Just a couple days prior to CES, Acer announced a 27-inch monitor with a 2560 x 1440 resolution that had a refresh rate of 144 Hz, a super-thin bezel, and support for Nvidia G-Sync. This was the XG270HU, and today Acer announced the XG270HU. Hold on, isn't this the same monitor?
The answer to that question is yes! Sort of. It has the same panel, the same frame, and so on, except that this one is a variant with support for AMD's FreeSync.
It has a fast response time of 1 ms, and it comes with an HDMI 2.0 port, Dual-Link DVI and DisplayPort 1.2a. (The spec sheet says it's just DisplayPort 1.2, but FreeSync uses the optional Adaptive-Sync protocol in the DisplayPort 1.2a specification.) It also comes with two 2W built-in speakers.
FreeSync is AMD's answer to Nvidia's G-Sync, and the company uses open standards in the DisplayPort spec in order to remove screen tearing and reduce stuttering during gameplay. AMD's angle is that FreeSync accomplishes the same thing as Nvidia's proprietary G-Sync technology, but it comes at a lower price by using these open standards.
Exactly why Acer decided to give this monitor the same model number as the G-Sync version is curious, although its red bezel design is a little more fitting now that it supports AMD's stutter- and tearing-reducing technology.
Either way, as confused as we may be about the naming choice, having two identical monitors, one supporting G-Sync and the other supporting FreeSync does offer a nice opportunity where we can use the monitor as a control variable. This gives us a direct comparison of the two technologies so that we can test which of the two is superior while changing as few variables as possible in testing – the only differences would be the graphics card and the scalar in the monitor.
The FreeSync variant of the XG270HU should be available in March, although there is no word on pricing yet.
Update, 18 Feb, 12:15pm PST: As it turns out, this isn’t a second version of the XG270HU. This is simply the announcement where Acer revealed that the XG270HU will support FreeSync. Acer's XB270HU, which was announced along with the XG270HU in January, supports G-Sync. We thank our commenters for pointing out our error.
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