Nvidia FreeSync support tested - and it's a game-changer
The surprise Nvidia announcement at CES? Surely it has to be the reveal of adaptive sync/VRR support for GeForce products - or to put it more plainly, Nvidia graphics cards now deliver FreeSync functionality. Right now, only 10-series Pascal and 20-series Turing GPUs get the required support, but this is a highly significant development: over 550 monitors out there adhere to the variable refresh open standard, and with the arrival of a new driver earlier this week, you can test your GeForce graphics card on any of them.
In short, Nvidia has folded FreeSync support into its G-Sync brand - and as cool as that sounds, it should be stressed that it's not all plain sailing. Out of 400 tested monitors, Nvidia has validated just 12 that deliver an adaptive sync experience worthy of the standards set by their proprietary version of adaptive sync technology. The firm warns of potential incompatibilities and artefacts including strobing and ghosting, while other displays throw up other compatibility problems. This Reddit thread and its associated megasheet are slowly building up a picture of how Nvidia products interface with a range of FreeSync displays.
I don't own one of Nvidia's favoured dozen of displays, but I do have access to an Asus VP28U - an entry level 4K display with FreeSync support I previously tested for Xbox One's VRR upgrade. It's a screen that's built to a price, and there's no way on Earth that Nvidia would give this G-Sync certification - but it's for exactly that reason that I wanted to check it out. Can you still get a good experience from entry-level kit?
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