Is Frame Rate Affected By Refresh Rate?

Among the many things you’ll see when choosing a display, you’ll find Hertz and Frames-Per-Second. A commonly asked question is if there is a relationship between the two. Frame rate and refresh rate are two similar concepts that are often confused or just poorly understood. You want to fully understand what you’re buying when you’re throwing your hard-earned cash at a monitor or TV, so let’s find out what these terms mean.

Here we’re explaining what frame rate and refresh rate mean, how they differ, how they interact, and other useful things you need to know.

What Is Frame Rate?

Let’s start with the spec that most people are familiar with – frame rate. This is expressed in frames-per-second, or FPS, and is often one of the most looked-for things when buyers are looking for a monitor. Frames are simple, they are just the still images that are displayed consecutively and very, very fast to create seamless movement on-screen. Movies, shows, videogames, and even the cursor on your screen as you read this, it’s all a series of frames stitched together to simulate movement. Think of it as a digital flipbook animation.

So maybe you can see why FPS is such an important spec. The fewer frames-per-second, the slower that movement is. If you’re watching your display, it’ll create an unpleasant and tedious experience as things move slower than you’d like. If you’re playing videogames, your enjoyment will suffer because everything’s moving slowly.

Frame rate isn’t just decided by your monitor/TV. It’ll also be affected by other hardware, like your CPU and GPU, along with any software that may be installed into your computer.

What Is Refresh Rate?

Then there is the refresh rate, which is how often the display updates itself. This is a part of the hardware, so it isn’t affected much by other factors like frame rate is. The higher the refresh rate of your monitor, the better. This is because all movement on-screen will look smoother, even under intense pressure from certain programs and games.

Refresh rates are measured in Hertz or Hz, and 60 Hz is generally considered the bare minimum for a modern monitor. This means that the display is redrawn 60 times in one second. Some people still experience eyestrain with 60 Hz, however, so we’d suggest a minimum of 75 Hz to be safe. For gaming, you should look for a monitor with 120 Hz or more but be aware that more Hertz will push the price of the monitor up.

Frame Rate VS Refresh Rate

So, frame rate and refresh rate sound pretty similar, right? They are but a key difference to keep in mind is that the refresh rate is associated with your monitor while the frame rate is changed by other hardware and software. Both of them impact the movement that you see on-screen.

You can have a monitor with a great refresh rate but, if your CPU and GPU are weak and can’t carry a good frame rate, then you won’t get the most out of your display. The opposite is true, too. A great CPU or GPU isn’t strong enough to turn a low refresh rate monitor into a high refresh rate monitor since it’s built into the display itself.

If the frame rate and refresh rate are out of sync, you’ll see screen tearing. This is where a refreshed screen shows multiple frames at once, so there will be a vertical or horizontal line on your display that separates two slightly disjointed frames. FreeSync, VSync, and similar tech have been developed to solve screen-tearing issues, usually by limiting the frame rate so that it’s the same as your refresh rate.

Does Hertz Affect Frames-Per-Second?

Now that we understand a little more about Hertz, FPS, and how they interact, we can finally answer the question – does Hz affect FPS? The simple answer is no, it does not.

The refresh rate has no bearing on the frame rate, they are both unique but related qualities that affect the movement you see on your display. Hertz is just the monitor’s maximum refresh rate while the FPS is how many frames the computer can generate each second. Those are separate things.

While separate, you get the best results when the frame rate matches or is higher than the refresh rate of your monitor.

High Hertz Monitors & Gaming

With that covered, let’s talk through some more practical advice. First, are high Hertz monitors worth their pricing to get smooth visuals? If you’re gaming, absolutely. You should go from 120 Hz to 144 Hz. It’ll also make everything else more responsive, too, including browsing the Internet.

You can get 240 Hz monitors too but we’d consider those overkill unless you have a very powerful computer and you want the sharpest edge possible over your competition in first-person shooters and other fast-paced games.

Does having more Hertz make you a better gamer? Well, if you’re bad then you’re just bad. That said, if all else is equal, a higher refresh rate absolutely helps. Animations are smoother and more predictable, aiming and large, sweeping movements are more fluid and enable you to stop on a dime more accurately. It’s a slight advantage but it is present. GeForce has claimed that the K/D ratios of gamers increase when they upgrade from 60 Hz to higher refresh rates.

If your frame rate is too high and it is interfering with your monitor and its refresh rate during gameplay, you may want to consider limiting the FPS. This doesn’t just stop overheating; it also provides benefits for certain games. More casual, single-player games are best with a limited frame rate, so your refresh rate can properly show the sweeping fantasy lands or distant planets of RPG games.

We wouldn’t recommend limiting your frame rate for a competitive multiplayer shooter, however, because then you’re giving up an advantage. It could be the difference between a victory or a defeat when milliseconds count.