AMD FreeSync For Tear-Free Linux Gaming - Current State In 2017

My Testing Experience

I've been running some Steam Linux games manually and via the Phoronix Test Suite when forcing OGLWaitVerticalSync on since otherwise PTS always runs games with v-sync disabled. When meeting the hardware/software requirements and enabling FreeSync over DisplayPort to the ASUS MG28UQ, it's been working out fine.

All of the major Linux games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Dawn of War 3, Mad Max, HITMAN, and others appear to be running fine with AMD FreeSync on Linux. The MG28UQ supports a variable refresh rate from 40Hz to 60Hz. When running OpenGL Linux games at 4K on current AMD hardware often dipping below 60 FPS but above 40 FPS, it's been working out well and have not spotted any tearing and does appear "smoother" than with FreeSync disabled.

Is It Worth It?

There are a lot of caveats right now to the FreeSync Linux support. Most pressing is that FreeSync isn't fully supported yet on the open-source graphics driver stack used by most Radeon Linux gamers... Hopefully within a few months that will be addressed and plumbed out through the user-space components. Until then, without headaches, you really can just use AMDGPU-PRO hybrid.

But the good news is that with FreeSync displays now being out for two years, the price for FreeSync/Adaptive-Sync capable displays is largely on point with other LCD displays (and still cheaper than NVIDIA G-SYNC monitors). Many of the newer displays do support VESA Adaptive-Sync / AMD FreeSync so chances are you should be able to easily find a supported monitor at your price point. Even if you can't make use of it well right now on Linux, at least it will come in handy in the future at no real premium to the monitor's cost. This feature is particularly useful for 4K displays with current generation graphics cards where for most Linux games at 3840 x 2160, the average FPS tends to often dip below 60 FPS.

For FreeSync testing or not, I've been very happy with the ASUS MG28UQ 28-inch UHD 4K display that can be found at the likes of Amazon and NewEgg. On Amazon are dozens of other FreeSync monitors ranging from sub-$200 1080p displays to higher-end UHD displays over $500.

Stay tuned to Phoronix to learn more about FreeSync maturing on Linux in 2018.