AMD FreeSync(TM) - Q&A with Shane Parfitt, Technology Manager AMD

LtMatt · 5 Mar 2015 at 16:59

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting in here, I've been chasing down the right people who could answer questions in this thread with answers that are both informative and factual.

There seems to be a lot of misinformation and assumptions being made and I'm hoping we can address that by responding to your questions personally.

I have our technology manager behind AMD FreeSync(TM) ready and waiting to answer your questions, so please post away and I'll edit this initial post to include those.

Once I have a selection of questions (Please, let's try and stay on topic) I'll pass them over internally for answers, posting back here with the final responses.

Q&A

Gibbo

1. Will the driver on the 19th be on time and will it be BETA or WHQL?

Yes, this driver has been scheduled for some time. The 19th is a firm date.

This will be a non-WHQL as with many of our recent postings, but rest-assured, this driver will have received an extensive amount of testing by the time it gets posted.

When will Crossfire support be added?

Our April AMD Catalyst driver.

What is the possibly AMD will give a BETA early driver for OcUK to host for our customers to download so they can enjoy FREESYNC NOW?

Monitors entered the market ahead of our driver schedule. We’re pleased by the enthusiasm demonstrated by our partners, but users deserve a robust driver with appropriate quality and testing. Our March 19th date ensures this.

Will the 144Hz AMD driver bug be fixed, 120Hz works fine, 144Hz is like a disco light flicker show?

144Hz functions correctly on the BenQ and Acer FreeSync monitors with the March 19 driver.

Tommybhoy

Why no Freesynch support in latest(Omega) driver as the Omega driver slides contained Freesync info/marketing?

As indicated to many outlets, AMD FreeSync was activated for special builds for partners to enable validation. The March 19th driver has a refined user experience that is ideal for daily use.

Will VSR be enabled running the combination of mgpu/Freesync?

VSR and FreeSync will work immediately with the March 19th driver. mGPU support will arrive in our April driver.

Martini1991

Will frame pacing and freesync work with crossfire?

When our April Catalyst driver arrives with AMD FreeSync + CrossFire support, yes.

Do AMD have any say with the monitor manufacturers (with the example of BenQ launching one. Were they obliged not to?

Yes, of course, AMD works closely with all our partners to test all candidate FreeSync monitors for compatibility and the highest quality experience. On the strength or our technology, we have been forming strong partnerships with many monitor vendors, and we’re happy to have them on board. That being said, it’s difficult to line up schedules with multiple companies, regions and shipping logistics. We communicated a March 19th driver availability date to all of our partners.

Quartz

Will Freesync work with older cards? I have an old HD 6850 ready for a second PC and knowing that I could use it with Freesync would be most useful in respect of future purchases.

Supported products are listed at www.amd.com/freesync. Products like HD 7000 and HD 6000 lack the right display controllers (the link between GPU<->display) to perform highly dynamic adjustments of refresh rates. This is a hardware limitation that cannot be overcome with software.

Can Nvidia cards work with Freesync? Presumably after a driver revision, of course. Or is there a hardware incompatibility?

We’ve designed Freesync to support the latest open industry standards to ensure a great experience with no or low incremental cost to partners and customers. We did this to ensure customers do not have to pay for a module at all when AMD FreeSync conclusively proves such hardware is costly and unnecessary.

Shankly1985

Does Freesync work with BenQ motion blur reduction?

No. BenQ’s Blur Reduction requires that AMD FreeSync be disabled.

Nails666

Will we be able to use Freesync, Crossfire and VSR all at the same time?

Answered above.

When crossfire is enabled with Freesync will it support 2, 3 and 4 card crossfire?

Yes.

Dockie

What's the limitation in the 7 series that means they aren't freesync compatible?

They lack the correct display controllers. This piece of silicon on the graphics chip interfaces with the graphics die and the monitor. Older AMD Radeon GPUs are not capable of executing highly dynamic refresh rate adjustments in their display controller.

Also, unrelated, when will VSR be coming to the 7 series?

VSR will not be introduced to the HD 7000 Series.

Nails666

How will Freesync work with multiple monitor setups with differing refresh rates and adaptive sync capabilities. For example: -

Two monitors, both 144Hz, both FreeSync capable
Two monitors, both 144Hz but only one with Freesync
Two monitors, one 144Hz Freesync and one 60Hz non-freesync
Three monitors in EyeFinity configuration, all with Freesync etc etc

Doing Eyefinity + AMD FreeSync will require all displays to have the same timings, i.e. the same monitor. If you have just one display with AMD FreeSync, and the rest are not, then of course only that one display would have AMD FreeSync activated.

Gibbo · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:04

Matt

My questions are simple and probably what most shall ask:

1. Will the driver on the 19th be on time and will it be BETA or WHQL?
2. When will Crossfire support be added?
3. What is the possibly AMD will give a BETA early driver for OcUK to host for our customers to download so they can enjoy FREESYNC NOW?
4. Will the 144Hz AMD driver bug be fixed, 120Hz works fine, 144Hz is like a disco light flicker show?

TwsT · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:06

Can twst have a beta driver by the weekend to prevent his keyboard being damaged with tears.

HAd a whole weekend of freesync gaming penned in

pete910 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:09

Is it been added in to the *nix driver Matt ?

tommybhoy · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:10

Why no Freesynch support in latest(Omega) driver as the Omega driver slides contained Freesync info/marketing?

Will VSR be enabled running the combination of mgpu/Freesync?

Martini1991 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:12

Will the freesync driver fix 144hz issues on current displays?

Will frame pacing and freesync work with crossfire?

Do AMD have any say with the monitor manufacturers (with the example of BenQ launching one. Were they obliged not to?)

andybird123 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:14

according to the AMD FAQ on freesync, with gsync, the GPU polls the display and waits for it to be safe to send another frame to the display. according to nvidia this isn't the case, the GPU spits out frames as fast as possible and the monitor module uses a look aside buffer to decide whether to use the frame or not, but essentially there is no two way hand shake and the frame is sent straight to the frame buffer

can you show any test data or tell us how you know that Gsync uses a two way hand shake, and what the actual impact of this is in terms of milliseconds from GPU to display for gsync vs. freesync?

shankly1985 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:17

Gibbo said:
Matt

My questions are simple and probably what most shall ask:

1. Will the driver on the 19th be on time and will it be BETA or WHQL?
2. When will Crossfire support be added?
3. What is the possibly AMD will give a BETA early driver for OcUK to host for our customers to download so they can enjoy FREESYNC NOW?

This.

Martini1991 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:28

Will the driver be called 15.3?

Ayahuasca · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:30

Gibbo said:
Matt

My questions are simple and probably what most shall ask:

1. Will the driver on the 19th be on time and will it be BETA or WHQL?
2. When will Crossfire support be added?
3. What is the possibly AMD will give a BETA early driver for OcUK to host for our customers to download so they can enjoy FREESYNC NOW?
4. Will the 144Hz AMD driver bug be fixed, 120Hz works fine, 144Hz is like a disco light flicker show?

This

Gibbo · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:32

Ayahuasca said:
These

and this.

Edited my reply.

Think that is it really, our list of demands are short and sweet.

PCM2 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:32

Why are AMD not interested in giving a FreeSync compatible GPU to somebody who can give the technology and monitors using it a thorough testing? I have a large following of people ready to part with cash and waiting for me to review these things, but AMD don't seem in the least interested in providing me with the means to do so.

Edit: Sorted now - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=27733140&postcount=39

Martini1991 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:35

When can I buy a higher than 60hz 3440X1440 freesync monitor?

Gibbo · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:38

Martini1991 said:
When can I buy a higher than 60hz 3440X1440 freesync monitor?

Working on this closely with Acer, trust me we are working on something, but right now we can't give more info as were testing TN, IPS and VA because the dream is 3440x1440, 120Hz, G-Sync and FREESYNC, plus curved and all for under £1000.

Will take a few months but Acer have designed the chassis and design, looks truly awesome.

humbug · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:38

Gibbo said:
Matt

My questions are simple and probably what most shall ask:

1. Will the driver on the 19th be on time and will it be BETA or WHQL?
2. When will Crossfire support be added?
3. What is the possibly AMD will give a BETA early driver for OcUK to host for our customers to download so they can enjoy FREESYNC NOW?
4. Will the 144Hz AMD driver bug be fixed, 120Hz works fine, 144Hz is like a disco light flicker show?

Yeah, pretty much this too

Martini1991 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:49

Gibbo said:
Working on this closely with Acer, trust me we are working on something, but right now we can't give more info as were testing TN, IPS and VA because the dream is 3440x1440, 120Hz, G-Sync and FREESYNC, plus curved and all for under £1000.

Will take a few months but Acer have designed the chassis and design, looks truly awesome.

Winning.

Lets me pay off my audio stuff anyway waiting a few months.

Though not sure if I now have room for a 34"

Gibbo · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:51

Martini1991 said:
Winning.

Lets me pay off my audio stuff anyway waiting a few months.

Though not sure if I now have room for a 34"

What makes you think 34" ?

Working on a 35" version too, VA, 144Hz, G-Sync/Freesync, completely unique!

Martini1991 · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:56

35" too big

That's a 29" there, I've got no room to work with

I'd basically need 29" or just over.

cainer · 5 Mar 2015 at 17:56

Gibbo said:
Working on this closely with Acer, trust me we are working on something, but right now we can't give more info as were testing TN, IPS and VA because the dream is 3440x1440, 120Hz, G-Sync and FREESYNC, plus curved and all for under £1000.

Will take a few months but Acer have designed the chassis and design, looks truly awesome.

will it be a choice of G-sync OR FREESYNC monitors or will it be an all in one?

TheRealDeal · 5 Mar 2015 at 18:03

Martini1991 said:
35" too big

That's a 29" there, I've got no room to work with

I'd basically need 29" or just over.

Wall mount the speakers and you got more room or stick up some shelves for them to sit on. I would probably be to lazy to do this but would give you some space.