AMD Enhanced Sync

We can safely call the AMD FreeSync technology the victor of the adaptive display-sync-standard war. It beats G-SYNC because it's both easy and free to implement, and has the backing of VESA, the display-standards governing body. AMD is doubling down on adaptive display-sync with a new standard, Enhanced Sync, which is bound to be more successful because it doesn't even need compatibility on the monitor's side, and it works with any digital display connector.



Before we get to the mechanics of Enhanced Sync, here's a quick refresher about V-Sync. Your display has a fixed maximum refresh rate (the rate at which it draws a new frame to make up moving images), while your PC puts out frames to the display at a variable rate, depending on the speed of your hardware. If it puts out frames at a rate slower than your monitor's refresh-rate, you experience stuttering (a noticeably rough video). If it puts out at a higher rate, you experience screen tearing, caused because your GPU is pumping in new frames before your monitor can finish drawing frames at its rate. V-Sync is a feature in which the software limits the rate at which your GPU puts out frames, by syncing it with your display's refresh rate. The result is smooth display, but it results in input lag because your game only takes in the same number of inputs per second as the number of frames it has to draw per second.



AMD feels that there is a middle path for games that don't have FreeSync-ready displays, and yet want to counter page-tearing at high frame rates or stuttering at low frame rates - hence Enhanced Sync. This is not meant as a replacement, successor, or substitute to FreeSync, but, rather, as its next best thing.

Enhanced Sync counters page tearing by allowing your game to think it has no V-Sync frame-rate caps, thereby taking in more inputs per second while, on the other hand, intelligently culling the frames being sent to the display (and conserving hardware resources in the process), so that the output looks in-sync, without the appearance of lost frames, torn-frames, or other artifacts. Enhanced Sync combats the problem of low frame-rates causing stuttering by allowing for some frame-tearing.

FreeSync

FreeSync provides a novel solution to the problem of low frame rates causing display stutter by keeping your monitor in sync with the frame rate of your game in real time, rather than the other way around. The display's refresh rate is controlled by the source (in this case, your GPU) rather than it having a static refresh rate. When your game's frame rate is higher than the refresh rate of your display, beyond a point, FreeSync allows the game to take in a limitless amount of input, while running the display at its highest refresh rate and culling frames being sent to it. The display's refresh rate keeps in sync with your software fluidly, and hence gives you the appearance of fluid motion, and an uncompromising game-input experience.