Key Takeaways
- Refresh charge is necessary for avid gamers because it determines how shortly a monitor can show new pictures, and better refresh charges might provide you with a bonus in aggressive video games.
- If in case you have a recreation operating at a excessive body charge however a low refresh charge monitor, you are limiting your gaming expertise and never absolutely benefiting out of your high-end PC.
- Checking and adjusting your monitor’s refresh charge settings could be completed by means of Home windows show settings or Nvidia’s management panel, and maximising efficiency can contain enabling applied sciences like G-Sync or FreeSync and addressing system latency.
It is all effectively and good having a beastly gaming PC, however plenty of that efficiency is wasted in the event you’re not getting probably the most out of your monitor. In the event you’ve had your monitor for some time you then won’t know its precise specs otherwise you is likely to be questioning what its refresh charge is or how you discover out.
Maybe you are not even positive why refresh charge issues and are simply fortunately gaming away with default settings with no second thought. Effectively, we’re right here to assist with the whole lot you could possibly probably have to learn about refresh charges, easy methods to change them, and why they’re so necessary.
What’s a refresh charge?
At a primary degree, the refresh charge is about how shortly your monitor can show a brand new picture. Once you’re gaming, the visuals from the sport are despatched out of your gaming PC (or console) to your monitor. Because the scene modifications, that should change on the display too.
A better refresh charge means the monitor is ready to shortly change and present what’s subsequent. That is necessary if you’re taking part in fast-paced fashionable video games, the place any slowdown in your system or latency can lead to you shedding a recreation or lacking a shot you must have in any other case gained.
Primary screens normally have a refresh charge of round 60Hz, which suggests they’ll show 60 pictures, or frames, per second. Dearer gaming screens could have 120Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz or increased. Nonetheless, simply shopping for a type of screens does not imply it will run at that refresh charge as normal. You should change some settings in Home windows first.

What’s Nvidia Reflex? And the way can it make you a greater gamer?
Again when Nvidia unveiled its 3000 sequence RTX GPUs, it additionally introduced Nvidia Reflex. However what’s it? And do you have to use it?
Why does the refresh charge matter?
You in all probability already know that in terms of gaming, the upper the FPS, the higher.
In case your gaming PC can run video games with excessive FPS (frames per second) you then’ll possible have a smoother expertise. However in case you have a excessive FPS recreation and are solely operating a low refresh charge monitor you then’re lacking out as you are primarily making a bottleneck.
In the event you’ve spent massive cash on a high-end PC with an honest fashionable graphics card that is pumping out a whole bunch of frames per second however you then’re limiting your self to 60Hz refresh charge you then’re not feeling the advantages.

12 straightforward tricks to get extra FPS and higher efficiency in your gaming PC
So you have bought your self a shiny new gaming PC and managed to seize a brand new graphics card, however have you learnt easy methods to profit from it?
The way to examine your monitor’s refresh charge
The excellent news is that it is pretty straightforward to examine your monitor’s refresh charge. Typically you may discover there are {hardware} settings in your monitor that you will have to entry by way of the menus however for probably the most half, you will discover out what your refresh charge is instantly from Home windows.
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First, you must open your Home windows show settings:
- Proper-click in your desktop and click on Show settings
- Scroll down till you see Superior show settings
- Then scroll all the way down to Refresh charge
This can show the refresh charge your monitor and pc are presently set to. It normally defaults to 60Hz, even when your monitor technically has a better refresh charge.
In the event you see a drop-down right here click on it and see if there are another choices for refresh charge. In case your monitor is able to extra then you must have the ability to choose a better charge from right here too. For instance, you may have the ability to select from 120Hz or 240Hz choices.
It is value noting that some screens require sure cables to run at their most refresh charge. Relying in your monitor specs it’s possible you’ll want both a DisplayPort cable or HDMI cable for the very best outcomes. Greater-spec cables like HDMI 2.1 (for instance) can assist increased refresh charges in some situations. But it surely relies on your PC and the monitor specs.
In the event you discover you possibly can’t entry the show settings by the tactic above don’t be concerned as there are different choices.
You can even entry refresh charge settings by way of Nvidia’s management panel:
- Proper-click in your desktop and click on the Nvidia Management panel
- Underneath Show discover the choice for Change decision
- From there click on the Refresh charge drop-down and choose the very best potential setting
- Word in Home windows 11 you might have to click on Present extra choices to see the Nvidia management panel within the menu in step one
Alternatively:
- Press Home windows key + I in your keyboard to launch Settings
- Click on Show settings
- Scroll all the way down to Superior show settings and click on that
- Strive the drop-down for Select a refresh charge and choose no matter is the very best
What’s your present refresh charge?
There is a neat on-line software you should utilize to examine your present refresh charge with out even clicking settings in Home windows. All you need to do is go to this web site, and it ought to present your refresh charge immediately.
The draw back to this technique is that it solely reveals you your present refresh charge, not the utmost setting, and you may’t use it to vary your refresh charge.
Activate G-Sync or FreeSync
In case you are profiting from your refresh charge you then’ll additionally wish to examine to ensure you are getting the very best efficiency too.
Many fashionable screens will assist both Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync. This can be a expertise that ensures that the refresh charges of your monitor match your GPU. This reduces display tearing issues, stuttering and extra – making certain a easy gaming expertise and the very best outcomes out of your gear.
We have written about easy methods to allow G-Sync in your monitor, so be sure you head over and browse that earlier than you keep on.

What is the distinction between NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync?
Right here is the whole lot you must learn about NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync adaptive sync expertise.
What about latency?
In the event you’re contemplating your refresh charge, you may also wish to take into consideration your system latency. Successfully, that is how lengthy it takes for the display to show the knowledge that is coming out of your PC, versus how briskly the show can change what it’s presently displaying.
If in case you have a quick refresh charge monitor you then additionally wish to ensure you have the least quantity of latency so you possibly can keep forward of the competitors in on-line video games. There are numerous issues you are able to do about latency together with understanding how a lot latency you’ve gotten in your gaming PC and decreasing it.
In the event you use an Nvidia GPU, then Nvidia Reflex is a helpful software to show to for this and we have written an in depth information on it which you can try right here. AMD has an analogous product, known as Radeon Anti-Lagm which you’ll be able to be taught extra about right here.