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Can I see more than 60FPS on a 60Hz monitor?

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Hey guys.

My questions have always been hard to answer but I think this will be quite simple to some of you.

Can I actually notice the difference between 60FPS and lets say 100FPS on a 60Hz monitor?
I know that the refresh rate of the monitor means that it can't refresh itself more than 60 times a second which means it can't show more than 60 frames per second, but some people say they have noticed the difference and I couldn't find a specific answer to what I have in mind because all the answers generalized around that I will notice more tearing in games when the gap between the refresh rate and the actual FPS that the card draws bigger.

But theoretically, if I were to utilize VirtuMVP to get rid of the tearing and give me the maximum FPS my card can give on my 60Hz monitor, would I actually notice a difference or will it be subtle or non existent at all?

Thanks and Happy Holidays.

More about : 60fps 60hz monitor

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Graphics card Expert
Monitor Expert

Yes. FPS and refresh rate (Hz) are not the same thing, nor are they linked.

FPS is the number of frames per second the software is processing, while Hz is the rate at which the hardware in the monitor is refreshing the display. They are two independent functions, and you will see a difference in animation quality with more FPS. There is a point where the human visual pathways become saturated, which IIRC is somewhere around 70-80fps. After that you can still perceive a difference in quality, but to borrow an economic term, you've hit the point of diminishing returns and it's a steep drop-off.

cl-scott said:
Yes. FPS and refresh rate (Hz) are not the same thing, nor are they linked.

FPS is the number of frames per second the software is processing, while Hz is the rate at which the hardware in the monitor is refreshing the display. They are two independent functions, and you will see a difference in animation quality with more FPS. There is a point where the human visual pathways become saturated, which IIRC is somewhere around 70-80fps. After that you can still perceive a difference in quality, but to borrow an economic term, you've hit the point of diminishing returns and it's a steep drop-off.



Thanks for the quick response.
But if that's the case, then what actually changes between viewing 120FPS on a 60hz monitor and viewing 120FPS on a 120hz monitor?

Best solution

A 60hz monitor refreshes the screen 60 times per second. Therefore, a 60hz monitor is only capable of outputting 60fps. It can still feel smoother to play at a higher framerate than your monitor can display however, because input lag with your mouse will be reduced. You might also start to see tearing though, which happens when your videocard is rendering frames faster than your monitor can display them.

Asus actually sells a nice line of 120hz displays, and if they have some reason to exist other than their capability to display 120fps, I'd like to hear it.



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helz IT said:
A 60hz monitor refreshes the screen 60 times per second. Therefore, a 60hz monitor is only capable of outputting 60fps. It can still feel smoother to play at a higher framerate than your monitor can display however, because input lag with your mouse will be reduced. You might also start to see tearing though, which happens when your videocard is rendering frames faster than your monitor can display them.

Asus actually sells a nice line of 120hz displays, and if they have some reason to exist other than their capability to display 120fps, I'd like to hear it.



That's what I thought too, but appearantly cl-scott got other thoughts that I would like to hear in depth explanation about.
My problem with 120hz monitors that they don't have IPS panels which I fell in love with considering the fact that I work in the video editing business and need as much accurate colors as I can possibly see. But I also play games and I do like to get as much FPS as I can as well considering the fact that I shell out big bucks on my machines.

Michael31 said:
Yes you will be able to see over 60fps because the rate that the monitor refreshes doesn't affect the rate that the games displays in


What about games like BF3? When I set my resolution there are multiple options to set the same resolution in multiple hertz settings. Is that what you mean?
Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

When the game is outputting more frames than the monitor can refresh, the monitor will show the next frame before the whole last frame was shown. With a 120hz monitor, the entirety of every frame can be shown of those 120 fps. Technically you're seeing more than 60fps but it's not the whole frames (on the 60hz monitor at 120fps).
Graphics card Expert

helz IT said:
A 60hz monitor refreshes the screen 60 times per second. Therefore, a 60hz monitor is only capable of outputting 60fps. It can still feel smoother to play at a higher framerate than your monitor can display however, because input lag with your mouse will be reduced. You might also start to see tearing though, which happens when your videocard is rendering frames faster than your monitor can display them.

Asus actually sells a nice line of 120hz displays, and if they have some reason to exist other than their capability to display 120fps, I'd like to hear it.


^^He nailed it, a 60Hz monitor can only display 60 frames on the screen per second because the screen displays one frame per refresh (or Hz). However it may "feel" smoother due to latency decreases.

Why do you think they sell 120Hz monitors in the first place besides 3D?


k1114 said:
When the game is outputting more frames than the monitor can refresh, the monitor will show the next frame before the whole last frame was shown. With a 120hz monitor, the entirety of every frame can be shown of those 120 fps. Technically you're seeing more than 60fps but it's not progressive (on the 60hz monitor at 120fps).


Sooooo, I will notice more than 60FPS on a 60hz monitor?

whooleo said:
^^He nailed it, a 60Hz monitor can only display 60 frames on the screen per second because the screen displays one frame per refresh (or Hz). However it may "feel" smoother due to latency decreases.

Why do you think they sell 120Hz monitors in the first place besides 3D?



I can understand the whole 120hz selling point, but I'm trying to avoid it as much as I can because I just can't get back to TN panels after using IPS, it would be a tremendous downgrade in regards to color accuracy and brightness.

But thanks for clearing this up more. :) 

helz IT said:
A 60hz monitor refreshes the screen 60 times per second. Therefore, a 60hz monitor is only capable of outputting 60fps. It can still feel smoother to play at a higher framerate than your monitor can display however, because input lag with your mouse will be reduced. You might also start to see tearing though, which happens when your videocard is rendering frames faster than your monitor can display them.

Asus actually sells a nice line of 120hz displays, and if they have some reason to exist other than their capability to display 120fps, I'd like to hear it.



Thanks man, I guess that explains enough, but I won't worry much about tearing. VirtuMVP can get rid of that with its special Vsync feature that doesn't lock the FPS to the refresh rate of the monitor and doesn't add input lag.
Graphics card Master
Monitor Expert

Virtual vsync will sync the output to the monitor but still processes the extra frames. It just doesn't show them so tearing doesn't occur. It's is a nice feature indeed.

Sorry it is still progressive, edited the post.

Thank you all for all the responses. My final conclusion is that a 60hz monitor with an IPS panel would be the perfect choice for me considering the fact that it won't just show me the most accurate colors a screen can generate but also give me less input lag when running games @ more than 60FPS which I guess isn't as good as having true 120hz to run more than 60FPS but at least the sacrifice isn't much considering to what I'm gaining.
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