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What refresh rate actually changes, and how to pair it sensibly with your graphics card and resolution.
Updated June 6, 2026
Refresh rate, expressed in hertz (Hz), indicates how many times per second a monitor displays a new image. A 60 Hz monitor refreshes the image 60 times a second, a 144 Hz one does it 144 times. The higher this number, the smoother on-screen motion appears, and the shorter the delay between an action you make and its appearance on screen. This gain is especially noticeable in fast-paced games — FPS, fighting games, racing — where every millisecond counts for spotting an opponent or reacting in time.
This is the most noticeable change across the whole range of available refresh rates. Going from 60 to 144 Hz more than halves the time between two displayed frames, making fast motion noticeably crisper and significantly reducing motion blur. Beyond 144 Hz, gains still exist (165 Hz, 240 Hz, even 360 Hz) but become more subtle to the human eye — they mainly benefit highly trained competitive players and titles whose frame rate is high enough to actually take advantage of that refresh rate.
A 240 Hz monitor is pointless if your graphics card only produces 80 frames per second: the screen will then show at best 80 frames, not 240. It's therefore essential to match your monitor's refresh rate with the real-world power of your setup in the games you actually play. Adaptive sync technologies (G-Sync, FreeSync) help avoid screen tearing when the frame rate varies, and are worth prioritising if your graphics card struggles to consistently hit the monitor's maximum refresh rate.
The higher the resolution (1440p, 4K), the more graphics power is needed to reach a high frame rate — so there's a trade-off between image sharpness and smoothness. Many competitive players favour Full HD paired with a very high refresh rate to maximise smoothness, while fans of narrative or simulation games often prefer higher resolution over a more modest refresh rate. Screen size and viewing distance also matter: a monitor that's too large for your desk can hurt visual comfort, regardless of its refresh rate.
We compare monitors on their real-world refresh rate, response time, panel type (TN, IPS, VA) and how consistent these technical characteristics are with their price. We rely on user reviews and independent tests to spot models whose advertised specs match the real-world experience. Discover our up-to-date selection on the Gaming Monitors page.