G-Sync, Freesync, G-Sync Compatible.. what to do with a GTX970?

Prowpaganda · 6 Nov 2019 at 13:37

Hi guys,

I've been away from PC gaming since finishing Witcher 3 and MGSV years ago and now i'm finally coming back round.

Since then it looks like this whole variable refresh rate technology has really taken off and is the new 'must-have'. I'm due an upgrade and have the money to spend but there's an awful lot of choice and options to weigh up. I've been using a Dell U2414H for years which i'm sure will make a lot of 'gamers' cringe at it's 8ms input lag but it's a really nice monitor in my opinion and has served me well.

My current rig is an OC'd 2500k and a GTX970 which performance-wise still seems to do the job at 1080p at least so i'm not overly keen on upgrading my GPU as it looks like i'll need to spend around the £400 mark to make it a worthwhile jump.

Ideally i'd like to just upgrade the monitor but I believe this means none of the VRR options are available to me because of the GPU.

Any suggestions on what approach I should take? The expensive option looks to be 27GL850-B + 2060 SUPER = £800~ but i'm not sure if it's worth it.

StarShock · 6 Nov 2019 at 13:58

proper G-sync should work fine with a GTX 970, but for me VRR is more of a nice to have than a need to have. Its great, but it isn't the end of the world to not have it. It really exists to fix the problems with Vsync, which exists to fix the problems with screen tearing.

Were I you I would get a get a really nice Free/g-sync compatible monitor with all the other bells and whistles, high refresh rate, maybe 1440p etc. And stick with your current GPU for now and see what GPU prices do over the next year or so. With a bit of luck you'll be able to get more performance for less money

snips86x · 6 Nov 2019 at 13:59

StarShock said:
proper G-sync should work fine with a GTX 970, but for me VRR is more of a nice to have than a need to have. Its great, but it isn't the end of the world to not have it. It really exists to fix the problems with Vsync, which exists to fix the problems with screen tearing.

Were I you I would get a get a really nice Free/g-sync compatible monitor with all the other bells and whistles, high refresh rate, maybe 1440p etc. And stick with your current GPU for now and see what GPU prices do over the next year or so. With a bit of luck you'll be able to get more performance for less money

I think there might be compatibility issues with the 9 series and newer monitors that are Gsync compatible (might need checking) but the first gen gsync worked perfectly with my 980Ti

StarShock · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:02

snips86x said:
I think there might be compatibility issues with the 9 series and newer monitors that are Gsync compatible (might need checking) but the first gen gsync worked perfectly with my 980Ti

yeah, sorry that's what I mean by proper g-sync. I believe that "g-sync compatible" only works on pascal and newer

Quartz · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:09

Prowpaganda said:
Ideally i'd like to just upgrade the monitor but I believe this means none of the VRR options are available to me because of the GPU.

G-sync should work with your 970; 'G-sync Compatible' monitors do indeed require Pascal and later GPUs

Prowpaganda · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:36

Thanks guys, yes you're absolutely right - to make a monitor fit my current build it would need to be full on G-Sync. That would be the one-purchase solution. Having been out of the loop the different options were confusing but think i've got my head around it now.

StarShock said:
proper G-sync should work fine with a GTX 970, but for me VRR is more of a nice to have than a need to have. Its great, but it isn't the end of the world to not have it. It really exists to fix the problems with Vsync, which exists to fix the problems with screen tearing.

Were I you I would get a get a really nice Free/g-sync compatible monitor with all the other bells and whistles, high refresh rate, maybe 1440p etc. And stick with your current GPU for now and see what GPU prices do over the next year or so. With a bit of luck you'll be able to get more performance for less money

That does sound like a sensible approach and one i'd not considered, thanks. I suppose my next question would be.. 1440p.. 24 or 27 inch? My gut tells me you would need to go up to 27" to get the full effect of the improvement.

StarShock · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:38

Prowpaganda said:
That does sound like a sensible approach and one i'd not considered, thanks. I suppose my next question would be.. 1440p.. 24 or 27 inch? My gut tells me you would need to go up to 27" to get the full effect of the improvement

I have a 27 inch 1440p and its a really nice size for the resolution

edit - that sounds dirtier than i meant it

snips86x · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:38

Prowpaganda said:
Thanks guys, yes you're absolutely right - to make a monitor fit my current build it would need to be full on G-Sync. That would be the one-purchase solution. Having been out of the loop the different options were confusing but think i've got my head around it now.

That does sound like a sensible approach and one i'd not considered, thanks. I suppose my next question would be.. 1440p.. 24 or 27 inch? My gut tells me you would need to go up to 27" to get the full effect of the improvement.

27" 1440p is the sweet spot mate. I'd never downsize on my main rig now.

Quartz · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:45

Prowpaganda said:
I suppose my next question would be.. 1440p.. 24 or 27 inch? My gut tells me you would need to go up to 27" to get the full effect of the improvement.

27" 1440p or 34" 1440UW or 27" 4k.

But really, you say your current setup is working for you right now, so why not wait?

snips86x · 6 Nov 2019 at 14:56

You could also go 32" 1440p (I think this might be a nice size over my 27" personally)

LackyT · 6 Nov 2019 at 15:08

snips86x said:
27" 1440p is the sweet spot mate. I'd never downsize on my main rig now.

Agreed - But just bear in mind that a single 970 will struggle with 27" 1440p

snips86x · 6 Nov 2019 at 15:36

LackyT said:
Agreed - But just bear in mind that a single 970 will struggle with 27" 1440p

Oh it absolutely will, no doubt about that. The cheap way would be to grab another 970 in the short term though.

Prowpaganda · 6 Nov 2019 at 15:44

Quartz said:
27" 1440p or 34" 1440UW or 27" 4k.

But really, you say your current setup is working for you right now, so why not wait?

Money burning a hole in my pocket aha! I was recently playing The Outer Worlds and the game isn't well optimised at all and stutters every so often which is a shame as it's a fun game otherwise. I think my initial thoughts were maybe a monitor with VRR would help with games like this where the framerate isn't stable and it isn't down to your hardware so much. I wonder if anyone here has experience of this?

LackyT said:
Agreed - But just bear in mind that a single 970 will struggle with 27" 1440p

For sure, I think i'd have to play at 1080p until I eventually got that GPU upgrade but I think like StarShock said it might just be worth waiting and seeing what happens with GPU prices. I remember paying about £250 for my 970 which was a big improvement over the 670 I had before that but now i'm looking at about £400 for about the same relative level of upgrade.

snips86x said:
Oh it absolutely will, no doubt about that. The cheap way would be to grab another 970 in the short term though.

I thought SLi would be dead by now?

Unfortunately no SLi support on my motherboard, would have been an interesting option though!

StarShock · 6 Nov 2019 at 20:23

Prowpaganda said:
thought SLi would be dead by now?

Basically is, there are fewer and fewer games that supports it properly. In theory dx12 should have given it a boost but seems like no game devs have bothered