Monitor question regarding refresh rates, etc.

[Richard W]

HI, I hope some of you can help. I'm not a gaming expert by any means - in fact, I'm trying to understand some features on monitors before I purchase one for my son, who uses PS4. At the moment, he's plugged in via a TV which has a 50-60HZ refresh rate. He wants to move on to PS5 when stockl permits (which could be a long time) so at the moment he's very happy with his PS4. He wants to move on to a dedicated gaming monitor for better overall performance. This has to be a budget monitor (so around £250) and I see Asus and Acer seem to do some nice screens. However, some are still only 60HZ while others are 144HZ. If he's playing things like Fortnite and Modern Warfare (think that's the name), would he notice a difference between 60 and 144 refresh rate? There are so many things to consider so wondering if the refresh rate is a very important feature to consider when buying. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[invader]

Not sure. Some people notice the difference and some don´t. For fast paced games like fortnite and modern warfare there is a benefit specially if he is aiming to high level (I don't mean professional) gaming.
After I got used to 144 in CS:GO I notice some difference when going back to 60 but is not something I could pinpoint at the time, it felt more like "something is bothering me" kind of thing. But like I said, it was after getting used to; going for the first time I didn't notice (bear in mind I'm an older gamer and my eyes are less precise of those of younger guy and I wasn't looking specifically for a difference)

 

[Richard W]

Not sure. Some people notice the difference and some don´t. For fast paced games like fortnite and modern warfare there is a benefit specially if he is aiming to high level (I don't mean professional) gaming.
After I got used to 144 in CS:GO I notice some difference when going back to 60 but is not something I could pinpoint at the time, it felt more like "something is bothering me" kind of thing. But like I said, it was after getting used to; going for the first time I didn't notice (bear in mind I'm an older gamer and my eyes are less precise of those of younger guy and I wasn't looking specifically for a difference)

That's useful info - thanks.

 

[DXCHASE]

£250 is a great budget for a monitor lol. BUT If hes still playing on a console, you dont need to have a monitor over 60hz because consoles cant support the refresh rates that are over that, also they cant take advantage of monitors most expensive features, gsync and freesync. If he gets a PS5 then it would only go to 120hz and it wouldnt be true gsync or freesync, so, unless you plan on doing a pc for your son, you dont need/shouldnt go over 60hz.

 

[Richard W]

£250 is a great budget for a monitor lol. BUT If hes still playing on a console, you dont need to have a monitor over 60hz because consoles cant support the refresh rates that are over that, also they cant take advantage of monitors most expensive features, gsync and freesync. If he gets a PS5 then it would only go to 120hz and it wouldnt be true gsync or freesync, so, unless you plan on doing a pc for your son, you dont need/shouldnt go over 60hz.

This is very useful info - thanks. If he does upgrade to PS5 eventually, would it be advisable to go for a monitor which has 120HZ then rather than lower? And, finally, will a monitor, therefore, be much better (picture quality wise) than the TV he currently uses (which isn't 4K or anything)?

 

[drunkpunk]

With a PS5 I would definitely get a 120hz monitor, personally to me the difference in frame rates are mostly noticeable up until 100-120 FPS depending on the game. A 120hz monitor will be able to support the 120 frame rate the PS5 can push but I do wonder what games will actually support that frame rate. But the advice to not worry about freesync or gsync is solid, especially since gsync tends to add some dollars to a price tag.

 

[Richard W]

With a PS5 I would definitely get a 120hz monitor, personally to me the difference in frame rates are mostly noticeable up until 100-120 FPS depending on the game. A 120hz monitor will be able to support the 120 frame rate the PS5 can push but I do wonder what games will actually support that frame rate. But the advice to not worry about freesync or gsync is solid, especially since gsync tends to add some dollars to a price tag.

Thanks. Asus & Acer seem to have some nice budget monitors - I'll try them first.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Just gonna nose in here and point out Sony announced support for VRR in the future via a software update.

 

[Richard W]

Just gonna nose in here and point out Sony announced support for VRR in the future via a software update.

Interesting!

 

[DXCHASE]

This is very useful info - thanks. If he does upgrade to PS5 eventually, would it be advisable to go for a monitor which has 120HZ then rather than lower? And, finally, will a monitor, therefore, be much better (picture quality wise) than the TV he currently uses (which isn't 4K or anything)?

Yes, if you can find a 4k monitor that does 120hz, it would be fine, theres only a handful of games at the moment on the PS5 that would take advantage of the full 120hz but the ps5 is 4k natively so itd just make sense to have a 4k display and yes it would definitely be better picture quality than a tv, unless the said tv is OLED with great HDR.

 

[Richard W]

Yes, if you can find a 4k monitor that does 120hz, it would be fine, theres only a handful of games at the moment on the PS5 that would take advantage of the full 120hz but the ps5 is 4k natively so itd just make sense to have a 4k display and yes it would definitely be better picture quality than a tv, unless the said tv is OLED with great HDR.

Thanks again, very helpful comments.