So you've purchased a monitor that offers a 120Hz or 144Hz refresh rate and plugged it in–slap-up! Just don't stop there. Your monitor may non actually run at its advertised refresh rate until you lot change some settings and sort out your hardware.

Set Your Refresh Rate in Windows

Most importantly, yous'll want to ensure Windows is really set at the advertised refresh rate and non a lower refresh rate, similar 60Hz.

On Windows x, head to Settings > Arrangement > Display > Advanced Display Settings > Brandish Adapter Backdrop. Click the "Monitor" tab, choose your monitor'southward advertised refresh rate from the "Screen Refresh Rate" listing, and click "OK".

On Windows 7 or 8, correct-click the desktop and select "Screen Resolution". Select your monitor (if you have multiple monitors) and and so click the "Avant-garde Settings" link. Click the "Monitor" tab and cull the refresh rate from the "Screen Refresh Rate" box.

If you don't see your monitor's advertised refresh rate in this list—or if yous tin't seem to get your monitor to stay configured at the advertised refresh rate—at that place'southward more yous demand to do.

Cheque Your Cables

You can't just use any old cable and wait a high refresh rate. Some monitors may have both HDMI and DisplayPort connections, just may be limited to a 60Hz refresh rate when continued via HDMI. In this example, yous'd need to employ a DisplayPort cablevision. Check your monitor's specifications or setup guide for more information.

You don't just have to worry about the type of cable, either–you have to worry well-nigh the cable itself.

If you lot're using DisplayPort, be sure you have a properly certified cable that's built to the DisplayPort specification. A properly manufactured, certified cable congenital for DisplayPort 1.2 should work perfectly fine with DisplayPort one.4. Unfortunately, there are a lot of poor quality cables out there, and so a cable congenital and sold for DisplayPort ane.two may non work with DisplayPort 1.four. In that location are also a few Reduced Bit Rate (RBR) DisplayPort cables on the market that volition merely support 1080p—just make sure yous don't take one of those. Visit the official DisplayPort website for more than information.

If you're using HDMI, y'all'll desire to ensure you're using a "high speed" HDMI cable and not an older "standard" HDMI cable. Nonetheless, you don't need an HDMI cable with Ethernet included. Visit the official HDMI website for more information.

When in doubt, use the cable your monitor came with. It should work–in theory. Unfortunately, inexpensive, low-quality cables can also cause problems. Your monitor's included cable might not even be good enough. We recently found that the included cable with an ASUS monitor couldn't provide a stable bespeak at 144Hz. Instead, the screen would occasionally flicker and the refresh rate would drop down to 60Hz until we rebooted the reckoner. We replaced the cable with a college-quality Accell DisplayPort cable and the monitor operated fine at 144Hz without whatever flickering or refresh rate drops.

As e'er, make sure your cables are deeply connected. If you're experiencing a problem, attempt unplugging the cable and plugging it dorsum in to ensure a solid connectedness. A loose cable connection could cause bug.

More Troubleshooting Tips

RELATED: How to Update Your Graphics Drivers for Maximum Gaming Performance

Lots of other issues could cause your monitor to not function at its advertised refresh rate:

  • Your computer's GPU isn't expert enough. Integrated graphics or older discrete graphics might not support your monitor'southward refresh rate. Be sure your graphics card supports the monitor'southward resolution and refresh charge per unit.
  • You demand to update your graphics drivers. Be sure to install the latest available version from NVIDIA or AMD'due south website.
  • You're attempting to run your monitor at a lower resolution. Select your monitor'due south native resolution–it may merely back up the college refresh rate at its native resolution and be express to 60Hz at lower resolutions.
  • You're playing a game and that game has its own integrated graphics settings. You may demand to select your monitor's native resolution and the refresh rate of 120Hz or 144Hz in each game'south graphics options bill of fare or that game may use a lower refresh charge per unit.

Hopefully, later going through these steps, you'll find that your monitor runs in its butter-smooth high refresh charge per unit.

Image Credit: Lalneema