Is 60hz Good for Gaming?

There is little worse in the world of gaming than being at a disadvantage to your opponents due to something that is out of your control. It can make even the most patient of us decide to stop playing a game.

To ensure you’re never in this situation, today we shall discuss the qualities of 60hz monitors and see if they are actually good for gaming or need an upgrade.

What are 60HZ and HZ in general?

It is completely natural to be overwhelmed and confused when hearing such a term as “60hz”. Fret not, as it is actually quite simple.

The measurement of 60hz is used to describe your refresh rate. This is the number of times a second that your monitor will draw a new image, similar to a camera and its shutter speed.

For example, 60hz would be sixty times a second in terms of refresh rate.

The main measurements of Hz in the monitor market seem to be 60Hz as a low, with 144Hz being seen as the highest in the general market. A monitor from ASUS has hit a 360Hz refresh rate but is ridiculously expensive and not easily obtainable for the general population of gaming enthusiasts yet.

Why does higher HZ matter?

Now that we know what it is, we can ask; is a higher refresh rate good? Well, yes.

The more times a second your monitor can draw a new image, the more it will look a lot smoother and clearer. Especially for fast-paced, high-octane games.

Higher refresh rates for gaming is incredibly useful for competitive gamers and those who play multiplayer games. Unfortunately, if you have the best computer in the world but only have a monitor capable of 60hz then most of your computer’s power is going to waste as you won’t actually notice the higher FPS.

Is it the same as FPS?

While both your refresh rate and FPS (frames per second) have the same effect on your experience they are not the same thing.

The refresh rate is purely to do with your monitor and nothing on your pc will interfere with it. On the other hand, frames per second are all to do with your PC and its power. FPS is determined by how good your graphics card, Ram, and CPU are in comparison to the game you are playing.

The newest cod game, Warzone, is quite demanding and would require a fairly powerful PC to run at a high FPS with decent graphics. However, if you only have a 60Hz gaming monitor then the frames per second are obsolete and you will be limited by your monitor.

The same can be said about the opposite, if your PC is really old and can barely run any new game in the last 10 years, then having a 144Hz monitor would be quite pointless. You need to find a nice middle ground if you are on a tight budget. If money is not an issue, definitely get a 144Hz gaming monitor and a super powerful gaming PC.

For an optimal gaming setup, the pc needs to be able to run games at max settings and in full HD, with a high refresh rate monitor that can output 144Hz. It is possible to find both a gaming PC and a high-quality new monitor for an affordable price, believe me. I managed to.

Is a 60Hz monitor good for gaming?

To honestly answer this question, it all depends on what you intend to play. If you have a tight budget and can only get a 60Hz monitor for gaming then that’s fine. However, if your budget can allow it, more Hz is always best.

Casual Gaming

If you plan to play casual or single-player games that don’t require fast-paced, action-packed movement then 60Hz will be fine. Narrative-based games and relaxing games such as Stardew Valley, Minecraft, The Sims, and many more will be absolutely fine with 60Hz.

While games such as Fallout (3, New Vegas, and 4) and Skyrim will not feel as smooth as they naturally would, you are at no disadvantage at all and can still enjoyably play the games.

Competitive Gaming

People who enjoy the competitive nature of multiplayer games will somewhat struggle with a 60Hz monitor. The reasoning for this is that a lot of fast-paced games that are also competitive will require quick reaction speeds that just aren’t realistic with 60Hz.

You would be able to play them, but you would be at a disadvantage to everyone else which would make the game more difficult and more stressful than intended. Any competitive gamer can tell you how important a high refresh rate monitor is from their own personal experience.

The games I refer to would be games such as rainbow 6 siege, Call Of Duty, Halo, and CS:GO. They are fast-paced, action-packed first-person shooters and you will notice a huge difference in your skill if you play them on a 60Hz monitor vs a 144Hz monitor.

Most games such as FPS games or Esports games will have moving objects that you need to track, usually players or enemies, but if your refresh rate is too low then the movement will be less smooth and you will have a harder time tracking it.

For example, if you want to play apex legends, and play competitively then you need your monitor and pc to be good enough so that you are depending on the human eye to notice anything and to be responsible for reaction speeds. At least that way you can only blame yourself.

The reason why PC games especially have very high-paced gameplay is that with a mouse and keyboard, you can move your character’s point of view a lot quicker due to having an insanely high DPI. For more information about DPI, feel free to check out our article related to the uses of DPI.

What refresh rate does a console allow?

Everything up until now has been strictly PC-based and does not apply to consoles. With that being said, the tables really do turn from now on.

For console gaming, a 60Hz monitor is just fine. The consoles are not at all capable of outputting 144Hz like a pc is. The Xbox series X, the newest console on the market, is only capable of 120Hz.

The previous Xbox generation, and its PlayStation counterpart, are limited at 60FPS and sometimes even drops as low as 30FPS for some games. Because of this, a 60Hz monitor would be fine as the console itself is not capable of going any higher.

However, just because the frame rates are capped, does not mean you should limit yourself to a 60Hz monitor. In fact, buying a higher refresh rate monitor would still be helpful as it would negate any delay or input lag that would naturally occur. Higher refresh rate monitors also tend to have better speeds when it comes to receiving data from the console itself.

Is 60HZ good for anything else?

Pc gamers would argue that a 60Hz monitor is not enough for gaming, it is worth noting that a 60Hz monitor can still be useful, even if it does not match their gaming needs.

A more powerful system with the correct video card and power supply is capable of having multiple monitor displays. While a second monitor will not give you a competitive edge, it is great for anything else you need to do.

With a second monitor, the statistics, input lag, refresh rates, motion blur, and screen tearing really do not matter. In other words, your second monitor can be as budget-friendly as it needs to be. The second monitor will be used for web browsing or displaying important files.

If one monitor isn’t enough for gaming then you can get a second one to display information about the game so that you can easily read tutorials or tips and tricks while playing the game on your other monitor.

If this monitor is lacking in motion quality, it will be barely noticeable because all you will do on it is the standard computer stuff, if that makes sense. It does not matter how many frames it gets because the most useful thing this monitor can do is stay on an information page for you while you play on a separate monitor.

And for the non-gamer, a second monitor is still helpful as you will not have to keep swapping between tabs when on the web, or when writing. You could buy two high refresh rate gaming monitors if you wanted but the money would be poorly spent as you really do not need two 144Hz monitors.

FAQs on Refresh Rates