HP announces their newest addition to their Omen lineup of specialized gaming monitors. The Omen X 27 (you have to love the simplicity) is a 27" monitor featuring a TN panel - the compromise needed for achieving the ultra-fast 240 Hz refresh rates on offer. The 1 ms response time ensures fast, responsive pixels, while FreeSync 2 is a must for refresh rates such as these - either your graphics card or CPU will introduce some framerate dips, you can almost be sure of that. There's HDR support at the lowest FreeSync 2-supported level - 400 nits. HP say this TN panel can render 90% of the DCI-P3 color space - which sets it apart from most other TN panels and even some IPS solutions.

The Omen X 27 joins HP's growing cadre of Omen monitors this September, joining the Omen X 25 - which has already made its debut for 630€ or $550. Connectivity includes 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, and 2x USB 3.0 slots. Pricing is set at $649.99.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced Strix XG438Q, the world's biggest and fastest 4K UHD FreeSync 2 HDR gaming monitor, offering the perfect balance of smooth visuals and high contrast HDR performance for incredibly immersive gameplay. The new display features a 43-inch 4K UHD panel with an astonishing 120Hz refresh rate, high-dynamic-range (HDR) technology with 90% DCI-P3 professional color gamut coverage and exceptional contrast for DisplayHDR certification, plus support for AMD Radeon FreeSync HDR technology.

Strix XG438Q also includes GameFast Input technology for responsive, lag-free control that heightens gameplay experiences and gives games a vital edge over their opponents.

ASUS showcased their XG49VQ, a behemoth of a monitor with a 49" diagonal across a 32:9 aspect ratio panel. This aspect ratio and the panels' size are married to a 3840 x 1080 resolution (2x 1080p) with a 144 Hz refresh rate. There's a 1800R curvature (which is likely essential in such wide panels), support for Freesync 2, 125% RGB coverage, and ASUS' Shadow Boost feature which makes it easier to spot anything in darker corners of any given game. There's HDR support via VESA's HDR400 certification.

With those features, ASUS is catering to two markets at once: professional and gamer. The added resolution and screen real-estate will feel right at home with users that do much horizontal work (my 2560 x 1080 panel is already plenty enough for two pages to sit comfortably side to side). The increased frequency response won't do much for professional work, but does tick one of those gaming checklists of late. With the specs and exotic streak on this monitor, though, don't expect pricing to come cheap.

BenQ, leading global innovator of displays, today announced its latest milestone in visual technology, earning VESA DisplayHDR 400 and AMD FreeSync 2 certifications for the EX3203R entertainment monitor. Featuring dazzling HDR performance with stunning gaming capabilities, the curved 32" display delivers immersive viewing and gaming experiences protected by BenQ Brightness Intelligence Plus (B.I. +) eye-care technology.

"EX3203R ingeniously blends HDR image quality together with B.I. +, guaranteeing dark details remain crystal clear even in dim environments while softening bright images," said Conway Lee, President of BenQ Corporation. "With FreeSync 2 for ultimate gameplay, EX3203R provides endless personal entertainment in absolute health and comfort safeguarded by BenQ Eye Care."

The guys over at PC Perspective conducted an interesting interview with AMD, during which a company representative talked about impending changes to AMD's FreeSync program. Essentially, the company found that there is some consumer confusion regarding what features exactly FreeSync 2 delivers over its first-gen counterpart. As such, they feel renaming the technology to FreeSync 2 HDR conveys the focus on the new feature-set: LFC (Low Framerate Compensation) and the FreeSync 2 HDR fast-lane for tone-mapping improvements.

The AMD representative further clarified what specs are required for a monitor to receive FreeSync 2 HDR certification: support for at least HDR600, coverage of 99 percent of BT.709 and 90 percent of the DCI P3 color spectrum. Also mentioned was a minimum response time, though the exact value remains unknown. An interesting point that can be gleaned from AMD's change, though, is that this one is more than just cosmetic: AMD's first FreeSync 2 certification program required displays to only be able to adhere to HDR400. There are some examples of announced, FreeSync 2 monitors that only support that standard (and others that don't support even that but were certified all the same), instead of the aforementioned HDR600 the company will apparently start enforcing alongside the renewed "FreeSync 2 HDR" program. Here's hoping for a stricter certification program from AMD in this regard, since HDR400 was a push in itself towards being true HDR (it isn't...) - and FreeSync 2 already has all the market support and recognition it needs to now start increasing its requirements for quality support instead of mainly quantity.

BenQ announced a new entry to its monitor lineup under the model name EX3203R. It sports a 31.5" VA panel with 2560 x 1440 resolution, and can display frames at up to 144 Hz refresh rates. The slight 1800R curvature is expected to keep all points of the monitor at the same distance from users' eyes. AMD's FreeSync 2 technology is also being employed here, making this a more attractive proposition for gaming scenarios. Since this is FreeSync 2 we're talking about, the effective FreeSync range should be quite high, since support for LFC (Low Frame-Rate Compensation) is an essential part of the certification.

Like most BenQ (and other brands') monitors, BenQ is touting this panel as HDR-compatible, and sporting a HDR-specific luminance mode that achieves a top 400 cd/m² luminance - the basest of the base values allowed by AMD for HDR compatibility. Non-HDR content, however, will default to a top 300 cd/m² luminance. BenQ is quoting 90% DCI-P3 coverage. Connectivity options include 2x HDMI 1.4 ports, 1x DisplayPort 1.2a, 2x USB 3.1 ports, and 1x USB Type-C port. Pricing hasn't been announced at time of writing.

AOC has come forward to announce that they'll be shipping gaming monitors under their AGON³ gaming brand that boast of 0.5 ms (yup, you read that right) response time come 2018. The new monitors, based on an AUO TN panel, will come in curved 27", offer 2560 x 1440 resolution at a 144 Hz refresh rate, and will be available with either G-Sync or FreeSync 2 support. Users of AMD-enabled FreeSync 2 will be left happier than their NVIDIA counterparts: AOC's FreeSync 2 monitor will not only support HDR and a wider color gamut, but will also retail for €100 less (€599) than its non HDR-enabled NVIDIA counterpart (€699). Granted, AMD's HDR requirements are much lower than NVIDIA's 1000cd/m² minimum luminance for HDR - which means this AU Optronics panel, with its 400cd/m² peak luminance, makes the cut for AMD's HDR standards. Remember - not all HDR is equal.

Asked about AOC's new panels, AOC's Afonso Clemente said that "We were talking with AUO and they have a new panel (...) Up until now curved monitors were either IPS or VA, which is ok, but the response time was not so great. There's always some ghosting, some blurring. But now there are curved panels from AU Optronics that allow 0.5 ms response time."

Remember that post on Samsung's investment on 32:9 aspect ratio monitors? The company has just materialized them, with the announcement of their 2017 flagship FreeSync 2 supporting monitors, which come in two different models and three different sizes. Samsung announced a world's first, the CHG90 QLED monitor, which leverages its alien 49" towards displaying a 32:9 presentation. That's what Samsung is calling a DFHD (Dual Full HD) screen, with a 3840x1080 resolution. This panel supports FreeSync 2, HDR, wide 178-degree viewing angles, and the now usual 1800R curvature, with blazingly-fast 144 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times.

At the same time, Samsung also announced the somewhat more mundane CHG70 QLED monitor, which comes in at either 27" or 31,5". Whatever your choice of panel size, these are essentially the same specs-wise, and differ little from the CHG90: they offer WQHD resolution (2560x1440), HDR, FreeSync 2, wide 178-degree viewing angles, and the now usual 1800R curvature, along with blazing-fast 144 Hz refresh rates and 1 ms response times.

In what could spell very interesting things for the uptake of the Freesync 2 open-standard, Digital Foundry has confirmed that Microsoft's upcoming "Project Scorpio" console will leverage AMD's FreeSync 2 standard so as to improve fluidity of frames. The objective is, as usual, to eliminate tearing and reduce stutter, allowing the GPU to trigger the display refresh rate at exactly the same frequency as it can churn out frames. The FreeSync 2 revision of the open standard is HDR-compatible, which means it supports what is being touted as The Next Big Thing in image quality. Like always, the available FreeSync-supported band will still depend on the panel's actual specifications. Additionally, the Scorpio is going to offer support for the upcoming VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) implemented within the HDMI 2.1 specifications.

Though TV panels don't support either of those standards currently, AMD has teased that FreeSync support on TVs would be possible - and upcoming. If true, and if this FreeSync support were to take off, this might spell an increased uptake on AMD's open standard implementation of VRR over NVIDIA's G-SYNC. The adoption of these VRR technologies would also allow developers to perhaps change their performance targets (say, from 60 FPS to 45 FPS), while also increasing fluidity of games that struggle to maintain their target frame rate. The Scorpio could be the first mainstream piece of tech to offer widespread support for VRR standards, thus increasing the user base and industry adoption rate of this technologies, which can only be good. To say that this adoption spells the death of NVIDIA's proprietary G-SYNC is nothing more than wild, boastful speculation; saying it could drive FreeSync and HDMI's VRR implementation towards mainstream usage is not. And that could mean a slow push of G-SYNC towards a niche PC-monitor solution with reduced uptake from monitor manufacturers.

But no, bar the name, it doesn't have almost anything to do with AMD's renowned Freesync. Instead, according to Videocardz, AMD are apparently expanding the Freesync functionality to more than just an adaptive synchronization technology - it might eventually become a software stack unto itself, embedded within AMD's drivers. This would be a smart move from AMD, since they would be taking advantage of Freesync's brand and name recognition on the market as a way to promote new features.