Nvidia reveals G-Sync hardware partner, Half-Life 2 RTX update, and more

While these aren’t the big launches the company normally gives us, Nvidia is still bringing a handful of small ones to Gamescom, the major annual gaming trade show in Germany.

As the Portal RTX mod coming in 2022 that Nvidia has been hyped about immensely — not only because it uses the company’s RTX cards, but also because it was built using its 3D cloud Omniverse-based RTX remix platform — Nvidia offered a new preview of the next shiny, reflective, moody mod, Half Life 2 RTX Versionwhich debuted at CES in January.

And it wouldn’t be Nvidia without AI updates. In this case, the company has squeezed its Nemotron LLM NIM (the microservice that generates the content for AI-based character responses) down to a small language model (SLM) that can run on the device. Nvidia demonstrated the system using an interactive NPC in the yet-to-be-released Mecha breakUnlike Nvidia’s usual ACE demo, it not only offers small talk but also offers advice on mech choices, being the (theoretically) more useful AI extra.

Of the GeForce Now and DLSS announcements, only one really stands out: You can now link your GFN and Xbox Game Pass accounts so you don’t have to log in every time you want to play a PC Game Pass game, and you can sync your library, similar to how it works with Ubisoft and Steam. Black Myth: Wukong and Star Wars Outlaws are two notable games coming to the service at launch. At least 16 games are getting DLSS 3.x support, which is notable as a sign that the newest version is getting a lot more traction; normally, DLSS announcements still include some DLSS 2.x support, which isn’t nearly as good. You’ll also get access to a select 25 CurseForge World of Warcraft add-ons without logging into a CurseForge account, from any paid 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 for everyone and has been long overdue. The company is partnering with MediaTek to sell the hardware that sets G-Sync apart on G-Sync Compatible monitors — they include technologies that go beyond the basics like variable refresh rate support to include those that reduce latency, enhance color, adjust motion blur, improve sharpness, and more.

MediaTek is a big player in silicon, though not as well-known as Intel or AMD (at least in the US), with processors for Chromebooks, networking chips for laptops, media encoder/decoder chips, and, most relevantly in this case, video scalers built into monitors. The video scaler does exactly what it says on the tin, upscaling and downscaling the resolution of whatever is displayed on screen.

But these days, what used to be a simple upscaling of a lower resolution to improve frame rates for games has become a suite of technologies for optimizing the synchronization between your graphics card and mouse/keyboard input with the display to suit your needs. To date, Nvidia has packed all of that optimization technology into modules for monitor manufacturers to integrate into gaming monitors under the G-Sync and G-Sync Ultimate brands; the module has increased the cost and size of monitors, making them more expensive than their less-featured counterparts.

While some monitor buyers aren’t as price-conscious, most are. And if you’re going to spend more money on gaming gear, a better graphics card is often a better investment than a G-capable monitor.

Each monitor already has a scaler, 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 plan to integrate it into more than one of the scalers for use in monitors across a wider price range. It’s unclear what that price range is, but given MediaTek’s current mainstream market, the lower costs associated with manufacturing will hopefully translate into some lower-cost monitors.

While Nvidia hasn’t announced a timeline or price range for displays featuring the MediaTek G-Sync chip, it did unveil three G-Sync monitors that will feature the Pulsar technology(essentially a combination of VRR and ultra-low motion blur to increase overall motion clarity) it announced at CES this past 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.