Project Scorpio has a trick up its HDMI port: FreeSync

After the reveal of Project Scorpio’s specifications last week, the Internet has been abuzz with true 4K talk and how the console will stack up against the PlayStation 4 Pro.  One thing that Digital Foundry put off initially sharing what could end up being a major trump card when it launches this winter.
For the past few iterations, both Microsoft and Sony have based their consoles around custom AMD chipset.  And for almost as many years, AMD has been flying the flag its for variable refresh rate display technology called FreeSync.  And while neither FreeSync and variable refresh rate (VRR) will likely mean much to traditional console gamers, it could mean a lot in the future.
If you game on a PC with dedicated graphics from either AMD or NVIDIA, you’ll likely have heard of G-Sync and FreeSync before.  Both accomplish the same goal, but are exclusive to each manufacturer’s chips and sync-branded displays.  The goal of VRR technologies is to have the monitor’s Hz refresh rate directly match the frames-per-second that the graphics card can output to it, thus preventing scene tearing and “dead” frames on-screen when a graphics card hasn’t rendered a new scene.  Project Scorpio’s HDMI-out port supports the HDMI 2.1 standard, meaning to will be able to output 4K at 60Hz, and that same HDMI port is also FreeSync-enabled, meaning VRR, with compatible displays, from a console.
The most important part of this inclusion by Microsoft is that, while Sony’s PlayStation4 Pro doesn’t have FreeSync capabilities, their next hardware release might.  And, extrapolating that to how consoles help drive TV and display technology for the living room, we could see gaming-centric displays meant for outside the traditional gamer’s den, at sized larger than what computer monitors typically are.  Xbox’s Phil Spencer spoke to this in a tweet earlier today, noting exactly what I have above: VRR could and should come to TV.

The important part for now, though, is that if a Project Scorpio owner has a FreeSync display for their PC, they’ll be able to take advantage of that technology right out of the box.  If more details come out on Project Scorpio, and for continued coverage on existing specs, be sure to stay tuned to Rectify Gaming.