CES 2016: AMD’s FreeSync technology synchronizes a graphics card performance with your monitor’s refresh rate to eliminate screen tearing and create a smooth, fluid experience. Unlike NVIDIA’s solution, there’s no need for a proprietary module which reduces cost and makes monitor manufacturers more likely to adopt FreeSync. Up to now, FreeSync has relied on DisplayPort 1.2a to support refresh rates between 9–240 Hz. Although, to be fair, NVIDIA G-Sync panels also require the use of a DisplayPort connection.
After conducting comprehensive research, AMD discovered that the majority of users still use HDMI 1.4 or HDMI 2.0. As a result, the company decided to focus their efforts on bringing FreeSync to HDMI 1.4a with some custom modifications. Theoretically, this means the next version of HDMI could easily support FreeSync by default.
AMD also unveiled their first FreeSync powered laptop which is a big milestone for the company. The 15.6-inch Lenovo Y700 features a Radeon R9 M380 graphics chip and a quad-core AMD FX-F8800P “Carrizo” APU for $899.
