lcd panel refresh rate made in china

Created by the Chinese manufacturer BOE, the fastest gaming monitor in the world has been announced via social networks and comes with a refresh rate of 500Hz, enough even for the most demanding competitive gamers.

Available to buyers in China, the monitor for gaming enthusiasts who put speed first comes with a 27-inch diagonal and only Full HD resolution. While the clarity of the image certainly suffers, the framerate has at least a chance to get close to the stunning values ​​needed to highlight the capabilities of this monitor, at least in some games.

By comparison, the fastest gaming laptops delivered by manufacturers such as Asus, Acer and Alienware cap the image refresh rate at 360Hz, which is generally considered sufficient for most situations.

Although it looks good in the spec list, the refresh rate is not exactly the absolute measure of performance, outlined by some monitor manufacturers. The equations include other factors such as the response time of the LCD technology used, the ability of the PC used to reach that frame rate, and the user’s ability to notice the difference, for example, between a monitor with a refresh rate of 144Hz and a monitor. 240Hz, or more. In general, the perceived benefits on the image clarity side are more easily noticeable between the 60Hz and 120Hz thresholds, with the actual speed of the LCD panel (response time, measured in milliseconds) becoming more important after this threshold. For example, an LCD monitor with TN technology and 120Hz refresh rate will be noticeably better than a hypothetical LCD monitor with IPS technology and refresh rate at 240Hz, simply because the ghosting effect is less noticeable on the TN monitor.

In this case, it seems that we are dealing with a new generation LCD technology, called high-mobility oxide backplane, which allows the use of ultra-high reresh rates without the benefits being canceled by the screen with time. insufficient response.

Unfortunately, the announced product still exists at most at the prototype stage, it remains to be seen how long it will take until the new type of screen will be commercially available. In addition, being a niche product for a select category of users, the new ultra-fast LCD screen is unlikely to deliver the viewing angles and contrast levels appreciated by conventional IPS solutions. Another potential obstacle to an absolutely ideal gaming experience is hardware requirements, with only a few models of NVIDIA and AMD graphics accelerators being able to reach the threshold of 500 frames per second in games, the cost of such a PC quickly reaching dizzying.

The screen in question is actually a laptop display, a 16-inch LCD that the Chinese site IT Home(opens in new tab) brought to our attention (via Tom’s Hardware(opens in new tab)).

The panel was shown off at the World Conference on Display Industry in China, but besides the size and refresh rate, no other specs were provided for the screen, although it was demonstrated at the event.

Does the world really need a 600Hz panel? Is there any point to this seemingly relentless drive to up refresh rates to increasingly colossal levels? At the beginning of the year, BOE was trumpeting a 500Hz gaming monitor, and already before the year is out, a 600Hz screen has trumped that effort, and by a considerable distance.

Isn’t this all getting very silly? Well, we think that’s true in the main, but that said, there is a target audience for this kind of ultra-high refresh rate panel, though it’s arguable exactly what such a display brings to the table.

That target audience would be professional gamers, playing the likes of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, where it’s possible to drive really, really high frame rates (as they aren’t demanding titles).

It’s worth noting that we can presume the 600Hz screen is 1080p resolution, given that the need to push high frame rates means it won’t be higher-res. In that case, 600 fps would never be attainable – and remember, this is a laptop too, making hitting those heights a trickier task in terms of available GPU grunt. This is another point – we’re not sure why this has been created as a laptop panel, rather than a standalone monitor like BOE’s aforementioned 500Hz effort.

As Tom’s Hardware rightly points out, one advantage of cranking the refresh rate of panels this high is that you get a better frame time – a smoother and more consistent delivery of frames – but there are very much diminishing returns on this front as you go up to dizzying refresh rates. 360Hz for example offers a frame time of 2.7ms, whereas 600Hz drops that to 1.66ms. Now, a basic 60Hz panel is 16.66ms, which is fine for casual gaming, so the drop in going from here to 360Hz and 2.7ms is a sizeable one (at least to competitive gamers). But further decreasing that to 1.66ms is pretty marginal, to say the least.

Is a person really likely to appreciate that tiny difference? Can the human eye even detect the benefits of 600Hz (or even 500Hz, or lower) panels? In truth, the answer for the vast, vast majority of folks, is probably not. But for a vanishingly small niche of the top pro gamers, they might benefit from an ultra-high refresh rate panel in terms of a smidgeon of a smoother gameplay experience that may be perceptible only in terms of a very slight difference in the feel of the game. But then, even the thinnest wisp of a potential advantage is something high-earning gaming pros could well find value in chasing.

For the rest of us non-gamer-god types, though, these screens built to reach towering refresh rates are pretty pointless. And the extreme heights to which all this has been pushed over the course of 2022 will inevitably seem silly to us mere mortals of the gaming world. Realistically, we’ll be absolutely fine and dandy with 144Hz, or 240Hz if you want to push the boat out.

On a final note, it also remains to be seen how much of this is BOE flexing its marketing muscles. Will we ever actually see this 600Hz panel in gaming laptops? Maybe, but then again, we’ve not heard a chirp from the company about the 500Hz monitor since it was shown off at the start of the year.

Supposedly there are 480Hz monitors coming for 2023 inbound from AU Optronics and LG Display, too, so whatever your feelings about superfast refresh rates, presumably we’ll see some of these models pitching up at some point next year.Today"s best Gaming Monitor deals

The Realme Q3t runs on Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11. This device features a 6.67-inch FHD+ IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080×2412 pixels. The display is capable of a 144Hz refresh rate and 600 nits of peak brightness. That said, the Realme Q3t has an impressive 90.8 percent screen-to-body ratio, indicative of razor-thin bezels on the front, although the bottom bezel is rather prominent. The Realme Q3t also has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.

Realme’s approach to the display differs from its competitors that offer AMOLED displays with the standard 60Hz refresh rate but support HDR content playback or a DCI-P3 color gamut in some cases.

Recently, we often have customers ask us about the refresh rate of led screen, most of them are for filming needs, such as XR virtual photography, etc. I would like to take this opportunity to talk about this issue To answer the question of what is the difference between a high refresh rate and a low refresh rate.

Refresh rate and frame rate are very similar. They both stands for the numbers of times a static image is displayed per second. But the difference is that the refresh rate stands for the video signal or display while the frame rate stands for the content itself.

The refresh rate of a LED screen is the number of times in a second that the LED screen hardware draws the data. This is distinct from the measure of frame rate in that the refresh rate for LED screens includes the repeated drawing of identical frames, while frame rate measures how often a video source can feed an entire frame of new data to a display.

The frame rate of video is usually 24, 25 or 30 frames per second, and as long as it is higher than 24 frames per second, it is generally considered smooth by the human eye. With recent technological advances, people can now watch video at 120 fps in movie theaters, on computers, and even on cell phones, so people are now using higher frame rates to shoot video.

Refresh rate can be divided into vertical refresh rate and horizontal refresh rate. The screen refresh rate generally refers to the vertical refresh rate, that is, the number of times the electronic beam repeatedly scanned the image on the LED screen.

In conventional terms, it is the number of times that the LED display screen redraws the image per second. The screen refresh rate is measured in Hertz, usually abbreviated as “Hz”. For example, a screen refresh rate of 1920Hz means that the image is refreshed 1920 times in one second.

What you see on the LED video wall is actually multiple different pictures at rest, and the motion you see is because the LED display is constantly refreshed, giving you the illusion of natural motion.

Because the human eye has a visual dwelling effect, the next picture follows the previous one immediately before the impression in the brain fades, and because these pictures are only slightly different, the static images connect to form a smooth, natural motion as long as the screen refreshes quickly enough.

A higher screen refresh rate is a guarantee of high-quality images and smooth video playback, helping you to better communicate your brand and product messages to your target users and impress them.

Conversely, if the display refresh rate is low, the image transmission of the LED display will become unnatural. There will also be flickering “black scan lines”, torn and trailing images, and “mosaics” or “ghosting” displayed in different colors. Its impact in addition to video, photography, but also because tens of thousands of light bulbs flashing images at the same time, the human eye may produce discomfort when viewing, and even cause eye damage.

A higher led screen refresh rate tells you the ability of a screen’s hardware to reproduce the screen’s content several times per second. It allows the motion of images to be smoother and cleaner in a video, especially in dark scenes when showing fast movements. Other than that, a screen with a higher refresh rate will be more suitable for the content with a more significant number of frames per second.

Typically, a refresh rate of 1920Hz is good enough for most LED displays. And if the LED display needs to display high speed action video, or if the LED display will be filmed by a camera, the LED display needs to have a refresh rate of more than 2550Hz.

The refresh frequency is derived from the different choices of driver chips. When using a common driver chip, the refresh rate for full color is 960Hz, and the refresh rate for single and dual color is 480Hz. when using a dual latching driver chip, the refresh rate is above 1920Hz. When using the HD high level PWM driver chip, the refresh rate is up to 3840Hz or more.

HD high-grade PWM driver chip, ≥ 3840Hz led refresh rate, screen display stable and smooth, no ripple, no lag, no sense of visual flicker, not only can enjoy the quality led screen, and effective protection of vision.

In professional use, it is critical to provide a very high refresh rate. This is especially important for scenes geared towards entertainment, media, sporting events, virtual photography, etc. that need to be captured and will certainly be recorded on video by professional cameras. A refresh rate that is synchronized with the camera recording frequency will make the image look perfect and prevent blinking. Our cameras record video usually at 24, 25,30 or 60fps and we need to keep it in sync with the screen refresh rate as a multiple. If we synchronize the moment of camera recording with the moment of image change, we can avoid the black line of screen change.

LED display refresh rate of not less than 3840Hz, the camera to capture the picture screen stability, can effectively solve the image of the rapid motion process of trailing and blurring, enhance the clarity and contrast of the image, so that the video screen delicate and smooth, long time viewing is not easy to fatigue; with anti-gamma correction technology and point-by-point brightness correction technology, so that the dynamic picture display more realistic and natural, uniform and consistent.

Therefore, with the continuous development, I believe the standard refresh rate of led screen will transition to 3840Hz or more, and then become the industry standard and specification.

One thing we should be aware of is that, unlike grayscale, there is a certain risk of too high a refresh rate. When the refresh rate gets higher, it demands more and more quality of LEDs. If the quality of the LED is not good, it will not be able to withstand the impact of high refresh rates and will be easily damaged. Normally, we should set the refresh rate below the maximum value set at the factory, such as 3840Hz, if the refresh rate is too high, it will affect the life of the LED.

Whether you want to use an indoor or outdoor advertising LED screen for branding, video presentations, broadcasting, or virtual filming, you should always choose an LED display screen that offers a high screen refresh rate and synchronizes with the frame rate recorded by your camera if you want to get high-quality images from the screen, because then the painting will look clear and perfect.

Displays with a 360 Hz refresh rate and a 2.8 ms frame time are the best gaming monitors with high refresh rates you can get today. But that will soon change. Two leading makers of LCD panels are developing display panels that feature a 480 Hz refresh rate and a 2.1 ms frame time (as well as lower overall latency). These panels will be ready sometimes in 2022, so actual displays will arrive in 2023.

Both AU Optronics and LG Display are working on LCD panels with a 480 Hz refresh rate, according to two reports by TFTCentral (1, 2). LG Display is reportedly working on multiple 480 Hz panels with the first one being a 24.5-inch with a 1080p(1920x1080) resolution. The unit is projected to be ready for mass production sometime in Q4 2022, so if everything goes well, the commercial displays based on the panel will be available in the first half of 2023. AU Optronics is also developing a 1080p panel with a 480 Hz refresh rate and aims to start mass production in 2022, but there are no further details.

Not a lot of information is available about AUO"s and LG Display"s 480 Hz panels now, which is not particularly surprising given that they are so far out. Today"s ultra-high-performance 360Hz displays use a TNpanel, though the brand new 390 Hz LCDs use AUO"s AHVA (IPS-like) panels.

To handle a panel with an extremely wide variable refresh rate range — think about 30Hz ~ 480Hz — a very high-performance display controller logic will be needed. This set of chips (or one highly integrated chip) will have to include a very high-performance image processing unit, an appropriate overdrive processor, a very fast TCON (timing controller), and a general-purpose processor that will manage operation of the said units.

For example, modern 360HzG-Syncdisplays use logic specifically designed by Nvidia. In fact, the logic behind high-end displays is just as important as the panel and the backlighting, which is why development of expensive monitors takes so long.

These 480 Hz panels are designed for monitors aimed at professional gamers who want maximum performance to maximize their potential in various eSports competitions. The market of such displays is rather small, yet lucrative. Furthermore, such high-end displays serve the same purpose as other halo products — they promote the manufacturer"s brand.

Chinese-display maker BOE reportedly has a new gaming monitor underdevelopment which is said to have a refresh rate of 500Hz, according to Sina.com report. If the report is correct, this will be the fastest gaming monitor in the world.

Chinese-display maker BOE reportedly has a new gaming monitor underdevelopment which is said to have a refresh rate of 500Hz, according to Sina.com report. If the report is correct, this will be the fastest gaming monitor in the world.

The display manufacturer claims that they have made “important breakthroughs in the field of oxide semiconductor display technology” and “mass production of copper interconnect stack structures”. The report further adds that the entire new technologies will be integrated with the high refresh rate, high resolution and low power oxide display technology.

Oxide display technology means that the monitor uses a custom TFT screen. However, the company has not specified the display panel technology they have used with the monitor.

But, one thing that is very important to understand is that the graphics cards today are barely able to push out the current max -- 360Hz of refresh rate and at times they can, that’s only when the monitor is running at 1080p resolution and not-so graphics-intensive games.

BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics Group) officially unveiled the world’s fastest gaming monitor today, a 27-inch panel with a 500Hz refresh rate. Other features include an 8-lane eDP connection, true 8-bit color gamut support, and a 1ms response time. However, don’t expect this gaming monitor to be priced less than a typical laptop, as current models with a 360Hz refresh rate (ASUS ROG) retail for a hefty $699.99 USD.

The company also revealed its first 110-inch 8K 120HZ panel, one that was made possible by their developments and breakthroughs in oxide semiconductor display technology. These breakthroughs allow for higher refresh rates, improved resolution, low power consumption, and ultra-narrow bezels. There’s no word yet on pricing or availability, but expect both of these displays to first launch in China.

A 240Hz refresh rate is 4x faster than typical standard monitors and twice as fast as common 120Hz gaming monitors. More frames means smaller visual...

The world’s fastest esports gaming monitors can refresh at 360Hz — that’s 360 times every second — but display panel manufacturer BOE thinks it can do better. This past week, it revealed a 27-inch prototype monitor with a 500Hz refresh rate, according to a Sina.com news report from an account dubbed OLEDIndustry (via Videocardz and Wccftech).

It doesn’t use OLED, though: in what little description we have (via Google Translate), BOE is bragging that it’s made “important breakthroughs in the field of oxide semiconductor display technology” and “mass production of copper interconnect stack structures” that, combined with “high refresh rate, high resolution, low power oxide display technology,” can make this 500Hz gaming display possible. That sounds like it’s an oxide TFT screen of some sort, but it’s not clear which. We’ve been following one such technology, IGZO, for years, which once allowed screens to achieve higher resolutions (like 4K and 8K) more affordably than in the past.

To put 500Hz in context, your graphics card would need to send a frame to this monitor every 2 milliseconds to max out that speed — down from 2.78ms for a 360Hz panel, 4.17ms for a 240Hz one, 6.95ms for 144Hz, or a comparatively pokey 16.7ms for a traditional 60Hz screen.

As we’ve discussed recently in our work-from-home monitor buying guide, higher refresh rates aren’t just for twitch gamers — they can also make your desktop computing experience feel smoother throughout. But 500Hz is most likely overkill.

There’s no telling whether BOE will make a product around this screen at all, nor have we seen any evidence of journalists seeing the screen in person, but BOE is one of the world’s leading display panel manufacturers.

One of such trade-offs that buyers often have to bear is choosing between a higher refresh rate or an AMOLED panel. But which is more important for a better experience: a fast 120Hz LCD panel or a 60Hz AMOLED one? Let"s find out.

How fast a screen can refresh affects how well it can simulate motion. In other words, it makes animations appear more natural and fluid as opposed to laggy and jittery. Earlier, the standard refresh rate for smartphones used to be 60Hz. But ever since OnePlus popularized high refresh rate displays, they have become common in the tech industry.

​​​​Today, even some budget models come with a 120Hz refresh rate, mostly Chinese phones. You can notice the difference between a 60Hz and a 90Hz/120Hz panel when gaming and scrolling through apps or social media.

But before you get too excited, note that the jump in performance, i.e., how smooth the animations feel, doesn"t keep increasing consistently. A jump from 60Hz to 90Hz is a 50% upgrade, whereas a jump from 90Hz to 120Hz is only a 33.33% upgrade. And a jump from 120Hz to 144Hz is a negligible 20% upgrade. That means that you"re going to get to the point of diminishing returns beyond 120Hz, which is the sweet spot for smartphone refresh rates.

Unlike a regular LCD, an AMOLED display provides more vivid image quality, consumes less power, and does a better job at reducing screen glare. This means that any content you consume on your phone—from games to movies to social media—will appear brighter and more colorful, all while saving your battery life.

Each pixel produces its own light on an AMOLED panel, unlike LCD or IPS panels that use a backlight to illuminate the screen. Because of this, the former can show darker colors and deep blacks more accurately since it can just turn a pixel off to represent an absence of light. On the latter, the same colors appear washed out or faded.

When using Dark Mode (or Night Mode) on an AMOLED panel, the workload of the display is reduced since a measurable portion of the screen is basically turned off. Only the pixels that show colors need to be illuminated, whereas the black pixels can remain shut off. As a result, you save battery life while viewing dark content on an AMOLED screen.

If you"re a gamer, a high refresh rate display will serve you better than an AMOLED one, making your gaming experience much smoother. However, note that the higher the refresh rate, the faster you will drain your battery. Also, keep in mind that many mobile games only support 60Hz, so the benefit of having a 90Hz or 120Hz screen may be redundant.

​​​​On the flip side, if you"re someone who consumes a lot of video content like movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, or TikTok clips, then having an AMOLED panel is clearly the better choice since it will improve the color accuracy and vividness dramatically.

As premium features become more common, they"re quickly making their way into budget phones. Having a high refresh rate AMOLED display is obviously better if you can find such a device in the budget category. But if you can"t, you have to trade one for the other.

Since budget phones come with weaker chips, the games you play may not always take advantage of that high refresh rate screen, making them a bit unnecessary apart from smoother scrolling of social media feeds. However, an AMOLED panel will continue to enrich your viewing experience no matter what.

Two BenQ DesignVue monitors are now launched in Europe and Asia - the BenQ PD3205UA and the BenQ PD2705UA. Both models share many features in common. Each has a 4K IPS display in the corresponding size (31.5" and 27" respectively), a 60Hz refresh rate, 5 ms GTG response time, 99% sRGB, and 99% Rec. 709 coverage. The displays habve a typical brightness of 250 nits and a peak one of 350 nits with HDR10 certification...

The iiyama G-Master GB2770QSU-B5 from the Red Eagle series has been launched, almost two years after its predecessor - the iiyama G-Master GB2770QSU-B1. According to the specs, the two monitors use one and the same 27" QHD Fast IPS display (AUO M270DAN08.6) with true 8-bit color support, 400 nits of typical brightness (VESA DisplayHDR 400), 0.5 ms MPRT, and a 165Hz refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro...

AOC U27U2DP is a new desktop monitor for China. Featuring a design award-winning fully adjustable stand, the model is built around a 4-sided micro-bezel display with a 27-inch 4K Nano IPS panel that covers 100% of the sRGB and 98% of the DCI-P3 color space. It delivers 400 nits of brightness and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certified. The GTG response time is 4 ms and the native refresh rate - 60Hz. The static contrast...

Back in November 2022, ViewSonic published a pair of video conferencing docking monitors with pop-up webcams. Now, the two models are released to the market. The ViewSonic VG2756V-2K has a 27-inch IPS display with a QHD resolution, 350 nits of brightness, 5 ms GTG response time, and 75Hz refresh rate. The ViewSonic VG2456V has a 23.8-inch IPS display with an FHD resolution, 250 nits of brightness, 5 ms GTG response...

HP has released six 2023 desktop monitors. All of them have IPS displays with a 75Hz refresh rate, 250-350 nits of brightness, 5 ms GTG response time, QHD or FHD resolution, 99% sRGB coverage, a 3-sided micro-edge bezel, HP Eye Ease, and TUV Rheinland certified low blue light and flicker-free solutions. Each monitor has an HDMI 1.4 port, DisplayPort 1.2 input, four USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, and a USB Type-B...

A celebrated CES® tradition was back this year – bigger and better after the pandemic hiatus – from LG Electronics, the global leader in OLED display technology, with the LG OLED Horizon, the latest exhibition welcoming visitors into the company"s massive CES booth. Constructed with 260 flexible and open-frame 55-inch displays, the showstopping CES 2023 installation demonstrated LG OLED"s unrivaled picture quality...

TCL CSOT showcased its flagship products, including next-generation display technologies, at CES 2023. The flagship 65" 8K IJP-OLED Display, the world"s first 65" 8K printing OLED, was unveiled at the show. With up to 33 million ultra-high pixels, it is the market"s most extensive OLED display, with the highest resolution and refresh rate developed based on Inkjet printing OLED technology. Possessing the ultimate...

MSI G321Q joined the MAG321CQR-QD today with toned down features and specs. Again, it arrives with a 31.5-inch IPS display with a QHD resolution but lacks a Quantum Dot Color layer. The color space coverage is 123% sRGB, 90% Adobe RGB, and 93% DCI-P3. The SRG brightness of this model is 300 nits with HDR support. The refresh rate is 170Hz (overclock) with a 4 ms GTG response time. AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA...

MSI MAG321QR-QD is the latest addition to the MSI MAG series of gaming monitors with Quantum Dot Color technology. Featuring a Rapid IPS display panel with a 31.5-inch diagonal size and a QHD resolution (2560 x 1440), this monitor delivers 97% Adobe RGB, 98% DCI-P3, and 140% sRGB color space coverage. That"s thanks to its Quantum Dot layer. The OSD menu offers specific settings in Premium Color Mode and MSI also...

Another CES 2023 Innovation Award winner by MSI is the MSI MAG 275CQRX curved gaming monitor. With this model, MSI has found a solution for user to no longer compromise between a curvature or a monitor"s response time thanks to the latest advancements in Rapid VA technology. With a 1000R curvature, a 250Hz refresh rate, a 1ms response time, and a 2560 x 1440 resolution, users can take advantage of immersive gaming...

It"s also worth considering your own eyesight and desktop setup. If you have 20/20 vision and your eyes are around 20” from your screen, a 27” 4K panel will provide an immediate visual upgrade. However, if you know your eyesight is worse than 20/20, or you prefer to sit more than 24” away, a 1440p panel may look just as good to you.

Use caution when LCDs advertise very high “dynamic contrast ratios”, which are achieved by changing the behavior of the backlight. For gaming or everyday use, the standard “static” contrast ratio discussed above is a better marker of the monitor"s quality.

Black LevelIn all LCD screens, light from the backlight inevitably leaks through the liquid crystal. This provides the basis for the contrast ratio: For example, if the screen leaks 0.1% of the illumination from the backlight in an area that"s supposed to be black, this establishes a contrast ratio of 1,000:1. An LCD screen with zero light leakage would have an infinite contrast ratio. However, this isn"t possible with current LCD technology.

“Glow” is a particular issue in dark viewing environments, which means that achieving low black levels is a major selling point for LCD monitors. However, an LCD screen can’t reach a black level of 0 nits unless it’s completely turned off.

True 10-bit monitors are rare — many monitors use forms of internal color processing, such as FRC (frame rate control), to approximate a greater color depth. A “10-bit” monitor could be an 8-bit monitor with an additional FRC stage, often written as “8+2FRC”.

Some inexpensive LCD panels use 6-bit color along with “dithering” to approximate 8-bit color. In this context, dithering means the insertion of similar, alternating colors next to one another to fool the eye into seeing a different in-between color that the monitor cannot accurately display.

Frame Rate Control, or FRC, alternates different colors with each new frame to achieve this. While this can be implemented more cheaply than 8-bit True Color, color accuracy suffers, especially in low-light environments. Some screens also feature 8-bit color depth with an additional FRC stage (commonly listed as “8-bit + FRC”) to approximate 10-bit color.

Monitors sometimes feature a Look-Up Table (LUT) corresponding to a higher color depth, such as 10-bit color. This helps speed up color correction calculations that take place within the monitor as it converts color input to a color output appropriate for your screen. This intermediate step can help create smoother color transitions and more accurate output. These are usually reserved for more professional grade monitors than general consumer and gaming displays.

In LCD screens, the backlight and color filters determine the color space. All of the light created by the backlight passes through a color filter with red, green, and blue spots. Narrowing the “band-pass” of this filter restricts the wavelengths of light that can pass through, increasing the purity of the final colors produced. Although this lessens the screen"s efficiency (as the filter now blocks more of the backlight"s output), it creates a wider color gamut.

For LCD displays, a high-end backlight feature called local dimming is critical to HDR quality. Dimming zones for the backlight behind the screen control the brightness of groups of LEDs; more dimming zones means more precise control, less “blooming” (where light areas of the image brighten dark ones), and generally improved contrast.

Full Array Local Dimming (FALD), a more high-end option, uses far more dimming zones (typically hundreds) directly behind the panel rather than just at the edges of the screen. It can give more finite control of the HDR content and dimming of the screen as a result.

Refresh rate is the frequency at which your entire screen refreshes the image. Higher refresh rates make onscreen motion look smoother, because the screen updates the position of each object more rapidly. This can make it easier for competitive players to track moving enemies in a first-person shooter, or just make a screen feel more responsive as you scroll down a webpage or open an app on your phone.

Response rates are measured in hertz: A response rate of 120Hz, for example, means that the monitor refreshes every pixel 120 times per second. While 60Hz was once the standard for both PC monitors and smartphones, manufacturers are increasingly adopting higher refresh rates.

A higher refresh rate makes it easier to track moving objects with your eye, makes sharp camera movements feel smoother, and reduces perceived motion blur. Online communities are divided about the improvement provided by monitors over 120Hz. If interested, it"s worth checking one out in person to see how much of a difference it might make for you.

Frame rate, measured in frames per second (FPS), tracks the number of images your graphics hardware draws. This online motion test demonstrates the improvements players will see when tracking moving objects at higher frame rates and refresh rates.

However, you"ll only actually see those extra frames onscreen if you have a refresh rate that matches or exceeds them; similarly, you only benefit from a high refresh rate screen if you have a CPU and graphics card capable of high frame rates. Plan your build accordingly to get the full benefit from your hardware.

Response times must be fast enough to keep up with the refresh rate. On a 240Hz screen, for example, a new frame is sent to the screen every 4.17 milliseconds (1000/240 = 4.17).

The glitch involves both your graphics card and monitor. The GPU draws a varying number of frames per second, but the monitor refreshes its screen at a fixed rate. If the GPU is midway through overwriting the previous frame in the frame buffer when the monitor reads the frame buffer to refresh the screen, the monitor will display the mismatched image as-is. The top of the image might be a new frame, but the bottom section will still show the previous frame, creating the “tear”.

VSync (vertical sync) provides one solution to this issue. This in-game feature reduces the speed at which frames are drawn in order to match your monitor"s refresh rate. However, VSync can cause stuttering when the frame rate drops below that cap. (For example, the GPU may suddenly drop to 30fps when it can"t deliver 60fps). The increased load on the GPU can also result in input lag.

G-Sync monitors use NVIDIA"s proprietary G-Sync scaler chip to match monitor refresh rates to GPU output, as well as predict GPU output based on recent performance. It also helps prevent stutter and input lag, which can result from duplicate frames being drawn as the first one waits to be displayed.

AMD Radeon FreeSync monitors operate along similar lines, matching the display to GPU output to avoid screen tearing and stutters. Rather than using a proprietary chip, they"re built on open Adaptive Sync protocols, which have been built into DisplayPort 1.2a and all later DisplayPort revisions. Though FreeSync monitors are often cheaper, the trade-off is that they aren"t subject to standard testing before release, and vary widely in quality.

Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) is a general term for technologies that sync up your monitor and GPU. Adaptive Sync is an open protocol included in DisplayPort 1.2a and later revisions. Recent Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA graphics technologies can all work with Adaptive Sync monitors.

Both LCDs and OLEDs "sample and hold", displaying moving objects as a series of static images that are rapidly refreshed. Each sample remains onscreen until it"s replaced with the next refresh. This "persistence" causes motion blur, as the human eye expects to track objects smoothly rather than see them jump to a new position. Even at high refresh rates, which update the image more often, the underlying sample-and-hold technology causes motion blur.

This mimics the operation of older CRT monitors, which worked differently than current LCD technology. CRT screens were illuminated by phosphors that rapidly decayed, providing brief impulses of illumination. This meant that the screen was actually dark for most of the refresh cycle. These quick impulses actually created a smoother impression of motion than sample-and-hold, and motion blur reduction features work to replicate this effect.

These backlights should only be enabled for gaming and fast-moving content, as they will deliberately cause the backlight to flicker, which may be annoying during day-to-day tasks. They also can typically only be used at a fixed refresh rate (like 120Hz), and won"t work at the same time as VRR.

CRTs used three bulky electron guns to send a beam to excite red, green, and blue phosphors on the screen. These phosphors decayed within a few milliseconds, meaning the screen was illuminated by brief impulses on each refresh. This created a smooth illusion of motion, but also visible flickering.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)In TFT LCDs (thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays), a backlight shines light through a layer of liquid crystals that can twist, turn, or block it. The liquid crystals do not emit light themselves, which is a key difference between LCDs and OLEDs.

Older LCDs used Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) as backlights. These large, energy-inefficient tubes were incapable of controlling the brightness of smaller zones of the screen, and were eventually phased out in favor of smaller, energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

LCD panels are available in a range of technologies and can vary widely in color reproduction, response time, and input lag, especially among high-end options. However, the following generalizations about panels usually hold true:

Oldest and most affordable LCD panel type. High refresh rates and response times for high-speed gaming such as first-person shooters or fighting games.

Vertically aligned liquid crystals line up with two polarizers, rather than twisting, as in a TN panel. When in a resting state, the crystals can more effectively block illumination than TN panels.

Often slow response times, particularly on black-to-gray color transitions, often resulting in “black smearing” in motion. Wider viewing angles than TN panels, but often less than IPS panels. Some VA panels suffer significant color shift when viewed off-axis.

Widest viewing angles. Most stable image quality. Deeper blacks and better contrast ratios than TN panels. Most are 6-bit+2, but 8-bit and 8+2 panels exist. Often highly rated premium panels.

Pale glow, known as “IPS glow” visible when viewing screens in dark rooms from off-center angles. Response times usually worse than TN panels, but better than VA panels. Lower contrast ratio than VA panels.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED)OLED screens are emissive, meaning they create their own light, rather than transmissive screens that require a separate light source (like LCDs). Here, the application of electric current causes a layer of organic molecules to light up on the front of the screen.

Backlights may be imperfectly blocked by the liquid crystals in an LCD, causing black areas of an image to appear gray. Because OLEDs have no backlight, they can achieve “true black” by simply turning off a pixel (or at least 0.0005 nits, the lowest measurable brightness).

OLEDs therefore boast very high contrast ratios and vibrant color. The elimination of the backlight also makes them slimmer than LCDs. Much as LCDs were a thinner, more energy-efficient evolution of CRTs, OLEDs may prove a thinner evolution of LCDs. (They can also be more energy-efficient when displaying dark content, like movies, but less energy-efficient with white screens, such as word processing programs).

Dual-Link DVI: This revision doubles the bandwidth of single-link DVI. It displays up to 2560 × 1600 resolution and supports refresh rates up to 144Hz (at 1080p).

Figuring out what to look for in a gaming monitor depends heavily on the choices you"ve made about the rest of your computer. Modern monitors can generally help you avoid the dropped frames, input lag, and visual artifacts common in older technologies, but the value of increased resolution, color depth, and motion smoothing features will vary from player to player. It"s down to you to separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves.

The best — and easiest — way to know what refresh rates your system can support is by playing games and seeing how they perform. Use a frame rate monitoring utility like Fraps to display your current FPS (frames per second) as you play. Most frame rate monitoring utilities will have the ability to benchmark your average FPS , which keeps track of how your system performs over the course of a gameplay session.

Ideally, you’ll want the game’s frame rate to match the monitor’s refresh rate 1:1 for an ideal experience. For example, your system should be outputting 144 FPS to get the full benefit of a 144Hz monitor.

That said, you can still enjoy a higher refresh rate, even if it doesn’t reach the limits of what your display is capable of. Playing at 110Hz is better than playing at 60Hz, and you can always upgrade your CPU and GPU later to get to 144 FPS.

If your system struggles to run games higher than 60 FPS, it’s unlikely you’ll see much benefit from a high-refresh rate display, but it might be worth investing in one if your PC is capable of producing higher than 60 FPS.