NVIDIA pushed out a fresh driver update for its GeForce graphics cards today, bringing support for "G-Sync Compatible" FreeSync monitors. Leveraging the open Adaptive Sync standard, NVIDIA has brought official support for 12 FreeSync monitors, opening its G-Sync tech up for the first time.
G-Sync is the name for NVIDIA's variable refresh rate (VRR) technology, which aims to combat screen tearing in games by synchronizing the refresh rate of your display with the output of your graphics card. On the other side of the spectrum is FreeSync, based on the Adaptive Sync standard and associated with AMD's Radeon cards. Until now, if you had an NVIDIA graphics card and wanted to take advantage of G-Sync, you'd have to purchase any one of a number of G-Sync certified displays, which typically come with a price premium. FreeSync displays, meanwhile, are generally cheaper than their G-Sync counterparts.
At its CES 2019 press conference, NVIDIA said that it had tested 400 FreeSync displays for compatibility ahead of launch, of which only 12 met NVIDIA's bar for the "G-Sync Compatible" designation. Those 12 displays deliver, according to NVIDIA, "a baseline VRR experience on GeForce RTX 20-series and GeForce GTX 10-series graphics cards."
G-Sync will be enabled automatically once you've updated to the latest driver release if you own one of the twelve validated monitors. If you own a FreeSync monitor that isn't on that list, NVIDIA says that you can manually enable G-Sync, with the caveat that "it may work, it may work partly, or it may not work at all."
To give the newly added support for G-Sync Compatible FreeSync displays a shot, you can download NVIDIA's latest Game Ready Driver (version 417.71) from NVIDIA now. Today's driver release also adds support for the new GeForce RTX 2060, which is available now for $350. For more hardware options, be sure to have a look at our collection of best graphics cards.
