144Hz Monitor vs 60Hz FreeSync

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blehhhZz

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Was looking into getting a new monitor and having a little trouble making the decision whether i should shoot for a 144Hz monitor vs a 60Hz FreeSync monitor? In terms of performance for gaming which would be better?

I can always get a 144Hz freesync monitor to solve this dilemma, but still curious as to the benefits of freesync (or G-Sync) vs higher refresh rate.

Thanks!
 
xSync only helps when your fps output is below your refresh rate. If your graphics is capable of delivering more than 60 fps all the time, xSync does not improve gaming quality in 60Hz displays. So low Hz monitors with Freesync only help when you do not have enough graphics muscle in first place.

Higher refresh rate on the other hand requires more graphics muscle to show its benefits.

My personal order of gaming monitors features motion-wise:

1- Monitors with a strobing backlight
2-Monitors with high refresh rate
3-Monitors with xSync
4-Monitors with low pixel response times (anything not VA)
 
There is no "vs" in adaptive sync - high refresh.
Adaptive sync is much more important for high refresh monitor than for 60Hz monitor.

Even for 144Hz monitors, monitor without adaptive sync will only be able to display motion in multiplies of primary frame rate - 144Hz, 72Hz, 48Hz, 36Hz, etc - since it can only duplicate repeat frames until next one is ready, and frame change could only be at fixed 1/144 second intervals.

Presuming you keep frequency set at 144Hz, without adaptive sync monitor will not be able to smoothly display 120Hz for example, or 60Hz.
For same reason 144Hz is not actually recommended for desktop refresh rate - since you won't be able to smoothly watch movies shot at 30Hz or 60Hz. 120Hz is much better, since it will be able to smoothly show 30Hz and 60Hz movies - and even 24Hz (which 60Hz monitor can't).
 
I always thought the purpose of Freesync was to improve the refresh rates thus lowering screen tearing. Do you have a freesync monitor?> Would you would say definitely there is a significant difference from going from a non adaptive sync monitor to one that does?
I've seen what you mean for lower refresh rates will not be as smooth, but based on the math it would be slower moving pictures so I would persume the 144hz monitor would be able to scale down as its really just refreshing the same frame x times before the next frame comes on in the lower refresh rate. Based on this theory the math tells me that the 144Hz monitor should have no trouble displaying a lower freq video as the timings of the frames will still be the same. Are you saying that the refresh rate is actually noticeable to the human eye? 1/144 sec is pretty low.
 
It improves refreshrates by altering the time when the monitor draws a new frame dynamically.

If a monitor does not have FreeSync (or G-Sync, they both the same in general theory), then the times which the monitor draws frames are fixed, so if GPU misses the timing for 1 frame, you will get one of the following:

1. V-Sync off: leads to tearing, because you are drawing an incomplete frame.

2. V-Sync on: leads to input lag, because the GPU will now need to wait until the frame after, which on a lower refresh rate monitor, introduces input lag.

Effectively, V-Sync makes the GPU wait for the monitor. FreeSync, it makes the Monitor wait for the GPU, which removes tearing because the monitor has to wait for GPU to finish rendering the next frame, however, this alleviates input lag because the frame is drawn as soon as it is ready, rather than (in v-sync's case) having to wait for the next frame draw timing.

The difference between 144hz and 60hz monitors cannot be described in words, you must see the monitor itself. But essentially, if you go from 30 fps to 60fps (which you can easily do on most current monitors with a fps limiter), you will most likely notice that 30fps is much more juddery, and 60fps is much smoother. With 144hz monitor, it's roughly the same thing, though it'll be hard to imagine because most people are very used to 60hz monitors.
 
blehhhZz said:
I always thought the purpose of Freesync was to improve the refresh rates thus lowering screen tearing. Do you have a freesync monitor?> Would you would say definitely there is a significant difference from going from a non adaptive sync monitor to one that does?
Click to expand...
I have a 60Hz g-sync monitor (and tested another 144Hz one before) and its greatly improves smoothness of motion when refresh dips below maximum. It only has no difference if you always run your game at monitor refresh and FPS never dips.


I've seen what you mean for lower refresh rates will not be as smooth, but based on the math it would be slower moving pictures so I would persume the 144hz monitor would be able to scale down as its really just refreshing the same frame x times before the next frame comes on in the lower refresh rate. Based on this theory the math tells me that the 144Hz monitor should have no trouble displaying a lower freq video as the timings of the frames will still be the same. Are you saying that the refresh rate is actually noticeable to the human eye? 1/144 sec is pretty low.
Click to expand...
It can slow down.
But, say, you skip every second frame (remember - monitor can *only* refresh at 144Hz). Then you can only get 72Hz.
Lets say you only switch to new image every third frame. This will give you 48Hz.
But you can't produce 120Hz. You can *on average* - sometimes skip, sometimes, not, and on average you will get 120Hz, but this *will not look smooth*, you will see "jitter".

Tearing improves game responsiveness, because it stops game from waiting for next frame. But ever with tearing, you will not get smooth motion - because monitor still can only show you motion at fixed intervals.

Obviously your eye won't see individual 1/144 second frames. But if you have fast moving object, and your eyes can follow this object - you will easily see difference between 144 and 60Hz, because in first case object will move much smoother. Faster it moves, more difference you spot.
 
Thank you all for the insight, I look forward to getting a 144Hz monitor with FreeSync, probably going to be a Christmas gift to myself :) as I bought an RX480 recently...
 
blehhhZz said:
Thank you all for the insight, I look forward to getting a 144Hz monitor with FreeSync, probably going to be a Christmas gift to myself :) as I bought an RX480 recently...
Click to expand...

For RX480, I'd go for 1080p 144hz FreeSync.

While 480 is fairly powerful for its price, I don't feel it's powerful enough for 1440p/144hz.
 
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