Is G-Sync hardware in a Monitor a thing of the past now?

greatash · 31 Dec 2024 at 06:27

I wish my LG C1 had the G-Sync module. When a new OLED TV comes with the G-Sync pulsar module I'll most likely upgrade just to eliminate VRR flicker.

I also noticed VRR flicker on my old TN and VA freesync/gsync compatible monitors, on the TN it was very subtle though. I ended up downgrading to an old Dell s2417dg TN 1440p G-Sync module monitor, the colours and banding are terrible but there is zero flicker.

ICDP · 31 Dec 2024 at 07:16

If you are getting flicker on a Freesync Premium Pro monitor then you need to check your 3D settings.

FPS caps, or getting to the fringes of LFC can cause flickering. For the most part there is very little difference between top end G-Sync and top end Freesync Premium Pro monitor. Other than the price being cheaper in the Freesync models.

The main reason for flickering was getting a cheap Freesync monitor and expecting miracles.

greatash · 2 Jan 2025 at 23:48

ICDP said:
fringes of LFC can cause flickering.

This is my main problem and cannot be avoided in a lot of modern games since they have bad frame times, especially UE5 games such as Silent Hill 2. Or even when traversal stutter occurs in games like RE4 Remake there is flicker for a moment as LFC is activating and deactivating, it does my head in

I wonder if there is some way to just disable LFC as that would just eliminate VRR flicker.

ICDP · 3 Jan 2025 at 00:57

It depends as well in the monitor (mine doesn’t do it). My advice would be to adjust the graphics in game to keep your VRR above LFC if your monitor suffers from flickering.

You could also try custom refresh utility to see if you can lower the VRR floor.

Nexus18 · 3 Jan 2025 at 08:40

Owning both the aw34dw and aw32, there is a huge difference with vrr flicker, the gsync module handles it far better than any freesync "premium" display (rtings have also reflected these findings in their vrr test), ensuring your fps is high does reduce the vrr flicker but it doesn't eliminate it completely.

My own testing and it's not even a torture test like silent hill 2.

aw34dw

aw32 with fps in 50 range

aw32 in 70+fps range

This is why my next display must have true gsync, that and gsync just handles lower fps range far more gracefully, it is a much smoother/more playable experience as opposed to adaptive/free/g sync compatible solution, of course you don't want to be dropping fps below 70/80 but demanding titles will make this happen, even on the likes of a 4090 and even then games like silent hill 2 will show it even if your fps is around 90+

greatash · 4 Jan 2025 at 23:01

Yes that is the problem. Not framerate but frametimes. It doesn't matter if you have the absolute best, put graphics to minimum etc if the game has bad frametimes it's going to flicker regardless like the prime example Silent Hill 2. I usually lock framerate where it is stable, say 80 or 90 fps but those frametimes hitches will cause LFC to activate and hence the display will flicker.

The only monitor I have seen no flicker on has a gsync module. I've been through 6 freesync/gsync compatible panels over the years and they all have the VRR flicker. It is way more visible on OLED/VA compared to TN/IPS but if I squint I can see i on those too and it's one of those things once you see it you can't unsee it.

_Shorty · 16 Jul 2025 at 20:06

Boy, am I glad I saw those videos today. Dell just sent me an AW3425DW as a warranty replacement for my AW3423DW, which arrived this morning, stating that this was going to be quicker than waiting for a refurb of my model, and they even tried to claim it was an upgrade. I had heard of this flicker issue with other monitors, and seen some videos of it before, but none as clear as these ones. Before now I wasn't really sure how drastic the flickering was, even after seeing other videos. Perhaps their cameras were compensating a little for it and that made it harder to discern exactly how bad the problem was. But these videos make it plain as day that this is something to avoid if possible. Guess I'll be sending this AW3425DW straight back to them and telling them I'll be happy to wait for a refurb of my model to come up. I had already told them that this would not be acceptable because it does not have the G-Sync module, and is therefore a downgrade, not an upgrade. They didn't even try to argue about that, so it is funny that they initially tried to sell it as an upgrade, heh.

mattpj · 17 Jul 2025 at 08:46

I've had G-Sync for years now.

I was loathed to give up my Asus Predator because it has the on-board chip.

Now, I've moved on to OLED and G-Sync compatible. Now I can't notice the difference.

I feel I'm usually quite sensitive about these changes so if there are some, they are not worth remarking on.

_Shorty · 17 Jul 2025 at 08:50

For some reason Dell wants me to crack open this new still-sealed box and take a picture of the label on the back of the monitor rather than just leaving it sealed and sending it back. So I suppose I might as well hook it up and check out how bad the flicker is with it before I box it back up again.

Kirby Wurm · 17 Jul 2025 at 18:28

Eh, it depends how much it bothers you. I get the occasional flicker from bad frametimes on my monitor, but to me the stutter itself is irritating enough that the flicker that accompanies it makes no difference to me.

Vexr · 24 Jul 2025 at 20:59

My first VRR monitor was a Freesync ultrawide. I'd especially picked it because an RTings review pointed out its flawless frame syncing without flicker or any issues whatsoever.

I had two of those monitors (returned the first one), and they both flickered unbearably in the LFC transition range, around 45-58 fps.

I now have a monitor with a Gsync module and I'm much happier. Reviewers and people on the internet can claim they have flawless Freesync, but in my opinion that likely means they just won the monitor lottery when it comes to VRR. With a Gsync module I suspect there is no lottery - everyone gets the flawless experience.

Freesync is fine if activated for a tiny frame rate range, like for 80-100 hz or 48-60 hz, in my (admittedly limited) experience.

I really hope hardware Gsync gets a worthy and true successor, assuming Freesync doesn't eventually improve and become flawless.

_Shorty · 24 Jul 2025 at 21:15

I think it probably comes down to how beefy your computer is. I've been living with the AW3425DW for about a week now and the only time I see it flicker is during loading. Once a game loads and I'm playing I have yet to see it flicker. I think that's down to how fast my machine is as well as the games I'm playing. I don't play anything that my machine doesn't get really good performance on. It is a few years old now, but is still pretty beefy. I have a 12900KS and a 3080 Ti, and nothing I play suffers from bad performance. So I suppose the fact that I'm never near that LFC zone is probably why I have never seen any flickers, bar when things are loading up. It does flicker a fair amount during loading, but the AW3423DW it replaced didn't seem to do so very much. The AW3423DW did flicker during loading occasionally, but it was kind of rare in comparison. And never did during gameplay. This new one flickers quite a bit during loading, but once things are loaded and the game actually starts running it is fine for me. So if that's the key, simply avoiding the low end of the possible adjustment range, then I don't think it really is much of an issue. As if that's the case, it just means you need a PC upgrade if you're getting flickering. The AW3423DW had a 144 Hz refresh limit (at least in HDR it did, due to bandwidth constraints on the wire, 175 Hz for SDR) and pretty much any game I play was more or less stuck riding at the upper limit. So if the problem is riding around at the lower limit then getting hardware that's faster should solve it.

This AW3425Dw now gives me a 240 Hz upper limit, and not everything I play sits at that much higher limit, but of course I'm not getting slower performance that before, so I'm sitll nowhere near the lower limit. The machine now spends a good deal of time well above the 144 Hz I was previously limited to, and sometimes sits at that 240 Hz new upper limit, but it does spend a lot of time fluctating between those two marks. As I say, it isn't flickering on me, so I think everything's good to go here. I did finally end up sending the old monitor back to Dell and kept this new one. I'm pretty happy with it after testing it out for nearly a week before boxing the old one up and sending it off.

Vexr · 24 Jul 2025 at 23:07

_Shorty said:
I think it probably comes down to how beefy your computer is. I've been living with the AW3425DW for about a week now and the only time I see it flicker is during loading. Once a game loads and I'm playing I have yet to see it flicker. I think that's down to how fast my machine is as well as the games I'm playing.

Back in the day I remember Gsync users raving about how their 40 fps looked like Vsync locked at 60 fps on a standard monitor. When I found a just released Freesync monitor that was apparently 'flawless', aka like Gsync, I had a similar expectation. That monitor was only 100 Hz, but I was coming from 60 Hz, and I was mostly concerned with getting an illusion of smoothness I'd never experienced before.

Turned out my PC was in a world of pain as the new game on the block was Cyberpunk 2077, so there were CPU-limited dips into 40 fps in highly populated areas, and just a general struggle for my GPU at the time (a 5700 XT) to keep afloat at 60 fps at 3440x1440. Needing lots of settings tweaking and some FSR1.0.

This was a far cry from the previous most taxing title I had which was SOTTR, which my newly upgraded PC could handle at 70-80 FPS+ at pretty high settings.

The upcoming hardware challenge (excluding all the malfunctioning UE5 dross) is GTA 6. Maybe that'll send Freesyncer's into their LFC range and possibly show up some flaws.