Refresh rates, what do they do? (Thanks for the new forum!)

[OC Noob]

I know they are supose to reduce flickering, but I can't tell the difference btween 60, 75 and 85 hz.

Is it just me or is my envision monitor too crappy to display the refresh rates it says it can do properly?


The monitor is one of the most important things to me now and I will be getting a much better one, but for now I'm stuck with this one.

[ManOman]

I think it depends on personal preference, but I believe a higher refresh rate is supposed to ease eye strain (please correct me if I'm wrong) :)

[blackhabit]

the only thing i have noticed is if you are looking through a camera you can see the refresher rates flicker at what ever speeds you set them at, and if you are using 60hz you probably will get a headache after awhile. higher is better, from what i know.

[IFMU]

Higher is supposed to cause less eye strain and in turn less headaches etc etc.
One thing Ive noticed however, is that if I take mine over 72 for any length of time, I will get a migraine like no other. (When I get migraines, I have to take at least 4 ~ 500milligram Tylenol's.)

[skab]

On my compaq monitor if you drop the refresh rate to 65 or less you can actually see the flicker on the outside edges. About the same as a floruesent light.

[OC Noob]

Originally posted by IFMU
Higher is supposed to cause less eye strain and in turn less headaches etc etc.
One thing Ive noticed however, is that if I take mine over 72 for any length of time, I will get a migraine like no other. (When I get migraines, I have to take at least 4 ~ 500milligram Tylenol's.)


You should take 4 200 mg Ibuprofen. It is way better then Tylenol for some people.


So I guess if 60 doesn't bother me then I'll just leave it at that, since I don't see any flickering.

[ToledoSteel]

it is the number of time per second that the screen re-writes itself. So 60hz is 60x per second. I can't view a screen less than 75 or I get a bad headache. I leave all my monitors at 100hz, it seems crystal clear that way. Some people don't notice a difference, others do. It is common though for people to think their monitor is going bad because it gives them a headache, when all they need is to adjust the refresh rate.

[Lord_MiL]

Here's a question I've always had. If you are playing a game at 100fps and you have your monitor at 75Hz refresh rate, is it actually displaying all 100 frames or is your FPS limited by your refresh rate?

[IceMan3928]

if your video card is set vertical sync with the monitor then it will automatically cap your fps at whatever you moniters refresh rate is, if vsync is disabled then the video card will output however many fps it can and the ones that cant be displayed are just dropped by the monitor, this causes screen "tearing"

[ManOman]

Originally posted by IceMan3928
if your video card is set vertical sync with the monitor then it will automatically cap your fps at whatever you moniters refresh rate is, if vsync is disabled then the video card will output however many fps it can and the ones that cant be displayed are just dropped by the monitor, this causes screen "tearing"

I've always wondered what vsync was for, but I never really needed to know enough to actually research it.
Thanks for the answer Iceman :)

[IceMan3928]

I found out the hard way, getting horrible scores everytime i ran 3dmark, lol

[steve75382]

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[steve75382]

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[Demont]

I don't have a problem with 60, but that is what I am used to I guess. There is no visible flickering or anything, and I never have headaches or get eyestrain... My ass starts to hurt long before that would ever happen.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by steve75382
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One Two hit the shoe, Three four, you'll never see the Classified Door

[ToledoSteel]

Originally posted by Demont
I don't have a problem with 60, but that is what I am used to I guess. There is no visible flickering or anything, and I never have headaches or get eyestrain... My ass starts to hurt long before that would ever happen.

I have to leave mine at 100, but I think there is electrical interfence from something. Civ3 resets it to 60 everytime, I have to go into setings while the game is running and change it back, or my eyes hurt bad.

[Diggrr]

If you have incandescent lighting (hot filament bulbs) then about any refresh you're comfy with would work fine.
If you have flourescent lighting, you'll need to up the refresh rate to keep your monitor from being in 'sync' with the flourescent's pulsing light (at 60 htz USA, 50 for some overseas).

Ever see someone's monitor on television? The only one's that don't flicker are those that take a moment to set it at a non-multiple of the camera's frame rate. For instance, if the camera's shooting at 30 frames per second, you'd see horrid black bands with it set at 60, while 75 would cure it.
Kind of neat to watch TechTV showing gaming programmers with their screens set to 60 htz. But you can always see smooth video on the one's that are showing cgi work (where high refresh is a must).

I set mine to 75 so that it doesn't sync up with my power. If I had 50htz power like some of you, I'd set it at 85 because 75 would flicker on every 3rd electrical pulse, still causeing headaches. It also helps to turn down the brightness a tad bit, I do. It is quite a powerfull light you're staring into :rolleyes: .

[a c i d.f l y]

...I've seen distortion on some monitors around the edge of the cathode ray tube when set at 60hz... iono if its a cheesy tube, or if the display is going out, or if its just a poor signal from the video card....

..mine does that when I have it at any setting because it is so old... at least it finally stopped 'faking' turning on (the green light would be on, but no image would show up, so I'd have to turn it off, then back on multiple times to get the image)...

-Frank

[ozzlo]

Originally posted by Silversinksam



One Two hit the shoe, Three four, you'll never see the Classified Door


lol... go get em silversink


anyways I leave my monitor at 85 because the geometry settings are way outta wack on the other refresh rates and i'm too lazy to fine tune another refresh rate to the perfect geometric positions.

It looks really funny when the computer is booting and the bios is displaying its low resolution all outta wack.

[Yosk]

I leave mine at 60 , I never notice anything . maybe I will try 85 sounds fun.!

[penquissciguy]

Originally posted by Diggrr
If you have incandescent lighting (hot filament bulbs) then about any refresh you're comfy with would work fine.
If you have flourescent lighting, you'll need to up the refresh rate to keep your monitor from being in 'sync' with the flourescent's pulsing light (at 60 htz USA, 50 for some overseas).

Ever see someone's monitor on television? The only one's that don't flicker are those that take a moment to set it at a non-multiple of the camera's frame rate. For instance, if the camera's shooting at 30 frames per second, you'd see horrid black bands with it set at 60, while 75 would cure it.
Kind of neat to watch TechTV showing gaming programmers with their screens set to 60 htz. But you can always see smooth video on the one's that are showing cgi work (where high refresh is a must).

I set mine to 75 so that it doesn't sync up with my power. If I had 50htz power like some of you, I'd set it at 85 because 75 would flicker on every 3rd electrical pulse, still causeing headaches. It also helps to turn down the brightness a tad bit, I do. It is quite a powerfull light you're staring into :rolleyes: .

Good description of flicker. I have a fluorescent work light over my computer both at home and at work and it is painfully apparent if the refresh rate syncs with the AC. I have a 19" Envision monitor at home and it has no problems with 85 Hz at 1024x768 in either Linux or Win98.