g400max and high refresh rate

[glarec]

hello. i have a hitachi 753 19" monitor and here are the max refresh rate/resolution:

Hitachi: G400max:
640x480: 160hz 200hz
800x600: 160hz 200hz
1024x768: 130hz 160hz
1280x1024: 100hz 120hz
1600x1200: 85hz 100hz

i am using win2k.. should i set my refresh rate as high as possible according to the monitor's spec? if not, what's my optimal refresh rate for the resolution above? also, what are the benefit of having high refresh rates? what i mean is benefit in both 2d and 3d.

thanx for your time



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Glarec
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bp6-(2)433(oc488) celerons, g400max, ibm ultra scsi 9.1g, sb-live value, hitachi ss-753 19", plextor 32x, etc, etc, etc...

[Brian R.]

I typically set refresh rates the same across the board, for example 75 or 85 Hz. Very few people can see the difference between 85 Hz and higher refresh rates than that. The benefit of higher refresh rates comes about as a result of your environment lighting and your sensitivity to the appearance of your monitor's refresh.

If you use fluorescent lighting in your work area, the 60 Hz flickering of the lighting interacts with your monitor to produce apparent flickering of the monitor's image. Under fluorescent lighting, the further your monitor's refresh rate is from multiples of 60 Hz, the better (60 Hz being the worst). If you use incandescent lighting, the only flickering evident is that due to refresh of the monitor's image by the video card.

The angle of the monitor to your line of sight is a factor also. An apparently stable image directly in front of your eyes may flicker annoyingly when the monitor is in the corner of your eyes, for example, when you are reading a book in the presence of the monitor.

Some people are more sensitive than others to image refresh. I don't see a significant the difference between 75 Hz and higher, even when looking at the monitor out of the corner of my eyes, so I use what is convenient.

In 3D games, your computer may be limited in the rate at which individual frames are drawn on-screen. In addition, you usually have the choice of syncronizing the refresh of your monitor to the frequency of the game's frame rate (vsynch enable or disable in registry hacks).

In the simple case, you disable vsynch and the game's frame rate is varying continuously depending on the complexity of the image (everything else held constant). This situation may cause image anomalies from the lack of synchronization of the image with the monitor refresh.

When the game's frame rate and the monitor refresh frequency (say 75 Hz) are synchronized, the only frequencies available for the frame rates are multiples and fractions of 75 Hz. Thus, if your computer cannot generate frames at 75 Hz temporarily, the game's frame rate drops to 37.5 Hz until the scene's complexity decreases enough to allow the computer to draw frames at 75 Hz again.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 26 May 2000).]

[Damien Green]

On top of all of this - I've found that very high refresh rates can cause image quality to degrade - loss of focus etc. Generally I stick at around 75Hz - 80Hz - good image quality and no flicker that I can notice.

[Dyre]

It also causes eye strain to use low Refresh rates and can really screw up your vision, over time.

[glarec]

good reply interesting note though. i asked the same question in matrox's forum and shawn there said if i set it too high.. he said it can degrade game/application performance due to the g400 being too busy trying to keep the refresh up.

i guess ideally i should keep refresh rate at around 85 or so.. even if my monitor is capable of 100hz refresh rate and my g400max is capable of 120hz refresh rate at 1280x1024. i wonder if people do use the extra refresh rates *ponder*

[Bad Sector]

My eyes are extremely sensitive to refresh rates. I can generally tell what your refresh rate is when I walk in the room. I know it sounds crazy but I proved it to the peeps that I work part time with at a PC shop. I personally set mine to 100Hz (1152x864) whenever possible. I can tolerate 85Hz for short periods of time if necessary, but I CAN tell the difference. 75Hz and lower are "eye melters" to me.

Bad Sector

[Brian R.]

Glarec - I think Shawn was restating what I said about the 3-D applications when you have the monitor refresh locked to the frame redraw rate. If the video card can't keep up, the frame rate drops dramatically owing to the limited number of allowable frame rates. There is a great deal of optimization to be done on each individual system if you want the maximum allowable average frame rates with vsynch on.

The bottom line is, for 2D applications, use the refresh rate you like best without overdoing it. Only a few percent of individuals benefit from 100 HZ and above refresh rates.