Is 240Hz monitor worth it?

[Joni_78]

My son said he would like to have a 240Hz monitor. Is there any real difference between for example 144Hz and 240Hz? I'm happy with 60Hz myself and I don't really know anything about these anymore. Wouldn't your eyes be a bottleneck with 240 images per second btw?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Any reason he needs the extra umph? I think he's talking about something more than just that, imo.

Depends what kind of Graphic card he has, too. Need more info.

[Joni_78]

On 24/11/2023 at 21:05, Mindovermaster said:

Any reason he needs the extra umph? I think he's talking about something more than just that, imo.

Depends what kind of Graphic card he has, too. Need more info.

His current monitor is 60Hz and he thinks it would give some advantage on games and his friends have 240Hz monitors. He also sent me this video to compare.

 

RTX 3060. That was also what I was wondering. If he goes to 144Hz for example wouldn't it mean he needs double the power from the GPU?

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Yeah, that sounds more like "My friend has one, I need one too"

But, I'm not well in tune with this. Someone else?

[Joni_78]

On 24/11/2023 at 21:24, Mindovermaster said:

Yeah, that sounds more like "My friend has one, I need one too"

But, I'm not well in tune with this. Someone else?

Yeah sounded like that to me too.

I do understand going from 60Hz to 120Hz but 240Hz...

[Steven P. Administrators]

I have an Odyssey G9 Neo Ultrawide (49") which supports 240Hz at 5120x1440, but it requires DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.1 and a very good (certified) cable to operate without flickering. Honestly, I do not see the difference when it is at 120Hz 10-bit color.

[hellowalkman Reporter]

On 25/11/2023 at 00:32, Joni_78 said:

Wouldn't your eyes be a bottleneck with 240 images per second btw?

No, your eyes can see 240Hz provided your monitor is able to display it properly and the hardware (CPU/GPU) is able to keep up.

 

Btw, pushing 240Hz in modern AAA games like Call of Duty will require a very good processor irrespective of the graphics card your son has. Something like a Ryzen 7800X3D/7950X3D or an i9-13900K/14900K, so that's top-of-the-line stuff. Hence, it depends on the game your son is looking to play. For reference: CoD Warzone 2.0 1080p ultra RTX 4090 CPU benchmark

Wouldn't be as hard on lighter titles like the new Counter Strike 2 though. So it depends on what he'll play.

[adrynalyne]

On 24/11/2023 at 14:02, hellowalkman said:

No, your eyes can see 240Hz provided your monitor is able to display it properly and the hardware (CPU/GPU) is able to keep up.

 

Btw, pushing 240Hz in modern AAA games like Call of Duty will require a very good processor irrespective of the graphics card your son has. Something like a Ryzen 7800X3D/7950X3D or an i9-13900K/14900K, so that's top-of-the-line stuff. Hence, it depends on the game your son is looking to play. For reference: CoD Warzone 2.0 1080p ultra RTX 4090 CPU benchmark

Wouldn't be as hard on lighter titles like the new Counter Strike 2 though. So it depends on what he'll play.

I kinda doubt that. There are seriously diminishing returns after 144Hz. 

[hellowalkman Reporter]

On 25/11/2023 at 06:06, adrynalyne said:

I kinda doubt that

Initially yes, but once you experience 240Hz gaming for a while, you will know 🤓

[hellowalkman Reporter]

Personally, I'll say 165/144 is the sweet spot. 240 is just too demanding on the hardware.

[adrynalyne]

On 24/11/2023 at 23:43, hellowalkman said:

Initially yes, but once you experience 240Hz gaming for a while, you will know 🤓

Suuuure.

[Ixion]

I can't tell any difference between 120 and 144hz personally, there's very few games other than esports where you will get framerates that high anyway, is he a big counterstrike fan with a really high end cpu and gpu?

[inactive]

I am of the mindset after about 120Hz/144Hz it's pretty much a waste of money, especially if you already got a 120Hz or so monitor. at the very least... definitely NOT worth spending $$$ to go from around 120Hz monitor to a 240Hz one, since even if there are gains, they would be so small not to matter in the real world (as it's not like a random gamer would be noticeably better or have a noticeably better experience with the game because of it), at least not for a high percentage of gamers.

plus, from what I understand to get the "advantage" of 240Hz you would basically need 240fps. basically it's overkill because the time tested "30fps is playable, 60fps is pretty much perfect" is where the vast majority of the real world benefits are (as this has been standard for decades now and just about any half decent modern GPU can probably easily do around 60fps). even leaving a bit of room for error... 120Hz/144Hz would be the top end of things as trying to "upgrade" beyond those I would just flat out refuse it since I highly doubt one could justify the upgrade price for what little gains there 'might' be.

although I was surprised when I went from a 60Hz monitor (which I had from early 2010 until it died in late 2021) to my current 144Hz in that the thing I immediately noticed is noticeably smoother mouse movement on general desktop usage as I did not expect to see that. but in my case in terms of gaming, since I only got a NVIDIA 1050 Ti 4GB GPU, it does not really matter for gaming since my frame rates ain't really high enough to take advantage of it. but like I said above, I think the biggest difference by-far on gaming is 30fps/60fps (like going from 30fps to 60fps). once you reach about 60fps, gains beyond that tend to be small enough not to really matter since about 60fps is a very smooth experience on any random game.

bottom line for me personally... once I reach about 60fps I honestly don't have any real desire to have more since my overall experience with a game is quite strong straight up regardless of the Hz on a monitor (60Hz or higher). anyone who thinks they 'need' gaming at 120hz+ is a bit of a stretch, as even assuming it's better, it surely can't be much of a real world difference (like not to the point they will be noticeably better at a game because of it, at least not for the vast majority of people (maybe pro-level gamers, which even if this is true, these are only a small minority of people in general)) when playing a random game. or let me put it another way... going from 30fps to 60fps is a much better real world improvement for the typical gamer vs going from say 60fps/60Hz to 120fps/120Hz as the gains here, even assuming there is some (like at least slightly noticeable), won't make much of a real world difference with ones overall experience with any random game as 60fps is still a strong experience in general (as it's been this way for decades now) and always will be for typical gaming.

 

bottom line for the OP... if you already got a 120Hz screen or so I would consider it a waste of money going any further (since gains will be too small to justify the upgrade price), especially if your son is not pro-level gamer range or thereabouts (which playing the odds, he's not).

 

On 25/11/2023 at 02:08, adrynalyne said:

Suuuure.

 

Exactly. I pretty much equate that to people who claim they can hear differences between a standard AUDIO CD and "HD" audio. it's outright BS (since a standard AUDIO CD's audio quality exceeds human hearing already so you can't really improve on it to any noticeable degree).

but in regards to the Hz stuff... even if I was wrong on the higher Hz stuff (say I underestimated it a bit), the differences got to be so small as to not matter much in the real world for the vast majority of people, especially after a certain point. I suspect for it to matter one would be a high level pro-gamer type of situation (even then it's purely from multiplayer point of view as single player, even for a pro-level gamer, would still be overkill as it's not like their talent level would be crippled by 60fps/60Hz on any random single player shooter game vs higher Hz/fps to the point it would really matter as they would still be very good at a random single player shooter game) which won't matter for a very high percentage of gamers.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 24/11/2023 at 14:17, Joni_78 said:

His current monitor is 60Hz and he thinks it would give some advantage on games and his friends have 240Hz monitors. He also sent me this video to compare.

 

RTX 3060. That was also what I was wondering. If he goes to 144Hz for example wouldn't it mean he needs double the power from the GPU?

You will experience diminishing returns after 144Hz for the cost and will need to upgrade your CPU/GPU. That will be a nice upgrade for him if using a 60hz display right now. All his friends have 240Hz monitors? You must live in the really nice part of town. LOL  I just bought a 144Hz display to go with my new rig ordered.

[adrynalyne]

On 25/11/2023 at 11:04, ThaCrip said:

I am of the mindset after about 120Hz/144Hz it's pretty much a waste of money, *snip*

Sounds like you have never tried it. 
 

Edit: oops you said after.  
 

I tend to agree. 

[spaceelf]

I'm on a 165 and won't go back to 120 unless I can get a OLED TV.

Does it really matter?  I don't know.

[adrynalyne]

On 25/11/2023 at 13:23, spaceelf said:

I'm on a 165 and won't go back to 120 unless I can get a OLED TV.

Does it really matter?  I don't know.

Convincing reasoning. 

[spaceelf]

On 25/11/2023 at 14:51, adrynalyne said:

Convincing reasoning. 

That's kind of my point...I haven't really spent enough time with both to make that call.  Plus, I'd have to compare several types of monitors+TVs to see if anything else made more impact.

I can definitely say I would not go back to 60. (edit: unless MS ever gets that dynamic refresh rate thing working on desktops)

Edited November 25, 2023 by spaceelf

[adrynalyne]

On 25/11/2023 at 14:01, spaceelf said:

That's kind of my point...I haven't really spent enough time with both to make that call.  Plus, I'd have to compare several types of monitors+TVs to see if anything else made more impact.

I can definitely say I would not go back to 60.

60 is horrible once you have gone with a higher refresh rate. Sometimes ignorance IS bliss.

[theefool]

One day I'll go above 60hz.

 

240 hz is not good enough, why not go for  540 hz, and then his friends can be jealous.

https://rog.asus.com/monitors/23-to-24-5-inches/rog-swift-pro-pg248qp/

 

[adrynalyne]

On 25/11/2023 at 19:24, theefool said:

One day I'll go above 60hz.

 

240 hz is not good enough, why not go for  540 hz, and then his friends can be jealous.

https://rog.asus.com/monitors/23-to-24-5-inches/rog-swift-pro-pg248qp/

 

I wish I never had. There are a lot of nice 60Hz monitors out there and I can’t unsee the difference anymore. 

[theefool]

I am currently using a Sony 42" 4k TV as my "monitor".  One day I may jump to an LG 42" C3 or something.  Have a secondary Acer XBB280HK 28" 4k monitor as well.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

By any chance, is there a computer store you can go to that has 240Hz monitors on display so you can check out the difference for yourself?  I think the difference between displays is going to be very subjective since everyone's vision is slightly different, so seeing it in action with your own eyes would be the best way to determine whether or not it is a valid upgrade.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[theefool]

On 25/11/2023 at 21:36, goretsky said:

Hello,

By any chance, is there a computer store you can go to that has 240Hz monitors on display so you can check out the difference for yourself?  I think the difference between displays is going to be very subjective since everyone's vision is slightly different, so seeing it in action with your own eyes would be the best way to determine whether or not it is a valid upgrade.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

But, having the game in question running would make the comparison better, imho.

[Steven P. Administrators]

On 26/11/2023 at 03:32, theefool said:

I am currently using a Sony 42" 4k TV as my "monitor".  One day I may jump to an LG 42" C3 or something.  Have a secondary Acer XBB280HK 28" 4k monitor as well.

60Hz there then, just like my 4K ASUS VP32UQ. I really miss my Ultrawide (it is out for repair).