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Hey currently working on building a desktop new to all this. Can someone educate me a bit more on what exactly free sync is that I keep seeing on monitors ? And what exactly to steer toward or away from ? I'll be putting a gtx1080 card in and aiming to game in 4k and hdr so hoping to find a monitor that does it justice ? Suggestions ? Even if it's not one on here .
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Smshr
29
Nov 5, 2018
Shouldn't you be using it the other way round? i mean PUBG is more of a GPU hungry card hence lesser output resolution will yield higher fps and in turn a much more smoother game play?
reygg
12
Aug 2, 2018
I have a 1080ti and a 240hz 1080p monitor that I use for quake and doom. For PUBG I use my 1440p monitor.
Takophiliac
2
Jul 26, 2018
The only significant thing i'd add to the discussion on this is a definition and a gotcha (which i don't think occurs in GSync monitors due to the cost of licensing fees)
Adaptive Sync (GSync, FreeSync) is the opposite of VSync.
VSync syncs your video card to your monitor refresh rate, preventing delivery of a new frame until the monitor is ready to accept it. This causes backups in the frame buffer cache, and when the card operates way above the refresh rate, if no other pacing mechanism exist (these days, there are driver pacing mechanism) can result in significant stutter (irregular frame pacing) in the frame buffer, which makes the game appear to be doing something I call breathing.
Adaptive Sync lets the video card control the frame rate. When frames are completed, they are "written" to the monitor. Monitors which support adaptive sync technology have a range of available refresh rates, and can change the rate on a frame by frame basis. This completely prevents tearing (until you exceed the monitor's refresh rate cap) and can make action at very low framerates more playable. Even below 45 fps, so long as the delivery is reasonably smooth (low stutter) the game will still look and feel great.
The "gotcha" is that because Freesync is a royalty free and open standard, while monitors with Freesync can be cheaper, the market space is sullied with budget monitor manufacturers including the tech, even though the range of capable frame rates might be something trivial like 55-75hz. This is in opposition to what you really want, something that goes say, 25hz-144hz. Pay close attention to the refresh rate range when buying an adaptive sync monitor. As i mentioned already, I doubt this affects GSync due to license fees, but i can't say for sure, as i'm on team Red and have never shopped for a GSync monitor.
poorbuilder
1
May 11, 2018
If your using a 1080 then you might want a monitor with gsync instead of freesync. They tend to be more expensive but they will be compatible to use gsync with your 1080 card.
HaVoCTzu
274
Oct 19, 2017
If you are playing something fast-paced like a first person shooter. Then you definitely do not want a 4k monitor since it is capped at 60 frames per second. for competitive gaming I only recommend 240hz monitors 1080p. 1440p monitors at 144hz are good enough for most gamers (nice compromise of good looks and pretty good frame rate) . If you are getting a gtx1080 then you want g-sync instead of freesync. But up to you on whether it is worth it or not. For 1440p I do recommend g-sync if you have a high end graphics card. I have a 1080ti and a 240hz 1080p monitor that I use for quake and doom. For BattleRoyal games I use my 1440p 165hz monitor.
PirateIce
232
Dec 21, 2017
You should check if your settings actually affect framerate, often a 1080ti can handle higher settings without affecting framerate, some even improve with higher shader usage.
HaVoCTzu
274
Dec 21, 2017
PirateIceThanks
inmytaxi
175
Oct 19, 2017
If you have a certain brand of video card (AMD), Freesync locks the information coming to the screen to the same speed as the information coming from the video card.
Without freesync (or the competing version, G Sync for Nvidia video cards - which adds a $200 licensing fee to the cost of the screen), the information can get mismatched . As an example, the top half of the screen might produce an earlier or later image than the bottom half of the screen, resulting in distorted images.
This results in something called tearing, and obviously can be annoying if it happens often enough.
In practice, tearing usually happens to a strip in the middle of the screen being out of sync.
This is only an issue if you are playing graphics intensive video games. I have never seen screen tearing in a movie or other type of video, although in theory I guess it is possible.
There is a new version of Freesync, called Freesync 2. As the name implies, Freesync does not charge a licensing fee.
In my experience with a high refresh rate screen (144 hz), tearing is rarely an issue. But if you get a 60 hz monitor, you will want to have G Sync, or G Sync 2 which I think is also coming out.
I recommend the 34" 4k G Sync from Asus PG348Q. But it's pricey, the exttra money is just for the G Sync compared to this one.
Bohefus
36
Aug 18, 2017
Free sync is an open source tech that is supported by AMD video cards and enables variable refresh rate to your monitor when playing games (matches your refresh rate to the frames per second of the games you are playing). This makes for smoother play of the game and is supposed to eliminate Tearing= Screen tearing is a visual artifact in video display where a display device shows information from multiple frames in a single screen draw. The artifact occurs when the video feed to the device is not in sync with the display's refresh rate. NVIDIA has there own similar tech called G-SYNC and it basically does the same thing however it's proprietary and the monitor makers add the cost of the G-Sync module to the price of the monitor making those monitors quite a bit more expensive than Free-Sync monitors.
Cynic44
1
Jun 16, 2017
As far as HDR goes its not the best for gaming it over exposes the highlights and under exposes the shadows making darker scenes look awful, if you are going nvidia for graphics then freesync won't work for you use gsync instead, depending on what you intend on playing try for an IPS monitor, lower refresh then tn but 60hz is plenty for a lot of games and the colour is way better
ZachHilty
11
Nov 2, 2016
@zyprezz @Doppler @WookieHunter @JGunnz @Waah Here is a PCpart picker link to everything I have together thus far, http://pcpartpicker.com/list/zP3L7h
Final things I need to nail down are Power Supply, cooling setup and graphics cards, and I guess what optical drive. http://pcpartpicker.com/list/zP3L7h any thoughts input etc would be appreciated. Also, @zyprezz I'm sort of second guessing myself and paranoid as to the life span of the Motherboard, LG1151 socket, and the I7-6700K whatre your thoughts? I can easily return the mobo and invest in one with an LGA-2011v3 wondering if that wouldnt serve me alot better? thoughts ?
Bohefus
36
Aug 18, 2017
ZachHiltyI personally wouldn't get that much ram. Very few applications use that amount of ram and games are fine with 16GB. AMD's Ryzen and Threadripper CPU's are very competitive and probably cost less than Intels lineup right now.
inmytaxi
175
Oct 19, 2017
ZachHiltyGet the new 1151 socket ... 370 series ... and an 8700k when they come out in a few weeks.
zyprezz
2
Nov 2, 2016
free sync and g-sync and the old V-sync is a way to remove screen tearing by buffering the picture until its ready to send it does create input lag because its waiting with sending the picture usually around 20-80ms depending on how fast your graphic card is pumping out fps i would recommend turning it off while playing fps because you want to have the lowest input lag while amining it feels like they are rebranding shit and forcing ppl to eat it.
the higher hz your monitor can deliver the better the picture will be without (V, free, g)sync you can reach 250hz if you want to drop the doe
there is only 2 good 4k monitors and the best of them are this one 100hz 4k : https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-Curved-PG348Q-3440x1440-monitor/dp/B01A9EN4YU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1478087783&sr=8-2&keywords=Acer+X34
as for dual graphic cards DONT! it might work for some games but there is alooot of games that dont support it or it runs ineffective and does create artifacts (render errors)
its way better to just upgrade the video card and go for a Titan X(pascal) and you want that if your planing on playing at 4k anyway
you can still do 100 fps if you lower the graphics settings on a 1080 but imo wait untill 11xx series or later
ZachHilty
11
Nov 2, 2016
zyprezzHey. @zyprezz awesome post. Is 2 cards in Sli really that bad ? And I was trying to wait for the 1080ti if rumors are true and it comes out January or so. Your thoughts ? Also that curved Asus monitor I had looked at and it seems great but it's really only 2k isn't it ? And how do you think a 1080ti would compare to a titan x ? Can a titan be over clocked at all ? Annnddd here's another thing. Say you do run and sli setup but the game doesn't support it. Will you end up with worse performance than 1 of a single card or are you simply saying that becAuse the benefit is so small it isn't worth it ? Also any chance I can talk to you about. EK cooling setups ?
Wtcher
8
Sep 17, 2017
zyprezzOoof. Ancient post at this point but:
I just want to note that at 60Hz, your video card is averaging a frame every 16.667 ms (1.667% of a second). If you're doing less than that, you're not doing 60 FPS anymore.
Assuming 80ms, you're only doing 12.5 FPS. If your video card is only doing 12.5 FPS with any modern sync technology active, you really need drastically reduced display settings or an upgrade.
Plus, Freesync and G-sync are functionally the opposite of v-sync. With v-sync the video card is waiting on the monitor; with the more modern technologies, the monitor is waiting on the video card. For this reason you shouldn't see the same massive framerate drops v-sync can incur.
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