NVIDIA G-SYNC Display Technology Explored

Name: NVIDIA G-SYNC Display Technology Explored
Brand: NVIDIA

by Marco Chiappetta — Thursday, December 12, 2013, 09:00 AM EDT

The experience, when we experimented with NVIDIA’s G-SYNC technology, felt very polished. Although the display we used was a pre-production sample, that’s not quite ready for prime-time just yet, once we had everything connected up properly, G-SYNC “just worked”.

NVIDIA's Public Drivers Already Support G-SYNC

NVIDIA’s public drivers already have G-SYNC support built in. Once we plugged in the display, we received a notification that a G-SYNC capable display was detected, we clicked it, and simply enabled G-SYNC. For best results, we also had to manually set the max refresh rate to 144Hz, but that was it.

We wish there was an easy way to convey how G-SYNC affects on-screen animation, but there isn’t. We don’t have a means to capture DisplayPort feeds and shooting video of the screen and hosting it on-line doesn’t capture the full effect either. In lieu of an easy visual method to show how effective G-SYNC is, we’ll just have to write about it. Luckily, G-SYNC can be summed up in one word—impressive.

ASUS Was The First To Announce A G-SYNC Enabled Display

If you’re the type that gets irked by input lag and can easily pick-up the synchronization related artifacts of your current display setup, G-SYNC will be a jaw-dropper. Tearing is simply gone, on-screen animations look smooth and fluid, and input lag is virtually non-existent. An added benefit of using a screen with a high refresh rate is that desktop animations and mouse movements are also more precise and fluid.

In addition to G-SYNC being rather impressive, we’re also pretty psyched around here that there’s finally some innovation happening in the monitor space. We’ve been stuck with current display technologies for too long. With 4K displays here now and G-SYNC coming soon, the desktop display market is about to heat up, and we're excited for it. Did we mention that G-SYNC is also compatible with 4K resolutions? It is, and we hope some manufacturers will make a 30-inch+ 4K display with this new NVIDIA technology on board. If they do, they can take our money right now…

Tags: Nvidia, Gaming, graphics, display, Monitors, g-sync

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com