Monitor Refresh Rate Test (Hz & FPS)
Measure your display's active refresh rate in real-time with sub-millisecond precision. Compare UFO motion smoothness, check frame skipping, test pixel response ghosting, and analyze frame time stability.
Understanding Monitor Refresh Rates & Frame Stability
Your monitor's refresh rate (measured in Hertz or Hz) dictates how many times per second the display redraws the image on your screen. A standard office monitor typically operates at 60 Hz (60 frames per second), whereas high-performance gaming displays run at 144 Hz, 165 Hz, 240 Hz, 360 Hz, or even 480 Hz.
Why High Refresh Rates Matter for Gamers
In fast-paced esports titles like CS2, Valorant, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, and Fortnite, visual latency is critical to player performance:
- 60 Hz Monitor: Updates screen every 16.67 milliseconds.
- 144 Hz Monitor: Updates screen every 6.94 milliseconds (a 58% reduction in visual delay).
- 240 Hz Monitor: Updates screen every 4.17 milliseconds.
- 360 Hz Monitor: Updates screen every 2.78 milliseconds.
How to Enable 144Hz or 240Hz in Windows Display Settings
Many gamers unknowingly run their 144Hz or 240Hz monitors at 60Hz because Windows defaults to 60Hz upon first plug-in. Follow these steps to unlock your display's full speed:
- Right-click on your desktop and select Display settings.
- Scroll down and click Advanced display settings.
- Under Choose a refresh rate, select 144Hz, 240Hz, or your monitor's maximum rated Hz.
- Ensure you are connected via DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0/2.1 (older HDMI cables cap out at 60Hz).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Our tool uses the browser requestAnimationFrame rendering loop synchronized with the high-resolution performance.now() timer (accurate to sub-milliseconds). It continuously measures rolling frame deltas to display exact real-time Hz and frame time stability.
If your test reads 60 Hz despite having a 144Hz+ display, verify that: (1) Windows display settings are set to your screen's max rated Hz, (2) Browser hardware acceleration is enabled in Chrome/Edge settings, and (3) You are using a DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0/2.1 cable.
Frame skipping occurs when a monitor drops incoming frames instead of displaying them, common when overclocking displays. Switch to our Frame Skipping Grid tab and take a camera photo at 1/10s shutter speed. Continuous illuminated boxes mean no frames are skipped!
Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave) share a single GPU compositor process across windows. If one tab enters fullscreen on a lower refresh rate monitor, Chromium locks VSync across that browser instance. To test both screens independently, open the second window in Incognito mode or a separate browser engine.
Yes! Upgrading from 60 Hz to 144 Hz reduces visual display rendering delay by ~10 milliseconds (6.94ms frame time vs 16.67ms). Visual targets appear on screen sooner, improving reflex reaction benchmark scores.