If you remember back to January of this year, Allyn and posted an article that confirmed the existence of a mobile variant of G-Sync thanks to a leaked driver and an ASUS G751 notebook. Rumors and speculation floated around the Internet ether for a few days but we eventually got official word from NVIDIA that G-Sync for notebooks was a real thing and that it would launch "soon." Well we have that day here finally with the beginning of Computex.
G-Sync for notebooks has no clever branding, no "G-Sync Mobile" or anything like that, so discussing it will be a bit more difficult since the technologies are different. Going forward NVIDIA claims that any gaming notebook using NVIDIA GeForce GPUs will be a G-Sync notebook and will support all of the goodness that variable refresh rate gaming provides. This is fantastic news as notebook gaming is often at lower frame rates than you would find on a desktop PC because of lower powered hardware yet comparable (1080p, 1440p) resolution displays.
Of course, as we discovered in our first look at G-Sync for notebooks back in January, the much debated G-Sync module is not required and will not be present on notebooks featuring the variable refresh technology. So what gives? We went over some of this before, but it deserves to be detailed again.
NVIDIA uses the diagram above to demonstrate the complication of the previous headaches presented by the monitor and GPU communication path before G-Sync was released. You had three different components: the GPU, the monitor scalar and the monitor panel that all needed to work together if VRR was going to become a high quality addition to the game ecosystem.
NVIDIA's answer was to take over all aspects of the pathway for pixels from the GPU to the eyeball, creating the G-Sync module and helping OEMs to hand pick the best panels that would work with VRR technology. This helped NVIDIA make sure it could do things to improve the user experience such as implementing an algorithmic low-frame-rate, frame-doubling capability to maintain smooth and tear-free gaming at frame rates under the panels physical limitations. It also allows them to tune the G-Sync module to the specific panel to help with ghosting and implemention variable overdrive logic.
All of this is required because of the incredible amount of variability in the monitor and panel markets today.
But with notebooks, NVIDIA argues, there is no variability at all to deal with. The notebook OEM gets to handpick the panel and the GPU directly interfaces with the screen instead of passing through a scalar chip. (Note that some desktop monitors like the ever popular Dell 3007WFP did this as well.) There is no other piece of logic in the way attempting to enforce a fixed refresh rate. Because of that direct connection, the GPU is able to control the data passing between it and the display without any other logic working in the middle. This makes implementing VRR technology much more simple and helps with quality control because NVIDIA can validate the panels with the OEMs.
As I mentioned above, going forward, all new notebooks using GTX graphics will be G-Sync notebooks and that should solidify NVIDIA's dominance in the mobile gaming market. NVIDIA will be picking the panels, and tuning the driver for them specifically, to implement anti-ghosting technology (like what exists on the G-Sync module today) and low frame rate doubling. NVIDIA also claims that the world's first 75 Hz notebook panels will ship with GeForce GTX and will be G-Sync enabled this summer – something I am definitely looking forward to trying out myself.
Though it wasn't mentioned, I am hopeful that NVIDIA will continue to allow users the ability to disable V-Sync at frame rates above the maximum refresh of these notebook panels. With most of them limited to 60 Hz (but this applies to 75 Hz as well) the most demanding gamers are going to want that same promise of minimal latency.
At Computex we'll see a handful of models announced with G-Sync up and running. It should be no surprise of course to see the ASUS G751 with the GeForce GTX 980M GPU on this list as it was the model we used in our leaked driver testing back in January. MSI will also launch the GT72 G with a 1080p G-Sync ready display and GTX 980M/970M GPU option. Gigabyte will have a pair of notebooks: the Aorus X7 Pro-SYNC with GTX 970M SLI and a 1080p screen as well as the Aorus X5 with a pair of GTX 965M in SLI and a 3K resolution (2560×1440) screen.
This move is great for gamers and I am eager to see what the resulting experience is for users that pick up these machines. I have long been known as a proponent of variable refresh displays and getting access to that technology on your notebook is a victory for NVIDIA's team.
G-Sync make panels now ?
G-Sync make panels now ?
Hmm, why do they marketing
Hmm, why do they marketing that 75Hz panel, when we already have laptops with 120Hz panels. Or did they mean 3k75Hz and ips.
Agreed I have a alienware
Agreed I have a alienware from 2012 and it has a 120Hz Screen. But it only had it because it supported Nvida 3D Vision.
just make ABSOLUTELY sure –
just make ABSOLUTELY sure – the one you choose HAS at THE VERY LEAST a 75hz IPS panel…
have to punish the manufacturers that try to peddle TN garbage
so its freesync but with
so its freesync but with better panels?
Nvidia says they’ve managed
Nvidia says they’ve managed to control the display’s Overdrive function too, which is something that has of course eluded AMD on the FreeSync displays they’ve shown to-date.
Nvidia will still go on
Nvidia will still go on without making VRR a standard and helping it get better?
Did you miss the
Did you miss the announcements? They are making VRR better.
dunno but most likely they
dunno but most likely they are simply using the adaptive vsync found in the embeded displayport standard (this has been in it since embeded displayport became a thing iirc)
this is the same technology found in the desktop implementation found in displayport 1.2a+ AMD calls their implementation of this standard freesync
@Ryan or Allen,
any idea how
@Ryan or Allen,
any idea how they will be handling low refresh rates without the G-Sync module and local frame buffer for repeating frames? Sounds like they could probably allocate some of the GPU’s VRAM to accomplish this, but it would take some pretty sophisticated display controllers on the GPU to do this. And of course, advanced driver level support too.
That’s where the 0.5
That’s where the 0.5 segmented memory comes in.
Certainly would be a good use
Certainly would be a good use for it, but it would also require competent engineering teams with the foresight to actually think of and implement it correct. 😉
i think they are using the
i think they are using the adaptive vsync standard found in embeded displayport (or as it is known on the desktop side of things AMD freesync – it should be noted that freesync is simply AMDs term for AMDs implementation as it is part of the display port 1.2a+ standard and anyone including nvidia and intel can implement it and give it their own fancy pants name)
Yeah I read they are using
Yeah I read they are using eDP, but they are also claiming there are no minimium refresh rates (a problem with AMD’s FreeSync), and on the desktop side, Nvidia resolves this by using the local frame buffer on the G-Sync module to repeat frames. They are doing away with the G-Sync module on the laptop, so they will have to do something to compensate for low fps situations.
Well they better stop funding
Well they better stop funding games to put their proprietary garbage that is GameWorks on them. That will raise FPS across the board.
Oh look! Freesync.
Oh look! Freesync.
*done right, aka. G-Sync
*done right, aka. G-Sync
This is total bull $hit
This is total bull $hit marketing, to all those ignorant gamenecks out there with only a single brain cell, and you are one of them. Get over your pathological love of a GPU company, this is not a football match. I’ll bet there are “preverts” out in the boonies where you reside, be carful canoeing through this one’s neck of the woods folks!
we love the products,
we love the products, features, support and overall efforts to improve our gaming experience. we give credit where credit is due, nothing’s wrong with that.
at the same time we feel sorry for people such as yourself, who cannot even grasp the idea of appreciating a welcomed business, just because you keep getting fu*ked over and over by companies such as AMD perhaps? off you go to cheer some losing football team.
Pretty much, Nvidia has added
Pretty much, Nvidia has added even more awesome features to G-Sync after inventing VRR some 20 months ago, and that clown is still waiting for AMD to make good on their first set of marketing lies and hype.
No news about FreeSync at all coming out of Computex, surprise or coincidence? Not really.
Meanwhile, Nvidia continues onslaught with newly announced features and 7-8 killer new panels from very enthusiastic monitor partners.
See now, that’s the difference between hype and execution that I can get behind. 🙂
LOL. Nvidia trolls agreeing
LOL. Nvidia trolls agreeing with each other in an effort to try to hide reality.
Nvidia started GSync as a milking machine, AMD showed to the world how it is done right, how it is done open, how it is done in a way that favors THE CONSUMER.
Nvidia does have the money and the engineers to improve that, no arguing there, but if it wasn’t AMD, we would be reading about a new module that goes into laptops because eDP is just not good enough.
Keep worshiping your breeder, little cows. He brings you hey to chew. :p
sorry to burst your bubble
sorry to burst your bubble but AMD copycat solution is under performing. its a disgrace even for open standards. it (barely) favors their own customers and that’s about it.
at least we don’t “worship” a failing company as you do. nothing beats that level of patheticness.
Still waiting for AMD to make
Still waiting for AMD to make good on their marketing and get FreeSync fixed, to even minimum standards.
First of all, insulting like
First of all, insulting like this is never acceptable.
Secondly, if you’re going to argue perhaps you should provide your reasons instead of name calling. Because as I see it, the article was very well done and in fact NVidia has a lot of experience in the area of asynchronous technology.
NVidia may in fact create a superior product if it works carefully with the manufacturers and tunes its drivers. Not saying AMD can’t though they are hurting financially so may not have the ability to do it or at least do so as quickly as NVidia.
*As for not “needing” a GSYNC module I disagree partially. What about when you want to attach a DESKTOP monitor? Are there going to be GSYNC monitors that work fine with a “GSYNC” laptop? (because there are monitors as said that have panels that can work well without a module).
Sigh. I’d like to see “one monitor to rule them all” (or better yet an HDTV that supports all asynchronous inputs)
The above comments was aimed
The above comments was aimed at the insulting reply to the “gsync done right” comment.
Not sure where one would
Not sure where one would begin to explain that level of arrogance, but ‘gameneck’ may not be far off. ‘Pathological’ would also be on the level – the spewing of pseudo-intellectual nonsense, believing he/she is part of some master race.
History, it seems, would never learn from itself.