The tech industry has a funny way of trying to make things seem exciting.
If you've updated your product, just slap a bunch of impressive sounding words
to the end of the name. I'm looking at you, Apple, and your upcoming iPhone 12 Pro Max Ultra Signature Deluxe.
But this is just what AMD has done with the latest revisions of their FreeSync
variable refresh rate technology. If you're unfamiliar with FreeSync,
you can learn more about it up here. But in a nutshell, it's a method
for syncing up your graphics processor with your screen's refresh rate
in order to prevent the screen tearing and stutter that can occur as a result of your GPU,
not constantly pushing out the same amount of frames when you're playing a game.
And unlike NVIDIA's variable refresh rate technology,
G-Sync, AMD's FreeSync is an open standard
that's free to implement, hence the name, FreeSync.
Now, the original FreeSync standard you know and love is still around and is still quite useful.
However, it lacks support for high dynamic range or HDR,
which is increasingly popular for helping games look their best by providing better contrast
and colors that pop. So in 2017, AMD came out with a revision
called FreeSync 2 HDR, which made it rather clear
that it was a second gen technology and supported HDR.
But, confusingly enough, that label is no longer around.
Instead, we now have three tiers of FreeSync.
Beyond the base version we're used to, there's now FreeSync Premium,
a label that indicates a monitor has a couple of specific additional features.
First off, a monitor needs to support a minimum refresh rate of 120 Hertz at 1080p resolution
rather than the usual 60. Secondly, the display has to provide something called
low frame rate compensation or LFR.
You see, a display can only turn its refresh rate down
so much if your GPU is struggling. Let's say that your GPU is only spitting out
around 30 frames per second, but your monitor can only go down to 48.
This would render FreeSync ineffective, so what LFR does is force the display
to show some frames more than once, essentially turning one frame into two,
so those 30 frames coming from your graphics card are treated as 60 by the monitor,
preventing stuttering and tearing. So any monitor you buy with FreeSync Premium
will be a 120 or greater Hertz model with LFR,
but there's a third, higher tier, called FreeSync Premium Pro,
which, guess what, is basically
a rebadged FreeSync 2 HDR, okay.
All right then. In addition to the refresh rates and LFR requirements
of FreeSync Premium, Premium Pro supports HDR without huge latency increases
and also requires what AMD refers to as meticulous color and luminance certification.
I'd like to get me some of that. But yeah, those are some pretty vague words,
and it's not totally clear exactly what AMD means by that.
However, it seems like these displays should at least get between 400 and 600 nits of brightness,
not necessarily enough for true HDR, as we explained in this video,
but still more than you might see on a more run-of-the-mill monitor.
So let's say you're interested. What do you need to get your FreeSync flavor
of choice up and running? Well, although FreeSync is an open standard,
it's still AMD's own implementation of the adaptive sync technology in the DisplayPort spec.
So you'll need an AMD graphics card, though it should be noted it'll work over
an HDMI port as well as DisplayPort. Of course, you'll need a compatible monitor as well,
but while FreeSync and FreeSync Premium should work with just about any game,
FreeSync Premium Pro needs specific support
built into each individual game for the HDR features.
So check out the list of FreeSync Premium Pro compatible games on AMD's website
to make sure the title you wanna play is supported before you take the plunge.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm really in the mood for a Premium Pro kind of lunch,
something like Applebee's. All right, that's it for this video.
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