Explain monitor hertz

[BlackMurdock]

Can someone is depth explain monitor hertz?

 

[Brighttail]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refresh_rate

Do you have a specific question as to why you want to know, like which is better a 60mhz v 120 v 144 and will I see a difference in gaming?

 

[rhysiam]

It doesn't really need an indepth explanation.

Hz is just a unit of frequency, it effectively means "per second". Although we usually reference an car engine's "frequency" in RPM (revolutions per minute), we could just as easily use Hertz (hz), it's applicable there too.

In the case of computer monitors, it refers to the number of times they refresh the display each second. The standard is 60hz, though gaming monitors are increasinly appearing with 120 or 144hz.

Basically you can have your game running at 300 frames per second, but it's not going to matter if you have a 60hz monitor which will only be updating itself 60 times a second, and thus only displaying 1 out of every 5 frames the video card generates.

Higher hz = (potientially) more frames per second = (potentially) greater smoothness... provided that your computer can provide the frames to the monitor fast enough.