If you’re a gamer, you’ve likely come across the term “refresh rate” when choosing a display for your monitor, TV, or smartphone. But what is refresh rate, how does it impact your gaming experience, and what qualifies as a high refresh rate? In this article, we’ll answer these questions and explain how a higher refresh rate can enhance your overall gaming experience.
What Is Refresh Rate?
Refresh rate is the number of times a display updates its image in a single second. It is measured in hertz (Hz), which means cycles per second. For example, a 60Hz display refreshes its image 60 times per second, while a 240Hz display refreshes its image 240 times per second.
The higher the refresh rate, the smoother and more fluid the motion on the screen will look to you. This is because the display can show more frames (images) in the given time, reducing motion blur. This kind of blur is the smearing effect that occurs when fast-paced action is taking place on the screen.
What Qualifies as a High Refresh Rate?
A standard display usually has a refresh rate of 60Hz or 75Hz, which is fine for most daily activities, such as for entertainment or casually working on a notepad or anything else. However, it may not be enough for gaming, where a lot of action is happening on the screen. In other words, games that have fast paced action or competitive games that require quick reactions and precise movements work best on a high refresh rate panel.
Generally speaking, any screen that runs at 120Hz or above qualifies as a high refresh rate display since this is twice as fast as the established standard of 60Hz. However, some gamers prefer even higher refresh rates, such as 144Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz or even 500Hz on Dell’s Alienware AW2524H. These are mostly available for PC monitors, but some TVs and smartphones also support higher refresh rates, such as those from Sony, Asus, Nubia and more.
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How Does High Refresh Rate Help in Gaming?
A high refresh rate can improve your gaming experience in numerous ways. These include:
– To provide smoother visuals and reduce input lag, allowing quicker reactions and precise movements. With a high refresh rate, you can see and respond to in-game events faster, which also gives you a competitive advantage over your opponent.
– It enhances immersion and realism, making the game feel more true-to-life. A high refresh rate can create a more natural and fluid motion on the screen, which can make you feel more connected to the game world and the characters.
– It reduces eye strain and fatigue, making gaming more comfortable. A high refresh rate can minimize flickering and stuttering on the screen, which can actually cause headaches and eye irritation after a prolonged gaming session.
What Do You Need for Gaming at a High Refresh Rate?
To take advantage of high refresh rate gaming, you need a high refresh rate display and a high frame rate source.
A high refresh rate display is a monitor, a TV, or a smartphone whose display panel supports higher than 60Hz refresh rates. You can check the specifications of your device to see what refresh rates it supports. Sometimes, the devices come with a standard refresh rate set by default and need to be changed to a higher refresh rate via settings.
A high frame rate source is a computer or a console that can output higher than 60 frames per second (fps) in your preferred games. For instance, both the PS5 and Xbox Series X can output up to 4K resolution at 120Hz refresh rate.
Additionally, you may also need a compatible cable or connection that can support higher refresh rates at higher resolutions. For example, HDMI 2.0b supports up to 240Hz at 1080p resolution, while HDMI 2.1 supports up to 120Hz at 4K resolution—both the consoles we mentioned above support HDMI 2.1. In fact, a lot of TVs, both in high-end and mid-end price range, support HDMI 2.1 ports, so running games at a 120Hz refresh rate shouldn’t be an issue at all on these TVs, as long as the panel supports it.
Do check out the specifications of your source and the display on which you’ll be gaming so you can know that the panels will support a high refresh rate.
Conclusion
High refresh rate gaming is more accessible than ever before and brings some tangible benefits to multiplayer titles. While the players’ skills are still their best friend if they want to win the game they are playing, a high refresh rate monitor can certainly be considered as a useful add-on. It can enhance your gaming experience by making it smoother, more responsive, more immersive, more comfortable and most importantly, more enjoyable.
