In 2019, Nvidia introduced the G-Sync Compatible program. It’s surprising to a certain extent because it allows the monitor to be G-Sync certified without using Nvidia’s proprietary hardware modules. Since then, new and old monitors, including those using AMD FreeSync technology, are eligible for G-Sync Compatible certification if they pass Nvidia’s tests. Additionally, Nvidia’s G-Sync Compatible program is retroactive and internally funded, further complicating the idea of G-Sync monitors being taxable.
Since getting G-Sync Compatible, we’ve tried running G-Sync on all the gaming monitors in our room, whether they’re Nvidia-certified or not. The majority of FreeSync-only gaming monitors we tested successfully ran G-Sync (and you can learn how in the article How to Run G-Sync on a FreeSync Monitor).
So what’s the question here? Is G-Sync Compatible or ‘standard’ G-Sync certification necessary for use with Nvidia graphics cards? Should Nvidia gamers use a FreeSync-only monitor and be sure they’ll be able to run G-Sync on it? And are there any risks to running G-Sync on a non-certified monitor?
Nvidia says that enabling G-Sync on non-certified displays is perfectly fine
It’s easy to run G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor that doesn’t have any Nvidia certification. Even Nvidia itself says it’s okay. Vijay Sharma, director of product management at Nvidia, told Tom’s Hardware.
His statement is similar to what Nvidia mentioned on their website when asked whether G-Sync could run on monitors without any certification. There’s also no risk to your hardware. Sharma said he couldn’t think of any major risks in running G-Sync on a non-certified display but added that it could depend on the display supplier.
“And it’s very easy to try,” Sharma added. “Get a monitor that you know has a fixed refresh rate, an old monitor, 60 Hz, then go to the Nvidia Control Panel, turn on G-Sync Compatible, and then play the game. And check – if the screen is not (compatible) with the signal it receives, it will just display black [or something].”
Some monitor manufacturers also approve G-Sync trials. Jason Marianne, director of product marketing for LCD monitors at ViewSonic, which has G-Sync, ‘genuine’ G-Sync, and just FreeSync compatible gaming monitors, told us he wasn’t aware of any Why shouldn’t gamers try running G-Sync on ViewSonic FreeSync monitors? Marianne told Tom’s Hardware:
However not all display vendors expect you to run G-Sync on their non-certified displays. Paul Collas, Vice President of Product at Monoprice, which has FreeSync displays but not G-Sync Compatible displays, told Tom’s Hardware:
We also encountered some limitations during our testing. You cannot enable G-Sync with HDR content, and we cannot run overdrive mode while G-Sync is enabled on FreeSync-only displays.
If you want to be cautious, you should check with the monitor manufacturer before running G-Sync on a monitor that Nvidia hasn’t certified.
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G-Sync Compatible test
If you want something that can combat screen tearing and work well with Nvidia graphics cards out of the box, with solid performance regardless of frame rate, G-Sync Compatible has its perks. To understand why, it’s important to first understand what Nvidia’s G-Sync Compatible certification is.
G-Sync Compatible is a protocol within the VESA DisplayPort 1.2 specification. That means it won’t work with HDMI connections or Nvidia cards older than the GTX 10-series. As you can see on Nvidia’s website, G-Sync Compatible is available on many PC monitor brands, and even TVs (especially LG OLEDs) carry this certification.
Every monitor with the G-Sync Compatible stamp not only goes through the vendor’s testing process but also undergoes mandatory testing to achieve Adaptive-Sync certification (almost FreeSync certification) and then arrives. Nvidia conducts tests on many samples. Most monitors registered for G-Sync Compatible testing fail to pass certification – the success rate is less than 10%, according to Nvidia’s Sharma. Being certified is more than just being able to enable G-Sync in the GeForce Experience app.
In May, Nvidia announced that only 8 out of 503 displays (5.6%) with Adaptive-Sync that it tested for G-Sync Compatible certification passed the tests. Of the failed displays, 273 were eliminated because their Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) range was not at least 2.4:1 (lowest refresh rate to highest refresh). Nvidia says failing this means gamers are unlikely to receive any of the benefits of VRR. Another 202 screens failed due to image quality issues, such as flickering or nothing. “This can be serious, from the screen turning off during gameplay (which causes you to lose in PvP games), to requiring power changes and the Control Panel to change every time,” Nvidia explains. The remaining 33 screens were eliminated simply because they were no longer produced.
“Some are okay, some are good, but most are terrible. And when I say bad, I mean the visual experience is very poor,” Sharma said. “And people will see things like extreme flickering in games, they’ll see visual errors, they’ll have trouble turning [VRR] on. The supported VRR range is really small. ”
By January 2020, the number of G-Sync-compatible monitors had increased to 90 and was at 142 as of press time.
The criteria Nvidia uses to test and certify G-Sync Compatible may be important to you. The first example Nvidia checks: is the VRR range. In a G-Sync Compatible monitor, the monitor’s maximum refresh rate divided by the lowest refresh rate must be 2.4 or higher. For example, a 120 Hz monitor should have a VRR range of 40-120 Hz (120 divided by 40 is 3, greater than 2.4. If the VRR range is only 2.2, lower than Nvidia’s 2.4 figure meaning the minimum refresh rate is only 55 Hz.
“We are very strict about that because when you look at FPS results from games, it can change,” Sharma said. “Very few, if not any, games consistently output at a fixed number of frames… They vary everywhere, depending on the complexity of the scene.”
With G-Sync Compatible certification, your monitor is guaranteed to run Nvidia VRR at its maximum refresh rate, but that’s not true for non-certified monitors, and the problem is even worse than if the monitor is overclocked.
There’s also no flicker, which occurs when the display changes brightness levels at different refresh rates, a common feature of LCD panels, Sharma said. In our testing, we found that running G-Sync on non-certified displays sometimes resulted in excessive flickering on windowed displays.
Nvidia also looks for “corruption artifacts” (errors as shown below) and VRR should be enabled by default without having to go into the display’s menu (OSD) or any PC settings.
Nvidia will typically consider 2-3 samples per display up to 6, depending on the display and its “characteristics”. This process usually takes about 4 weeks for both existing and new displays (Nvidia’s certification process requires someone to see it in person).
Is it possible that the screen is good but was mistakenly rejected?
G-Sync has long been known as a paid program, so we’ve often heard people ask whether good monitors are being turned away from the G-Sync-compatible program. Notably, Nvidia’s G-Sync-compatible testing program requires no payment to participate – at least not directly. The program is entirely internally funded. As Nvidia’s Sharma puts it, “It costs no one but Nvidia.”
ViewSonic’s Marianne told us that “it can be quite difficult” to achieve G-Sync Compatible certification. ViewSonic was among the vendors that submitted monitors and were rejected in the first round of G-Sync Compatibility testing.
“One of the key requirements is that FreeSync is enabled by default; (however, most monitors require you to enable FreeSync in the OSD). Otherwise, the screen will automatically be disqualified, even if there aren’t any other problems,” Marny notes.
As you can see G-Sync Compatible with a capital C entails much more than just being able to enable G-Sync. So your experience running G-Sync on a monitor that Nvidia hasn’t certified (because it was never shipped or it didn’t pass the tests) will vary. This makes certification exactly what it was intended for: as a standardized basis for performance.
However, some monitors lacking Nvidia’s seal of approval may have done some form of G-Sync compatibility testing. For example, Pixio makes cheap gaming monitors and doesn’t have any monitors that are G-Sync Compatible or have “genuine” G-Sync. It’s not because they don’t want to or have never sent the screen in for testing; that’s because Pixio can’t submit a screen for certification.
Kevin Park, Pixio’s director of operations, told us that Pixio tried to contact Nvidia but couldn’t just send the monitor. All Pixio gaming monitors are FreeSync certified.
“With FreeSync, we were always informed by AMD from the beginning that there was a certification process in place. They have specifically contacted suppliers to ensure that the appropriate steps are taken. Whereas with Nvidia, we haven’t seen or heard anything or received feedback from them about that type of process,” Park told Tom’s Hardware.
Nvidia told us that any display vendor can submit a monitor to confirm G-Sync Compatibility. Vendors who do not already have a relationship with Nvidia “should contact the G-Sync team at Nvidia and we will work with the vendor to review technical details and schedule validation testing,” a statement said. the spokesman said. However, the same spokesperson noted that the lines are very long, so it could take some time.
Pixio is a small vendor and is still figuring out Nvidia’s G-Sync-compatible certification process to get certain current and future displays certified. Meanwhile, Pixio tests its gaming monitors so it can tell customers whether G-Sync will run on them or not. Since Pixio doesn’t work with Nvidia, they test G-Sync against the FreeSync standards they already know.
“If in the future we can communicate [with Nvidia], we will certainly comply with their request and make sure the appropriate steps are taken… But we let consumers know that we are Not officially certified by Nvidia, but the monitors will be compatible with G-Sync as per our current FreeSync certification process,” Park said.
Pixio’s G-Sync test includes VRR coverage and testing for screen tearing, flickering, and stuttering. Monitor tested with GTX 10-series cards and later; however, testing with the RTX 3000 series is less frequent because these cards are newer. Pixio tests a certain percentage of total displays produced, with tests specifically focused on the display’s motherboard. Testing can last from a month to a year, depending on features, and with new models, it will take longer.
All of this helps explain why you sometimes see vendors boldly claim their monitors are G-Sync compatible even though they don’t have a G-Sync Compatible certification from Nvidia.
Summary
If you have an Nvidia graphics card, you should use G-Sync or G-Sync Compatible monitors. Sure, you can run G-Sync on most FreeSync monitors, but to get reliable, stutter-free VRR coverage without extensive software tweaking, it’s best to use monitors with G-Sync Compatible.
If you already have a FreeSync monitor but are still hoping to run G-Sync on it with an Nvidia GPU, there’s no harm in enabling that feature in GeForce Experience. If you don’t notice any flickering or other factors, manually turning on G-Sync is the only thing you have to do.
Or if for whatever reason you have to run G-Sync on an uncertified display, you’ll likely have an okay experience. But what it means to be okay is completely up to you.