Did you know that you could be wasting your monitor? If you have Windows 11, we are going to teach you how to change the Hz step by step. This is one of the most important settings when using Windows on a Gaming PC, or for those who have bought a monitor of 75 Hz, 120 Hz, 144 Hz or more. Stay to read if you want a more fluid experience using your PC!
Index of contents
- A bit of context: what are the Hz of a monitor?
- So you can change the Hz in Windows 11
- Possible problems and doubts that you could have when changing the Hz in Windows 11
- I notice poorer image quality
- They don’t come out as many Hz as they should
- Are there any negative side effects of changing the Hz?
- Conclusions on how to change Hz in Windows 11
A bit of context: what are the Hz of a monitor?
When we talk about Hz (hertz) on a monitor, we mean the unit by which its refresh rate is measured . This is a fundamental concept: basically, to represent movement on a screen, it must refresh or update its image frequently . If there was no soda, the image would be static.
This update is done several times per second, and that is the crux of the matter: the faster it is updated, the greater the fluidity of the movement that we see on the screen. Thus, a normal PC monitor operates at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, which means that it updates its image 60 times per second. But there are monitors on the market with much higher rates, and the 144 Hz ones are the most popular.
Given this, several doubts arise:
- To what extent is this increase in fluency noticeable?
- And, something more important for this article: why do we have to adjust the monitor Hz in Windows?
Regarding the first, the differences can be immense. Anyone who has a 60 Hz monitor next to a 144 Hz monitor (or without even comparing them) will see that the mere movement of a window is much more fluid, or the reading of moving text.
In the case of gaming, not only does it allow you to better play competitive or shooters (it allows you to aim with greater precision), but it will also make you a better experience in almost any type of game.
Many mobiles today, such as the iPhone 13 Pro (or many Android models, almost any current model) have 90 Hz or 120 Hz screens . This is because people really notice the difference when using their mobile .
Regarding the second question, it turns out that from Windows we can choose at what refresh rate the screen works, just as we can choose the screen resolution . That is why it is important to check what Hz we are working at, and change them if they are not the highest possible.
Be very careful, because we can install a 144 Hz monitor and Windows make it work by default at 60 Hz. There are many people, probably thousands of people, who have a 144 Hz monitor or more, and who are using it at 60 Hz without knowing it. So with this article you make sure you can get the most out of your monitor.
So you can change the Hz in Windows 11
Let’s get to work! For the process of changing Hz in Windows 11, we have a very intuitive menu in the Settings part. This is the Advanced Display Settings. Let’s look at two very simple methods of entering:
The first and easiest is, neither more nor less, to search for Advanced screen in the Start Menu and go to See advanced screen information.
The other option would be to go into Settings and navigate through the System -> Screen -> Advanced Screen menus , but with looking for it in Start, you get there.
You could even access it by right-clicking on a free space on the desktop, then click Show more options, then Display settings, and then scroll down and enter Advanced Screen.
Well, now that we are in the advanced screen menu, just worry about selecting the correct screen (if you have several), and choosing your refresh rate in “Choose a refresh rate” .
There, you should always choose the best possible refresh rate, the highest. Never the lowest, unless you want to suffer (just because) a lower user experience.
Then, if you are satisfied with the changes, simply keep the screen options by clicking on “Keep changes”. And it would already be!
Possible problems and doubts that you could have when changing the Hz in Windows 11
As you have seen, this is a really simple process and it almost never gives any problems. But, even so, you may have doubts about it or that the result of changing the Hz is not what you expect. Let’s look at some of the possibilities.
We recommend reading the following Windows 11 tutorials :
- How to format Windows 11
- How to install Windows 11 in Virtualbox
- What is a Windows 11 license
- How to install Windows 11 from USB
- How to improve Windows 11 performance
I notice poorer image quality
With some older monitors, increasing the Hz may result in a blurrier picture. This only happens, as we say, with very old 60Hz monitors that give the option of boosting to 75Hz. Any recently released 75Hz or higher monitors should allow you to set them up to maximum without any problem.
They don’t come out as many Hz as they should
Another possibility is that Windows does not give you the option to increase the Hz as much as what your monitor supports. That is, you could have a 144 Hz monitor, but Windows 11 only lets you switch to 120 Hz.
This is almost always due to one thing only: the cable you use. If your screen is of high resolution (see: ultrawide monitors, 4K monitors or 1440p monitors) it is possible that you are connecting it to your computer with a cable that does not support such strong data transfer. And it is that by increasing the Hz you increase the amount of data that is transferred through the cable, and all have limitations.
This is something that depends especially on the version of the cable you are using. The limitation may come from the cable itself or from the graphics card you connect the monitor to, especially if it is old.
For example, HDMI versions 1.0 and 1.1 only support 1080p 60 Hz, HDMI 1.4b supports up to 1440p 144 Hz, and HDMI 2.0 supports 4K 120 Hz. As for DisplayPort, it is usually less limited. Then:
- Never use connections like VGA or DVI for high-refresh rate monitors.
- If you use HDMI, keep in mind that your cable should be compatible with HDMI 2.0, and your graphics card not very old (released at least in 2016).
- Prioritize, whenever possible, using the DisplayPort connector,as it has fewer Hz limitations.
There are still extreme cases that require even more modern GPUs. For example, the Samsung Odyssey G9 with dual QHD resolution (5120 x 1440) and 240 Hz refresh rate, is limited to 120 Hz unless you use a graphics card from the NVIDIA RTX 20 series , AMD RX 5000, or higher.
Are there any negative side effects of changing the Hz?
Since changing the Hz means “turning up” the monitor, it is normal to think that it could have a negative effect on the durability of the monitor, for example.
The reality is that absolutely nothing is going to happen: your monitor is ready to give all the Hz it announces without any problem. In addition, it is even normal to “ overclock ” it, that is, to use techniques to make it work at an even higher refresh rate than it is supposed to support.
Conclusions on how to change Hz in Windows 11
Changing the Hz of your monitor in Windows 11 is a very simple process. Simply by entering the advanced screen settings, something we can do both from the start menu and the Settings app, and there we can choose the refresh rate of our screen with ease.
We recommend reading the best monitors on the market .
This is, in fact, the first thing to check if you buy a new gaming monitor. Many are 144Hz or higher, and when you first connect them to your computer, they may run at 60Hz by default. In other words, you would be wasting one of the most interesting and powerful features of gaming monitors.
