Does anyone really need a 1000Hz gaming monitor?

Just a couple of years ago, companies like Nvidia were talking about prototypes of 500Hz gaming monitors as having “benefits.” [for] Every game and gamer, not just competitive gamers and eSports pros.” Now, the high frame rate experts at Blur Busters Bring the word From the prototype screen at 4K and 1000 Hz it is displayed Chinese panel maker TCL CSOT in Manufacturer-focused DisplayWeek 2024 conference.

TCL’s proof-of-concept panel is even more impressive for not sacrificing resolution in the name of high frame rate – many current 480Hz displays tend to go all the way to 1080p resolution or offer ‘dual mode’ options for higher resolutions with lower maximum refresh rates. And while Recent advances in pixel flip times TCL’s new LCD prototype, Blur Busters, has enabled 1000Hz OLED displays to be commercialized as soon as 2027.

4K 1000Hz is displayed at #ShowWeek2024 By TCL CSOT pic.twitter.com/xc2qsYocxX

– BlurBusters (@BlurBusters) May 15, 2024

The apparent imminent break of the four-digit refresh rate threshold got us thinking: Are we finally approaching the point of diminishing returns in display makers’ long-running hertz battle? Or is 1000Hz just a new stepping stone into realms of motion smoothness that most gamers haven’t even imagined yet?

60 fps is just the beginning

Research indicates that most humans Stop detecting flickering in pulsating lights at around 60 Hz, a discovery that has led many to incorrectly claim that the human eye “cannot see beyond 60 frames per second.” The misunderstanding stems in part from the fact that this “flicker threshold” generally measures how a human reacts to flicker in a single light source. The eye’s reaction to the illusion of movement in a screen made up of millions of individual pixels may be very different.

basic Motion test On a high-end display it is enough to clearly show the advantages of refresh rates beyond 60 Hz. Fast-moving on-screen objects definitely look less blurry as you climb higher and higher on the refresh rate curve, because pixels from the previous position of the object “linger” for less time at higher rates. This low stability can be especially important in VR displays, where motion blur and low refresh rates can lead to motion sickness as you rapidly tilt your head around a virtual environment.

Once displays reach around 1,000 Hz, that’s when Blur Busters says you start to see results where… “Things stop blurring.” But even faster refresh rates can help with sharpening of very fast objects on Ultra HD displays. Think of a mouse cursor or crosshair in a video game that can move across nearly 4,000 horizontal pixels on a 4K display in one second. To defeat Stroboscopic effects What can occur on objects moving at this speed would require a theoretical width of 10,000 Hz or more.

Of course, even with a 1,000 Hz display, you’ll need to play content at 1,000 frames per second to take full advantage of the ultra-fast pixel core hardware. While this level of performance may seem ridiculous for current hardware running any modern games, this kind of performance is no longer as far-fetched as you might think. Nvidia data Shows the RTX 4090 generating frame rates in excess of 600 FPS on older but still popular games such as Rainbow Six Siege And fortnite In the settings “High” and the full resolution is 1440p.

Factor in a few more generations of graphics card upgrades, not to mention frame generation technology It can deliver 10 replayed frames per keyframe-And waiting a millisecond for your screen to display a new image may not be completely ridiculous. With the way things are going, we’re already waiting for the day, years from now, when we look at an article like this and find it strange that we ever liked the idea of ​​a display that reached just 1000 Hz.