Can i Run my GPU at a Different Refresh Rate to my Monitor?

[Snip3o]

OK so i am quite confused with the refresh rate in monitors compared to GPU's. For example if i have a 144Hz monitor and i only have a GTX 1060, can i change the refresh rate on my GPU to lets say a 75 refresh rate. Or does the refresh rate not effect the performance of my GPU at all??

Thanks,

Snip3o.

 

[elbert]

The video card goes by FPS(frames per second). Now monitors refresh rate is how many of those frames it can display. Now you can limit you video cards fps to reduce fps variation from a smoother game play.

 

[Sinistercr0c]

As elbert has said, GPU's work on the number of frames per second they can output to your monitor. So for example, say you had a top end GPU such as the Nvidia GTX 1080, and a 1080p, 144Hz (refresh rate) monitor with a powerful CPU and lots of RAM and you were playing Battlefield 4....it is more than likely that your GPU could output 144 frames per second to your monitor. This would result in extremely smooth gameplay with no stutter or lag.

If however you had a bottom end GPU (say an Nvidia GT 710) and weak CPU (lets pick on AMD an go with a Phenom II 925) and were trying to play BF4 on the same 144Hz monitor, you would notice stutter, lag and issues with low frame rates as the combination of GPU and CPU cannot render and output frames to match your monitors refresh rate.

Hope this clarifies things.

 

[Snip3o]

As elbert has said, GPU's work on the number of frames per second they can output to your monitor. So for example, say you had a top end GPU such as the Nvidia GTX 1080, and a 1080p, 144Hz (refresh rate) monitor with a powerful CPU and lots of RAM and you were playing Battlefield 4....it is more than likely that your GPU could output 144 frames per second to your monitor. This would result in extremely smooth gameplay with no stutter or lag.

If however you had a bottom end GPU (say an Nvidia GT 710) and weak CPU (lets pick on AMD an go with a Phenom II 925) and were trying to play BF4 on the same 144Hz monitor, you would notice stutter, lag and issues with low frame rates as the combination of GPU and CPU cannot render and output frames to match your monitors refresh rate.

Hope this clarifies things.

OK so the refresh rate is basically how many frames can be shown at once on the monitor. But is their some way to select the refresh rate on the GPU or will it choose automatically depending on the monitor you have?

 

[Sinistercr0c]

The GPU has no knowledge of your monitors refresh rate so it doesn't 'choose' a frame rate. It will output frames as fast as it can based on all the variables of your system including which game you are running. You may have read about complaints re. certain games being poorly optimised for PC....this means they do not scale to the PC hardware being used and therefore the frame rate on high end PC rigs is still low.

The AMD driver allows you to cap or limit the overall frame rate going to the monitor, I don't know whether Nvidia does the same....I'm an AMD user.

 

[Snip3o]

The GPU has no knowledge of your monitors refresh rate so it doesn't 'choose' a frame rate. It will output frames as fast as it can based on all the variables of your system including which game you are running. You may have read about complaints re. certain games being poorly optimised for PC....this means they do not scale to the PC hardware being used and therefore the frame rate on high end PC rigs is still low.

The AMD driver allows you to cap or limit the overall frame rate going to the monitor, I don't know whether Nvidia does the same....I'm an AMD user.

Ok thanks a lot that pretty much summed everything for me.