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Two specs dominate the conversation around gaming monitors: refresh rate and response time. They’re often mentioned together, frequently confused with each other, and routinely misrepresented in marketing copy. Here’s what they actually mean and why each one matters.
Refresh rate
Refresh rate is how many times per second your monitor updates the image on screen. Measured in hertz (Hz). A 60Hz monitor refreshes 60 times per second. A 144Hz monitor refreshes 144 times per second. A 240Hz monitor refreshes 240 times per second.
Higher refresh rate means more opportunities for new frames from your GPU to appear on screen. If you’re running a game at 144 frames per second on a 60Hz monitor, the monitor can only show 60 of those frames. You’re leaving performance on the table. On a 144Hz monitor, all 144 frames display — the motion is visibly smoother.
What refresh rate do you actually need?
60Hz: office and casual use. Fine for most non-gaming tasks. Noticeably choppy once you’ve used anything higher.
100–120Hz: entry-level gaming. A clear improvement over 60Hz for motion clarity. Most people can perceive this jump immediately.
144Hz: the standard for gaming in 2026. Smooth for most genres. Most GPUs in the $300 range can push 144fps in modern games at medium-high settings.
165–240Hz: competitive gaming and high-end builds. The jump from 144Hz to 240Hz is less dramatic than 60Hz to 144Hz — you need to be playing at frame rates that actually hit the ceiling. Useful for fast-paced shooters where even small improvements matter.
360Hz+: professional esports. The diminishing returns are real. Most players can’t perceive the difference in a blind test above 240Hz unless the frame rate is also hitting 360fps consistently.
Response time
Response time is how long it takes for a single pixel to change from one color to another. Measured in milliseconds (ms). Slower response time means pixels take longer to change, which creates a blurring or trailing artifact behind fast-moving objects — called ghosting.
The spec you see on monitor boxes is almost always GtG (Gray-to-Gray) response time — the time it takes for a pixel to transition from one shade of gray to another. It’s the most common measurement, but it varies significantly across the range of possible transitions.
The MPRT confusion
MPRT (Motion Picture Response Time) is a different measurement that’s become widespread in marketing. It measures how long a pixel is perceived to persist by the human eye, not the actual pixel transition time. MPRT can be improved by adding motion blur reduction (strobing) to the backlight without improving the panel’s actual response time at all.
When a monitor advertises “1ms response time,” check whether that’s GtG or MPRT. A VA panel can achieve 1ms MPRT while having 8–15ms GtG. A TN panel can genuinely hit 1ms GtG. An IPS panel typically runs 4–8ms GtG.
What response time matters for gaming?
For most gaming: 4–8ms GtG is fine. You won’t see ghosting artifacts from an IPS panel in this range under normal overdrive settings.
For competitive FPS at high frame rates: lower is better, but only if you’re also hitting the frame rates to take advantage. A 1ms TN panel is wasted if your GPU can’t push 200fps.
OLED: sub-0.1ms GtG natively, no overdrive needed. The actual ceiling for pixel response time on current technology.
How refresh rate and response time interact
These two specs work together. A 240Hz monitor with poor response time will show ghosting because pixels aren’t switching fast enough between the rapid frame updates. A monitor with excellent response time at 60Hz doesn’t produce ghosting but also doesn’t have smooth motion from the low frame rate.
The practical rule: your response time should be fast enough that pixels complete their transition within one refresh cycle. At 144Hz, each refresh cycle is about 6.9ms. At 240Hz, it’s 4.2ms. Your GtG response time should be at or below your refresh cycle duration.
| Refresh rate | Frame interval | Target GtG response time |
|---|---|---|
| 60Hz | 16.7ms | Any IPS is fine |
| 144Hz | 6.9ms | ≤8ms GtG |
| 165Hz | 6.1ms | ≤6ms GtG |
| 240Hz | 4.2ms | ≤4ms GtG |
| 360Hz | 2.8ms | ≤3ms GtG (OLED territory) |
Quick glossary
Hz (hertz): Unit for refresh rate. Higher is more refreshes per second.
ms (milliseconds): Unit for response time. Lower is faster pixel transitions.
GtG (Gray-to-Gray): The standard pixel response time measurement. The one that actually matters for ghosting.
MPRT (Motion Picture Response Time): A marketing measurement that can be improved without improving the actual panel response time. Take with skepticism.
Ghosting: The trailing artifact left behind fast-moving objects when pixel response time is too slow for the refresh rate.
Overdrive: A voltage boost applied to speed up pixel transitions. Too much overdrive causes inverse ghosting — a bright halo effect that’s often worse than regular ghosting.
Inverse ghosting: A bright artifact that appears when overdrive is set too high. Looks like a light trail in front of moving objects.
V-Sync: Caps frame rate to match refresh rate, eliminating tearing. Adds input lag. Largely replaced by adaptive sync for gaming.
G-Sync / FreeSync (adaptive sync): Syncs GPU frame rate to monitor refresh rate dynamically, eliminating tearing without the input lag penalty of V-Sync.
