What is the monitor frequency?
The refresh rate of a monitor or screen is one of the most important technical specifications when choosing the best monitor, especially if you want a computer suitable for video games or to play high-quality video. However, many users who are just starting out in the gaming world and already have a purchased monitor may not know at what frequency it works.
For this reason, to make your life easier, in this article we are going to show you how you can check this refresh rate, explained in a simple way and step by step.
What is the refresh rate of a monitor
When we talk about the refresh rate of a monitor, it must be said that it is a technical characteristic of screens that is very important when it comes to seeing a fluid image, without harmful effects such as ghosting, that is, those trails that some scenes with fast movements.
However, many people confuse what is the refresh or refresh rate of a monitor and what is the response time. Here I summarize it for you to be clear:
- Refresh rate: the number of times the monitor can update the image or frame. It is measured in hertz (Hz), and the higher it is, the more fluid the image you will have, which is especially important in video games. For example, a 60Hz monitor updates frames 60 times every second. For general use it doesn’t matter too much, but for gaming you should think about monitors with 90 Hz or more.
- Response time: it is the time it takes for a pixel to switch color, that is, to change from one color to another. This also affects images, as a PC monitor with a slow time could generate undesirable image trailing. This value is measured in milliseconds (ms), and should ideally have a response time of 5 ms or lower, the lower the better.
As you may know, both the response time of the monitor and the FPS rate that a GPU generates at a specific resolution have to be synchronized, as even as possible, so as not to generate other additional problems. That is to say, it is useless to have a very powerful GPU with a very high FPS rate and a monitor with a low refresh rate, or vice versa. For this, there are technologies that help with this synchronization, such as FreeSync, G-Sync, etc.
On the other hand, you can also check the response time of your screen or monitor. For that, there are several methods, since it is not something that usually comes in the software like the refresh rate.
Look at the technical specifications of your monitor model on the box, if you have it, or in its manual. If you do not have the manual on paper, you can download it from the download area or support of the brand of your monitor, looking for the model you have. They are usually in several languages and PDF format. Another option is to look at the product descriptions in the store where you bought it, or simply search for this information online.
One way to check the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows is from the operating system settings. Right click on any empty area of the desktop. From the dropdown menu select Display Settings. Within this menu you will see the possible settings. If the frequency does not appear, tap Advanced settings.
Another window opens and in the Monitor tab you will see the frequencies that you can select. The maximum that appears will be the maximum that your monitor supports.
If you are using an NVIDIA GPU on Windows, then another possibility is to do it from the NVIDIA driver software. If you have an AMD GPU, you can also use their software center (Adrenalin) to get this information.