How important is refresh rate for an LED/LCD gaming monitor??

compu_dude

I'm in the market for a new monitor for gaming, looking for a bargain, I'm not gona spend more than €200. I've been doing a bit of research online and I still cannot find a clear answer to this question......just how important is the refresh rate when considering a monitor for gaming. I mean CRTs are dead and gone so is refresh rate still an issue for LED/LCD monitors? Most monitors on the market are 1920 x 1080 at 60Hz. With a fast response time am I going to notice a 120Hz monitor with a slower response time performing better? I've seen ambiguous statements like this a few times when browsing product specs........'the monitor is capable of reaching 120Hz for both eyes when rendering 3D images in order to enhance the fluidity of 3D image playback'. Does this mean the refresh rate in 2D is lower? Personally I don't care about 3D and I don't want to get a full HD 120Hz monitor if it doesn't perform as such in 2D. Can anybody clear this up for me?

You need to understand the difference between refresh rate and response time.

Refresh rate is the rate at which the monitor attempts to draw new frames.

Response time is how quickly the actual pixels can change. Different transitions (grey-to-grey, black-white-black, etc) take different lengths of time so normally you will measure some important transitions and take an average.

Clearly there is no point in running at 120Hz (new frame every 8ms) on a panel with 12ms. The pixels never actually get to the intended state before the next frame is sent. It results in blurry motion. Ideally you want an average response of quite a bit less than your frame time.

Unfortunately at the moment in the LCD sector only TN panels can do justice to 120Hz gaming. And I don't think the panels in your budget range are good enough even. Not to mention you will need a GPU good enough to render at that framerate.

compu_dude

Deleted User wrote: »

You need to understand the difference between refresh rate and response time.

Refresh rate is the rate at which the monitor attempts to draw new frames.

Response time is how quickly the actual pixels can change. Different transitions (grey-to-grey, black-white-black, etc) take different lengths of time so normally you will measure some important transitions and take an average.

Clearly there is no point in running at 120Hz (new frame every 8ms) on a panel with 12ms. The pixels never actually get to the intended state before the next frame is sent. It results in blurry motion. Ideally you want an average response of quite a bit less than your frame time.

Unfortunately at the moment in the LCD sector only TN panels can do justice to 120Hz gaming. And I don't think the panels in your budget range are good enough even. Not to mention you will need a GPU good enough to render at that framerate.

I do understand the difference. Normally I will see a refresh rate of 60Hz coupled with a response time as fast as 2ms but with a higher refresh rate of 120Hz I more often see a corresponding response time of maybe 5ms. That's just typical but obviously they vary.

I have another monitor that I got for under 200 which is full hd 3d 120hz, it's a really good monitor so it is very possible to get them in that price range, you just have to do your research. While I was looking for a new one for another computer I just really started to wonder if it would benefit from the same quality monitor, I mean can your eyes really notice the increased refresh rate in 2d.

Eboggles

compu_dude wrote: »

I mean can your eyes really notice the increased refresh rate in 2d.

Yes, yes they can.

dwighet

they can indeed

ED E

Linus did a video on the subject, average joe has a hard time noticing it but mr hardcore fps player will definitely see the improvement.