[Solved] 60Hz vs 120Hz on a gaming computer, noticeable difference?

I've got all of the parts picked out for a gaming computer except for the monitor. There is a good 60Hz monitor for about $160, and a 120Hz monitor is almost double that. Picking the 120Hz monitor will definitely push me out of my $2000 budget and I really don't want that. I will be able to game using my TV about half the time, so I wouldn't be stuck with a 60Hz experience all the time.

I want to know if there will be a significant difference in the fluidity of movement on the screen between the two different types of monitors. Have you had both types, and noticed a big change? Is it such a small difference that you would have to have the monitors side by side to even notice it? Thanks.

Reply to jcbullen

Nevermind, I'll just pony up the money for a 120Hz monitor.

Reply to jcbullen

you are comparing two tn panel monitors. you will not notice any visual quality differences. you will still have the poor viewing angles.

120hz...might look good if you could get 100+fps in a game. however if you are only pushing 30-60 you might as well throw your money into the wind for all the good it will do you.

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Reply to ssddx

120hz will be very noticable even on windows, this is not only for gaming, the mouse/windows will move much smoother on the desktop.

Also in gaming even when running at 60fps or less you can yes see differences game is much smoother, and you will notice that you don't need to set vertical sync on games because the screen don't let the frame "break", so yes, if you take the 120hz you will notice the differences...

Also some games you will really be at 30-60 like battlefield 3/metro 2033 etc.. but there are lots of games that you can take 120fps easily, street fighter, dead space 2, etc...

Reply to ricardois

The computer is going to be pretty beastly, so I'll be pushing upwards of 100fps

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Reply to jcbullen

jcbullen wrote :

The computer is going to be pretty beastly, so I'll be pushing upwards of 100fps

:bounce: amazing

the real problem is on some games like L.A Noire and NFS:The Run where they lock the max fps, but even on 30fps/60fps, yes you will notice differences.

When i got mine 120hz, i was like :ouch:

Reply to ricardois

the whole 60hz/120hz dilema seems to be part fact and part opinion.

some people rave about them and how much better they are, others like myself see nothing wrong with 60hz. if i cannot see ghosting, and all movement is smooth on 60hz why would i care for 120hz?

instead of spending the money on 120hz i always step up to a better monitor (non tn panel). such as 8bit ips panels. sure you do not get the 1 or 2ms response times (which you dont need) or 120hz (same) but you do gain a much wider viewing angle as well as better color accuracy. once you have used an ips screen you really really dont want to go back to a tn screen unless you have to. i think about that every single time i have to use my laptop ...

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if they lock the fps you arent getting any more frames then a 60hz monitor. actual gameplay would only be smoother if frames were postprocessed in (like tvs do).

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do what you want.. just offering up some advice.

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Reply to ssddx

Best answer

ssddx wrote :

the whole 60hz/120hz dilema seems to be part fact and part opinion.

some people rave about them and how much better they are, others like myself see nothing wrong with 60hz. if i cannot see ghosting, and all movement is smooth on 60hz why would i care for 120hz?

instead of spending the money on 120hz i always step up to a better monitor (non tn panel). such as 8bit ips panels. sure you do not get the 1 or 2ms response times (which you dont need) or 120hz (same) but you do gain a much wider viewing angle as well as better color accuracy. once you have used an ips screen you really really dont want to go back to a tn screen unless you have to. i think about that every single time i have to use my laptop ...

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if they lock the fps you arent getting any more frames then a 60hz monitor. actual gameplay would only be smoother if frames were postprocessed in (like tvs do).

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do what you want.. just offering up some advice.

i know what you are thinking, i i was with my old 60hz just like you, i don't use 120hz i don't need it...

but when you get one i can tell you, you will notice yes a difference... and yes even on locked fps games, i tested L.A Noire here, the gameplay is a little bit smoother yes, the game is locked at 30fps, so meaning that 1 frame will be refreshed 4 times on screen, while you play on 60hz each frame will be redisplayed only 2 times on screen, i think this really helps the game to looks smoother and fix bugs that may appear on the second frame or something, maybe there is more time for the frame be correctly drawned, and i think that is what keeps the frame from visible vertical desyncronization.

i am just imagining this, but i can tell you that you will notice the difference when playing 120hz yes even on 30fps games you will notice a difference, but of course the real advantage will be when you get 60fps+.

Reply to ricardois

I own both, but prefer the 60hz IPS over a 120hz TN. Basically having a 120hz panel is like running with vsync turned off, only it's on.

------------------------------ 6510 8-bit CPU @ 1.023 MHz
64Kb RAM 20Kb ROM
VIC II
SID
Reply to MagicPants

People are so divided on this issue. Maybe I'll buy both, try them out and return the one that I don't like.

Reply to jcbullen

if you play on a real 120hz with the dual link cable, and don't see any improvement from the 60hz, i don't believe you, if you wan't a monitor for gaming i doubt you will take the 60hz over 120hz, for movies i believe some people would prefer IPS because of the vieweing angle, image quality etc... but for fast response time and awesome framerate there is no match.

Reply to ricardois

jcbullen,

the best thing for you to do would be to go to a store like microcenter, best buy, or some other store with a large display. look at 120hz and 60hz products, tn vs other panel types, etcetera. in this way you can visually compare them side by side.

ricardois,

i would pit my 5+ year old ips screen up against a brand new 120hz tn panel any day of the week and still walk away with the money pot. there is much to be said for quality.

we all have our opinions. ultimately all that matters is that you are happy with what you bought.

------------------------------ If i answered your question dont forget to mark my post best answer.
Reply to ssddx

120hz monitors don't have any lower input lag than 60hz monitors. The crown for that goes to dell's u2312hm, an e-ips panel that's about 8ms faster than the closest 120hz tn panel.

In practical terms however (assuming yo have a video setup that can feed it.) A 120hz monitor can be faster, because video cards buffer frames. I'd like to see some 120hz ips panels, it might improve the overdrive.

------------------------------ 6510 8-bit CPU @ 1.023 MHz
64Kb RAM 20Kb ROM
VIC II
SID
Reply to MagicPants

So I've got the computer built and I went with a 120Hz monitor. One quick test I did was I set it to 60Hz and I dragged a window around the screen pretty quickly which produced somewhat jittery movement and ghosting or whatever you'd call it. I switched to 120Hz and the window movement was smooth as silk. I haven't compared games from 60Hz to 120Hz yet (just been playing on 120Hz) and it is ridiculously smooth. The games' FPS are at a minimum of 60 and maxing out near 120 on ultra settings so I think it is coming in useful.

Either way, I'm very happy that I went with the 120Hz and will recommend one to people who were in the same boat I was. To each their own though!

Reply to jcbullen

Good work! You were wise to test both out and see the difference.

Reply to azeem40

Best answer selected by jcbullen.

Reply to jcbullen

What about movie's Lipsync and fast scenes?,it could cause Trouble for some people...same would happen for games...i guess.

Also,dont 120hz screens comes with a mirror looking SCREEN (NOT the mark around it) ?...what about Colors?,would they be good enough for drawings (NOT lookin for IPS since they're not very good at gaming)

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Reply to DV2

DV2 wrote :

What about movie's Lipsync and fast scenes?,it could cause Trouble for some people...same would happen for games...i guess.

Also,dont 120hz screens comes with a mirror looking SCREEN (NOT the mark around it) ?...what about Colors?,would they be good enough for drawings (NOT lookin for IPS since they're not very good at gaming)

Movies Fast scenes is not really something of the 120hz display, it is 120hz TELEVISION problem, because the televisions aren't 120hz and they post process the 120hz so sometimes youll see a lot of frames in a movie and after that it goes slow again (just like any game going to a full of objects scenery) but with 120hz real display i did not noticed this problem, the movie is in constant frames.

for gaming think of that, you are limited to 60hz right? so when your game goes over that, you will start losing frames because the refresh rate is not showing them all, the only difference is that you will be able to see all of that frames (up to 120hz).

Reply to ricardois

Wow,thanks for clarifying the movie thing ONLY happening to TVs...i tought monitors would suffer the same! ><;

Hmmm that sounds nice and weird at the same time (Me = Noob) about the gaming part...

Again,what about colors?,will a monitor like the XL2410 / XL2420 or a Samsung 120hz monitor would be great enough for drawings or gaming?

I'm starting to think in 120hz now..but just wanna make sure i make a good decision to replace my Samsung SyncMaster 206BW (20",1000:1 Static - 3000:1 Dynamic,2MS)

Reply to DV2

Sorry for the double post,but i dont know why the forum wont let me EDIT the previous post...

Also,i prefer movies running in their original speed than more than that...

But i also have some other questions..hope you can help me..

-Is the color good enough for coloring in photoshop?,i'm not a PRO photo editor from cameras but a simple artist,so i guess that shouldnt be a prob in choosin a TN monitor,right?
-Ghosting/Tracing?
-My PC is this one: Intel i5 2500K NOT OC'd,8GB DDR3 1333mhz,ASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3, Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB

Will it be able to handle the monitor's 120hz?

-How would the games look if the game's V-Sync's enabled in 120hz Mode?..i play Team Fortress 2 and it goes waaaay higher than 60FPS (max around is 130FPS i think)..and if not (aka V-Sync disabled),how much?

-Screen Tearing?

-I actually use my GPU with a DVI Cable...but i dont know if it'll be good enough for the 120hz mode...would my cable be enough or how should i check if it's able to be used in 120hz? (Pins or something)..i've heard there's this "Dual DVI" cable but i only wanna use one screen..*Shrugs* no idea *ME NOOB* (i've got HDMI,YES,but the input in the GPU needs an adapter,but that adapter touches the RIG and makes it look not straight inputted)

-If i put 60Hz Mode in the 120Hz what would be the consequences in video/image/gaming?...just wondering eh..

I dont know what else to ask about...IPS monitors are NOT good for Gaming so they're a con...

The actual monitors we have at a shop in our city with 120hz are (btw,preferably lookin for a 24" one) :

BenQ XL2420T (329€)
Smsung S23A750D (352€)

What do you think?..

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ ASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3
Intel i5 2500K NOT OC'd
Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB
Samsung SyncMaster 206BW
Reply to DV2

DV2 wrote :

Sorry for the double post,but i dont know why the forum wont let me EDIT the previous post...

Also,i prefer movies running in their original speed than more than that...

But i also have some other questions..hope you can help me..

-Is the color good enough for coloring in photoshop?,i'm not a PRO photo editor from cameras but a simple artist,so i guess that shouldnt be a prob in choosin a TN monitor,right?
-Ghosting/Tracing?
-My PC is this one: Intel i5 2500K NOT OC'd,8GB DDR3 1333mhz,ASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3, Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB

Will it be able to handle the monitor's 120hz?

-How would the games look if the game's V-Sync's enabled in 120hz Mode?..i play Team Fortress 2 and it goes waaaay higher than 60FPS (max around is 130FPS i think)..and if not (aka V-Sync disabled),how much?

-Screen Tearing?

-I actually use my GPU with a DVI Cable...but i dont know if it'll be good enough for the 120hz mode...would my cable be enough or how should i check if it's able to be used in 120hz? (Pins or something)..i've heard there's this "Dual DVI" cable but i only wanna use one screen..*Shrugs* no idea *ME NOOB* (i've got HDMI,YES,but the input in the GPU needs an adapter,but that adapter touches the RIG and makes it look not straight inputted)

-If i put 60Hz Mode in the 120Hz what would be the consequences in video/image/gaming?...just wondering eh..

I dont know what else to ask about...IPS monitors are NOT good for Gaming so they're a con...

The actual monitors we have at a shop in our city with 120hz are (btw,preferably lookin for a 24" one) :

BenQ XL2420T (329€)
Smsung S23A750D (352€)

What do you think?..

well i have one XL2410T and i was really amazed with almost everething, the only problem is the default color configs they are "strange" so with a little of adjustments i could get a screen perfect, very bright, very colorfull.

About the cable, any 120hz display will come with the Dual-Link Dvi cable, (this is the only way of connecting any screen to work at 1920x1080 120hz) just connect it to your compatible video card and you are good to go (the slot is the same but there are more pins in the conectors:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe [...] es.svg.png

HDMI will not work for that kind of display, you'll get only 60hz;

no if you put 60hz on a 120hz display there will be no consequences, but you will hardly wan't to do this, after you are used to use 120hz display, you will fell much lag on the other displays.

I am not a pro in photoshop but i know basics pen cut etc... and with 120hz display it is good to work you can see much more frames while drawning and moving layers on screen.

I would go for XL2420T because i know it is a good display and also because it supports 3D Vision, the samsung does not have official support to it (i'm not sure if someone already did it work there), but if you will not use 3D and the price is much lower you can go for the samsung i think.

Reply to ricardois

My Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB has 2 DVI ports...will they be compatible? http://www.gigabyte.com/products/p [...] id=3530#sp

The first phrase you said (perfect,bright,colorful) makes me want to get it already XD..specially for COLORS..

Well,i wasnt talking about frames (thou moving windows would be nice..somewhat...) but i was talking the colouring,but the first phrase resume it XD

I will NOT use 3D at all(BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNS MY EYES,even at cinema)

Again,will my rig be enough or something for the 120hz?..i think it's already a BEAST..but..who knows..

Also,ghosting/Tracing/Screen Tearing?..

Sorry,again,for many questions...but again,"Make sure to be well informed before you buy..else you might be disappointed after!"

I was headin to 24" because it would be nice to have better workspace and since the screen would be better overall i wouldnt have problems...and i watch the monitor STRAIGHT ..i dont mind the TN's angles because i will barely notice em..specially if the BenQ has it's height adjustment ;D...(My head will appreciate (doc))...sides,i would see ok enough from my bed to do tasks from "long distance" XD

Waiting for reply paaaaatiently....if everything works out,maybe this saturday i'll get the BenQ XL2420T..never used BenQ thou...first was LG,then my actual Samsung...Jesus,Electronic,why not making everything all nice n perfecT? XD

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ ASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3
Intel i5 2500K NOT OC'd
Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB
Samsung SyncMaster 206BW
Reply to DV2

DV2 wrote :

My Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB has 2 DVI ports...will they be compatible? http://www.gigabyte.com/products/p [...] id=3530#sp

The first phrase you said (perfect,bright,colorful) makes me want to get it already XD..specially for COLORS..

Well,i wasnt talking about frames (thou moving windows would be nice..somewhat...) but i was talking the colouring,but the first phrase resume it XD

I will NOT use 3D at all(BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNS MY EYES,even at cinema)

Again,will my rig be enough or something for the 120hz?..i think it's already a BEAST..but..who knows..

Also,ghosting/Tracing/Screen Tearing?..

Sorry,again,for many questions...but again,"Make sure to be well informed before you buy..else you might be disappointed after!"

I was headin to 24" because it would be nice to have better workspace and since the screen would be better overall i wouldnt have problems...and i watch the monitor STRAIGHT ..i dont mind the TN's angles because i will barely notice em..specially if the BenQ has it's height adjustment ;D...(My head will appreciate (doc))...sides,i would see ok enough from my bed to do tasks from "long distance" XD

Waiting for reply paaaaatiently....if everything works out,maybe this saturday i'll get the BenQ XL2420T..never used BenQ thou...first was LG,then my actual Samsung...Jesus,Electronic,why not making everything all nice n perfecT? XD

yes it will work with your graphics card and will need only one dvi since they already are compatible with dual link. the cable just need to have all the pins.

Ghosting/Screen Tearing/etc here are some complete reviews

here you see reviews about xl2410t:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_xl2410t.htm

and here you see about xl2420T:
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_xl2420t.htm
(i think they will be freely avaiable only at day 16 of next month)

i really don't know how the colors are in the 2420t but on 2410t after some adjust in colors etc they are very good;

best thing to do is read some reviews about it and see if it will fit your profile, for gaming it is simply awesome, you will need to see if you will like it for photoshop drawning also the response times are very low and the 120hz are awesome also the black level is very good, but you must see what are you looking, also look for some reviews of the samsung since you are not using 3D see if the price worth it;

Reply to ricardois

http://tech-reviews.co.uk/reviews/ [...] -review/2/

Check above the PRO's last phrase..

Is there a way to disable 3D in the BenQ?...coz if so,no need to pay for the extra 30€ on the Samsung's S23A750D's now-i-notice GLOSSY SCREEN FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

------------------------------ ASUS P8Z68 V-PRO GEN3
Intel i5 2500K NOT OC'd
Gigabyte 460GTX 1GB
Samsung SyncMaster 206BW
Reply to DV2

Forum Computer Peripherals : Flat Panel Monitors [Solved] 60Hz vs 120Hz on a gaming computer, noticeable difference?

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