Register For Tom's Hardware's G-Sync Vs FreeSync Event - July 18 (Updated)

G-Sync and FreeSync are both finally here, supported by a growing list of displays. It's time to put these technologies up against one another, head to head, and we're asking for your help. We're asking you to come test with us, and this marks the beginning of the registration process to do so.

On July 18 in City of Industry in Los Angeles, California, Tom's Hardware will be hosting Battle of the Brands: G-Sync vs FreeSync, and we need you to be our judge and jury. We'll have gaming systems, built courtesy of our sponsor, Digital Storm, half of them running G-Sync, half running FreeSync. Your job: Play some of the games we'll have set up, and answer a series of qualitative questions about the experience. It's that simple. Play games, eat food, and know that your fun-filled Saturday afternoon will help us determine the champion between these two technologies from Nvidia and AMD.

We'll be hosting this event at one of the Newegg facilities -- they are also a sponsor, and they've graciously agreed to host the event and throw the party, so to speak. When you're not doing some of the testing for us, we'll have music and giveaways and some other stations set up for continued entertainment.

Your host for the day will be none other than Chris Angelini, and yours truly. We're inviting AMD and Nvidia as well, and MSI and Zalman will also be there showing off their wares as sponsors.

We're doing this on a first-come, first-served basis, with a few small caveats. You have to be 18 years of age (hey, legal requirements; but don't worry, we'll keep doing these events and you'll keep getting closer to 18! And yes, we'll be checking using the old government ID method), you have to give us your contact information (so we can tell you where to go and what time to be there; we promise, we won't give this information away to our sponsors, who will all be on site anyway), and you have to live within decent driving distance (we need to know you'll be there for sure).

Just to make sure you legitimately want to come do this, we also ask that you provide us with one simple statement -- sentence, paragraph, whatever -- that shows us you know what this stuff is, that you have a pure interest in being a judge, and that you have some PC gaming experience. We'll leave it to you to decide the best way to get that across.

We've done a little bit of the math on what we want to do, and we can only accommodate about 50 people. We've held these events before, and we know that's not a big number. We're probably also going to build a wait list of about 25, and heck, if there's enough interest beyond that 25, maybe we can do more of these, on this, or other topics. 

OK, here comes the registration. 

Update, 7/8/15, 10:40am PT: This event was effectively sold out in a little more than half a day. Thank you for that. And for those of you who made it, we look forward to seeing you there. For those of you still interested, I will build a very limited waiting list of about 20 people — again, first come, first served. Those 20 people can attend, and there's a decent chance you'll get to test G-Sync vs. Freesync, but no guarantee. But even so, some of our sponsors are going to have gaming stations set up. We'll have food, music, giveaways, and more gaming, so it's worth the drive. Fill out the form further below and we'll be in touch if you make it on the list.

Sponsors

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Fritz Nelson
Fritz Nelson is Editor-at-Large of Tom's Hardware US.
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  • pit_1209
    Well, what can I say? it´s a pretty good idea in fact but I hope all the participants let their fanboy glasses at home so we can see an objective result out of this.
    Reply
  • TechnoD
    Well, what can I say? it´s a pretty good idea in fact but I hope all the participants let their fanboy glasses at home so we can see an objective result out of this.
    From what I understand, it won't matter if they are wearing their fanboy glasses - each participant will sit in front of a computer, play some games, and then will be asked how the game ran - there will be no way to actually tell if it is freesync or gsync. Simply put, the reviewers will have no way to tell whether the system they are on is running freesync or g sync.
    Tom's, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
    Reply
  • Sakkura
    As a European: Aww. :(
    Reply
  • AnimeMania
    They will probably have to conceal the identity of the graphic cards and the monitors in order not to introduce any fanboy bias. Also do testing at different fps rates to determine the lowest acceptable rate for gaming.
    Reply
  • quilciri
    When you say "Los Angeles", you mean "Chicago", right? No?
    Dammit....
    Reply
  • ccarroz
    Well, what can I say? it´s a pretty good idea in fact but I hope all the participants let their fanboy glasses at home so we can see an objective result out of this.
    From what I understand, it won't matter if they are wearing their fanboy glasses - each participant will sit in front of a computer, play some games, and then will be asked how the game ran - there will be no way to actually tell if it is freesync or gsync. Simply put, the reviewers will have no way to tell whether the system they are on is running freesync or g sync.
    Tom's, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
    Unless the fanboy in them is really really real and they can spot a AMD or nVidia only effect in a given game ;)

    Hope I get to go.
    Reply
  • childofthekorn
    Great idea. I hope there are a range of monitors on both ends so we can discern the good vs bad displays. Any representatives from either company going to be there?
    Reply
  • skit75
    I hope these would be single GPU configs to eliminate any SLI/X-Fire anomalies. As someone who lives 20 miles away and is in the market for a "sync'd" display + GPU this summer, I would be interested in going.
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    Would love to go, but I just had surgery on my nose and can't fly for at least 3 weeks :(
    Reply
  • scolaner
    Well, what can I say? it´s a pretty good idea in fact but I hope all the participants let their fanboy glasses at home so we can see an objective result out of this.
    From what I understand, it won't matter if they are wearing their fanboy glasses - each participant will sit in front of a computer, play some games, and then will be asked how the game ran - there will be no way to actually tell if it is freesync or gsync. Simply put, the reviewers will have no way to tell whether the system they are on is running freesync or g sync.
    Tom's, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

    You got it right--blind test. Well, not "blind," because you have to see the displays. But the branding, etc. will all be obscured. Think "Pepsi Challenge."
    Reply