Question I don't understand the benefits of higher Hz on monitors

Stg-Flame · Mar 20, 2025

From my ancient understanding, the Hz of a monitor is directly reflected to the refresh rate and since I haven't been watching the technology evolve that closely, I now see monitors upwards of 520Hz. So what is the benefit of buying a monitor/TV with a higher frequency range? Smoother FPS in gaming? Less stress on the eyes? E-peen measuring contest?

I'm asking because my old 4K monitor completely died and ASUS wants several hundred for the repairs which I'm not paying because in their own words "[they] think we got it fixed because it turns on now". They couldn't tell me why it turned off and couldn't find any indication why it was flickering while telling me if it breaks again, it'll be another repair service fee. My old 2K LED IPS ASUS is still going strong after 13 years of heavy use with zero issues, but my new 4K IPS ASUS didn't last two years of normal usage. So now I need to buy a new monitor and I'm unsure where to go from here.

biostud · Mar 21, 2025

Mostly for competitive e-sports, but since I'm not into those I don't know if it is worth it

Sgraffite · Mar 21, 2025

If it isn't important to you for e-sports latency, it's just quality of life. If things are smooth enough for you at 60hz, then you might not care.

mikeymikec · Mar 21, 2025

Refresh rate works differently on LCD screens to CRTs so the benefits are somewhat different. CRTs essentially strobed a series of still images at the user at a fast enough rate that it didn't seem obvious to the viewer, which is why if one takes a photo of a switched-on CRT screen that chances are the screen will be blank in the photo or only half-drawn with content, but also the brain was working to filter out the blank part of the strobe as well as to turn the whole thing into a moving image. With CRTs it was a bad idea to stare at a screen for too long (for example it causes headaches), and the lower the refresh rate, the more work the brain had to put in to fill in the (longer) blanks. Therefore increasing the refresh rate reduced viewer strain.

LCDs don't strobe like this, the content stays on the screen, so the brain isn't having to fill in any blanks. The refresh rate on a LCD screen determines how often the screen updates content. A basic benefit of a higher LCD refresh rate (on LCD and CRT) is a smoother pointer movement.

I would be inclined to put a bet down that any LCD refresh rate above a certain number can't actually be consciously perceived by a human, therefore it has no practical benefit whatsoever. Also, the higher the refresh rate, the greater the (display) power usage. It's also more demanding on graphics hardware to deliver 3D content at a higher refresh rate (and make the most of it) because it directly correlates with game frame rates. In my view, it's a potential gigantic waste of money. I'll be sticking with 60Hz for gaming until I actually see some worthwhile benefit of going higher. I've been running my Linux setup at 75Hz out of curiosity and the pointer is a little smoother but I don't see how that translates into some advantage with regard to productivity.

WelshBloke · Mar 21, 2025

I can see the difference between 60hz and 100hz pretty clearly. After about 144hz I can't really notice an improvement, although I have fairly old eyes.

I've found the sweet spot for me is 3440x1440@144hz. It's a nice immersive size for gaming but doesn't need a monstrous GPU to drive it.

Glo. · Mar 21, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
From my ancient understanding, the Hz of a monitor is directly reflected to the refresh rate and since I haven't been watching the technology evolve that closely, I now see monitors upwards of 520Hz. So what is the benefit of buying a monitor/TV with a higher frequency range? Smoother FPS in gaming? Less stress on the eyes? E-peen measuring contest?

I'm asking because my old 4K monitor completely died and ASUS wants several hundred for the repairs which I'm not paying because in their own words "[they] think we got it fixed because it turns on now". They couldn't tell me why it turned off and couldn't find any indication why it was flickering while telling me if it breaks again, it'll be another repair service fee. My old 2K LED IPS ASUS is still going strong after 13 years of heavy use with zero issues, but my new 4K IPS ASUS didn't last two years of normal usage. So now I need to buy a new monitor and I'm unsure where to go from here.

Using high refresh rate IPS monitor, and 120 Hz OLED display I can tell you that its incredible for increasing the responsiveness of the system. Everything becomes smooth, from the OS, animations in the OS up to gaming. And yes - you can see the difference everywhere.

Dave3000 · Mar 21, 2025

Glo. said:
Using high refresh rate IPS monitor, and 120 Hz OLED display I can tell you that its incredible for increasing the responsiveness of the system. Everything becomes smooth, from the OS, animations in the OS up to gaming. And yes - you can see the difference everywhere.

If your hardware can't maintain at least 120 fps and you decide to cap the frame rate to 60 fps, do you still get the reduced input lag benefit of running at 120 Hz but gaming at 60 fps over 60 Hz refresh rate and gaming at 60 fps?

GodisanAtheist · Mar 22, 2025

Higher the refresh rate to be smoother things are, because the screen is being "redrawn" more often.

Higher refresh rate lets display a higher FPS without image tearing.

IMO, 144hz is a sweet spot for most folks. Huge noticable visual improvement over 60hz, still can be found relatively cheaply.

Beyond that point the market tends to shrink to epeen types and esports types.

igor_kavinski · Mar 22, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
So now I need to buy a new monitor and I'm unsure where to go from here.

Quantum dots. You know you want them.

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Anti-Glare-Optix-MPG321UR-QD/dp/B09GWC5YBM/

Hail The Brain Slug · Mar 22, 2025

Dave3000 said:
If your hardware can't maintain at least 120 fps and you decide to cap the frame rate to 60 fps, do you still get the reduced input lag benefit of running at 120 Hz but gaming at 60 fps over 60 Hz refresh rate and gaming at 60 fps?

No because the input lag benefit is directly related to shorter time to draw the next frame. You cant work around the reality that 60hz means you're waiting up to 16.7ms to draw the next frame.

Glo. · Mar 22, 2025

Dave3000 said:
If your hardware can't maintain at least 120 fps and you decide to cap the frame rate to 60 fps, do you still get the reduced input lag benefit of running at 120 Hz but gaming at 60 fps over 60 Hz refresh rate and gaming at 60 fps?

Well, the hardware will have free resources, always to maintain 60 Hz refresh rate, so the smoothness might(!) be better in terms of... subjectiveness. Objectively 60 Hz means 16.67 ms refresh window and apropriate input lag. 120 Hz refresh window is 8.32 ms.

If you play 60 Hz, and lock the game to 60 FPS you wont see the reduced input lag, even on 120 Hz display, but you will still see it in the OS.

120-165 Hz is where you get the largest jump in terms of smoothness. 240 Hz - I still can see the difference in refresh rate, but its much smaller gap. 240 Hz is 4.17 ms refresh window per frame.

Higher - you get into diminishing returns territory.

Stg-Flame · Mar 22, 2025

Glo. said:
Using high refresh rate IPS monitor, and 120 Hz OLED display I can tell you that its incredible for increasing the responsiveness of the system. Everything becomes smooth, from the OS, animations in the OS up to gaming. And yes - you can see the difference everywhere.

I was looking at getting an OLED this time around, but they are still incredibly expensive. We only have a Best Buy in my area, but next time I'm in town, I'll head over and see if they have something on display. If they're worth the hype, I'll grab one and try it out.

igor_kavinski · Mar 22, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
If they're worth the hype, I'll grab one and try it out.

They totally are. But you just can't use them rough like a typical IPS monitor. You have to follow best practices:

Watch varied content on the OLED after gaming like movies so the areas covered by HUD elements don't get darker.

Avoid watching news or sports because the channel logos will end up burning the pixels due to always being static in the same place on the screen.

Make sure that the OLED monitor is not turned off at the wall after several hours of use so it can refresh its pixels in power saving mode.

Stg-Flame · Mar 23, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Watch varied content on the OLED after gaming like movies so the areas covered by HUD elements don't get darker.

Does a screensaver not cover this?

igor_kavinski · Mar 23, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
Does a screensaver not cover this?

Yeah if the screensaver is a full screensaver, meaning it changes the color of every single pixel and you run it for at least 10 minutes. Meaning it's not a screensaver with a black background coz all black would be off pixels.

aigomorla · Mar 24, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Quantum dots. You know you want them.

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Anti-Glare-Optix-MPG321UR-QD/dp/B09GWC5YBM/

i can up you one...

Hello Micro LED:

Still waiting for them tho.
They are said to make OLED obsolete tho.

Stg-Flame said:
From my ancient understanding, the Hz of a monitor is directly reflected to the refresh rate and since I haven't been watching the technology evolve that closely, I now see monitors upwards of 520Hz. So what is the benefit of buying a monitor/TV with a higher frequency range? Smoother FPS in gaming? Less stress on the eyes? E-peen measuring contest?

I am a hardcore gamer, and will be so. Hz is also related to Frames per Second, as its related to refresh rate.
So it determines the absolute frames per second the monitor will display.
Having a low FPS leads to ghosting trail effects, as you know. So typically higher the refresh rate / hz, the faster the FPS the monitor is capable of.

I think at my best eyesight prime, i could tell the difference between a 60 / 90 / 120 / 144.

After that it was extremely difficult if any.

Now as i age, i can bearly see the difference between a 90 / 120. but i can still tell a difference between 60 / 70 / 90.

So i honestly think any value over 144 is pretty much moot, as my friends even said they were amazed i could pick out the refresh rate that high when they would test me to see if i was lying or not.

But if u really have super human eyes to see past 144, then mad props to you. But i think your in that less then sub .1% of the human population.

Stg-Flame · Mar 24, 2025

The more I look into OLEDs, the less I like them. I dislike adding chores to my gaming or being forced to take a break if I get a day off and I'm really into a new game. I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but it does have drawbacks that I'm not fond of. That quantum dot monitor linked above is only $500 so even if I don't care for it, it's not like I'm out that much.

I'll likely head into town Wednesday and see if Best Buy has an OLED I can actually see in use and decide from there.

igor_kavinski · Mar 24, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
I'll likely head into town Wednesday and see if Best Buy has an OLED I can actually see in use and decide from there.

The only way to truly see the difference an OLED makes is a dimly lit room. In a normally lit showroom, quantum dot panels with really high brightness and vividness in colors will make an OLED look pale in comparison. I haven't seen a QD-OLED monitor in a normally lit showroom yet. That may have an edge over everything else.

aigomorla · Mar 24, 2025

Stg-Flame said:
The more I look into OLEDs, the less I like them. I dislike adding chores to my gaming or being forced to take a break if I get a day off and I'm really into a new game. I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but it does have drawbacks that I'm not fond of. That quantum dot monitor linked above is only $500 so even if I don't care for it, it's not like I'm out that much.

I'll likely head into town Wednesday and see if Best Buy has an OLED I can actually see in use and decide from there.

I hate OLED's on PC's because of AUTO DIMMING.

Basically what that means is if you spam a large white box on your screen, the monitor will AUTO DIM it to prevent burn out.
Newer monitors are really good at fixing this, but they still auto dim.

Also im the lazy type to sometimes just walk away from a working static screen, and im scared of burn in's OLED's can do.
Although again, the newer ones have awesome auto cleaning, and burn in protection, but still, i game on a mini led, which is bascially a glorified Qdot, which again is a super glorified VA monitor, and do all my other stuff in a nano-ips.

I do have a OLED 48 inch monitor, but its been retired to Nvidia shield duty where i will play my emulator games on, or throw the ever so movie from plex once in a while when i don't feel like sitting behind a desk, and want to lounge on my bed.

igor_kavinski · Mar 24, 2025

aigomorla said:
I do have a OLED 48 inch monitor

Have there been instances where you saw the same thing on both your OLED and Qdot displays and went, what? How is this so different looking???

I have not experienced any annoying auto dimming on my Samsung 360 Hz OLED monitor. At least, not that I remember (been ages since I used it because I was benchmarking various stuff/using LLMs and didn't want to do it on the OLED since it would be the worst case scenario with lots of static UI being displayed for hours at end).

aigomorla · Mar 24, 2025

igor_kavinski said:
Have there been instances where you saw the same thing on both your OLED and Qdot displays and went, what? How is this so different looking???

in dark room you can't beat OLED.
Using HDR, the QDOT completely wrecks the OLED making you squint sometimes at bright objects.
But the OLED's do have true blacks, so blacks are blacks.

My MiniLED 2392 FALD zones.... basically in a mini led or qdot monitor, its these FALD zones which define how bright / true black you will get on a monitor.

Even with that many FALD zones, the OLED still has superior color and picture, but again... im not always plastering art on my screen, sometimes i have web pages, sometimes i have things with a white background because i can't get night mode, or dark mode on the object i am looking at, and then the OLED looks absolutely HORRIBLE.

This is why i gave up on OLED. I want a static screen that wont auto dim, and will stay the same regardless of what is plastered on it, and not worry about burn in or the screen having to shift the object every so .5mm so the same pixels don't burn in on the array.

igor_kavinski · Mar 24, 2025

aigomorla said:
This is why i gave up on OLED. I want a static screen that wont auto dim, and will stay the same regardless of what is plastered on it, and not worry about burn in or the screen having to shift the object every so .5mm so the same pixels don't burn in on the array.

Yeah. It's annoying as heck. That's why I'm forced to use my really old HP monitor from way back in 2008 whenever gaming or movies isn't the main thing I'm doing. In fact, I've watched most of my content recently on my M1 Macbook Air coz I was too lazy to plug the OLED back in and also with age, it's easier to just lie down and use the MBA as a tablet of sorts rather than sit upright in front of the monitor.

Stg-Flame · Wednesday at 10:46 PM

Ok, so Best Buy had quite a few OLEDs on display next to IPS (no mini/micro/macro/quantum IPS unfortunately) monitors and they were fairly cheap compared to what I found online, but they were all out of stock on all of them and most of them had backorder stickers on them dating up to May. Two of the OLEDs were also curved screens which I've never used before and they did look really good, but the one thing I dislike about the displays is how fast their test screens cycle through. You can't really get a good look at anything when all of them are set at 3-second cycles.

igor_kavinski · Thursday at 2:53 PM

Stg-Flame said:
Two of the OLEDs were also curved screens which I've never used before and they did look really good

If they looked good to you with lights on, wait till you see them in dim light or complete darkness (preferably with a bias LED at the back).

Question I don't understand the benefits of higher Hz on monitors

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