G-Sync is a display technology developed and released by NVIDIA. It is designed to fix the common computer display issue — screen tearing. If you are not sure know what it is, don’t worry! The following is the information that can help you understand what G-Sync is and what it does.
What is G-Sync?
G-Sync is an NVIDIA’s adaptive sync technology that is developed to get rid of the screen tearing issue. This helps its users have a better gaming performance and experience.
In case you don’t know what screen tearing and adaptive sync are…
Before we take a closer look at G-Sync, there are two things you should know: screen tearing and adaptive sync.
What is screen tearing?
Screen tearing usually occurs when multiple video frames are displayed at once. And this is because the frame rate of your computer output isn’t in sync with your monitor refresh rate.
Let’s say your monitor is using a fixed refresh rate of 60 Hz (refreshes every 1/60 second). When you are gaming, your game frame rate often goes above or under 60 frame per second (FPS). This causes the mismatch between your monitor refresh rate and your game frame rate. And sometimes you have two frames shown at the same time on your monitor. Then a screen tearing issue occurs.
There are two fixes for this issue. One is V-Sync, which is a software solution. It’s usually an option or switch you can find on your program graphics settings or your graphics driver settings. It fixes tearing by stopping the frames from being displayed when the monitor isn’t ready to refresh.
Although V-Sync is an easy fix for your screen tearing issue, it reduces the number of frames being drawn. This sometimes leads to the stuttering issue, especially when your video frame rate is lower than your monitor refresh rate.
So there’s the other fix for the tearing issue — adaptive sync.
What is adaptive sync?
To put it simply, the adaptive sync technology makes your monitor refresh at the same rate of your system output frame rate. For example, your monitor will refresh at 75 Hz if your game is running at 75 FPS. This fixes your screen issue, without reducing smoothness.
And G-Sync is one of the popular adaptive sync technologies. It adjusts the screen display refresh rate to the frame rate of the computer.
More about G-Sync
To use G-Sync, you should have a G-Sync compatible graphics card and monitor.You should see G-SYNC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS and the list of G-SYNC compatible monitors for more information.
Also, NVIDIA requires the monitor manufacturers to install a G-Sync chip on their G-Sync supported monitors. This makes G-Sync a more reliable option — it just works well as long as you get the compatible monitor. But meanwhile, NVIDIA charges the manufacturers a premium for doing so (G-Sync is not an open technology). That means you may have to spend more on a monitor that supports G-Sync (compared to other technologies such as FreeSync).
Hopefully, the information about helped you understand the G-Sync technology. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave us a comment below!