Frames Per Second - How Does It Work?

[Grabbar]

I am starting to become very confused differentiating response time and refresh rate. How does this work exactly?

For example, the Acer AL1714CB has a response time of 8ms, supposedly. This means the monitor can change frames up to 125fps (1/.08). However, at its native resolution it has, say, a refresh rate of 75hz - meaning, the frame rate will never go beyond 75 fps. My question, what is the point of having a fast response time then? Do they intend you to overclock the refresh rate or something?

All I want is an LCD that will allow me to run games up to 100fps (if my video card permits), but the stats seem to conflict. What happens if you overlock an LCD with a response time of 50ms (max 20fps) to 100hz? Will it still only have 20fps? Or run 100fps with a "slow response time" - whatever the hell that means. :shrug:

Any clarification would be greatly appreciated

[apu318]

Well, I dont think there are any LCD's with a response time that slow. As for the 75hz, thats not actually what the monitor is refreshing at. LCD's had to incorperate a refresh system using hz to comply with VGA standards. The monitor could probably be set to run a bit faster at certain resolutions, but I would be careful.

[Grabbar]

I don't understand, then what is the monitor actually refreshing at? Are you implying if an LCD has a response time of 10ms, then it will indefinitely be able to support an FPS of 100? And the advertised refresh rate is just meaningless, basically?

I have been researching LCDs extensively... there's nothing else I could possibly wish to know except this. People make threads saying "Ohh this is just a great gaming LCD" and "No, this is! Omg!" but who's to say how such conclusions are being made. Most people, quite frankly, are not so sure what they're talking about. When running most games, such as Warcraft III, WoW, EQ, Diablo, etc, any FPS above 30 is fine - therefore, anyone who gets an LCD that supports 30 fps will have no problems when playing these games. For a hardcore gamer though, 30fps is pathetic. So I cannot simply go by word of mouth. I need to know this, and it appears to be no where else on the web.

[maxxoverclocker]

the response time is the actual time in ms that it takes to for a pixel to change from black to white or grey to grey (< the new standard) so while your games may only be refreshed at 75fps, your lcd will not be 'ghosting' by leaving pixels with the wrong colors due to its low ms refresh rate

[Grabbar]

I see! I've been reading about "ghosting," but never found anything conclusive. So this confirms any response time below 10ms is essentially a waste of money. Even with a 12ms response time you'd have to have a very nice video card to be annoyed.

And they're coming out with 4ms LCDs? No way you can justify that... even if you could somehow get 250fps your eyes wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Thanks for the info.

[8Ace]

Toms Hardware has some good reviews of LCD monitors and what they show is that the manufacturers pixel response time should be take with a pinch of salt as even the Vewsonic VX924 4ms can hit 30ms in certain conditions. My 17” Hercules LCD is a good monitor but it does have some ghosting issues (White pointer on a light background) but once I’m in the thick of Battlefield action I don’t see it as I’m concentrating on the game.

[rashal]

If you consider that picture movies are running at 25fps... You get my point.

60FPS in games is more than you need. I doubt you'll notice a difference between 100FPS and 60FPS stable (and I'm not even talking about the difference between 60 and 75fps).

EDIT:

PS.

It was proven that the ratings like 8ms are not the average pixel change speeds, but the fastest... Sometimes monitors that are rated 8ms can go over 20ms (dont remember what makes it do that thoug, I'm sure there is info around the net about this).

[8Ace]

I think it's to do with the voltage applied, To make to go black to white it applies max voltage (fast pixel change) but to make it go grey to grey it applies a lower voltage (slower pixel change) but viewsonic have introduced "overdrive" to improve the grey to grey responce time