Why does the FPS count go above my TV/Monitor's refresh rate ?

[knowledge2121]

My understanding is that if the monitor is 140hz then the FPS should not exceed 140 ... but Nvidia's FPS counter and fraps show FPS's that are above my monitors refresh rate ...

What does this mean exactly ? Like , if the FPS count is 200 ... does that mean my GPU is capable of outputting 200 FPS in that particular game but since the monitor is 144hz what I see is 144 FPSes ?

CPU: i5-6500
GPU: GTX 1080
Monitor: Dell 1440p 144hz G-sync

 

[hdmark]

Yes, exactly what you said

 

[10tacle]

It means you do not have V-sync turned on in the game setting. If you turn V-sync on in the game, it will stop FPS exceeding the maximum Hz of the monitor. When you turn G-Sync on, it should by default set the monitor itself to V-sync, but that doesn't control the in-game V-sync setting. At least this was what I came across last year when experimenting with a 1080p 144Hz G-sync monitor. Any FPS above 144 is essentially wasting power and heat.

 

[Glenwing]

My understanding is that if the monitor is 140hz then the FPS should not exceed 140 ... but Nvidia's FPS counter and fraps show FPS's that are above my monitors refresh rate ...

What does this mean exactly ? Like , if the FPS count is 200 ... does that mean my GPU is capable of outputting 200 FPS in that particular game but since the monitor is 144hz what I see is 144 FPSes ?

CPU: i5-6500
GPU: GTX 1080
Monitor: Dell 1440p 144hz G-sync

Your GPU generates 200 frames per second and sends them to the monitor. The monitor shows 144 of them on the screen, the other 56 are discarded.