Nvidia Reveals G-Sync Hardware Partner, Half-Life 2 RTX Update and More [CNET]

At Gamescom, the gaming hardware giant updates us on some long-term projects, like AI-driven characters and the big RTX mod for Half-Life 2.

At Gamescom, the gaming hardware giant updates us on some long-term projects, like AI-driven characters and the big RTX mod for Half-Life 2.

Though they’re not the huge launches the company usually gives us, Nvidia nonetheless brings a handful of little ones to Gamescom, the annual big gaming show in Germany.

Like the Portal RTX mod released in 2022, which Nvidia hyped the heck out of — not just because it takes advantage of the company’s RTX cards but because it was built using its 3D cloud Omniverse-based RTX Remix platform — Nvidia offered another preview of the next shiny, reflective, moody mod, Half-Life 2 RTX, which debuted at CES in January. 

And it wouldn’t be Nvidia without AI updates. In this case, the company squeezed down its Nemotron LLM NIM (the microservice which generates the content for responses of AI-based characters) down to a small language model (SLM) that can run on device. Nvidia demonstrated the system using an interactive NPC in the as-yet-unreleased Mecha Break. Unlike Nvidia’s usual ACE demo, it not only makes small talk, but provides advice on mech choices as its more useful (in theory) AI extra.

Out of the GeForce Now and DLSS announcements, only one really jumps out: Now you can link your GFN and Xbox Game Pass accounts so you don’t have to sign in every time you want to play a PC Game Pass game, and you can sync your library, similar to the way it works with Ubisoft and Steam. Black Myth: Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws are two notable games coming to the service when they launch, as well. There are at least 16 games getting DLSS 3.x support, which is notable as a sign that the latest version is gaining a lot more traction; usually, the DLSS announcements still include a chunk of DLSS 2.x, which isn’t nearly as good. You’ll also be able to access 25 selected CurseForge World of Warcraft add-ons without signing in to a CurseForge account, from any paying GeForce Now account.

G-Sync hardware changes hands

The company is finally getting out of the G-Sync module hardware business, which is potentially good news all around and long overdue. The company is partnering with MediaTek to offload the hardware that differentiates G-Sync from G-Sync Compatible monitors — they include the technologies that go beyond some basics like variable rate refresh support, such as its those that reduce latency, improve color, adjust motion blur, improve sharpness and more. 

MediaTek has been a big player in silicon, albeit not as well known as Intel or AMD (at least in the US), with processors for Chromebooks, networking chips for laptops, media encode/decode chips and most relevant in this case, video scalers built into monitors. The video scaler is responsible for exactly what it says on the tin, upscale and downscale the resolution of whatever’s being displayed on the screen. 

But these days, what used to be simple upscaling from a lower resolution to improve frame rates for games, have become a suite of technologies for optimizing the synchronization between the graphics card and mouse and keyboard input with the display to meet your needs. To date, Nvidia has been putting all of that optimization technology in modules for monitor manufacturers to incorporate in gaming monitors under the G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate brands; the module has added cost and size to monitors, making them more expensive than their less-endowed peers. 

While some monitor buyers aren’t that price sensitive, most are, and if you’re going to spend more on gaming gear, a better graphics card is frequently a better investment than going for a monitor with G.

Every monitor already has a scaler in it, so licensing the rest of the silicon design to MediaTek makes a lot of sense. That doesn’t mean G-Sync will be in every MediaTek scaler. The companies intend to integrate it into more than one of the scalers to use in monitors at a wider variety of prices. It’s unclear what that price range is, but given MediaTek’s current mainstream market, the lower cost associated with production hopefully will be in some less pricey monitors.

Though Nvidia didn’t announce a time frame or price range for displays with the MediaTek G-Sync chip, it did reveal three G-Sync monitors supporting the Pulsar technology, (essentially a combination of VRR and ultralow motion blur to increase overall motion clarity) it announced at CES last January: the AOC Agon Pro AG276QSG2, Acer Predator XB273UF5 and Asus ROG Swift 360Hz PG27AQNR. All three are 27-inch, 360Hz 1440p monitors with HDR support.