The Nvidia G-Sync Thread

[Mand]

The availability of 4k this year really does have me questioning whether early adopting 1440p gsync is a good idea. Those people who have 4k monitors already are reporting very poor performance on upscaling 1080p to 4k despite the obvious that would produce sharp and presumably 1080p like images. That makes me pause because one of the big benefits of 4k has to be that you can run 1080p on it as well without concern.

Really don't know what to do at this stage, no doubt I want gsync as soon as is reasonable, and I have justified waiting for some options for a few months especially to see the 1440p monitor but I am wary about buying now because 4k is coming on quite quickly now. I still suspect it will be a few years before they are $200 however, and that is the true mass market adoption price.

At CES they showed a demo of G-Sync running on a 4k display. While there aren't any announced, I'd be utterly shocked if we didn't see a 4k G-Sync by the end of the year.

What 1440p gets you, however, is 120-144 Hz. It'll be up to each individual user to determine what they care more about.

 

[BrightCandle]

I care more about 144hz than I do 4k. One thing that still isn't clear to me is if the gsync based 4k panels will perhaps come with 144hz refresh rate as well. I know the current spec doesn't support it but at some point it must be expanded to include the higher rate. If that Asus 1440p monitor turns out to be rubbish I'll kick myself for not buying the current one, missing 3 months of gsync purely for the purposes of investing instead in 1440p seems like a good idea right now but it might not end up being a good idea. But if 4k is most likely going to be 60hz, meh I'll go lower resolution.

 

[Mand]

I care more about 144hz than I do 4k. One thing that still isn't clear to me is if the gsync based 4k panels will perhaps come with 144hz refresh rate as well.

The issue is data transfer rates. 8-bit color 4k at 144 Hz is a little under 27 GB/s. That's pretty large.

 

[DigDog]

ASUS 4k G-Sync

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=LiXC-fT-zD8#t=66

nope

Correction: This news post originally described the ROG Swift PG278Q as a 4K monitor. That was incorrect. The display actually has a 2560x1440 resolution.

http://techreport.com/news/25857/27-asus-monitor-has-799-price-tag-g-sync-support
awesome piece of kit, but not quite 4k.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

The issue is data transfer rates. 8-bit color 4k at 144 Hz is a little under 27 GB/s. That's pretty large.

Data rates will definitely be one of the limiting factors in 4k panels, that's why many of the early panels are 30hz, 60hz is a big demand but even higher at 120-144 just isn't possible.

The other issue is that IPS is typically used for large panels as you need good viewing angles for large screens otherwise the corners go off colour, IPS just isn't capable of delivering accurate colour at 120hz, the pixel response time isn't fast enough.

 

[BrightCandle]

What I really want is a gsync, 4k, TN, 120/144hz ~27" monitor. Its not too just much denser pixels for the improved fidelity and a little bit of extra working space (going from a 24" panel). 1080p wont look awful on it however when games really don't run well at 4k. Seems the sweet spot but presumably it requires a display port standard that simply doesn't exist yet.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

TN @ 27" isn't a great idea, the bad viewing angles of TN technology mean that colour and brightness uniformity across the panel is quite bad. With large screens the angle delta the screen attends your eye can be very big which is why more often than not IPS is used for large screens.

I'm using a 24" TN and a 30" IPS side by side, if I move my head vertically more than a few degrees I see horrible shifts in colour and brightens of the TN but the IPS is extremely uniform.

Only good use for large TNs IMO is to use them from a distance where that angle delta drops.

 

[DigDog]

i think 27" TN is a fine idea.
120hz and g-sync are both gaming-related technologies. neither of these is focused towards viewing pleasure, but rather towards responsiveness.

obligatory car comparison:
What? a Ferrari with only 80L boot? LOL, my mazda has a 300L boot, thus 3x better.

People who want the g-sync experience really don't care (and i'm talking about the other 99% of people here) about viewing angles and colours - they just want to shoot the other guy before the other guy shoots them.

so, yay TN panels, since you know, they are the only ones who support this technology, as of now.
(and probably a few years more too)

 

[Raghu]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7713/benq-lcds-and-projectors-revolutioneyes-and-colorific

Personally, I was more impressed with the G-Sync compatible display, and as I commented to NVIDIA, I think getting G-Sync into laptops and notebooks is going to be far more important (considering the lack of GPU performance, running at 30-60 FPS is far more common on laptops than desktops). If you haven’t seen G-Sync in action, you’re missing out on one of the most impressive visual demonstrations to date.

 

[Hixbot]

Honestly I see g-sync as a major benefit to high resolution displays that realistically are only going to see frame rates of 30-60 fps. It's at these frame rates that gsync is most useful.
If you've got the hardware to drive a display with 120 - 144 fps, you don't need gsync, you're better off with strobing. so its confusing to see gsync paired with low resolution (1080p) 144hz displays, people who want 144hz don't need gsync.

But if you are gaming at 1440p or 1600p or even 4k then you may be having trouble reaching 60fps+, and your frame rate is variable. This is when Gsync is most needed. With those frame rates, you don't need a fast TN panel, you could be using a 60hz IPS or AMVA panel and benefit from better viewing angles and colors.

This is why so many people are asking for gsync on 60hz IPS and VA panels. They aren't pro gamers who need 144hz, they are videophiles who want a beautiful high resolution display, that also can also do a good job at gaming between 30-60hz thanks to gsync.
I'm not sure when manufacturers will clue in.