How to change the refresh rate and response time on your gaming monitor

A monitor's refresh rate and response time are two fundamental factors for the gaming experience, especially in competitive games. Changing these settings can improve the fluidity and accuracy of the images displayed by your monitor, but not all monitors allow adjustments to these characteristics.

In this text, we will explain how these adjustments work, why not all monitors support modifications, which games can benefit from this and we will present a practical guide for you to change these parameters.

Why change the refresh rate and response time on the monitor?

Changing these parameters can improve your gaming experience, avoid interruptions and improve performance when viewing graphics.

While competitive games like “Counter-Strike” or “Valorant” benefit from high refresh rates and low response times, not all games require them. Narrative-oriented titles, such as “The Witcher” or “Red Dead Redemption 2”, prioritize graphics and immersion, being less impacted by these settings.

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Of course, increasing these settings can, indeed, contribute to an increase in the temperature of your monitor, or even, over time, cause stains or even the “death” of some pixels (deadpixels).

Therefore, you must always be aware of manufacturers' recommendations and the compatibility of your monitor with the system used, so that one does not demand more from the other, in the PC x Monitor relationship.

Gaming monitor: see how to change the refresh rate and response time

Before starting our tutorial, let's understand what refresh rate and response time are.

What are refresh rate and response time?

• Refresh Rate: refers to the number of times the monitor updates the image per second, measured in Hertz (Hz). A 60Hz monitor updates 60 times per second, while a 144Hz monitor does so 144 times. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the transition between displayed frames.

• Response Time: is the time it takes for a monitor pixel to change from one color to another, usually measured in milliseconds (ms). Lower response times result in less motion blur, improving the sharpness of fast images.

How to change refresh rate and response time: step by step

How to change the refresh rate

On Windows 11

On macOS

1. Go to “System Preferences”. Then click on “Monitors”.
2. Then click on “Update Rate” and choose from the available options.

Use the physical buttons, or even the monitor's joystick, to access the “Settings Menu”. Then, go to “Refresh Rate” (if available, depending on the monitor) and choose the desired criteria.

How to change the response time

1. Use the monitor's built-in menu to access the Settings Menu
2. Locate the Overdrive, Response Time or something similar option
3. Adjust between the available options. Some monitors have the parameters: Fast, Fastest or Extreme (these terms may vary).

Final Considerations

Not all monitors support these changes, and forcing incompatible settings may cause problems such as image distortion or the monitor overheating. Make sure you are using quality cables (like HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort) and that your GPU supports the settings you want. Enjoy adjustments according to your needs and enjoy an optimized gaming experience!