OCTOBER 2019 PCWorld 33Nvidia said its approach is different—and
better. “Freestyle gives gamers the ability to
customize the amount of sharpness, from 0 to
100%, and apply this customization on a per
game basis using the in-game overlay. We
believe sharpness is based on personal
preference and varies from game to game, so
with Freestyle we designed a simple solution
that remembers your settings in each game,”
the blog post said.
And yes, Nvidia wants to point out:
Freestyle Sharpen Filter works in more APIs,
supporting DX9, DX11, DX12, and Vulkan.
AMD’s Radeon Image Sharpening currently
supports DirectX 9, DirectX 12, and Vulkan.
MORE FREESYNC G-SYNC
COMPATIBLE SUPPORT, TOO
That’s not all. Nvidia said the new driver now
supports G-Sync Compatible modes on three
more FreeSync monitors: The Asus VG27A,
Acer CP3271, and Acer XB273K GP now will
have variable refresh rates supported
automatically. What that means for consumers
is if you have a FreeSync panel that has been
blessed by Nvidia and use it with a GeForce
card, the variable refresh rate will turn on
automatically (as long as the monitor has the
feature turned on).
That brings the number of FreeSync
monitors that Nvidia’s G-Sync Compatible
mode automatically supports to 38 (go.
pcworld.com/sp38). And yes, there are
roughly 780 monitors (go.pcworld.com/
m780) listed by AMD with support for
FreeSync.
The last feature we’ll mention in the new
driver is 30-bit color support. Also
commonly called 10-bit color, Nvidia first
introduced 30-bit to the GeForce line with
its Studio Driver in July. That driver, however,
is mostly intended for content creation on
GeForce and Titan cards. Support for a
30-bit workflow now moves over to the
Game Ready Driver. The 30-bit support is
long overdue: Prior to the Studio Driver
support for 30-bit color, Nvidia offered it
only on its pricier Quadro cards.Nvidia’s new
Freestyle filter
improves
sharpening in
games.