I’ve been facing some challenges with my current setup, and I’m hoping someone here can provide some advice. I’ve been using a 60Hz monitor for gaming and general use, and I’ve started noticing some limitations when it comes to fast-paced games like first-person shooters. The overall experience just doesn’t feel as smooth as I’ve heard it could be, especially when I see friends using 144Hz or higher refresh rate monitors.
I’m running a mid-range gaming PC with a GTX 1660 Ti and typically play games like Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends. Despite the decent GPU, the performance on my 60Hz monitor feels sluggish, and there’s noticeable screen tearing when I push the frame rates beyond 60 FPS. I’ve tried enabling V-Sync, but it just doesn’t seem to help much, and I’ve read that G-Sync or FreeSync might improve things. The issue is, my current 60Hz monitor doesn’t support either of these technologies.
So, here are my questions for the community:
Is it worth upgrading from a 60Hz monitor to something with a higher refresh rate (like 144Hz) for gaming? I’m not sure if it’ll be a night-and-day difference for my setup.
Would switching to a 144Hz monitor make my gaming experience smoother and reduce screen tearing? Or should I consider upgrading other components first (e.g., GPU)?
Has anyone made the leap from 60Hz to a higher refresh rate monitor, and what was the improvement like? I’m particularly interested in how noticeable the change is in fast-paced shooters.
Since you’re playing multiplayer fps games, I would say yes. Wendell enjoys Pixio monitors for their good panels and more affordable pricing. Personally, I play games at 60, but I’m not doing anything competitive. I’m not sure about night and day, but 60hz to 120hz is definitely noticeable visually when using a PC.
You can always go to pcpartpicker for instance and look at price ranges for monitors. You can sort by resolution, refrshrate, gync capabilities, etc.
Since your monitor is 60fps, you can’t go above this and not experience screen tearing without some sort of syncing utility. Vsync kinda sucks. I would question: is your 1660 ti capable of getting 144hz in the games/setttings you’re playing? Download Intel Presentmon for instance, run warzone and apex with v sync off, and see if you can even get to the ~144hz on average you’re hoping for. If your GPU can keep up with what you’re wanting, then I would go with the monitor upgrade.
I can’t speak much on this, but it is the “standard” for a reason to use higher fps displays. I can tell a difference between 60 and 120hz when I’m using a monitor. Dragging the windows around you can tell it’s smoother at 120hz.
Personal anecdotes, having recently jumped from a 60hz panel to a 240hz panel:
There is definitely a benefit in motion clarity that is noticeable in going above 60hz. Having done A->B testing on the various refresh rates my monitor supports (60, 120, 144, 165, 240) I can’t personally tell a significant difference between 165 and 240 though. If I knew then what I knew now, I’dve just gotten a 144-165hz panel and saved the money vs. the 240hz.
Smoother yes, screen tearing is going to be more related to vsync/freesync/g-sync though. As far as GPU upgrades go, if you would be running at the same resolution on the new monitor, try and keep an eye on your framerate in an intense scene. Ideally you’d want it to still be above 60 fps to get the benefit of the new monitor with whichever variable refresh rate tech it’s using. If it can’t do that, then it’d be time to look at a GPU upgrade.
I don’t play pvp shooters anymore, but at least for the noodling around in helldivers 2 and FFXIV it’s made the chaotic moments far less stressful. It’s weird how much extra mental load the new panel’s smoothness took off of me trying to process the busy scenes.
As far as specific monitors go, the ones I picked up were a pair of PIxio 165hz panels (PX277 Pro), and a LG 240hz panel (27GR83Q-B). One of the Pixios had a stuck pixel out of the box, but it doesn’t deeply bother me (enough to bother with the warranty claim) – it’s a panel I use for text / docs in portrait mode. Hindsight 20/20 though I’dve skipped on the LG panel - the games I play wont get near 240 fps due to bottlenecks, optimization issues, or just my preference in graphics quality settings. Plus, trying to hit that effectively uncapped FPS target makes my gpu coil whine terribly in the process. Cue ‘future proofing’ arguments here Live, and learn.
Turn vsync on and check MSI afterburner’s GPU usage overlay or use GPU-Z and switch tasks to check the GPU-Z utilization graph to see how much GPU horsepower you have in reserve. Depending on your settings there mat not be much un-utilized performance to really benefit from moving to a higher refresh rate monitor.
Personally I do better with a solid 60fps than high variable rates and will run 60Hz with V-sync despite being able to run higher rates. Both Apex and Warzone servers only run a 20-24Hz tick rate so you’ll really just be seeing more interpolation with a higher refresh. It’s ping and input latency that really matter and a higher refresh rate is often only beneficial to the extent that improves these.
If you’re looking for an edge consider following ping optimization guides for each game. If your local network settings aren’t tip top that can be a much larger setback than 60 vs 60+ fps. Also check the polling rate on your mouse.
I’ve been using an Asus ProArt for the past decade and just recently decided to switch to a high refresh rate monitor for gaming. After seeing how much better my laptop with an 120hz ips monitor looks in game it really has convinced me. While the ProArt is great for color accuracy, the motion clarity is better in videos and even moving the mouse or scrolling text is so much smoother on my laptop.
In the $200-$300 price range are some pretty decent fast IPS monitors depending on what you are looking for. I chose IPS as it has decent color accuracy while also having some of the better viewing angles. A lot of the cheaper high refresh panels will use VA, which isn’t bad but does have worse viewing angles. Each has their pros and cons with OLED usually beating irl.
Also a 1660 ti can do warzone on low/medium settings close to 60 fps but I would look into upgrading if you are trying to go higher.
If your current machine can push +60fps reliably in most situations, then yes it can be worth it. I’m also on an old fixed 60hz monitor and do agree that for certain games going above 60fps “feels” great. Response times are noticeably better. I would say up to 144hz, then you start not noticing as much.
All my games I play unsynced. Fortunately for me I use Linux and AMD open source drivers, where mesa has this nifty “mailbox” vsync option that lets you play with uncapped fps while keeping vsync. I think nvidia drivers have something similar with “fast sync”, so you may want to try that if you don’t feel too eager to swap monitors.
If you do opt for a new monitor, currently there are many SDR gaming med-high refresh rate monitors out there at good prices. If you want a proper GSYNC certified monitor it may be a bit more expensive.
I upgraded from 60 to 144 back in 2019. There was immediate improvement but it didn’t last as long. I started at around 220ms reaction time on 60 and went down to about 170ms at my peak on 144Hz. It almost felt like I fell back to same level few weeks later if you will, but that might be for different reasons. It does feel really nice though!
Initially you might perceive some of the higher refresh rate as blur while you move or turn around but that feeling goes away quickly.
I only notice screen tearing in games that go above the refresh rate, which in my case are very few games and not really that big of a deal.
Live, and learn.