60Hz Vs 144Hz Vs 240Hz Gaming Monitors: What’s The Difference?

Last updated on August 11th, 2022 at 12:59 pm

When it comes to your computer’s performance a good monitor is something to consider.

With so many different choices to choose from and various price ranges it can be hard to pick out the right one for you.

How good someone’s Pc runs and what games they play, will determine how high of a refresh rate monitor they should buy. With casual games, a 60Hz monitor will provide the user with better graphics and optimal performance. Competitive FPS games will benefit from a higher refresh rate like 144Hz or 240Hz and will provide an advantage in game.

How Does a High Refresh Rate Monitor Work?

A higher refresh rate monitor determines how many times your monitor screen will refresh every second. Therefore, a 60Hz monitor will refresh the screen 60 times per second, while a 144Hz monitor will refresh its screen 144 times. This allows for a slight advantage in competitive games such as CS:GO, League of Legends, and Valorant.

Higher refresh monitors provide smoother animation, less motion blur, less ghosting, and lower latency. However, with a higher refresh rate monitor may only be available in lower resolutions and screen quality. Also, there can be a very steep price gap from a low refresh monitor to a high refresh monitor.

60Hz vs 144Hz Monitor

Although upgrading your 60Hz monitor to something like a 144Hz monitor may seem like the right thing to do, there are a few things that you should keep in mind before doing so.

There is a saying that goes: “once you go to 144Hz you will never go back.” This is very true and I completely agree with this quote. Once you experience a high refresh rate monitor you will start to notice what you’ve been missing out on. 

The jump from 60Hz to 144Hz is pretty noticeable, even for the novice gamer. This is because you will have a smoother experience from your monitor refreshing more than twice as fast as it used to. Not only that but since your monitor is refreshing faster it will also have lower latency. This basically means you will experience less delay in between frames because your monitor is displaying more frames in the same amount of time.

With this in mind if you ever decide to go back to a 60Hz monitor in the future. Then, you will notice the delay, and how choppy 60Hz really is. Thus, it may hurt your experience, and you will most likely be stuck with higher refresh rate monitors for the rest of your life.

Now, this might not seem bad, especially with the way technology is upgrading because 60Hz monitors are starting to become more last-gen hardware.

You also, have to keep in mind the price and hardware difference. If you are planning to buy a 144Hz monitor it may cost you a bit more than your typical 60Hz. Not only that, but more budget 144Hz monitors won’t have the best quality and color options. That being said if you are okay with gaming at 1080p at 144Hz, then go for it.

Another factor that comes into play is your computer itself. If the hardware in your computer is not up to par with the refresh rate of your monitor. Then, you should instead spend that money on a better CPU or GPU to improve your FPS because if you are running 60FPS on a 144Hz monitor. You will only be using 60Hz of your monitor, or worse, your monitor begins to stutter.

This happens when your graphics card doesn’t produce enough frames for your monitor to render, which causes your monitor to repeat the same frame twice. Of course, this is fairly uncommon, but it can still happen.

That being said, 144FPS on a 60Hz display is better than 60FPS on a 60Hz display

144Hz vs 240Hz Monitor

The jump from a 144Hz monitor to a 240Hz monitor is not as drastic as the jump from 60Hz to 144Hz. Even still this does make somewhat of a difference, especially for competitive gamers.

Although, there is a difference in performance between 144Hz and 240Hz monitors. If you already have a 144Hz monitor. Then, it is not really worth the upgrade as of right now. This is due to the price of 240Hz monitors are quite expensive.

With this in mind, if your computer can run games smoothly at over 240FPS, it can be the experience of having a 240Hz refresh rate monitor. Even if the performance jump isn’t that much compared to previous monitors.

The price of a 240Hz monitor can range anywhere from $300 to $1000, and most “affordable” 240Hz monitors provide performance over quality. This means that many 240Hz displays will only be able to perform at 1080p unless you want to pay a premium for premium quality, which in that case you should stick with a 144Hz monitor until prices go down.

240Hz monitors are not for everyone, but if you are a competitive gamer this may be up your alley. These monitors were made to give players the best edge you can get in a competitive game, and are compatible with most high-end computer builds that can support up to 240FPS in most games.

What Are The Advantages of High Refresh Rate Monitors

Reduces The Ghosting Effect

At lower FPS and refresh rates, ghosting may start to happen. Ghosting happens when you can see multiple images of the same thing. This can be very distracting for certain people and can make people more inaccurate due to the skew in the player models.

Check out: “The Difference Between 30 FPS and 60 FPS When Gaming”

When you have a higher FPS and refresh rate you will see little to no ghosting, which will give you a more stable and accurate image of what is going on in the game.

Reduces Motion Blur

A Higher Refresh rate causes less motion blur because there are more images to make the movement appear more clear.

When the refresh rate is low, essentially, the image has to move to the same place in the same amount of time, but with fewer moves. This makes the image look more blurry because it is making bigger movements in a short amount of time.

Lower Latency

Probably the most important part when buying a high refresh rate monitor is lower latency because it allows you to see and react faster to your target, which gives you a big advantage.

The reason for this is because the faster your display refreshes the more up-to-date your visual is with the game. Thus, the more accurate you will be and the more time you have to react to your opponent.

What’s The Difference Between Refresh Rate and FPS?

Refresh rate and FPS are often used interchangeably but don’t get the wrong idea because even though they are similar these two terms are very different.

The term FPS means Frames Per Second and is the most important part of making your computer run smoothly.

FPS is determined by the number of still images generated by your graphics card every second. Each frame is an image and the more images there are the smoother your game will look.

On the other hand, the refresh rate determines how fast your monitor can refresh those images on the screen.

Thus, the higher your FPS and the higher your refresh rate is, the smoother your game will be.

When your frame rate is higher than your refresh rate, your screen might show signs of tearing. If this happens there is nothing to worry about.

Many people think that screen tearing is because their GPU or monitor is breaking when in reality it is not.

Screen tearing happens when your FPS overpowers your refresh rate and your refresh rate can no longer keep up. This will cause your monitor to refresh 2 frames at the same time trying to keep up. When this happens you will see a split in your screen and that’s what screen tearing looks like.

On the other hand, you have screen stuttering, which is the opposite of screen tearing. This is when your monitor has a higher refresh rate than your computer’s FPS.

For example, if you have a 144Hz monitor, but your computer can only run certain games at 60FPS. Your screen will look like it is pausing or stuttering, due to your monitor refreshing the same frame twice because the next frame for that scene has not been made yet.

Many modern-day monitors have the technology to reduce the effects of screen stuttering and screen tearing. This will improve the smoothness and quality of your game but may take some performance away.

To learn more check out: “What is The Difference Between Refresh Rate and FPS”

What is G-Sync and FreeSync

G-Sync and FreeSync are essentially the same things just one is made by Nvidia and the other is made by AMD. With this feature, you will be able to stop screen tearing and stuttering by syncing up your monitor to your computer completely.

These two monitor features are made to provide the smoothest gaming experience possible by syncing your fps to your refresh rate.

Therefore, if your computer is running at 50 FPS your monitor will go down to a 50hHz refresh rate. While if your monitor is running at 60Hz your FPS will drop down to 60FPS. This will keep your game as smooth as possible because both these variables are in sync.

However, this might not benefit competitive gamers because no matter what the higher your FPS the better your game performance will be. This is because people would rather have a little bit of tearing than have a slower smoother game.

Not only that but there is some speculation that G-Sync and FreeSync cause a bit of input lag to your computer which can be a negative effect in multiplayer games, where you need to take every advantage you can get.

Should You Buy a 60Hz, 144Hz, or 240Hz Monitor: Conclusion

All in all, buying the right monitor depends on what games and activities you are planning on doing on your computer.

For more casual players who are looking to get the best graphics and smooth gameplay, I would recommend you purchase a 60Hz monitor because you can buy a high-quality 60Hz monitor for a really good price compared to higher refresh rate monitors.

If you are like most people and play a variety of different games. I would strongly suggest buying a 144Hz monitor because it will give you a smooth experience in all games, and give you an advantage in those competitive shooters.

Finally, for all the competitive gamers, in order to get the upper edge in your game, a 240Hz monitor should do the trick. Although you aren’t getting the best quality most pros and top players sacrifice quality for performance anyways, and you don’t want to fall behind if you are trying to make it to the top.