NVIDIA Linux Beta Rolling Out "G-SYNC Compatible" FreeSync Monitor Support

Earlier this month at CES was the surprise announcement that NVIDIA would be effectively rolling out FreeSync display support for Pascal GPUs and newer with forthcoming driver updates. There's been that support on Windows while beginning today that tear-free, gaming-focused display tech will also be working on Linux.

NVIDIA has long supported G-SYNC displays on Linux, but with today's 418.30 driver release there is the "G-SYNC Compatible" support, a.k.a. the new FreeSync support. Should you be out of the loop for a while, this dynamic refresh rate technology is designed to reduce tearing and stuttering while gaming.

This initial Linux driver has the same white-list of supported monitors as Windows, but other Adaptive-Sync/FreeSync displays can be manually enabled as well. Like with Windows, you will need a GeForce GTX 1000 series graphics card or newer.

Testing time! pic.twitter.com/qbOVCSVOM6

— Phoronix (@phoronix) January 30, 2019

As of writing the NVIDIA 418.30 driver hasn't been listed on their site but can be downloaded directly here. Stay tuned for tests on Linux shortly. This is good news for Linux gamers with having FreeSync support from NVIDIA while on the AMD side with Mesa 19.0 + Linux 5.0 (due out as stable in about one month) is the initial mainline FreeSync support for Radeon graphics cards.

Update: More NVIDIA 418.30 beta Linux driver details.

Update 2: Initial G-SYNC Compatible Linux test notes.