Samsung stole the show last week with its big FreeSync announcement and the company went on record confirming at least five FreeSync capable monitors will roll out by March.

Our sources have informed us that two other monitor manufactures can ship FreeSync monitors even sooner, before Christmas. BenQ and Viewsonic will have monitors ready to ship quite soon, almost hitting the previously reported November timeframe.

Samsung helped AMD change its mind

Our sources indicated that Samsung changed AMD0s mind and insisted to be the first one to announce its FreeSync lineup. The other two players, who originally wanted to announce their monitors and even ship them by the end of November, had to slightly delay their rollout plans.

We have few details about the screen size or resolution at this point, but back in September AMD told us that DisplayPort receivers from MStar, Novatek and Realtek enable 144Hz panels with QHD 2560x1440 and UHD 3840x2160 panels up to 60Hz. They will go head to head with G-Sync offerings designed for Nvidia graphics cards.

What comes next?

If you are planning a monitor update soon, the choice of your next gaming monitor will most likely be largely influenced by current generation graphics cards and games.

There is already a number of different approaches - eg you can get a touch panel in case you want to make the most of the new Windows touch-friendly user interface, or you can go for a proper gaming panel in 2560x1440, with a 144Hz refresh rate, FreeSync or G-Sync, or you can trade high performance for high resolution and get a cheap 4K/UHD panel limited to 60Hz, sans syncing technology.

The jury is still out, but AMD and Nvidia have made sub-4K monitors quite a bit more appealing with FreeSync and G-Sync.