All about AMD’s new FreeSync Technology

Stuttering and screen tearing are common hindrances to smooth gameplay even on high end computers. AMD tried to work over these issues with the release of AMD FreeSync technology which is included in the release of the latest AMD Catalyst Driver. This is AMD’s first driver with AMD FreeSync technology enabled. One thing to note however that is it works only with FreeSync technology-enabled monitors, which have started shipping out recently.

FreeSync Monitors

At this point there are 11 monitors that are FreeSync compatible, while AMD claims that up to 20 monitors supporting AMD FreeSync technology are scheduled for a 2015 release. Below you’ll find a chart with all of the AMD FreeSync technology-compatible monitors announced to date.

​As of January 20, 2015, the following monitors are compatible with AMD FreeSync technology. Prices and availbility dates are determined by their respective manufacturers, and will be announced by these vendors at a later date:

The most noteworthy of there would be the Acer and BenQ’s 1440p models with a refresh rate range (40-144Hz). LG’s offers IPS panels and ultra-wide aspect ratios with their 29” and 34” models. We reviewed BenQ’s XL2411Z monitor, which also supports 144Hz refresh rate. We talk more about the BenQ XL2730Z here.

Is FreeSync For You?

Earlier the only solution on a standard monitor for screen tearing and stuttering was VSync but that also limits your framerate. AMD FreeSync technology fixes both these issues at virtually any framerate. This will allow a wide variety of graphic options without sacrificing on smoothness. Those who game near 60 or less fps might not notice the difference until the smooth performance of stutter free desktop performance is observed.

AMD states that FreeSync technology does not add any addition cost for the manufacturer to implement. It can be added with just the addition of right software to exploit the monitor’s latent capabilities. With the help of VESA, the DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync specification was born to do exactly that. AMD FreeSync technology builds on top of the industry standard DisplayPort Adaptive-Sync since it does not have any unique material or licensing costs. This allows the technology to give gamers a benefit in all of their games. So with no licensing, proprietary hardware or incremental hardware costs AMD Claims that the technology will see faster implementation and makes it completely free for all.

AMD claims that the use of this free technology is reflected in the price tags of several of the displays announced by their technology partners. With some models being up to hundreds of dollar cheaper than similar displays featuring dynamic refresh technology. Other displays, like the ones from LG, are actually cheaper this year with AMD FreeSync than comparable models were last year without.

Internal testing by AMD indicates that AMD FreeSync technology doesn’t incur any performance penalties. They claim that while competitor’s technology (Nvidia’s GSYNC) costs you 1ms of latency—which is an average performance hit of 3-5%. Their internal data suggests a modest performance gain with AMD FreeSync enabled.

Note on internal testing:

In tests by AMD as of January 30, 2015, enabling AMD FreeSync technology on the AMD Radeon R9 290X, and G-sync on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 had an average performance impact of +0.274% FPS (avg) and -1.447% FPS (avg), respectively, in Alien: Isolation (SMAA T1x), BioShock Infinite, Tomb Raider, Sniper Elite III (2.25x SSAA), and Thief (normal quality). All applications were evaluated at 2560×1440 with 8xAA and 16xAF unless otherwise noted.
System configuration: i7-4770K CPU, MSI Z87 motherboard, 16GB memory, Windows 8.1 64-bit, AMD Catalyst 15.3 Beta, Nvidia 347.52 WHQL driver. G-sync monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG278Q. AMD FreeSync technology monitor: BenQ XL2730Z.

While VSync is a common feature used in most PC’s it is disadvantageous because it limits framerates. This limits refreshing of the latest available data leading to mouse lag or high input latency. FreeSync, allows you to turn off VSync automatically when the application leaves the dynamic refresh range supported by the monitor.

This means that if you are in a game that wants to run at 240 FPS on a 144Hz monitor, it can now do so without tearing in the gameplay from 40-144Hz on the monitors and also you don’t have to sacrifice your input latency to get it when the framerate goes beyond 144.

Below you can see a conceptual example of this relationship. In the hypothetical scenario presented here the red line shows framerates and input latency for an application capped at 60 Hz, while the blue line shows off the same application unrestricted AMD presents this scenario and highlights the fact that FreeSync actually gives you the choice on using Vsync or not.

While this free technology only offers benefits it seems like it is more catered towards the higher end spectrum of PC gaming. So if your setup already has an AMD graphics card (like the R9 280X), will you buy a new monitor to take advantage of these new features? While with the limited choices of monitors at this time it’s hard to go wrong.

You can also find more information on AMD’s website.