In an exciting announcement this Tuesday, NVIDIA revealed a partnership with MediaTek that will see their future monitor scalers incorporating the comprehensive suite of NVIDIA’s G-Sync technologies. This collaboration signifies a shift towards making advanced gaming features more accessible to a wider array of displays, eliminating the need for a separate G-Sync module.
Historically, G-Sync technology required a special G-Sync module, built around an Altera FPGA, to synchronize the display’s refresh rates with the GPU. This was crucial for minimizing screen tearing, stuttering, and input lag in games. However, in a bid to offer a more affordable solution, NVIDIA in 2019 rolled out G-Sync Compatible certification. This approach used the industry’s VESA AdaptiveSync technology, which manages variable refresh rates without the need for a dedicated module. Monitors certified under this program are essentially guaranteed to work smoothly with NVIDIA GPUs, though they might lack certain features that a dedicated module would provide.
The collaboration with MediaTek marks a significant advancement. MediaTek plans to integrate all NVIDIA G-Sync features, including the cutting-edge G-Sync Pulsar, directly into their scalers. G-Sync Pulsar is designed to enhance motion clarity and minimize ghosting, delivering a more fluid gaming experience. Beyond variable refresh rates and Pulsar, these MediaTek-powered G-Sync displays will boast capabilities like variable overdrive, 12-bit color depth, Ultra Low Motion Blur, low-latency HDR, and Reflex Analyzer functionality. This development is set to expand the availability of full G-Sync features in monitors without the added cost of an FPGA.
Kicking off this new era, monitors such as the AOC Agon Pro AG276QSG2, Acer Predator XB273U F5, and ASUS ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQNR, will provide full G-Sync support, offering impressive specs like 360Hz refresh rates, 1440p resolutions, and HDR compatibility, all without needing a standalone NVIDIA module.
What’s still unclear is which specific MediaTek scalers will incorporate NVIDIA’s G-Sync technologies, or if MediaTek plans to include this support across their entire range of scalers. Additionally, it remains a question whether monitors with traditional NVIDIA G-Sync modules will maintain certain advantages over those with MediaTek’s integrated scalers.
