lcd screen refresh rate price

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.

Refresh rate is a number that specifies how many times per second the image on your TV changes. With most TVs it"s 60, though it"s rare you"ll ever see a TV with that number listed. Instead, manufacturers use different technologies, such as

Higher refresh rate claims with numbers like 120, 240 and higher are common, but not always accurate. In fact, no matter what number you see listed with a 4K TV, no 4K TV has a native panel refresh rate higher than 120Hz. As we"ll explain, though, a number higher than 120Hz doesn"t necessarily mean the claim is false.

Effective refresh rate means the TV refreshes its image at a lower rate, but might appear to have similar motion resolution as a TV with an actual higher refresh rate.

Let me start with the terms you"ll see on various TV makers" marketing materials and web sites. Each one calls the TVs motion handling capability something different, and many don"t even mention the term "refresh rate" or use "Hz" at all.

LG"s web site lists the panel"s native refresh rate up front. On TVs that have a 120Hz refresh rate it simply says "120Hz Native," while with 60Hz models it lists "TruMotion 120 (60Hz Native)."

Samsung is better than it used to be about this, albeit not as transparent as LG. The 4K TVs and 8K TVs on its site list a "Motion Rate." This is, generally, twice the native refresh rate. So Motion Rate 240 indicates a native refresh of 120Hz while Motion Rate 120 means a 60Hz refresh. In the least expensive of their TVs, a Motion Rate of 60 means a 60Hz refresh.

For most of its 2021 TVs Sony doesn"t list a number on its website, instead it just says "Motionflow XR." On some, however, it lists a number along with the native refresh: "Motionflow XR 240 (native 60 Hz)" and "Motionflow XR 960 (native 120 Hz)."

Vizio used to list an "Effective Refresh Rate" on its web site, which was just double the native refresh rate. For 2021, however, none of its TVs use that term as far as we could find, and most don"t list any refresh rate spec. The bottom line? All of

For the most effective increase in motion resolution, and compatibility with next-gen gaming consoles" best video output modes, you need a native 120Hz refresh television. That said, it is possible to have some improvement in motion resolution even with a 60Hz TV if it uses some other feature, like backlight scanning or black frame insertion, that improves motion resolution.

So are these higher refresh numbers just another "more is better!" marketing ploy? Not entirely. Higher refresh rates can reduce motion blur in LCDs and OLED TVs.

Interestingly, this blur is largely created by your brain. Basically, your brain notices the motion, and makes assumptions as to where that object (or overall image) is going to be in the next fraction of a second. The problem with LCD and current OLED TVs is that they hold that image there for the full 60th of a second, so your brain actually smears the motion, thinking it should be moving, when in fact it"s just a series of still images.

The motion blur we"re talking about here, despite coming from your brain, is caused by how the television works. This is separate from whatever blur the camera itself creates.

Both of these techniques are what manufacturers use to come up with their "effective refresh rate" numbers. For example, a TV with a 60Hz refresh and a scanning backlight might claim to have an effective refresh rate of 120. A TV with a more elaborate BFI mode, and frame interpolation, might have a claimed effective refresh rate of "540." There"s no transparency in how companies determine their "effective rate" numbers, but there is at least more consistency than there used to be.

It"s also possible these features, when enabled, are bothersome over time. Some people are especially sensitive to a flickering backlight, so you might need to turn these features off. If you"re concerned about that, or notice motion blur, it"s best to find a TV that actually has a 120Hz refresh rate.

High-end smartphones increasingly boast blazing-fast 90Hz, 120Hz, and even faster refresh rate displays. This sounds great on paper and it’s yet another way that smartphones attempt to differentiate themselves from one another. But should you buy a phone because of this latest display tech trend? It honestly depends.

The benefits of high refresh rate phones and even how they work are not always well understood. While games and content can look a lot smoother, whether it’s worth the extra battery consumption depends greatly on the user and the handset. With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about display refresh rates.

Displays aren’t static. Content and motion appear smooth on your phone’s screen because every pixel constantly updates to display the latest content from your handset’s processor. But this doesn’t happen randomly. Panels update their content at regular intervals, known as the refresh rate.

The refresh rate measures the period of time between a phone’s display updates. In other words, how often and quickly the content on the screen refreshes. Measured in Hertz (Hz), the refresh rate counts the number of times the display fully refreshes every second. A 60Hz display refreshes 60 times per second, 90Hz is 90 times per second, 120Hz is 120 times per second, and so on. So a 120Hz display refreshes twice as fast as a 60Hz panel and 4x faster than 30Hz.

Faster update times also mean lower latency because the pixels refresh more often. For example, it takes 16.6 ms to fully refresh a 60Hz display, 11.1ms for 90Hz, and just 8.3ms for a 120Hz rate. Refresh rate isn’t the only factor in round-trip display latency, but it’s the most significant contributor.

Your smartphone’s screen doesn’t refresh all at once each cycle, though. Instead, each horizontal row of pixels refreshes in turn until the whole display updates at the required rate. You can see this in action if you film a display in slow motion, and it’s the reason why displays flicker if you view them through your smartphone camera’s viewfinder. In other words, your display is constantly updating and refreshing, but it takes the cycle time to complete one full refresh.

A quick note on touch sample rate — a related but different metric. Also measured in Hz, the sample rate tells you how many times per second the touchscreen looks for input from the user’s finger. A higher-touch sample rate means less lag between input (touch or swipe) and action, which is especially important for fast-paced games.

Higher refresh rate displays make moving content look and feel smoother and snappier. Even swiping through your emails and interacting with Facebook’s UI or your web browser can look smoother than the standard 60Hz rate. Although that’s not a game-changer for day-to-day smartphone use, it’s undoubtedly nicer to look at and there are also more meaningful benefits to be found in fast motion content, such as video and gaming.

However, most video content plays back at the industry standard 24 frames per second or 24Hz. As such, display processing needs to either adapt the frame rate to the content or upscale the content to the frame rate. 120Hz displays are great because they can playback content at 60Hz, 30Hz, and 24Hz with even frame divisions. Other refresh rates require processing when scaling 24Hz video. Poor quality processing can induce judder into your videos, which obviously isn’t good.

Faster displays make a big difference when it comes to gaming too. Higher frame rates and faster response times can have a noticeable impact because visual latency is lower and gameplay appears smoother. PC gamers regularly swear by 120Hz and even 144Hz displays. Now mobile gamers can benefit too, albeit on a much smaller screen. However, high frame rate gaming requires a beefy, energy-hungry processor too. This ensures that the graphics frame rate keeps up with the high display refresh rate. The game you’re playing also needs to support high refresh rates too. A 120Hz display won’t benefit from a game capped at 30 frames per second.

Unfortunately, high refresh rates reduce battery life. During our test on the OnePlus 7 Pro, we noted 200 fewer minutes of browsing time when using the 90Hz mode versus the more standard 60Hz. We also recorded a 9% drop in battery life when switching the Galaxy S20 Ultra between 60Hz and 120Hz modes. However, newer handsets with more efficient displays provide decent battery life, thanks to adaptive 90Hz and 120Hz refresh rates. This is helping to lessen the trade-offs associated with early high refresh rate panels.

Higher refresh rates have a negative impact on screen on time, but manufacturers have come up with some clever technologies to limit their impact on battery life. Variable refresh rate AMOLED panels powered by low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) backplane technology is leading this revolution.

Implementations vary, but a combination of LTPO and software changes allows for dynamic refresh rates from 120Hz down to 1Hz, although in reality lowering refresh rates to 60, 24, and 10Hz is more common. The idea is simple in principle, reducing the number of display updates when viewing static content, such as images and web pages, improves battery life while still benefiting from the smoothness of very high refresh rates when scrolling through content.

Examples of LTPO variable refresh rate phones that can hit 10Hz and lower include the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, Oppo Find X3 Pro, OnePlus 10 series, and others. Samsung also employs a novel technology in its Galaxy S22 and S22 Plus phones. The display refresh rate drops as low as 48Hz but communication between the processor and display falls as low as 10Hz to save on some more power.

That said, refresh rate is a small part of a smartphone’s display specifications. You shouldn’t buy a fast display if the color is awful, after all. Ultimately, aspects like color gamut, contrast, white point and color temperature, HDR capabilities, and resolution have an equally significant impact on your phone’s screen quality. That said, high refresh rates are now an essential factor in modern mobile displays and are increasingly hard to ignore when picking up a new phone.

It’s natural for anyone shopping desktop monitors to be swayed by size, shape, resolution and color quality. But depending on your business needs, you may also want to consider a less flashy feature: the monitor’s refresh rate.

Refresh rate is the frequency at which the screen updates with new images each second, measured in hertz (cycles per second). The content may look steady on the display, but what the viewer can’t see is how fast the content is changing — up to 360 times a second. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the visual quality.

Super high monitor refresh rates aren’t all that important for office workers focused on lighter computing like word processing, spreadsheets and emails. But in more visual professions like creative production and game development, a high refresh rate for monitors is invaluable.

The standard refresh rate for desktop monitors is 60Hz. But in recent years, more specialized, high-performing monitors have been developed that support 120Hz, 144Hz and even 240Hz refresh rates, which ensure ultra-smooth content viewing, even for the most demanding visual processing needs.

Just buying a high refresh rate monitor doesn’t mean the display quality will magically improve. The monitor’s refresh rate reflects the maximum rate at which the display can change the visuals. What happens on the screen depends on the frame rate of the output — the number of video frames that are sent to the display each second.

A 120Hz monitor has obvious benefits, though, for modern gaming platforms that animate at 100 fps or higher. A high refresh rate helps the screen keep pace with the high-twitch inputs of players and translate them into super smooth actions on screen.

When refresh rate and frame rate are mismatched, it can result in something called screen tearing. If the computer’s graphic card is pushing out more frames than the monitor’s refresh rate can handle at a given moment, users may see two half-frames on the screen at once, bisected horizontally and slightly misaligned. In short, it doesn’t look good. Games are usually configured to automatically match the PC’s graphics capabilities to avoid tearing, but running high-action visuals more slowly than intended makes for a compromised viewing and playing experience.

Response time — the time it takes for a pixel to change color — also plays a role in refresh rate. A monitor can only refresh as quickly as the LCD display can make those rapid-fire color shifts.

Particularly for fast-paced visuals, higher refresh rates and faster pixel response times reduce ghosted visuals, and ideally eliminate them. With slower tech, a high-pace action sequence may come with trailing images that result in softer, even blurry on-screen visuals.

The appeal of high refresh rates is obvious for at-home gamers looking for a responsive, hyperrealistic playing experience. And this leisure use is part of a vast global industry. SuperData reported that the video gaming industry generated roughly $140 billion in 2020, up 12 percent from $120 billion in 2019. Statista estimates there are now more than 3 billion gamers worldwide.

In the U.S. alone, the video game industry employs 220,000 people across all 50 states, according to the Entertainment Software Association. That’s a lot of game developers, graphic artists and playtesters working in front of monitors, most of them in need of optimal visual quality and speed at their workstations. While 60Hz refresh rates may work fine for people in finance and human resources — and even the clerical side of gaming companies — people on the visual and testing side need at least 120Hz to do their jobs well.

And it’s not just gaming. While the film industry has long produced movies at 24 fps, that frame rate is a relic of times when there were different technical restraints on cameras and projection, so a faster frame rate required more expensive film. The 24 fps standard has stuck around largely because that’s what the public is used to. Today, filmmakers are increasingly pushing frame rates as high as 120 fps.

High-performance monitors with high refresh rates come with obvious visual improvements, but monitor upgrades in general bring a broader range of business benefits.

Premium monitors also come with built-in (adjustable) technologies that can reduce eye strain. Manufacturers, led by Samsung, have increasingly introduced curved widescreen monitors that equalize the focal distance of every part of the screen. The left and right edges are the same distance from the viewer’s eyes as the middle of the screen, reducing eye strain, as viewers don’t have to adjust their eyes as they scan the display.

High refresh rate monitors with high response times also tend to come with other premium features, such as full support for USB-C connections. With a single cable, the user can connect their PC to a monitor that functions as a USB hub for peripheral devices. This negates the need for expensive and often clunky docking stations, and can significantly reduce the number of cables at each workstation. In addition to tidier, streamlined workspaces, this also reduces the demand for IT support. With fewer connectors and devices, you tend to get fewer problems.

Around the workplace, anyone in a visually creative role will see immediate benefits from a higher refresh rate. And while those in non-visual roles probably won’t see any difference, the key may be futureproofing.

When IT and information systems (IS) teams plan capital purchases, they need to look several years ahead for potential technical requirements down the road. While high-refresh monitors may have a defined user community right now, it’s likely more use cases and worker needs will develop. Monitors with low refresh rates can’t get better, but higher-refresh monitors can serve your display needs both now and in the future.

A significant point is that the phosphors on a CRT screen have their "persistence" designed to support a particular fairly narrow range of refresh rates. The phosphors could be made to have really long persistence (seconds), so there would be no serious flicker down to even maybe a 5 second refresh interval, but then, since the phosphors can only be "turned on" and not "turned off", you wouldn"t be able to see motion much faster than that. (Some early CRT terminals used long-persistence phosphors, with the characters "drawn" on the screen instead of scanned. This didn"t provide very fast "refresh", but it only had to be as good as a 10 CPS Teletype.)

LCDs have the property that they can be turned on or off, at some relatively high rate, and once set one way or the other they have a relatively long persistence, on the order of a second or so. For this reason they can support a wide range of refresh rates.

LCDs are "scanned" via an X-Y matrix of wires, with a pixel at each point where two wires cross. Only one pixel can be manipulated at a time. The voltage on a pixel must be maintained long enough to "charge" the pixel, so that it will hold the charge until refreshed, and all pixels must be visited on each refresh cycle.

And, in addition to the charge time, the liquid inside needs time to mechanically reorient its crystal structure (though, at a physics level, this reorientation is tied at least partially to the "charge" time). Both of these factors place an upper limit on refresh rate.

The best high refresh rate monitors are as important a piece of a competitive gaming setup as a great graphics card, mouse, or keyboard. If you want to see the smooth look of a game running at a high refresh rate like 144Hz or 240Hz, a high refresh rate monitor will deliver that experience, and you probably won"t be able to go back to anything lower.

What refresh rate should you be looking for in a potential upgrade? You can feel the difference between even 60Hz and 75Hz monitors, though you start to notice the benefits in-game around 120Hz. We consider the standard for gaming monitors is 144Hz, though 165Hz is common enough with overclocked panels. Beyond that, you have 240Hz and 360Hz, targeting competitive gamers, such as twitch shooter players. These usually come alongside lower resolutions and higher price tags, so you want to be sure you"ll need that snappy response before investing in a 240/360Hz gaming monitor. Don"t even get us started on 480Hz gaming monitors(opens in new tab)that are supposedly coming pretty soon.

Refresh rate is just one element of modern gaming monitors, though, and what else you desire is up to you. Should you go for an IPS or VA panel, for instance. And what about panel, size, shape, and resolution? Is the 16:9 aspect ratio still the most versatile and compatible, or is ultrawide the way? Do curved panels add anything? And what about resolution? 4K? Or does 1440p strike a better balance? Is 1080p obsolete?

We"ve tested each of these high refresh rate gaming monitors in this list to see whether their claims stand up and make sure no compromise has been made to post those sky-high refresh rate claims.

Refresh rate, resolution, black levels, panel size: pick two. That"s been the PC monitor buyer"s dilemma for several years now, since we collectively realised that yes, playing at a higher refresh rate does actually make you better at Counter-Strike. MSI"s latest panel, bearing the catchy moniker Oculux NXG253R, aims to at least address the most common tradeoff in modern gaming panels: refresh rate for colour quality.

Whereas the majority of high refresh rate panels are VA or TN screens with limited viewing angle and shallow colours, MSI"s latest is built around an IPS panel, with all the inky blacks and rich colours that technology brings with it. Traditionally IPS has been slower to the party since it"s costlier to manufacture high refresh rate panels, but evidently enough of us are sold on 120Hz and beyond.360Hz does look and feel smoother than 120Hz.

At enthusiast level, there"s still just a sense of pure enjoyment in watching Overwatch or Quake Champions zip along. Anecdotally, I found D.Va"s out-of-suit pistol combat that bit easier with frames and refresh rate way up at 300 (the game"s capped there) since my targets were always where my screen told me they were. In similarly frenetic Quake Champions matches, I pulled off Ranger"s tricky teleport kill with a bit more ease, too.

But something to bear in mind: you still need the GPU to get your frame rate up there in the hundreds in order to feel the benefit of that 360Hz refresh.

This being an IPS panel with typically darker blacks, it definitely looks more vivid in-game than even a good TN screen, and the colours hold up at any viewing angle. You"ve got a few preset brightness and color balance modes to cycle between on the OSD, arranged by genre. FPS is super-bright and saturated, racing is a bit more subdued by contrast. Out of the box, the default colour and brightness settings are easy on the eye and really sell the IPS benefit.

The Oculux NXG253R"s mandate is sound, then, but there are still compromises made in this pricey 1080p monitor in order to optimise esports performance. The most obvious are the screen size and resolution, 24.5-inch and 1080p respectively. You could certainly argue that nobody"s getting 360 fps at 4K in… well, anything outside of CS:GO or MOBAs, and quite rightly so. But spending this much on a monitor that won"t even give you 1440p feels like a serious tradeoff, and that resolution dictates a smaller panel size. Nobody wants to see the individual pixels at 1080p on a 32-inch screen.

This monitor isn’t perfect. But it is dramatically better than any LCD-based monitor by several gaming-critical metrics. And it’s a genuine thrill to use. Of course, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. First, we need to cover off the basics.

What makes the AW3423DW far superior to your typical LCD panel on a PC gaming monitor is the near-percent color saturation and screen brightness capable of hitting a peak brightness of 1000 nits. It"s done all this while providing a ridiculously fast 175Hz refresh rate and a response time of .1ms. It might just be the best 3440 x 1440p gaming monitor we"ve ever used, and, boy, do we look at a lot of ultrawide.

Common to all OLED tech are two critical advantages over any LCD panel, namely contrast and response. Put simply, every pixel in an OLED panel is its own light source, which can be turned completely off, essentially delivering ‘true’ black levels and more or less infinite contrast. There’s no need for any of that complicated, problematic local dimming to stop the light from leaking through an LCD panel. OLED is the real HDR deal.

Not only is it OLED, it’s also Samsung’s hot new QD-LED tech, which combines the ideal RGB subpixel structure with quantum dot technology to produce both excellent color saturation and an even brighter panel. Net result? Alienware is claiming both an impressive 99.3 percent coverage of the demanding DCI-P3 color space and fully 1,000 nits brightness, albeit that brightness level can only be achieved on a small portion of the panel, not across the entire screen.

Unlike LCD monitors with claimed HDR capability, this OLED screen needs to be in HDR mode to do its thing. And that applies to SDR content, too. Alienware has provided two HDR modes, HDR 400 True Black and HDR Peak 1000. The latter enables that maximum 1,000 nit performance in small areas of the panel but actually looks less vibrant and punchy most of the time.

Why, exactly, does the AOC Agon AG273QXP run at 170Hz refresh? Is it a cynical marketing move designed to give AOC’s latest gaming panel a superficial edge over the usual 165Hz suspects? Is there some specific technical reason for the extra 5Hz?

It’s a pity to be distracted by such trivia because the AOC Agon AG273QXP has loads going for it. That 170Hz panel is a 1440p IPS item, making it a goldilocks model for modern gaming. Not too many pixels. Not too few. But just the right balance between visual detail and frame rate.

Cyberpunk 2077 looks glorious, that’s for sure. The Agon sports a pretty decent HDR implementation, too. At least it does for an HDR 400 panel that lacks local dimming. Like any other HDR 400 screen, it’s not a true HDR experience. But this is still a great high refresh rate monitor.

1080p not your bag? Better jog on as the Acer Predator XB253QGX won’t be for you. It isn’t really for most of us, either, given 1440p is a better all-around compromise for most gamers from a purely visual point. But if ultra-low latency and frames rates high enough to give you a nosebleed sounds like your thing, this 1080p 25-incher should be on your shortlist.

It’s very similar to the Alienware 25 but clocks in at a mere 240Hz to the Alienware’s outrageous 360Hz. In truth, only the most demanding esports addicts will be able to tell the difference. But if you are that sensitive to latency, the Acer’s 1080p resolution actually makes sense. After all, the fewer the pixels, the higher your frame rate.

As it happens, this Acer is slightly more vibrant than the ostensibly identical Lenovo Legion Y25-25, even if it isn’t as punchy as the much pricier Alienware. As with many screens of this type, you can fine-tune pixel response through an overdrive setting. Predictably, the most aggressive setting introduces some ghosting. But set to medium, this is a very quick IPS monitor. That said, even with a claimed MPRT response time of just 0.5ms, this is not an entirely blur-free monitor. That’s LCD technology for you.

Of course, it’s in pure visual punch where a 1080p panel like this stumbles. There’s significantly less detail on offer than a 1440p monitor, much less a 4K screen. This would not be our weapon of choice for soaking up the sheer spectacle of Cyberpunk 2077, that’s for sure.

There’s an elephant in this high refresh rate monitor round-up. And it’s the inevitable question of diminishing returns. When, exactly, do they kick in? 165Hz? 240Hz? How about 360Hz? Oh yes, this updated Alienware 25 is good for the full 360. In purely experiential and subjective terms, it’s not easy to separate it from otherwise similar 1080p IPS monitors that hum along at a comparatively pedestrian 240Hz refresh. They all feel swift.

Of course, esports aficionados with ninjascopic reflexes will appreciate the difference. And there’s certainly no penalty to pay, given this IPS panel. It’s not like you’re forced to suffer a dingy TN panel to have all those Hz. As for pixel response, it’s about as good as IPS monitors get, though once again hard to really separate from the cheaper 240Hz brigade.

But it’s actually Alienware’s other qualities that set it apart. For starters, this is the brightest and punchiest of the 25-inch bunch. The integrated Nvidia G-Sync chip also makes for a noticeably smoother low-frame-rate experience than a mere G-Sync ‘Compatible’ or FreeSync display. Ironic, given the 360Hz refresh is the main attraction.

That works out at over a billion per second at 144Hz, which just so happens to be the refresh rate of the Acer Predator XB273K, Acer’s more affordable 4K gaming panel. Compared to the pricier Acer Predator X27, it lacks local dimming, delivers lower peak brightness, and is merely G-Sync ‘Compatible’. So, there’s no Nvidia G-Sync module onboard.

None of which is to say this screen lacks appeal. No, siree. Once you’ve seen Cyberpunk 2077 running in full IPS-plus-4K glory, you won’t want to go back to 1440p, let alone crummy old 1080p. The problem is the philosophical incompatibility between maximizing image quality and frame rates at the same time. You can’t really have both. Not even with, say, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080(opens in new tab).

In other words, while this monitor is capable of 144Hz, you’re not going to get near those kinds of frame rates in the prettiest games. And if you’re not bothered about prettiness, you probably don’t need 4K if you follow. It’s a very nice screen, this Acer Predator XB273K, and better value than its Acer Predator X27 sibling, but it still doesn’t make much sense for this kind of money.

Unfortunately, the Viewsonic VX2718-2KPC-MHD is a VA screen slightly out of the old school, despite delivering a 165Hz refresh. Crank this 27-inch, 1440p curved monitor over for the first time, and it doesn’t bode well. In fact, the VX2718-2KPC-MHD is a bit of a blurry mess. It does improve with a little time and temperature. But even fully warmed up, it’s simply not as quick as the latest IPS panels. Or, for that matter, the implied performance of the 1ms MPRT response specification.

Incidentally, the VX2718-2KPC-MHD ‘1ms’ mode does little to improve response, but it does crush brightness and vibrancy pretty effectively. While we’re beating on Viewsonic’s latest, we note it lacks a refresh rate counter. It’s a small detail, but it’s also a handy feature to ensure that you’re running at the right refresh rate and confirm that adaptive sync is enabled.

Elsewhere, the stand feels a bit cheap and only offers tilt adjustment, while the external PSU adds to clutter. Meanwhile, as the 250cd/m2 brightness rating implies, this screen won’t exactly sear your retinas.

This isn’t to imply this screen has nothing to offer. The 1440p native resolution on a 27-inch panel is a sweet combo for balancing frame rates with in-game detail, while the VA panel tech delivers plenty of contrast. Of course, as 1440p 165Hz monitors go, it’s competitively priced, but the mediocre response and lack of punch might feel a bit too budget for most.

The Lenovo also has pretty sweet build quality with a lush alloy stand, full adjustability including height, tilt, rotate and swivel, plus styling that little bit slicker and more grown-up than your average, rather adolescent, gaming peripheral. The integrated, rather than external, power supply likewise soothes our collective OCD, and G-Sync compatibility is welcome if expected in this class of screen.

So what, exactly, is the problem? Basic image quality, that’s what. The Lenovo Legion Y25-25 is just a little bit dingier, a little duller than the competition. It’s unclear if it uses a different panel from the Acer and Alienware. But for sure, its colors are less vibrant, and games look less immersive. In isolation, and given the esports remit, that argument doesn’t matter. This certainly isn’t a terrible-looking screen, but when you can have all of Lenovo’s upsides, plus better basic image quality, elsewhere it is a bit of a non-starter of a monitor.

High refresh rate gaming monitor FAQWhat"s the best PC monitor panel type for gaming?If in doubt, go IPS. There are now VA screens with good response speed, like the fabulous MSI MPG ARTYMIS 343CQR. But IPS more consistently delivers the goods and is now sufficiently fast in terms of refresh rate that you absolutely needn"t settle for TN anymore.What refresh rate do you really need for PC gaming?If you"re asking the question, 144Hz is probably plenty. Esports fiends who will really appreciate higher refresh rates already know who they are and what they want. And that answer is likely getting on for 240Hz these days.What"s the best resolution for a gaming monitor?With the latest unobtainable graphics cards, 4K gaming at high triple-digit refresh rates is a stretch in the most demanding games. So, 1440p (at either 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio) is probably the better compromise. 1080p is only of interest to those who demand the very highest frame rates for competitive shooters.Should I buy a curved gaming monitor?For our money, curved panels make the most sense in larger formats and with super-wide 21:9 or wider panels. A curved panel on, say, a smaller 27-inch 16:9 panel isn"t necessarily a bad thing. But, nor does it really add much to the experience.Does HDR matter for PC gaming monitors?The problem with HDR in this context is that few LCD monitors offer a true HDR experience. What"s more, monitors with HDR-boosting local dimming remain painfully pricey and for what is really only marginal benefit. That said, HDR certification usually ensures high brightness, and HDR 600 and beyond requires wide color support.G-Sync or FreeSync: which adaptive screen tech is best?We think screens with Nvidia"s G-Sync module built-in have the edge when it comes to smooth performance at lower frame rates. At higher frame rates, mere G-Sync compatibility is fine, and AMD"s FreeSync is likewise much of a muchness.Round up of today"s best deals

The refresh rate (or "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate", terminology originating with the cathode ray tubes) is the number of times per second that a raster-based display device displays a new image. This is independent from frame rate, which describes how many images are stored or generated every second by the device driving the display.

On cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, higher refresh rates produce less flickering, thereby reducing eye strain. In other technologies such as liquid-crystal displays, the refresh rate affects only how often the image can potentially be updated.

Non-raster displays may not have a characteristic refresh rate. Vector displays, for instance, do not trace the entire screen, only the actual lines comprising the displayed image, so refresh speed may differ by the size and complexity of the image data.

Raster-scan CRTs by their nature must refresh the screen, since their phosphors will fade and the image will disappear quickly unless refreshed regularly.

In a CRT, the vertical scan rate is the number of times per second that the electron beam returns to the upper left corner of the screen to begin drawing a new frame.vertical blanking signal generated by the video controller, and is partially limited by the monitor"s maximum horizontal scan rate.

The refresh rate can be calculated from the horizontal scan rate by dividing the scanning frequency by the number of horizontal lines, plus some amount of time to allow for the beam to return to the top. By convention, this is a 1.05x multiplier.1280 × 1024 results in a refresh rate of 96,000 ÷ (1024 × 1.05) ≈ 89 Hz (rounded down).

CRT refresh rates have historically been an important factor in videogame programming. In early videogame systems, the only time available for computation was during the vertical blanking interval, during which the beam is returning to the top corner of the screen and no image is being drawn.screen tearing.

Unlike CRTs, where the image will fade unless refreshed, the pixels of liquid-crystal displays retain their state for as long as power is provided, and consequently there is no intrinsic flicker regardless of refresh rate. However, refresh rate still determines the highest frame rate that can be displayed, and despite there being no actual blanking of the screen, the vertical blanking interval is still a period in each refresh cycle when the screen is not being updated, during which the image data in the host system"s frame buffer can be updated.

On smaller CRT monitors (up to about 15 in or 38 cm), few people notice any discomfort between 60–72 Hz. On larger CRT monitors (17 in or 43 cm or larger), most people experience mild discomfort unless the refresh is set to 72 Hz or higher. A rate of 100 Hz is comfortable at almost any size. However, this does not apply to LCD monitors. The closest equivalent to a refresh rate on an LCD monitor is its frame rate, which is often locked at 60 fps. But this is rarely a problem, because the only part of an LCD monitor that could produce CRT-like flicker—its backlight—typically operates at around a minimum of 200 Hz.

Different operating systems set the default refresh rate differently. Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 (First and Second Editions) set the refresh rate to the highest rate that they believe the display supports. Windows NT-based operating systems, such as Windows 2000 and its descendants Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, set the default refresh rate to a conservative rate, usually 60 Hz. Some fullscreen applications, including many games, now allow the user to reconfigure the refresh rate before entering fullscreen mode, but most default to a conservative resolution and refresh rate and let you increase the settings in the options.

Old monitors could be damaged if a user set the video card to a refresh rate higher than the highest rate supported by the monitor. Some models of monitors display a notice that the video signal uses an unsupported refresh rate.

Some LCDs support adapting their refresh rate to the current frame rate delivered by the graphics card. Two technologies that allow this are FreeSync and G-Sync.

When LCD shutter glasses are used for stereo 3D displays, the effective refresh rate is halved, because each eye needs a separate picture. For this reason, it is usually recommended to use a display capable of at least 120 Hz, because divided in half this rate is again 60 Hz. Higher refresh rates result in greater image stability, for example 72 Hz non-stereo is 144 Hz stereo, and 90 Hz non-stereo is 180 Hz stereo. Most low-end computer graphics cards and monitors cannot handle these high refresh rates, especially at higher resolutions.

For LCD monitors the pixel brightness changes are much slower than CRT or plasma phosphors. Typically LCD pixel brightness changes are faster when voltage is applied than when voltage is removed, resulting in an asymmetric pixel response time. With 3D shutter glasses this can result in a blurry smearing of the display and poor depth perception, due to the previous image frame not fading to black fast enough as the next frame is drawn.

This gif animation shows a rudimentary comparison of how motion varies with 4Hz, 12Hz, and 24Hz refresh rates. Entire sequence has a frame rate of 24Hz.

The development of televisions in the 1930s was determined by a number of technical limitations. The AC power line frequency was used for the vertical refresh rate for two reasons. The first reason was that the television"s vacuum tube was susceptible to interference from the unit"s power supply, including residual ripple. This could cause drifting horizontal bars (hum bars). Using the same frequency reduced this, and made interference static on the screen and therefore less obtrusive. The second reason was that television studios would use AC lamps, filming at a different frequency would cause strobing.NTSC color coding) and 50 Hz System B/G (almost always used with PAL or SECAM color coding). This accident of chance gave European sets higher resolution, in exchange for lower frame-rates. Compare System M (704 × 480 at 30i) and System B/G (704 × 576 at 25i). However, the lower refresh rate of 50 Hz introduces more flicker, so sets that use digital technology to double the refresh rate to 100 Hz are now very popular. (see Broadcast television systems)

Similar to some computer monitors and some DVDs, analog television systems use interlace, which decreases the apparent flicker by painting first the odd lines and then the even lines (these are known as fields). This doubles the refresh rate, compared to a progressive scan image at the same frame rate. This works perfectly for video cameras, where each field results from a separate exposure – the effective frame rate doubles, there are now 50 rather than 25 exposures per second. The dynamics of a CRT are ideally suited to this approach, fast scenes will benefit from the 50 Hz refresh, the earlier field will have largely decayed away when the new field is written, and static images will benefit from improved resolution as both fields will be integrated by the eye. Modern CRT-based televisions may be made flicker-free in the form of 100 Hz technology.

Many high-end LCD televisions now have a 120 or 240 Hz (current and former NTSC countries) or 100 or 200 Hz (PAL/SECAM countries) refresh rate. The rate of 120 was chosen as the least common multiple of 24 fps (cinema) and 30 fps (NTSC TV), and allows for less distortion when movies are viewed due to the elimination of telecine (3:2 pulldown). For PAL at 25 fps, 100 or 200 Hz is used as a fractional compromise of the least common multiple of 600 (24 × 25). These higher refresh rates are most effective from a 24p-source video output (e.g. Blu-ray Disc), and/or scenes of fast motion.

As movies are usually filmed at a rate of 24 frames per second, while television sets operate at different rates, some conversion is necessary. Different techniques exist to give the viewer an optimal experience.

The combination of content production, playback device, and display device processing may also give artifacts that are unnecessary. A display device producing a fixed 60 fps rate cannot display a 24 fps movie at an even, judder-free rate. Usually, a 3:2 pulldown is used, giving a slight uneven movement.

While common multisync CRT computer monitors have been capable of running at even multiples of 24 Hz since the early 1990s, recent "120 Hz" LCDs have been produced for the purpose of having smoother, more fluid motion, depending upon the source material, and any subsequent processing done to the signal. In the case of material shot on video, improvements in smoothness just from having a higher refresh rate may be barely noticeable.

In the case of filmed material, as 120 is an even multiple of 24, it is possible to present a 24 fps sequence without judder on a well-designed 120 Hz display (i.e., so-called 5-5 pulldown). If the 120 Hz rate is produced by frame-doubling a 60 fps 3:2 pulldown signal, the uneven motion could still be visible (i.e., so-called 6-4 pulldown).

The refresh rate of a monitor or TV is the maximum number of times the image on the screen can be drawn, or refreshed, per second. The refresh rate is measured in hertz.

Instead, the image is "redrawn" over and over on the screen so quickly (anywhere from 60, 75, or 85 to 100 times or more per second) that the human eye perceives it as a static image, or a smooth video, etc.

An electron gun sits behind the glass of the monitor and shoots light to produce an image. The gun starts at the very top left corner of the screen and then quickly fills it with the image, line by line across the face and then downward until it reaches the bottom, after which the electron gun moves back to the top left and starts the whole process over again.

While the electron gun is in one place, another portion of the screen may be blank as it waits for the new image. However, due to how fast the screen is refreshed with the light of the new image, you don"t see this.

If the refresh rate of a monitor is set too low, you may be able to notice the "redrawing" of the image, which we perceive as a flicker. Monitor flickering is unpleasant to look at and can quickly lead to eye strain and headaches.

The refresh rate setting can be changed to reduce this flickering effect. See our How to Change a Monitor"s Refresh Rate Setting in Windows guide for instructions on doing this in all versions of Windows.

All LCD monitors support a refresh rate that is typically over the threshold that normally causes flicker (usually 60 Hz) and they don"t go blank between refreshes as CRT monitors do.

The highest possible refresh rate isn"t necessarily better. Setting the refresh rate over 120 Hz, which some video cards support, may have an adverse effect on your eyes as well. Keeping a monitor"s refresh rate set at 60 Hz to 90 Hz is best for most.

Attempting to adjust a CRT monitor"s refresh rate to one that"s higher than the specifications of the monitor may result in an "Out of Frequency" error and leave you with a blank screen. Try starting Windows in Safe Mode and then changing the monitor refresh rate setting to something more appropriate.

Three factors determine the maximum refresh rate: The monitor"s resolution (lower resolutions typically support higher refresh rates), the video card"s maximum refresh rate, and the monitor"s maximum refresh rate.

Monitors already do report their maximum refresh rate to your PC. Your computer then generally sends new frames at this maximum refresh rate, whether new data is available or not.

As for your variable framerate idea, this is another can of worms. The entire display chain, from applications to the operating system to the graphics card through the monitor are built on the concept that updates happen at a fixed, pre-defined interval. Changing this to a variable interval would require that we throw all of that out. Furthermore, how do you decide what framerate to use at any given moment? Suppose your monitor can update at 100Hz maximum, and you open a 60fps video in a window. Does that then force everything else to update at the 60fps refresh rate even if it wants to update the monitor at 100Hz or 90Hz? If you"re updating a portion of the screen at 60fps, then you no longer have any evenly-divisible time slices in which to do your 100Hz equivalent updates.

A much better solution is to just embrace the ubiquitous fixed-framerate system we have now and increase the refresh rate of our monitors to 120Hz or more. This maintains backwards compatibility for older monitors, but gives us small enough time steps that we can display any effective framerate we want. 120Hz is an even multiple of 24fps, 30fps, and 60fps and it"s fast enough that your eyes would never notice anything was amiss on other frame rates.

To get the most for your money, you want to match your monitor choice with your PC specs. A 4K monitor with a high refresh rate would be overkill if your rig is only packing a GTX 1060. If you"ve had the cash to drop on an Nvidia RTX 4090(opens in new tab) or a high-end AMD RX 6000(opens in new tab) series GPU, you can take your pick of 4K panels. Those sitting somewhere in the mid-range of things—with, say, an RTX 2070 Super—are better off looking at 1440p displays. Even high-end PC owners might consider skipping 4K, though: 1440p is the sweet spot right now.

For the competitive gamer who values speed above all else, check out our list of high refresh rate monitors(opens in new tab) , which run at 240Hz and even 360Hz. I"ve been constantly testing gaming monitors through my career and have made sure that only the best for each budget have crept onto this guide. It"s extensive, but there are a whole lotta gaming monitors out there, and plenty deserve your attention. This list is updated frequently as newer models pass the rigorous PC Gamer testing ringer.

OLED has truly arrived on PC, and in ultrawide format no less. Alienware"s 34 QD-OLED is one of very few gaming monitors to receive such a stellar score from us, and it"s no surprise. Dell has nailed the OLED panel in this screen and it"s absolutely gorgeous for PC gaming. Although this monitor isn’t perfect, it is dramatically better than any LCD-based monitor by several gaming-critical metrics. And it’s a genuine thrill to use.

Still, there’s so much depth, saturation, and clarity to the in-game image thanks to that per-pixel lighting, but this OLED screen needs to be in HDR mode to do its thing. And that applies to SDR content, too. HDR Peak 1000 mode enables that maximum 1,000 nit performance in small areas of the panel but actually looks less vibrant and punchy most of the time.

While we didn’t sense any subjective issue with this 175Hz monitor, there’s little doubt that if your gaming fun and success hinges on having the lowest possible latency, there are faster screens available. You can only achieve the full 175Hz with the single DisplayPort input, too. The Alienware 34 QD-OLED"s response time is absurdly quick at 0.1ms, however, and it cruised through our monitor testing suite. You really notice that speed in-game, too.

4K gaming is a premium endeavor. You need a colossal amount of rendering power to hit decent frame rates at such a high resolution. But if you"re rocking a top-shelf graphics card, like an RTX 3080(opens in new tab) or RX 6800 XT(opens in new tab) then this dream can be a reality.

The LG UltraGear is the first 4K, Nano IPS, gaming monitor with 1ms response times, that"ll properly show off your superpowered GPU. Coming in with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync adaptive refresh compatibility, this slick slim-bezel design even offers LG’s Sphere Lighting 2.0 RGB visual theatrics.

While it does suffer from a little characteristic IPS glow, it appears mostly at the screen extremities when you’re spying darker game scenes. This isn"t an issue most of the time, but the HDR is a little disappointing as, frankly, 16 edge-lit local dimming zones do not a true HDR panel make.The color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding.

The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B bags you a terrific panel with exquisite IPS image quality. Despite the lesser HDR capabilities, it also nets beautiful colors and contrast for your games too. G-Sync offers stable pictures and smoothness, and the speedy refresh rate and response times back this up too.

As someone who loves visual fidelity, I appreciate this resolution for clarity and performance. Even the humble GTX 1660 Super in my desktop is comfortably driving games at 60FPS at high settings. If you spend all your time playing CS:GO or Valorant, then the 144Hz refresh could hold you back a bit, but that 1ms response time sure helps.

Connection-wise, you"re looking at two HDMI 2.0 ports and a DisplayPort 1.2, along with a pair of USB 3.0 Type-A downstream ports and one USB 3.0 Type-B. Oh, and it also comes with a pair of 2W speakers integrated into the monitor.

Much like the mystical ways of the Force, PC gaming is all about balance. There"s little point weighting your system too heavily in one direction without paying attention to the whole package. Why bother pairing your RTX 3080 Ti with a 60Hz 1080p screen? Likewise, why spend big on a 4K monitor when you"re only sporting a Radeon RX 6600?

The classic 27-inch Dell S2722DGM marries that screen real estate with a 2560 x 1440 native resolution, which gives you a great pixel pitch for fine detail. At 1440p it"s also a decent resolution for getting high frame rates without the GPU demands of a 4K display. It"s also capable of delivering that resolution at 165Hz, which is appreciated.

We"d steer clear of MPRT mode, which hammers the panel"s brightness and vibrancy. "Extreme" mode, which is rated at 2ms, does suffer from a whiff of overshoot, but that"s only just visible in-game, while "Super fast" resolves the overshoot but allows just a little smearing of darker tones.

Refresh rate, resolution, black levels, panel size: pick two. That"s been the PC monitor buyer"s dilemma for several years now, since we collectively realised that yes, playing at a higher refresh rate does actually make you better at Counter-Strike. MSI"s latest panel, bearing the catchy moniker Oculux NXG253R, aims to at least address the most common tradeoff in modern gaming panels: refresh rate for colour quality.

Whereas the majority of high refresh rate panels are VA or TN screens with limited viewing angle and shallow colours, MSI"s latest is built around an IPS panel, with all the inky blacks and rich colours that technology brings with it. Traditionally IPS has been slower to the party since it"s costlier to manufacture high refresh rate panels, but evidently enough of us are sold on 120Hz and beyond.360Hz does look and feel smoother than 120Hz.

At enthusiast level, there"s still just a sense of pure enjoyment in watching Overwatch or Quake Champions zip along. Anecdotally, I found D.Va"s out-of-suit pistol combat that bit easier with frames and refresh rate way up at 300 (the game"s capped there) since my targets were always where my screen told me they were. In similarly frenetic Quake Champions matches, I pulled off Ranger"s tricky teleport kill with a bit more ease, too.

But something to bear in mind: you still need the GPU to get your frame rate up there in the hundreds in order to feel the benefit of that 360Hz refresh.

This being an IPS panel with typically darker blacks, it definitely looks more vivid in-game than even a good TN screen, and the colours hold up at any viewing angle. You"ve got a few preset brightness and color balance modes to cycle between on the OSD, arranged by genre. FPS is super-bright and saturated, racing is a bit more subdued by contrast. Out of the box, the default colour and brightness settings are easy on the eye and really sell the IPS benefit.

The Oculux NXG253R"s mandate is sound, then, but there are still compromises made in this pricey 1080p monitor in order to optimise esports performance. The most obvious are the screen size and resolution, 24.5-inch and 1080p respectively. You could certainly argue that nobody"s getting 360 fps at 4K in… well, anything outside of CS:GO or MOBAs, and quite rightly so. But spending this much on a monitor that won"t even give you 1440p feels like a serious tradeoff, and that resolution dictates a smaller panel size. Nobody wants to see the individual pixels at 1080p on a 32-inch screen.

But add in the 165Hz refresh and you have a pretty convincing monitor for response-critical online shooters. To be sure, if that is your number one priority, you’d be better off with a higher-refresh 1080p IPS monitor with faster response. If you want a larger panel like this, 4K isn’t an all-around win. It comes with a huge additional GPU load and that in turn requires mega-investment levels in a good graphics card

Here, this 27-inch panel provides frames at a stable 165Hz refresh rate, not the speediest but certainly workable for competitive gaming. The 1ms grey-to-grey response time doesn"t hurt for gaming either. As a FreeSync certified monitor, AMD users can be sure of a tear-free gaming experience.

At 1440p you get a good pixel density for the size of the monitor, and the image is pretty sharp to boot. The screen itself is advertised as anti-glare and we"re seen that it holds its own in most brightly lit environments, though doesn"t do so well in dim spaces.A great entry-level option for those looking for a larger screen.

The Pixio"s contrast sits at 1000:1, which isn"t the greatest, we admit, but the colors can be tuned to create a punchy and accurate image with a bit of fiddling. It would have been nice to see this out of the box, however.

The biggest selling point of the PX277 Prime, though, is its low price point. A great entry-level option for those looking for a larger screen with a high refresh rate and don"t want to be left totally broke.

While the build quality isn"t as robust as a higher-spec screen, the Pixio panel is perfect for the budget gamer who doesn"t mind missing out on some of the bells and whistles of a higher-end monitor but is keen on top performance.

We"re finally in an era of gaming where an affordable 4K monitor and a fast 4K monitor are one and the same. You could still buy a lower resolution panel for a whole lot less, but as the Gigabyte M32UC proves you can get a whole lot of screen for what feels like a fair price.

The M32UC runs at a perfectly reasonable 144Hz out of the box—and you"ll need a powerful graphics card to make the most of that at 4K. However, if you hook this monitor up via DisplayPort 1.4 you can also overclock the panel via the OSD. That bumps the refresh rate up to 160Hz, and while that"s probably excessive for most, if you"re going big with the rest of your rig (or plan to pick up a powerful next-gen GPU sometime in the future) then it"s a decent option to have at the ready.Fine details are well preserved and this panel doesn"t struggle with saturation.

But something to consider with the M32UC"s blend of resolution and refresh rate is that even a high-end GPU won"t always make the most of it. That"s what makes the M32UC"s FreeSync capabilities so crucially important. Keeping this panel in sync with your graphics card when it"s underthe max refresh rate of the screen, as it is likely going to be at times, prevents a whole lot of screen tearing.

If your mantra for displays is "go big or go home," Acer hears you, and its Predator X38 is a massive 38-inch curved screen that looks stunning. It features a not-quite-4K QHD ultrawide panel with a 3840x1600 resolution. With an aspect ratio of 24:9, the IPS panel looks great, and the size means you have a lot of screen real estate for gaming.

The display also features G-Sync technology with up to 175Hz variable refresh rates. That"s a huge boost over lower refresh rate curved gaming monitors, and Acer has overcome the big IPS downside of typically high response times, too. This beast has a 1ms GtG response, which is truly IPS coming of age and doing it all without the compromises of old.

With its DisplayHDR 400 certification, it’s good enough to deliver what you want in HDR effects, but it’s not dazzling like the HDR 1000 screens you can now buy, like the Asus PG43UQ.Pushing the overclock to 175Hz yielded a perfect result with no ghosting visible.

It"s a big, bold, and beautiful-looking display. If you"re looking for something to turn heads, this is one of the best widescreen gaming monitors out there.

Still, that 1000R curve, huge 49-inch proportions, and relatively high resolution combine to deliver an experience that few, if any, screens can match. Graphics-heavy titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher III are what the G9 does best. In that context, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 delivers arguably the best visual experience on the PC today.

Best gaming monitor FAQShould I go for an IPS, TN or VA panel?We would always recommend an IPS panel over TN(opens in new tab). The clarity of image, viewing angle, and color reproduction are far superior to the cheaper technology, but you"ll often find a faster TN for cheaper. The other alternative, less expensive than IPS and better than TN, is VA tech. The colors aren"t quite so hot, but the contrast performance is impressive.Should I go for a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor?In general, FreeSync monitors will be cheaper. It used to be the case that they would only work in combination with an AMD GPU. The same went for G-Sync monitors and Nvidia GPUs. Nowadays, though, it is possible to find G-Sync compatible FreeSync monitors(opens in new tab) if you"re intent on spending less.Should I buy a HDR monitor?With a High Dynamic Range monitor, you can take advantage of the ever-growing list of games and apps that feature HDR support. It offers more vibrant colors and greater contrast but is going to drive up the price a little. Windows" native HDR function also leaves a lot to be desired, and you may find you have to fiddle in the settings to get HDR looking like it should.What aspect ratio should I go for?Today"s movies and games are best enjoyed in a widescreen format at a 16:9 aspect ratio or above. In 4:3, those cinematic moments will look stunted with black strips along the top and bottom. There are a host of minute variations on each ratio, but at the end of the day choosing between these depends entirely on your personal preference.

The speed at which the screen refreshes. For example, 144Hz means the display refreshes 144 times a second. The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear when you play games.

Graphics tech synchronizes a game"s framerate with your monitor"s refresh rate to help prevent screen tearing by syncing your GPU frame rate to the display"s maximum refresh rate. Turn V-Sync on in your games for a smoother experience, but you"ll lose information, so turn it off for fast-paced shooters (and live with the tearing). Useful if you have an older model display that can"t keep up with a new GPU.

TN PanelsTwisted-nematic is the most common (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to have poorer viewing angles and color reproduction but have higher refresh rates and response times.

Many factors determine a TV"s picture quality, including the type of TV—LCD or plasma, LED or OLED—its refresh rate, and the video or film that is displayed.

Frame rate is how often a video source can deliver a frame of visual data to a screen for display. The frame rate is a property of the video source, not the display screen. Videos are often recorded at 24fps (frames per second) or 30 fps. In the U.S., the standard frame rate for broadcasts (NTSC) is set to 30fps, but if you were to view a video at this speed, it would seem jerky and slow. This is where refresh rate becomes important.

Refresh rate is a property of a display, such as a TV screen or computer monitor. It is measured in hertz and determines how often a frame"s visual information is displayed on a screen.

To make sluggish, if standard, frame rates seem smoother, screens "refresh" a frame more frequently by creating a duplicate of some images or creating a pseudo-transition with motion blur effects. This gives the appearance of a higher frame rate when there actually isn"t one. For example, if you have a 30fps video source, a 60Hz TV will display each frame two times a second. Thirty frames per second work nicely with 60Hz because 60 is divisible by 30.

Film can complicate matters, as it is typically shot at 24fps. This means that a TV with a 60Hz refresh rate cannot evenly distribute frames, and that film which goes to video broadcast at 30 frames per second will not look the same as it did in the cinema. TVs can use an interlacing process known as 3:2 pull