Ancient CRT monitor hits astonishing 700Hz — resolution reduced to just 120p to reach extraordinary refresh rate

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Faster than the fastest modern refresh rate panels on the market right now

Vision Master Pro512 CRT
(Image credit: YouTube - RetroGamingBase)

Ultra-high refresh rate LCD and OLED displays are all the rage today, with the Best Monitors reaching refresh rates of 240Hz all the way to 540Hz. But RetroGamingBase on YouTube managed to beat the highest refresh rate displays currently on the market, using an ancient Vision MasterPro512 CRT, achieving a blisteringly quick 700Hz refresh rate.

RetroGamingBase has already had success achieving triple-digit refresh rates on this specific CRT, previously hitting 255Hz, 300Hz, and even 380Hz while still maintainging a clean enough image to play games on. But the retro gaming enthusiast channel wanted to do something special with the Vision MasterPro512, by trying to break the industry record 540Hz refresh rate found on monitors such as the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP and Zowie XL2586X, as well as break the 600Hz barrier found in prototype/pre-released display panels today.

Can we Reach 700Hz by Overclocking this Old CRT Monitor? - YouTube Can we Reach 700Hz by Overclocking this Old CRT Monitor? - YouTube
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Shockingly, they were able to break not only the 540Hz barrier and 600Hz barrier, but were able to go well beyond, achieving a blisteringly quick 700Hz refresh rate. To reach this absurdly fast refresh rate, RetroGamingBase used the custom resolution utility integrated into the Nvidia Control Panel to tweak the monitor's operating parameters. Those parameters included a custom resolution of 320 x 120, a refresh rate of 700, progressive scan type, and GTF standard timings.

Unfortunately, the awfully low 320 x 120 resolution was necessary to prevent the monitor from running outside its kilohertz specification, which would have made the refresh rate unstable.

Regardless of the extremely low resolution, seeing 700Hz on a CRT from decades ago is quite amazing and shows some of the intrinsic advantages CRTs have. CRT's don't share the same limitations as LCDs. As long as you are willing to forego modern resolutions, CRTs have significantly higher refresh rate headroom than a typical LCD and don't suffer from the same motion clarity issues, giving you the full advantages of a high refresh rate experience with best-in-class motion clarity.

Granted, you aren't going to see a CRT on our list of the best gaming monitors, and most people in 2024 aren't going to actually enjoy the experience of gaming at a resolution below 80s-era CGA. But it's interesting to see enthusiasts pushing older, "outdated" tech beyond the limits of the best cutting-edge consumer gaming monitors you can buy today. There's one area where CRTs will never be able to compete with modern LCDs, though, and that's desk space.  

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bit_user
    I don't see where the article says what GPU was used to drive it, but maybe I can save folks some trouble. Nvidia's Maxwell (GTX 900) was the last generation to have analog out.

    I was thinking about buying a Fury, but then I saw it lacked analog and I still had a pair of 24" CRT monitors. So, when I noticed that the GTX 980 Ti both had analog outputs and was deeply discounted (due to the launch of the GTX 1070 and 1080), I snapped one up.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    bit_user said:
    I don't see where the article says what GPU was used to drive it, but maybe I can save folks some trouble. Nvidia's Maxwell (GTX 900) was the last generation to have analog out.
    DP to VGA adapter so video card doesn't matter.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    thestryker said:
    DP to VGA adapter so video card doesn't matter.
    What's the maximum frequency they support? I haven't looked in a while, but the ones I saw were all trash (1080p @ 60 Hz).
    Reply
  • thestryker
    bit_user said:
    What's the maximum frequency they support? I haven't looked in a while, but the ones I saw were all trash (1080p @ 60 Hz).
    No clue what all they're limited to I just know that's what they're using for this testing as I checked out the channel.

    I believe this is the adapter they're using: https://www.delock.com/produkt/62967/merkmale.html?g=1023
    edit: It sounds like what the good quality ones all have in common is the Synaptics VMM2322 chip.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    Don't show this to CS:GO players...
    Reply
  • Dylan Shekter
    bit_user said:
    What's the maximum frequency they support? I haven't looked in a while, but the ones I saw were all trash (1080p @ 60 Hz).
    If you look at it as pixels per second, 1920x1080x60 is 4.6x 320x120x700. Not including the porches, but even then I would doubt the 700Hz is significantly more scanning than 1080p60. That's why this CRT gimmick works at all. The dongles may not allow it even if the DAC update rate is the same, though.
    Reply
  • OLDKnerd
    In the early 00s i was gaming at 200 Hz and 200 FPS on my 22" CRT screen, with a SONY tube of course.
    Mind you NOT at the screens MAX resolution, and of course with lowered in game image settings, back then we played the game for the game and not its looks.

    About the same time some of my fellow clan members was gaming on early LCD screens, and i was like WTF ?????? how can you even look at this lagging garbage.
    I was getting headaches just watching them play.

    Still a few of them, like me was most often in top 50 worldwide in the games we played.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Dylan Shekter said:
    If you look at it as pixels per second, 1920x1080x60 is 4.6x 320x120x700. Not including the porches, but even then I would doubt the 700Hz is significantly more scanning than 1080p60.
    OMG. With the mention of porches, I'm suddenly having semi-traumatic flashbacks of having to manually compute my own X11 mode timings, in Linux. They never looked as good as the automatic timings Windows would use.

    OLDKnerd said:
    In the early 00s i was gaming at 200 Hz and 200 FPS on my 22" CRT screen, with a SONY tube of course.
    I typically would back off the resolution a tad, just so I could get higher refresh rates, like 85 Hz. For me, it was mainly about reducing flicker, since I didn't play games.

    OLDKnerd said:
    About the same time some of my fellow clan members was gaming on early LCD screens, and i was like WTF ?????? how can you even look at this lagging garbage.
    I was getting headaches just watching them play.
    Yeah, with low framerates and no backlight strobing, the latched-pixel effect can result in excessive motion blur.
    Reply
  • Vanderlindemedia
    CRT was still the best tech compared to flatscreens we have now. No ghosting, much better, brighter lightning and colors, refresh rates actually being real (as the screen in it's complete is refreshed and not per pixel basis on flatscreens today). Downside was their weight, heat / power, but also size of these things.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Vanderlindemedia said:
    CRT was still the best tech compared to flatscreens we have now.
    I disagree.

    Vanderlindemedia said:
    No ghosting,
    Oh, yes they did! If you flashed a bright image on screen, there would usually be an afterglow. Unlike LCD, you can't just apply a higher voltage to switch a pixel off, faster. Once excited, the phosphors had an exponential decay curve.

    Vanderlindemedia said:
    Downside was their weight, heat / power, but also size of these things.
    Not to mention:
    focus
    convergence
    purity
    flicker
    sensitivity to electrical interference
    sensitivity to magnets
    floating blacks
    geometrical distortions
    burn-in
    Reply