Bought a new Freesync monitor, need to upgrade video card to notice 144hz?

[deanx0r]

Thanks. So I guess not much difference between 144hz and 165hz? I notice G-Sync supports 165hz but not Freesync.

At that point, you get diminishing returns as 144Hz to 165Hz is not quite the jump from 60Hz to 144Hz, And even at a high refresh rate, you will still be at the mercy of the panel type and its response time. 60Hz is fine for desktop use, and those high refresh rate monitors are only useful in certain games where graphics can push framerates beyond 60 fps.

G-Sync/Freesync allows the monitor to sync to the framerate variation the graphic card outputs. And you dont need a high refresh monitor to take advantage of those technologies.

With regular monitors;
-When the GPU outputs way higher framerate than what the monitor can display, you get some very distracting screen artifacts and tearing.
-To remedy this problem, you can enable V-Sync, but that solution introduce input lag.
-When the GPU framerate drops below the monitor's refresh rate (e.g. GPU outputs 57fps when the monitor refreshes at 60Hz(., you are introduced to screen stutter which can be a very distracting experience (whether vsync is enabled or disabled).

That's what g-sync/freesync technologies try to remedy to.

 

[Headfoot]

Thanks. So I guess not much difference between 144hz and 165hz? I notice G-Sync supports 165hz but not Freesync.

There is no evidence to suggest Freesync cant support 165 hz.... There's one Gsync monitor at 165 hz and its a total hack. Read the TFT Central review on it, quality degrades on that monitor once it's pushed past 120hz. It's a factory overclock basically. 165hz or higher is dependent 100% on the panel and panel controller. Whether it can synchronize frame transfer with the GPU (e.g. Adaptive Sync) is entirely orthagonal.

 

[sirmo]

Correct, the refresh rate range isn't limited by the FreeSync, it's limited by the monitor implementation. You can "overclock" FreeSync as well. The Gsync manufacturers I think OC Gsync to justify the price premium is my take.

 

[Headfoot]

Correct, the refresh rate range isn't limited by the FreeSync, it's limited by the monitor implementation. You can "overclock" FreeSync as well. The Gsync manufacturers I think OC Gsync to justify the price premium is my take.

Definitely agreed. 165hz looks better on paper even if the monitor actually performs best at ~120hz