What Are Monitor Refresh Rates?

One of the key specifications when looking for a monitor, whether it's for content or gaming, is its refresh rate. A monitor's refresh-rate is expressed in Hertz (Hz), which will indicate how many times per second a screen will refresh itself.

Modern consumer monitors support 60 Hz as a minimum, meaning that the screen will refresh itself 60 times in one second, allowing for smooth playback of most media that would commonly be found online.

For gaming, 60 Hz is a considered to be good start, and while it may be acceptable for most gaming experiences, more competitive titles may benefit from a monitor and system that can support higher refresh rates such as 165 Hz or even 240 Hz.

To ensure that your monitor is running at its highest supported refresh rate. Go to the driver controls for your graphics card and check the resolution settings. Here, you'll be able to assign a resolution (we suggest running at native) and applying the highest refresh rate supported. Note that you may need to also enable the higher refresh rate setting through your monitor's OSD settings.