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 equipment suitable for video games or for playing 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.
Index of contents
- What is the refresh rate of a monitor
- How to know the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows
- From the NVIDIA Control Panel
- How to see the refresh rate in Radeon Settings
- How to know the refresh rate of the monitor in Linux
- How to know the refresh rate of the monitor on Mac
You may be interested in knowing:
- How to choose the right monitor for your PC
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 change 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.
More information about what FPS (Frames Per Second) are here .
I have to say that to check what the maximum FPS rate of your GPU is, you will have to look for details for a specific resolution in our reviews or benchmarks to know the approximate value, although this may change depending on the configuration you have CPU-RAM-GPU- HDD/SSD etc Therefore, it is more difficult to know.
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. These methods are:
- 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.
Now, as for how to know the refresh rate of the monitor if you don’t have the manuals, box, or you don’t remember what refresh rate it has or which one it is using at the moment, I will explain it to you in the following sections…
How to know the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows
One way to check the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows is from the operating system settings. To do this, the steps to follow are:
- 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.
From the NVIDIA Control Panel
If you are using an NVIDIA GPU on Windows, then another possibility is to do it from the NVIDIA control software . To do this, the steps are:
- Open the NVIDIA Control Panel.
- Then go to the Screen section that appears on the left.
- Click on the sub-menu called Change resolution.
- Next to the resolution, you’ll see a dropdown menu to change the refresh rate. There you can choose the one you want, up to the maximum supported by your monitor or screen.
How to see the refresh rate in Radeon Settings
If you have an AMD GPU , you can also use their software center (Adrenalin) to get this information. The steps in this case are:
- Open the Radeon Settings app.
- Go to the Display tab.
- There you will see a drop-down menu to adjust the value of the refresh rate or check the maximum value supported by your monitor.
You can also use third-party programs such as Hardinfo, AIDA64, or Windows Device Manager itself, where there is usually technical information about the monitor or image adapter.
How to know the refresh rate of the monitor in Linux
In your GNU/Linux distro you can also check the refresh rate of your monitor and modify it easily. To do this, you can follow these steps:
- Right-click on a blank space on your desktop.
- In the dropdown menu go to Display settings.
- There you will see the parameters that you can adjust, including a drop-down menu with the refresh rate.
If you don’t want to use the graphical interface, you can also run some helpful commands from the terminal. For example:
- First run this command in the terminal to see what the available refresh rates and resolutions or modes are:
xrandr
- Afterwards, you can change the resolution and refresh rate or just the refresh rate, for example:
xrandr -s 1440×900 -r 75
xrandr -r 75
How to know the refresh rate of the monitor on Mac
Depending on the type of Mac and the panel technology, you can count on one or other different refresh rates. To check what they are or change them, you can follow these simple steps from macOS :
- Select the Apple menu.
- Go to System Settings or System Preferences.
- Then click on the Screens menu on the left.
- Click the dropdown menu labeled Refresh rate. There you can see the maximum frequency or choose the desired one…