Maximum PC - UK (2020-05)

Enable G-Sync on a

FreeSync Monitor

1

UPDATE YOUR NVIDIA DRIVERS

That’s right, we’re starting with everyone’s favorite chore:

a driver update. GeForce Experience prompts you on the

desktop whenever a new Game Ready Driver is available, but

just in case you’ve missed one—or indeed, quite a few—open

GeForce Experience, select the “Drivers” tab, and hit the green

“Download” button if you see one [Image A]. If it’s not there, your

drivers are fully up to date. You need at least version 417.71 to use

G-Sync with a FreeSync panel, so chances are you already have

compatible drivers by now—support was enabled way back on

January 15, 2019. It was a simpler time. Coronawhat?

>> Contained within these updated drivers is information

that adds the option to enable G-Sync in Nvidia Control Panel,

and tells your GPU not to produce more frames than a variable

refresh rate monitor’s current Hz when G-Sync is turned on.

2

HOOK UP A DISPLAYPORT CONNECTION

HDMI won’t cut it for this exercise, and although we’re

still deeply in love with chunky old DVI, it’s not going to cut

the mustard either. You need a DisplayPort cable between your

graphics card and monitor for this one in order to enable G-Sync.

Adaptive sync has been woven into DisplayPort’s feature set

since version 1.2a, so you don’t need to worry overly about which

DisplayPort cable you use. Your screen and GPU just need a nice

THE PROBLEM IS CLEAR AND SIMPLE: Sometimes games produce screen tearing and stuttering.

They don’t mean to, it’s just a function of the way your graphics card and monitor interact—GPU

spews out frames as quickly as it can, monitor uses those frames at a set refresh rate, gamer

looks on at torn images in frustration. This being the wonderfully infuriating world of personal

computers, it’s the solution that proves far more complex. V-Sync is the simplest band-aid over

frame pacing issues, telling your GPU at the software level to only provide as many frames per

second as the current refresh rate—usually 60. It’s effective in its own way, but often introduces

noticeable input lag and tanks the frame rate down to 30 if your graphics card can’t handle a

consistent 60. Nvidia’s G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync both offer more complex hardware-based

delivery pipelines for new frame data, but previously they didn’t interface—G-Sync needed a

compatible monitor and an Nvidia card, while FreeSync required AMD silicon in your PCIe slot.

Now the walls have come down, though, and Nvidia has enabled G-Sync on FreeSync panels.

We’ll show you how to get it up and running. –PHIL IWANIUK

YOU’LL NEED THIS

A FREESYNC

COMPATIBLE MONITOR

Stating the obvious, but this

doesn’t work with just any panel;

you need FreeSync on your

screen’s specs.

GRAPHICS CARD

An Nvidia RTX 20-series or

GTX 10-series GPU.

high-bandwidth interface to communicate through, and

because HDMI 1.4 tops out at 1080p and 60Hz, it can’t

keep up. HDMI versions 2.0, 2.0a, and 2.1 can go beyond

those numbers, but they’re rare to find on variable

refresh rate monitors’ back panels. Mini DisplayPort is

fine, if you were wondering.

3

CHECK YOUR MONITOR’S COMPATIBILITY

So, your graphics card meets the requirements,

and it’s using the drivers needed too. You’ve

got a DisplayPort cable connecting it to your monitor,

and you’re primed and ready for silky-smooth frame

delivery. What next? Well, next is a bit of expectation

management. Nvidia itself has tested over 400 different

monitor models with variable refresh rate on their spec

lists, and of those 400, it’s certified, er, 12. Aka “not very

many.” Here’s the list of fully certified models—if yours

is name-dropped, you can guarantee total compatibility:

Acer XFA240, Acer XG270HU, Acer XV273K, Acer XZ321Q,

AOC Agon AG241QG4, AOC G2590FX, Asus MG278Q,

Asus VG258Q, Asus VG278Q, Asus XG248, Asus XG258,

and BenQ XL2740.

>> What’s Nvidia’s criteria? Par tly it comes down to the

ratio of refresh rates a given panel offers. The screens

that made the grade offered 2:4:1 refresh rate ratios

or higher (that’s at least 48–144Hz, to put it in more

relatable terms). When G-Sync was enabled on these

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52 MAXIMUM PC MAY 2020 maximumpc.com

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