G-SYNC Monitors – what are they?

[peterhayes]

G-SYNC Monitors – what are they?

A series of somniferous and oft somnolence producing articles guaranteed to send you to sleep.

G-SYNC Monitors
If your monitor is capable, a G-Sync electronic board is installed in the monitor (usually at the factory level). This board contains 768MB of DDR3 memory, which stores the previous frame sent to it by the cpu, so that it can be compared to the next incoming frame, thus decreasing input lag.
So, G-SYNC technology (a combination of hardware and software), synchronizes the display’s refresh rate to the GPU’s render rate, so images display on the monitor the moment that they are rendered. This results in scenes appearing instantly, objects are sharper, and game play is smoother, and best of all – no lag. Tile boundaries are much minimised in TS2016, especially using a dedicated SSD for TS2016.

Hence, we need to see how well it eliminates tearing, stutters, and lag in games, and is it better than using V-Sync or not using V-Sync.

G-SYNC is a hardware/software solution and it works by perfectly synchronising the display to the GPU, regardless of frame rate (fps), leading to a smooth stutter/tear free display on the monitor.
G-SYNC addresses tearing, lag and stutter because in a G-Sync monitor the display accepts frames as soon as the GPU has rendered them which delivers smoother game play and maximizes input response. There is no waiting for frames to be rendered so there is no lag, etc.

So it doesn’t matter if you see low frame rates in TS2016 ie those being displayed by, TS2016, FRAPS™ and/or Bandicam™, your display will still be smooth and free from tearing.

What are the requirements for using a G-SYNC Monitor?
• Your PC and Monitor (equipped with a DisplayPort™ interface – HDMI is coming) must support DisplayPort 1.2 directly from the GPU.
• Video Card: You need a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650Ti BOOST GPU or higher.
• O/S: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10.
• Driver: GeForce: 340.52 or higher

Resolutions of G-SYNC monitors?
Most NVIDIA G-SYNC monitors will use a variety of resolutions including 1920x1080, 2560x1440, 3440x1440, and 4K (3840x2160).

Full Screen, Windowed or Borderless Modes.
nVidia announce: The nVidia GeForce drivers post 353.xx now deliver “Windowed” Mode for G-SYNC, enabling smooth gaming whilst playing in a window or borderless window.

Verdict: Great for TS2016

Enhancements:
nVidia Announce: For enthusiasts, there is a new advanced control option that enables G-SYNC to be disabled when the frame rate of a game exceeds the maximum refresh rate of the G-SYNC monitor.

For instance, if your frame rate can reach 250 on a 144Hz monitor, the new option will disable G-SYNC once you exceed 144 frames per second.

Doing so will disable G-SYNC and reintroduce tearing, but it will improve input latency ever so slightly in games that require lighting fast reactions.

Verdict: Not really an option to use in TS 2016

ULMB capable monitors
Some G-SYNC monitors also include a NVIDIA Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) display mode, which eliminates motion blur and can reduce input latency.

In the latest drivers, you can now select on a per-game basis whether to use G-SYNC or ULMB, if your monitor supports it.

Verdict: Not really an option to use in TS 2016, G-Sync is much better.

Cost Benefit
G-Sync monitors are more expensive than standard monitors, so we have to see if the extra cost can be justified.

• You really need to ask yourself, how badly do you hate tearing, lagging and/or stuttering in TS 2016?
• Is eliminating these artefacts worth the extra outlay for you?
If yes, the there’s your answer, if these things do not bother you then stay with the status quo!

The Bottom Line:
Using a G-SYNC monitor means that there is no minimum refresh rate, meaning G-SYNC works even when your frame rate (fps) is low (>14 fps in TS2016), giving a smooth display at any frame rate, plus there’s no performance impact from the use of G-SYNC on Maxwell GPUs*.
Once you use a G-Sync monitor in action and compare it against a traditional monitor there really is no going back, I would not buy any monitor that was not a G-Sync Monitor.

G-Sync monitors work very well in TS2016.

*Maxwell GPU’s:
First generation GeForce GTX 745, 750/750 Ti, 850M/860M (GM107) and GTX 830M/840M (GM108).
Second generation: GeForce 9xx series, including GTX 980TI, 980, 970 and the GTX9xxM series.

G-Sync Monitors are made by ASUS, AOC, ACER, DELL, Philips, with others coming soon.

Peter H
February 2016

PS I have no experience with the AMD alternative “FREESYNC”>

[BoostedFridge]

Very interesting article. Thanks for posting!

[imnew]

Interesting indeed.