May 05, 2016

Technology continuously improves through time and with monitors this is no exception. One of the latest improvements made to monitors was the introduction of G-Sync (used by NVidia) and FreeSync (used by AMD). These two technologies are the solution to some common problems found with monitors when you put them under performance pressure.

The problems that normally arises in these situations is Stuttering, tearing. Stuttering is when you are looking at your monitor and it seems like the image is jumping from one place to the next without a smooth transition. This is normally the case when you have the V-Sync option enabled as the monitor will draw the same frame when the screen takes a hit in performance.

As for the problem of tearing, when this occur it will look like the frame has cuts in it and a portion of the image is offset to either the left or the right. This is because parts of the last frame is still on the screen while the next one is being drawn.

To solve this problem both NVidia and AMD came up with a technology, these technologies are similar to one another and both updates the screen exactly when the frame is finished and this eliminates any lag or tearing that can occur when running under pressure. Both of these technologies adapt to the rate of the graphics card. For example, if your graphics card is running at 60 fps (frames per second) your monitor will adapt to it and if it drops to 50 fps it will lively and quickly be updated to match it.

The major difference between the two is mainly that NVidia has a hardware based solution to the problem, as they actually can provide you with a G-Sync module that you can install yourself (if the hardware supports it).

AMD however uses an integrated solution, this solution is built into some of their graphics cards and it relies on the card itself to manage the refresh rate of the monitor.

You will not be able to use both of these technologies, you will have to make a decision on one or the other. The simplest way to solve this decision is to go with the brand of graphics card you prefer and then get a monitor with the included technology.