Will Freesync monitors run at max refresh rate with Nvidia GPUs?

Wonkey · 5 Jan 2017 at 18:42

Hi Guys,

Apologies, if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but does anyone know, if Freesync monitors will run at their max refresh rate with Nvidia GPUs rather than at their native rate of 60Hz?

The reason I ask is because I'm looking to buy a 34 inch ultrawide with a high refresh rate. I contacted LG about the 34UC88 and they advised it will run at its max refresh rate of 75Hz with AMD GPUs, but will only run at its native 60Hz with Nvidia GPUs.

Cheers

jigger · 5 Jan 2017 at 18:45

Should do along as you use a standard connection.

old gamer · 5 Jan 2017 at 19:27

I think at 75hz you may get frame skipping

Wonkey · 5 Jan 2017 at 20:20

Thanks Guys, if anyone is running an Nvidia GPU with a Freesync monitor, would be great to hear, if the monitor runs at its max refresh rate without any issues, or not.

JediFragger · 5 Jan 2017 at 20:34

That monitor does only 60hz with nVidia cards from what I remember.

jigger · 6 Jan 2017 at 01:21

You'd think Nvidia would fix the frame skipping.

FTL · 6 Jan 2017 at 01:28

Some do some don't, as far as I'm aware the 34UC88 only does 60Hz with NVIDIA.

jigger said:
You'd think Nvidia would fix the frame skipping.

I think it's a side-effect of Freesync, in these monitors (such as this the 38UC99 and Acer XR34 for example) the boosted refresh rate only works when Freesync is enabled. NVIDIA would have to support Freesync for the refresh rate to work properly in these circumstances. I'm not looking for an argument about whether NVIDIA should support Freesync but this seems to be why and it's nothing to do with any 'bug' or incompetence on NVIDIA's side.

jigger · 6 Jan 2017 at 01:52

FTL said:
Some do some don't, as far as I'm aware the 34UC88 only does 60Hz with NVIDIA.

I think it's a side-effect of Freesync, in these monitors (such as this the 38UC99 and Acer XR34 for example) the boosted refresh rate only works when Freesync is enabled. NVIDIA would have to support Freesync for the refresh rate to work properly in these circumstances. I'm not looking for an argument about whether NVIDIA should support Freesync but this seems to be why and it's nothing to do with any 'bug' or incompetence on NVIDIA's side.

Unless the monitor uses a non standard port or Nvidia don't support whatever connection your using it should work. HDMI and Display port are both open standards so if there is a problem it kind of has to be at either end of one of the connections. If the monitor works with AMD over a standard then it should work Nvidia.

RichW · 6 Jan 2017 at 12:40

I recently bought an LG 34UC79G and it quite happily hits 144hz with my GTX970 if that answers your question?

mahius · 6 Jan 2017 at 19:54

Asus MG279Q with 970, runs like a normal 144Hz monitor without the FreeSync. I commend your decision to buy a FreeSync monitor, much better value for money than a G-Sync, and you get a free bonus if you ever switch to AMD GPU.

I will say, watch out for quality control issues on some monitors (nothing to do with the GPU), especially IPS panels, depsite being far superior to TN.

aatu · 6 Jan 2017 at 21:25

At some point, there were lots of FreeSync monitors from LG with "40-75Hz" FreeSync range, but they were categorized as 60Hz (at least on the price aggregate site I'm using). At the time, this puzzled me, and I was wondering how a 60Hz monitor could work at that range. But now it makes sense. They were indeed covering their asses, as they would have gotten lots of angry customers, who were expecting 75Hz, but could only get upto 60Hz with nVidia cards.

And as a side note, I'd reckon that the 60Hz limit will come into play even on AMD cards, if the FreeSync is not enabled.

BUT:
Some of the "40-75Hz" monitors are indeed categorized as 75Hz, so now I wonder whether those are real 75Hz on all GPUs, or just a mis-informed typo.

Another notion:
This trend seems to happen mostly on the lower refresh rates. Has anyone stumbled upon this on anything over 100Hz?

Wonkey · 8 Jan 2017 at 21:00

Intermit.tech (on youtube) reviewed the Samsung CF791 (100Hz Freesync 34" monitor) and he was running it at 100Hz with a GTX 1080 no problems at all. Whether or not Freesync monitors will run at their max refresh rate with Nvidia GPUs seems to vary between manufacturers.

Panos · 8 Jan 2017 at 21:25

Wonkey said:
Thanks Guys, if anyone is running an Nvidia GPU with a Freesync monitor, would be great to hear, if the monitor runs at its max refresh rate without any issues, or not.

Used the XL2730Z and the GTX1080. I had no issue running at 144hz.

Carta · 10 Jan 2017 at 09:34

Panos said:
Used the XL2730Z and the GTX1080. I had no issue running at 144hz.

Same but with the 1070, no problems here. Waiting to see if Vega is worth it so I can get the freesync loveliness back

Blackjack Davy · 12 Jan 2017 at 13:33

Wonkey said:
Hi Guys,

Apologies, if this has been asked and answered elsewhere, but does anyone know, if Freesync monitors will run at their max refresh rate with Nvidia GPUs rather than at their native rate of 60Hz?

The reason I ask is because I'm looking to buy a 34 inch ultrawide with a high refresh rate. I contacted LG about the 34UC88 and they advised it will run at its max refresh rate of 75Hz with AMD GPUs, but will only run at its native 60Hz with Nvidia GPUs.

Cheers

Yes. My XR34 runs at the maximum 75hz with my 1080. Still waiting on Vega here. I believe its the same panel.

Brizzles · 12 Jan 2017 at 13:48

Wonkey said:
Hi Guys,

The reason I ask is because I'm looking to buy a 34 inch ultrawide with a high refresh rate. I contacted LG about the 34UC88 and they advised it will run at its max refresh rate of 75Hz with AMD GPUs, but will only run at its native 60Hz with Nvidia GPUs.

Cheers

Correct.

You get frame skipping with Nvidia at 75Hz, I've got the same monitor.

Thing is, you don't notice frame skipping whilst in use. I didn't until i ran a frame skipping test.

So some of the people saying they can run @ 75Hz might not even notice that they are getting skipping with Nvidia cards at it looks fine.

Tested here with a 1070 :

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=30173963&postcount=1648