Have you ever heard terms like screen tearing, stuttering, and lagging? Every gamer should recognize these terms as they often have to face them while playing games.
FreeSync is a new technology developed by AMD to counter these abnormal conditions and improve the gaming experience. So if you want to know more about what it is and how it will affect your gameplay, then keep reading. This article will reveal everything about AMD FreeSync technology.
What is FreeSync?
FreeSync is an adaptive synchronization technology that coordinates a monitor's refresh rate with the graphics card's frame rate to reduce screen tearing.
AMD collaborated with VESA to develop an adaptive Sync in HDMI and DisplayPort, which later became the foundation stone for designing FreeSync technology.
By utilizing the FreeSync technology, you can avoid video latency or screen tearing caused due to VSync.
This feature is not available in all AMD graphic cards; instead, you must own a FreeSync compatible graphics card and monitor to benefit from this technology. Starting from Radeon R9/R7 200 series, almost all newer models use FreeSync.
Some Nvidia cards are also compatible with FreeSync, such as the GTX 10 series or newer. But to accomplish this, a FreeSync DisplayPort and G-Sync integrated monitor will be required.
What Does AMD FeeSync Do?
To understand the working of Freesync, you have to get acquainted with the process of communication between graphics card and monitor to render an image/frame.
A 60 Hz monitor receives 60 frames/s from the GPU to create a complete picture. But sometimes, this process is desynchronized, meaning the GPU starts sending more frames to the monitor than it can handle. A new frame overlaps with the previous one, and the monitor's refresh cycle is overwhelmed. Due to which the visuals become jumbled and distorted, also known as screen tearing.
Most computers have an option called VSync (Vertical Sync) which can be found in the game settings or drivers. Enabling this feature will get rid of screen tearing for you.
It achieves this by forcefully synchronizing the frame rates of your GPU to the monitor's refresh rate so the number of frames rendered cannot be more than the monitor's refresh rate. In this way, the monitor will not receive a frame until it is ready to display it on the screen.
This practice will save you from screen tearing, but you will have to face lagging or stuttering because of the limitations on GPU. So you have to compromise between screen tearing and lagging.
This is where FreeSync enters the scene and makes your monitor and GPU work in perfect synchronization with the adaptive refresh range.
Low Framerate Compensation (LFC)
How does FreeSync pull this off? Unlike VSync, where the GPU is limited, FreeSync offers GPU a broad road to run freely. It instead has a dynamic/variable refresh rate which enables it to adjust the refresh rate according to the framerate the GPU is rendering.
You will not feel any screen tearing, stuttering, or major lagging provided that you are in the variable refresh rate (VRR) of FreeSync. But if fps falls below VRR, FreeSync will stop operating.
The tricky thing here is the narrow range of VRR in monitors, such as most monitors have 40-75 Hz or 48-75 Hz refresh rate instead of 30-75 Hz.
Some third-party apps like CRU can help you in expanding the refresh range of some specific monitors.
LFC is another feature that some monitors utilize when the frame rate falls below the lower end of the refresh rate. This way, a smooth and tear-free performance is ensured.
For example, if your frame per second rate (FPS) drops to 37, the monitor will multiply the frame to duplicate them and set the refresh rate of 74 to enhance the performance.
A method to pick monitors with the LFC feature is to check their refresh rate range. Most monitors with LFC will have a range of 2:1. So when choosing a monitor, go for monitors with a wide dynamic range and LFC feature.
There are 3 levels of FreeSync
- The first one is standard/basic FreeSync with less than 120 Hz refresh rate and no LFC.
- The second is premium FreeSync which requires at least a 120 Hz refresh rate, a resolution of 1920 x 1080, and LFC.
- The last one is Premium Pro, which, in addition to all the premium requirements, also needs HDR with 400-nits and 90% DCI-P3 color gamut.
We hope this article explains all you need to know about FreeSync and its benefits.