[sblantipodi]

Hi there…
Again, what’s the purpose of a GSYNC module vs a Freesync Premium PRO?

I sincerely had many GSYNC monitors in past and now I have a Freesync Premium PRO and I can’t see any difference between the two tech if not that GSYNC usually adds a noisy fan into the monitor.

What’s the purpose of insisting in a closed technology like GSYNC?
There must be something that I’m not understanding.

[PCM2]

Hi again sblantipodi,

Have you read our article on G-SYNC technology? It covers the benefits of ‘full fat G-SYNC’, which applies whether using a dedicated module or the new MediaTek scaler with G-SYNC integration. It’s a bit wordy but the following are key benefits – remember monitors are subjective so not everyone will care for these things, but they can be important for others:

– Nvidia has world-class display and graphics engineers who carefully tune the G-SYNC modules or technology carried over to the MediaTek scaler. These monitors are often quite tightly calibrated (doesn’t always apply) and there are various other tweaks they’ll oversee that manufacturers can’t always be trusted to do themselves [this is slightly tongue in cheek but partly true].

– They will use effective and well-tuned variable overdrive, which reduces overshoot as refresh rate decreases. This isn’t an issue for OLEDs, but it is for LCDs. A minority of models using Adaptive-Sync (or ‘not full fat G-SYNC’) feature a degree of variable overdrive, but most of the time it’s either implemented badly or not implemented at all.

– The technology provides a ‘seamless’ VRR experience without a distinct LFC boundary. The LFC boundary isn’t generally an issue as once it’s crossed the monitor gets rid of tearing and stuttering from frame and refresh rate mismatches just fine. But there is a slight momentary stuttering when it crosses and on some models that can cause additional flickering. This video demonstrates how crossing the LFC boundary can be problematic on an OLED for VRR flicker but this would also apply to most VA LCDs.

– ‘Full Fat G-SYNC’ also seems to include additional gamma compensations in a VRR environment. The AW3423DW had lower levels of VRR flickering compared to other OLED models I’ve used, even well above the LFC boundary. But it’s still there and I’m not sure if Nvidia could tweak this compensation further (it’s possible).

– Nvidia’s ULMB and associated technology is generally an excellent strobe backlight solution, tuned much better than most. This is again tuned by Nvidia engineers rather than the monitor manufacturer. There’s also a lot of excitement about ULMB Pulsar which is a tightly tuned strobe backlight solution that works in conjunction with VRR. I’ve yet to see it myself, but it will feature in various models in the future. They’re listed in our G-SYNC article and include the ASUS PG27AQNR which was displayed in pre-production stage at Gamescom 2024.

You also have to remember that, with the exception of most ULMB technologies, AMD GPUs can make use of models with a G-SYNC module (or appropriate MediaTek scaler) by accessing it via Adaptive-Sync. They will benefit from the above ‘tweaking’ done by Nvidia engineers, which in the case of G-SYNC is usually very good. The same can’t be said for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, which for the most part gives a similar experience to Nvidia ‘G-SYNC Compatible’. But adds an alternative HDR pipeline on many models which I and other reviewers have found to be generally whacky and worse calibrated than the usual HDR you’d get without the ‘Premium Pro’ implementation. Including using said model with an Nvidia GPU. I don’t think the MediaTek scaler will require additional cooling from a fan (a fan because that’s how Nvidia decided to do it) like the module. They’ve basically deleted the module and integrated things into a scaler which all consumer monitors have anyway. That’s a key reason it will be cheaper and easier for manufacutrers to implement.

[sblantipodi]

Thanks for the kind and very detailed answer, I really appreciate it.

Less overshoot at lower refresh rate is very interesting, I like that OLED monitors solved the “noisy fan” issues with heatsinks…

Hope to see some new MiniLEDs with this GSYNC module soon 🙂

[Author]

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