NVIDIA’s G-Sync ULMB 2 technology aims to reduce motion blur in games
NVIDIA announces G-Sync Ultra Low Motion Blur (ULMB) 2, a second-generation technology designed to reduce motion blur in competitive games. Compared to the ULMB released in 2015, the company says the latest version offers almost double the brightness and virtually no crosstalk – a flickering or double image effect is sometimes seen when anti-blur features are enabled.
The clarity of movement is largely determined by the response time of the screen’s pixels. To make things even better, NVIDIA uses “full refresh rate backlight flashing” based on the powerful backlight technology of the original ULMB. While the previous version of the technology improved motion clarity for many, it had to turn off the screen’s backlight 75% of the time. This will reduce the brightness of the screen.
With ULMB 2, NVIDIA is able to match the display’s refresh rate when the backlight is on and off. The goal is to turn on the backlight only when the pixels are at the correct color value in each frame. This reduces the noise because you shouldn’t see pixels when you select an exact color.
This approach wasn’t really possible with the slower pixel refresh rates of older displays. ULMB 2 can operate at the full refresh rate of current monitors. On a 360Hz display, each backlight occurs every 2.7ms – a speed that the human eye cannot detect.
It all boils down to NVIDIA being able to deliver more brightness and powerful motion clarity above 1000Hz. If you’re using a 360Hz monitor with ULMB 2, NVIDIA says you’ll get effective motion clarity at 1440Hz. The company claims that without ULMB 2, you’ll need a 1440Hz display to achieve equivalent motion clarity. Since we’ve only recently started seeing 500Hz displays, mass market 1440Hz displays seem a long way off.
NVIDIA gave short demos of ULMB 2 in action. In the video below, you can see what the motorcycle chase sequence looks like in slow motion with 360 fps off and on.
ULMB 2 is now available as a free upgrade for compatible G-Sync monitors with a resolution of 1440p and 360Hz. NVIDIA says there are currently only two such displays on the market: the Acer Predator XB273U and the ASUS ROG Swift PG27AQN, both 27-inch displays. ASUS ROG Swift Pro PG248QP (25 inch, 1080p, 540 Hz) and AOC AGON AG276QSG G-Sync 27 inch monitor are also compatible, coming soon.
NVIDIA announced ULMB 2 along with some AI developments at Computex. The company is developing a supercomputer designed to help companies create generative AI models. It also introduced technology that allows players to use their microphones and converse somewhat realistically with game characters.
