Ahead of next week’s CES 2024 trade show, this morning VESA is releasing an update to their Adaptive-Sync Display variable refresh certification standard to accommodate some forthcoming “dual-mode” gaming displays. Under the new Adaptive-Sync Display 1.1a standard, display manufacturers will now be able to certify displays that have multiple resolution-dependent maximum refresh rates – chiefly, those displays offering high refresh rates at high-DPI resolutions such as 4K, and even higher refresh rates at 1080p and the like. The 1.1a version of the standard is also being updated to support displays with overclocked modes, allowing display manufacturers to get those modes separately certified on top of their default modes.
Displays offering higher maximum refresh rates at lower resolutions are not strictly a new innovation in the space, but PC enthusiasts are likely to be more familiar with the concept with 4K TVs. Constrained by the available cable bandwidth of the time, HDMI 2.0-era sets such as LG’s C8 OLEDs could offer either 60Hz support at 4K, or 120Hz support at 1080p. And while the concept has fallen by the wayside a bit since the arrival of HDMI 2.1, it has not gone away entirely. Now, as we go into 2024, VESA and its display manufacturing members are preparing to launch a new generation of PC gaming displays that employ the dual-mode concept to allow for even higher refresh rates at lower resolutions.
