It looks like good things do come to those who wait. A recent TFT Central report reveals that Nvidia is finally opening up its G-Sync technology, which fights screen tearing on gaming monitors but has been reserved for PCs running an Nvidia graphics card, to AMD graphics card owners.
Choosing between a G-Sync and FreeSync monitor used to be straight-forward. You were basically confined to the first if you owned a Nvidia graphics card and to the latter if you had an AMD graphics card. However, Nvidia in January added Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support to its GeForce graphics cards, so people could use G-Sync with monitors lacking Nvidia's proprietary chip, as long as it complied with VESA's DisplayPort Adaptive Sync standard and Nvidia validated it. They call these monitors G-Sync Compatible. We've even found that some FreeSync monitors not certified as G-Sync Compatible can run G-Sync if you follow our instructions on how to run G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor.
However, AMD graphics card owners have still been unable to use a monitor's G-Sync feature. Now, six long years after G-Sync's introduction, Nvidia has finally decided to welcome the Red Team.
TFT Central confirmed with Nvidia that future G-Sync monitors will support HDMI-VRR and Adaptive Sync over HDMI and DisplayPort. Naturally, a new firmware will be required to bring the two new features to the G-Sync displays, and one for both the G-Sync v1 and v2 hardware modules is already in the works. Basically, this means that AMD graphics card and console owners will be able to use a G-Sync monitor with their setup.
"So if you have an AMD graphics card, you could still enjoy the VRR experience and other additional benefits that the G-sync module brings even from a native G-sync screen, which was previously out of reach to those users," TFT said. However, it's uncertain if users will be able to reap G-Sync's full benefits.
But there is a caveat. The new firmware will only be compatible with future G-Sync displays, such as the Acer Predator XB273 X. Nvidia told TFT Central that the new firmware will not work with existing G-Sync monitors on the market.
