Nvidia has developed new technology to improve visual performance in video games: G-Sync, a module for computer monitors that "brings big benefits for gamers," according to a blog post from the company.
G-Sync is designed to attack a key hurdle in display technology: the syncing between a graphics card's frame-rendering rate and a monitor's refresh rate, both of which are usually set to 60 Hz. That fixed refresh rate forces users to play with vertical synchronization (v-sync) on, which causes latency and image stuttering, or with v-sync off, which leads to screen tearing.
Instead of syncing a GPU to a monitor, G-Sync does it the other way around: The monitor only refreshes after the GPU has finished rendering a frame. According to Nvidia, keeping the monitor in sync with the GPU reduces screen tearing, stuttering and input lag.
G-Sync takes the form of a module that can be built into a monitor or installed onto an existing display, and the chip works with the hardware and software in many GeForce GTX cards — a GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost or better. The first monitors with G-Sync will be available later this year: Nvidia is sending the modules to professional modders who will install them into Asus VG248QE monitors, and those G-Sync-equipped displays will cost a bit more than the standard ones. Monitors with G-Sync modules pre-installed by display manufacturers will start to be available next year.