What Is Refresh Rate and What Should I Look For?

What Is Refresh Rate and What Should I Look For?

When shopping for a monitor, you'll see all kinds of technical specs thrown around. Refresh rate is one of those important ones that often gets overlooked or misunderstood. It makes a big difference in how smooth everything looks on your screen, whether you're gaming or just browsing the web. 

Getting to know what refresh rate means helps you pick the right monitor and get the most out of your computer setup.

What Is Refresh Rate?

Refresh rate is how many times per second your monitor draws a new image on screen. This directly affects how smoothly motion appears on your display, particularly during fast-paced games or videos.

Unlike software settings that can be adjusted, a monitor's maximum refresh rate depends on its physical design and capabilities. While you can reduce a monitor's refresh rate in settings, you can’t exceed its built-in maximum.

What does Hz mean?

Hertz (Hz) is the unit of measurement for refresh rate. 

So for example, a 60Hz monitor refreshes the screen 60 times each second and a 144Hz display refreshes 144 times per second. Monitors have refresh rate options from 60Hz for casual use to 540Hz and even higher in gaming displays. Higher numbers mean more frequent image updates, creating a smoother motion. 

Refresh Rate vs FPS

Refresh rate and frames per second (FPS) are related but different concepts that sometimes get mixed up. Understanding the relationship between these terms helps clarify how your system produces visual information.

What’s the Difference?

Refresh rate is a hardware characteristic of your display. It measures how frequently your monitor updates images. 

FPS measures how many complete images your graphics card renders each second. It’s the output of your system's graphics processing and changes constantly based on scene complexity and system load.

The key distinction is that refresh rate is a monitor property, while FPS is a performance metric of your graphics card and system.

How They Work Together

Your visual experience depends on the interaction between refresh rate and FPS:

  • When FPS matches refresh rate: This is the ideal scenario. Each new frame coincides perfectly with a monitor refresh, creating smooth motion.
  • When FPS exceeds refresh rate: Your monitor cannot display all frames produced, potentially causing screen tearing or wasted processing power.
  • When FPS falls below refresh rate: Your monitor reuses some frames, potentially causing screen stuttering.

This relationship explains why simply having a high refresh rate monitor doesn't guarantee smooth visuals. Your entire system must work together, with the graphics card producing enough frames to match up to the monitor's capabilities.

How to Check Monitor Refresh Rate

Checking your current refresh rate ensures you're getting the performance you paid for. Some high refresh rate monitors ship with lower settings enabled by default, meaning you’ll have to manually adjust it if you want its full potential. 

Checking Refresh Rate in Windows

  1. Right-click on your desktop.
  2. Select "Display settings".
  3. Scroll down and click "Advanced display”.
  4. Check your refresh rate from the “Choose a refresh rate” dropdown menu.

Checking Refresh Rate in macOS

  1. Click the Apple menu.
  2. Select "System Preferences" or “System Settings”.
  3. Click "Displays".
  4. Click the Refresh Rate pop-up menu and see your refresh rate.

Online Refresh Rate Tests

You can check your refresh rate online through websites like TestUFO. They display moving objects at different speeds, helping you visually confirm your monitor's performance.

Ideal Refresh Rate for Gaming and More

Different activities benefit from higher refresh rates to varying degrees, from essential improvements in competitive gaming to subtle enhancements in everyday tasks.

For Gaming

Gaming benefits significantly from higher refresh rates, but requirements vary based on the type of games you play.

Casual Gaming:

  • 60Hz provides acceptable performance for most casual gaming experiences.
  • 120-144Hz offers noticeably smoother gameplay.

Competitive Gaming:

  • 144–165Hz works well for most competitive players and is a good balance of performance and value.
  • 240Hz can be good for highly competitive and Esports players.
  • 360Hz and 540Hz displays are currently the highest refresh rates on the market.

Beyond Gaming

While gaming sees the most obvious benefits from high refresh rates, other computing activities can also be enhanced by smoother motion.

Everyday Computing:

  • 60Hz is fine for most casual browsing and office work.
  • 120-144Hz provides smoother scrolling and cursor movement for casual users.

Media Consumption:

  • 60Hz works well for most streaming content and movies.
  • 120Hz improves motion clarity for sports and action-heavy content.

Professional Use:

  • 60-75Hz is adequate for most office applications and photo editing.
  • 120-144Hz benefits video editors with smoother timeline scrubbing.
  • 144Hz or higher helps animation professionals preview motion work more easily.

What Else Affects Refresh Rates on Computer Monitors?

Several related factors affect how you experience high refresh rates.

Response Time

Response time is how quickly each pixel on your screen can change from one colour to another. Fast response times are super important for preventing motion blur, especially on high refresh rate monitors. 

When shopping for a gaming monitor, always check both the refresh rate and response time. Even a monitor with a 240Hz refresh rate won't look great during fast movement if it has a sluggish response time.

Input Lag

Input lag is that tiny delay between when you click your mouse or press a key and when you see the result on screen. Monitors with higher refresh rates typically have less input lag, which is why competitive gamers love them. This quick responsiveness can make a real difference in fast-paced games where split-second reactions matter.

Adaptive Sync

Technologies like G-Sync (for NVIDIA cards) and FreeSync (for AMD cards) make high refresh rate monitors even better by eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. They work by syncing your monitor's refresh rate directly with your graphics card's output. Just make sure to match the right technology with your graphics card brand for the best results.

High Refresh Rate Monitors at Mwave

Refresh rate significantly impacts your visual experience, particularly during gaming and other motion-heavy content. While casual users may find 60Hz sufficient, gamers and professionals benefit substantially from higher refresh rates.

Explore our high refresh rate monitors and find displays with various refresh rates suited to your performance needs, or read our comprehensive guide to computer monitors for more information on display technology.