Nvidia confirms after test that G-Sync for laptops does not require a hardware module

Nvidia’s G-Sync technology, which prevents stuttering and tearing while gaming, comes to laptops and does not require an additional hardware module. Nvidia confirms this after a test driver turned out to make G-Sync possible on a laptop.

With the help of G-Sync, the GPU and screen are synchronized. When the video chip calculates a frame, a signal to the display ensures that the refresh rate of the screen is adjusted accordingly. This should prevent stuttering and tearing and provide smoother rendering of images.

Last week, a Gamenab blog published a claim that Nvidia’s G-Sync was a marketing ploy. The technology also worked on a laptop with the GeForce GTX 980M, the site showed, and no hardware module was required. Nvidia charges monitor manufacturers for the use of that module and displays with G-Sync support are therefore more expensive than variants without support.

The possibility to get G-Sync working on a laptop arose after an alpha driver for the Asus ROG G751 was released. After installation, the laptop showed a pop-up that a G-Sync screen had been found and the technology actually worked. Gamenab concluded that the module was a disguised DRM component and that G-Sync was essentially doing the same thing as VESA’s Adaptive-Sync variant, which is possible on any display with displayport 1.2 and embedded displayport. The Adaptive-Sync standard stems from AMD’s Freesync.

PCPer dug deeper into the subject and got G-Sync working as well. The site speculated that G-Sync does indeed work in an Adaptive-Sync-like manner and that the laptop’s LG display timing controller was able to provide variable refresh rates in a way that was good enough for G-Sync. It was also a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 100Hz. The operation would have some drawbacks. For example, the screen showed dropouts at low fps and at unexpected transitions to 0fps. A display with a G-Sync module would suffer less from this.

Inquiries with Nvidia revealed that laptops do indeed get support for G-Sync without a module being required. The driver in question was intended for manufacturers to be able to do troubleshooting. The manufacturer could optimize the technology because Nvidia knows the implementation of the specific panels and timing controllers. The big question now is whether Nvidia still finds it necessary to require the hardware module for displays in order to support G-Sync. However, that question is not yet answered by the company.