The gaming experience can be ultimate when you have supporting hardware to display the high-end graphics in the gameplay. The most important part of gaming is the GPU and the monitor you are using.
Both the GPU and monitor go hand in hand when it comes to displaying the gameplay in the best possible manner. But what if you have a high-end GPU and a monitor with only a 60Hz refresh rate?
Let us discuss whether it is possible to play a game with 120FPS on a 60Hz monitor and discuss all the issues that may arise with such a combination.
Can you play 120fps on 60hz Monitor?
You can play 120FPS games on a 60Hz monitor but you will only be able to see the output in 60FPS due to the inability of the monitor to refresh frames more than 60 times per second. Although you may have a GPU that can feed frames at a higher rate, the ability of the monitor to refresh frames is what defines the final FPS of the game.
It is important to understand in detail what happens when a game with 120fps settings runs on a 60Hz monitor.
What happens when 120FPS runs on a 60Hz monitor?
We know that FPS is provided by the GPU. The more powerful the GPU is, the higher the number of frames produced per second. A game can run at any number of FPS if the GPU is powerful.
On the other hand, the refresh rate of a monitor denotes how many times the monitor can update the frames. For instance, the 60Hz monitor can only show a maximum of 60 frames every second and it cannot update more frames than that.
So, in our case, we have a powerful GPU that can produce the gameplay output in 120 frames per second. But the monitor has the capacity to display only 60 frames every second.
When the GPU feeds 120 frames every second, the monitor can only recognize the first 60 frames and displays them in a particular second. The other 60 frames are wasted and not displayed.
Therefore, even though you can play 120FPS games on a 60Hz monitor, you will be witnessing only 60FPS.
Read: How much FPS can a 165hz Monitor run?
What can be done to play 120FPS on a 60Hz monitor?
As we mentioned earlier, the FPS depends on the ability of the monitor to output a higher number of frames every second. So, you cannot experience the higher refresh rate in a 60Hz monitor.
If you want to adjust the FPS settings, then you can do it by two methods:
- Adjust In-game settings
- Adjust in GPU application
Adjust In-Game Settings
- Every game has video or graphic settings inside its application.
- Launch your game and go to settings. Then choose video settings or graphic settings.
- Here choose Frame Rate or FPS and toggle it down or up as per your requirement.
- If you have a 60Hz monitor, then it is advisable to keep the FPS at 60.
- Save the settings and enjoy the game.
Adjust in GPU application
- Every GPU has software that helps to tweak the graphics settings. For instance, AMD has the Radeon Booster software, etc.Â
- Open that software by right-clicking on the desktop and choosing the application.
- In the application, you can add the game you are playing.
- Then adjust the FPS for that particular game and save the changes.
- Launch the game from that application, you will be provided with the desired FPS.
Now, you will be able to match the FPS and the refresh rate of the monitor and enjoy a better gaming experience.
Read: Does Curved Monitor make a difference in gaming?
Problems that may occur if we play 120fps on a 60Hz monitor
We mentioned what happens when 120 frames are fed into a 60Hz monitor every second. Only 60 frames will be recognized by the monitor per second and the rest of the frames will not be displayed. The other 60 frames might start to overlap on the upcoming frames causing a phenomenon called screen tearing.
When a higher FPS is played on a lower refresh rate monitor, you can experience screen tearing which will be annoying during gameplay. The new frames will start to overlap with the old ones causing the issue and difficulty in playing the game properly.
Another phenomenon that may occur is that ghosting is also similar to tearing where the response time of pixels is very less while newer pixels are continuously fed into the monitor.
Sometimes you can also get frame stuttering but it is only a result of a slower GPU. So, if you have a slower processing GPU and a slower refresh rate monitor, then the gaming experience will be hell.
Therefore, you will experience screen tearing, ghosting, and possible stuttering when you are playing 120FPS on a 60Hz monitor.
Read: Do all monitors have display ports?
Recommended 60Hz Monitors that Support 120fps
All 60Hz monitors can support 120FPS but they will not be able to display 120 frames every second. The maximum number of frames you can see is 60. You can buy any brand monitor with a 60Hz refresh rate but it will not be able to display 120 frames with every refresh.
The only way to experience the 120 FPS is to buy a monitor that supports 144Hz or higher. With such monitors, you will be able to get 120FPS in the output.
Also, you can avoid ghosting, tearing, and stuttering with high refresh rate monitors. For gamers, it is best to have more than 144Hz monitor to experience high fps games and enjoy seamless gameplay.
You can also set up higher graphic settings provided that you have a compatible GPU. So, all the 60Hz monitors can support 120FPS but cannot show 120 frames whatsoever.
Read: How to change Monitor from 60hz to 144hz?
Conclusion
If you are seeking to set up a good gaming PC, then having a high-performing GPU and a high refresh rate monitor is very important. Without these two pieces of hardware, you cannot get to play high fps games with their true experience. Now you know whether it is possible to play 120FPS on a 60Hz monitor and what happens when you play so.
