Microsoft is making Windows 10 far more gamer-friendly.
Windows 10 will be updated on Tuesday with two new features it first previewed at Build last month: the ability to turn off VSync and instead enable AMD's Freesync and Nvidia's G-Sync in Universal Windows Platform (UWP) games and apps, as well as an unlocked frame rate on those titles.
"Once applications take advantage of these new features, you will be able to play your UWP games with unlocked frame rates," the company said in a statement. "We expect Gears of War: UE and Forza Motorsport 6: Apex to lead the way by adding this support in the very near future."
As Microsoft explains, "Vsync refers to the ability of an application to synchronize game rendering frames with the refresh rate of the monitor." Turning it off "allows the game to render as fast as the graphics card is capable (unlocked frame rate)," but that also leads to tearing, when two different frames are on the screen at the same time.
"G-Sync and FreeSync solve the game/monitor synchronization problem by determining when the game is ready to render a new frame," Redmond explains. "When the game is ready, the graphics driver tells the monitor to refresh the display. This allows your game to render as fast as the graphics card is capable without any tearing, but requires monitors which support adaptive refresh technology."
By unlocking the frame rate, Microsoft is trying to limit the chances of frame rate problems while still enhancing the overall gameplay experience. It also gives game developers more latitude in how they design games. In many cases, for instance, game developers will develop titles at 30 frames per second rather than 60 frames per second to prevent the possibility of dropping frames. This fix may cause them to rethink that strategy entirely.
That said, if a customer is running a laptop that has an integrated GPU and a discrete GPU, the unlocked frame rate feature doesn't work. In an FAQ section, Microsoft says that it's a "known issue" that requires "additional engineering work" to get up and running. The company hopes to make it available to those customers "as quickly as possible."
The Windows 10 update is rolling out to all machines now, but those who don't want to wait can download it directly.
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