU via a toggle in the Nvidia Command Console.

Nvidia claims that this is for "VRR monitors withal to be validated as G-Sync compatible" and says that when enabling the feature "it may piece of work, it may piece of work partly, or it may not work at all". Of course, only certified monitors are guaranteed to work, and by Nvidia's numbers -- 12 supported monitors out of 400 tested -- your prospects may look bleak, withal the drivers do not restrict you and in reality every adaptive sync monitor is now supported. All you have to do is enable the toggle, and away you lot go.

Now, Nvidia spent a fleck of time during their keynote and on the showfloor attempting to convince people that the Thou-Sync compatible plan is necessary, because apparently non-certified monitors are rife with issues. They showed off monitors that were flickering and blanking, and basically used those examples to tarnish the unabridged FreeSync ecosystem. Nvidia claims the Thou-Sync compatible monitors they've certified do non have these bug, while any non-certified monitors likely will.

As presently as we saw this, we called BS. And that's because the issues they showed off are not issues with FreeSync or the VESA Adaptive Sync standard; they are not issues inherent to the applied science. Instead, they are issues with monitor manufacturers producing a crappy production. It's no hugger-mugger that some FreeSync monitors – especially earlier models – aren't very good and practice indeed have issues similar flickering even on AMD GPUs.

But those monitors are just rubbish. In our opinion, if you receive a monitor that flickers or has blanking problems, information technology'due south a defective product that should exist returned. Of course, there is a possibility that adaptive sync monitors that piece of work perfectly on AMD GPUs, will accept issues on Nvidia GPUs. That would be Nvidia's fault for non implementing back up for adaptive sync properly, but equally with all implementations, bugs and other issues are possible.

Enabling Thou-Sync on your FreeSync monitor

Start, a quick look at how exactly yous enable adaptive sync support for not-certified monitors. Open up the Nvidia Control Panel, browse to "prepare upward G-Sync", then select your FreeSync monitor. From here, brand sure both the "enable Thou-Sync, G-Sync compatible" checkbox and the "enable settings for the selected brandish model" checkbox are ticked. The 2nd checkbox doesn't announced if the monitor is Thou-Sync certified. Then click Apply, your monitor will restart and adaptive sync will be enabled.

In some cases you might demand to get into the global 3D settings and select K-Sync Compatible from the "monitor technology" drop-downwardly menu, but across the monitors we've tested this wasn't necessary. It'due south also of import to note that FreeSync has to be enabled on the monitor itself (usually using the on-screen carte du jour). Some monitors accept a toggle that allows you to plow FreeSync or adaptive sync on or off, you lot'll need to fix it to 'on' to become the pick to enable adaptive sync.

One last note, G-Sync compatible and FreeSync monitors merely work with Nvidia's GTX 10 series or newer. We tested a variety of monitors with a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, just all Pascal cards should likewise work. This is different to M-Sync monitors, which work with GPUs back to Nvidia'south GeForce 600 series. We believe this is because Pascal is the first GPU architecture to support adaptive sync equally well every bit One thousand-Sync, while older architectures supported just G-Sync.

Testing FreeSync on a GeForce

So far we've tested vii FreeSync monitors with an Nvidia GPU. All of these monitors we've previously tested and found to work flawlessly with AMD GPUs. So no flickering, blanking or other bug. They work fine. We'd accept loved to test more than monitors considering there are over 500 models, merely these are all the monitors we have on hand. However, should be a fairly good sample size correct now.

The goal for testing was to meet if there were whatsoever differences betwixt adaptive sync enabled and disabled with an Nvidia GPU, and if there were any differences compared to the monitor attached to an AMD GPU with FreeSync activated. This included testing the monitor across a range of frame rates to see how information technology behaved inside and outside the refresh rate range.

The outset monitor nosotros tested was the Acer KG251QF, a upkeep 24-inch 1080p monitor with a xxx to 144 Hz refresh charge per unit range. This is a bully monitor for the price and it's rubber to say nosotros found no bug with the monitor working with adaptive sync enabled on an Nvidia GPU. No flickering, no blanking, nothing. It worked exactly the aforementioned every bit when hooked upward to an AMD GPU. So that'due south a success.

The 2d monitor was the BenQ EL2870U, a 4K 60Hz panel with a narrow 40 to sixty Hz refresh rate range. This monitor also worked perfectly, although the refresh range is too narrow to support low framerate bounty, or LFC. So when frame rates dropped below 40 FPS, adaptive sync no longer functioned and either tearing or stuttering was introduced depending on whether yous had Vsync disabled or enabled. This is expected behaviour and also happens with an AMD GPU. Again, we'd class this as a success.

The next monitor was the Viotek GN24C, another 24-inch 1080p monitor, this time with a VA console and a 48 to 144 Hz refresh rate range. Once more, this monitor worked perfectly, and due to the large refresh rate range it too supported LFC.

This was one feature nosotros were curious to run into if worked properly on GeForce GPUs. If Nvidia was being lazy they would just let adaptive sync conciliate when frame rates dropped below the 48 Hz refresh window. Nevertheless that'due south non the case, instead Nvidia is properly supporting LFC with monitors that should support LFC, so when frame rates drib below 48 FPS, the monitor runs at a multiple of the frame charge per unit and frames are duplicated.

For example, if the game was running at 37 FPS, the monitor would refresh at 74 Hz and show each frame twice. And then it's prissy to meet i of the fundamental features of adaptive sync, that Nvidia already uses for Thou-Sync monitors, also works hither without whatever corners cut.

We tested 2 other monitors with similar results, the AOC C27G1, a 27-inch 1080p monitor with a 48 to 144 Hz refresh range, and the Viotek GN32LD, a 32-inch 1440p monitor with a 48 to 144 Hz refresh range. Both monitors worked perfectly and had functional LFC.

Then we accept the Philips Momentum 43, a 43-inch 4K monitor with a 48 to 60 Hz refresh range and HDR back up. There's no LFC hither due to the narrow refresh window, simply otherwise this panel worked as expected with no issues.

The good news is that y'all get adaptive sync support even when HDR is enabled; it's non a thing of choosing one or the other, HDR has no impact on adaptive sync capabilities, which is good news for those interested in an HDR monitor just didn't want to purchase a G-Sync Ultimate display.

There is one FreeSync monitor we tested that didn't work with adaptive sync on an Nvidia GPU, merely this isn't a huge surprise. The Viotek NB24C only supports adaptive sync through HDMI, while Nvidia GPUs only support adaptive sync through DisplayPort. AMD GPUs can do adaptive sync through either HDMI or DisplayPort, so this monitor has functional adaptive sync with AMD GPUs but not Nvidia GPUs.

The lack of adaptive sync over HDMI will also disappoint those looking to pair an Nvidia GPU with the range of FreeSync-capable TVs that have been striking the market place in recent years. Well-nigh FreeSync TVs merely have HDMI ports, then over again, Nvidia GPU owners will exist left out for now.

And so of the vii monitors we tested, vi worked flawlessly. The one monitor that didn't was never going to because information technology required FreeSync over HDMI, which Nvidia doesn't support. It's too good to verify that low framerate bounty and HDR work in conjunction with adaptive sync on Nvidia GPUs, just like they do on AMD GPUs.

We await what we found here will be the example for the vast majority of FreeSync monitors. If the monitor is known to work perfectly with AMD GPUs over DisplayPort – and then it doesn't accept inherent flickering issues – it should also work perfectly with Nvidia GPUs when you lot enable the toggle. If the monitor has problems on an Nvidia GPU, information technology will besides likely have issues on an AMD GPU, and should exist returned.

Should the monitors nosotros tested to piece of work perfectly exist certified as Yard-Sync compatible? Information technology's difficult to say without knowing Nvidia's strict testing guidelines. However any monitor that doesn't back up LFC will automatically neglect – and at that place are loads of FreeSync monitors without LFC including two I tested today. Simply I retrieve it's of import to stress that y'all don't need to purchase a Chiliad-Sync compatible monitor to get adaptive sync with your Nvidia GPU. Buying a Yard-Sync uniform monitor will guarantee a working feel and guarantee support for features like LFC, only regular FreeSync monitors will work just fine as well.

Every bit for a few loose ends... nosotros don't take any of the 1000-Sync compatible monitors to examination with and compare, however having tested many G-Sync monitors before, we had the aforementioned kind of excellent feel with non-certified FreeSync monitors. The Thousand-Sync compatible badge just ensures a certain level of quality that you may non get with, say, the cheapest and crappiest FreeSync displays.

If you're wondering virtually input lag, we measured no observable deviation to input lag between adaptive sync enabled and disabled on Nvidia GPUs. Enabling adaptive sync does not announced to increase GPU-side processing time, which is besides the case for AMD GPUs. Then that'south good news once again.

You tin use multiple adaptive sync displays hooked up to a single Nvidia GPU. Y'all're not express to just ane adaptive sync-enabled display. However adaptive sync volition but function on one monitor at a time. We don't expect this will be an issue for most people, but say you take ii games running on 2 split up adaptive sync displays, but one of those monitors will be fed an adaptive sync bespeak from its corresponding game.

We also haven't tested whatever FreeSync 2 monitors with Nvidia GPUs. Because FreeSync two is an HDR pipeline exclusive to AMD that allows the game to talk directly to the monitor for lower latency HDR processing, we don't await this functionality to work with Nvidia GPUs. Still, this won't end regular HDR from working in conjunction with adaptive sync on Nvidia GPUs, as we've already mentioned. And then those that own or are thinking of buying a FreeSync 2 monitor will get HDR functionality, just not FreeSync 2 HDR functionality in the express selection of games that back up it.

Bottom line, Nvidia supporting FreeSync is nothing but a good thing for the manufacture and consumers in general. This volition hopefully bring more affordable adaptive sync monitors to owners of the near popular GPUs on the market. In that location will be less need to pay extra for the G-Sync module when there's a FreeSync equivalent, but that's only the key. When shopping for a new gaming monitor, you'll simply have to make sure it'due south a solid loftier quality display first, worry almost variable refresh rate technology second.