Sure, 4K is the new “in” thing. With the likes of the R9 290X and the GTX 970, we’re finally seeing (relatively) affordable hardware that can push playable framerates at super-high resolutions. But if competitive multiplayer is your thing; if you’re a CoD or CS veteran, then you know very well that 30-40 FPS (the most that modern high-end cards can manage at 4K), is just not going to cut it in the middle of a packed 16 on 16 shootout. For many of us, a locked 60 FPS is the golden standard for competitive multiplayer. A locked 60 is a wonderfully smooth experience, but when you’re getting torn up in the middle of that gunfight, any potential advantage you can gain becomes invaluable. That’s where 120 Hz and 144 Hz monitors come into the picture—playing at twice the framerate is often enough to give you just that little edge to get to the top. But they’re absurdly expensive, you might think. ‘There’s no way I’m going to get my hands on one of those. I’ll just have to settle for a locked 60, like everyone else.’
What if I told you that you can set up a 90-120 Hz monitor…for free?
That’s right. I’m telling you that you, me—anyone can run more or less any monitor at a refresh rate higher than 60 Hz. It’s down to a nifty trick called Monitor Overclocking.
Just a little disclaimer: Monitor overclocking is a lot safer than GPU/CPU overclocking. We haven’t encountered any problems whatsoever on our safely overclocked monitors, and from extensive forum trawling, we’ve yet to discover a single user who’s had issues with overclocked monitors. However, technically, monitor overclocking will have you operating your monitor outside its intended design specs. The author and IGNdia will not bear responsibility if your monitor artefacts/stops working/triggers a nuclear apocalypse. Most likely, none of these things will happen. But still… just saying. Are we cool with that? Let’s get started.
Further Note: The method we’re describing here apparently only works on Nvidia cards, as this method of monitor overclocking was enabled in recent Nvidia drivers. There is an alternative method for AMD users. Scroll down towards the end of the article, where we talk about the AMD-specific method.
What is monitor overclocking?
A typical monitor has a refresh rate of 60 Hz. This means whatever’s displayed onscreen gets refreshed 60 times a second. The pixel clock is the rate at which pixel data is being sent from a source (in this case, your GPU), to the monitor. The relationship between your refresh rate and the pixel clock is fairly straightforward, as such. The higher the pixel clock, the higher your refresh rate can be.
How to do it:
Overclocking the pixel clock (and therefore running at a higher refresh rate) is surprisingly easy to accomplish. For this instructional, we use EVGA’s Precision X software. You can download the latest version of Precision X straight from EVGA’s website, or from Techspot here.
Step 1: After installing Precision X, launch the software. You’ll arrive at this screen.
Step Two: Click twice on the highlighted arrow to navigate to the Settings menus.
Step Three: Click on the Pixel Clock setting.
Step Four: SLOWLY increase the pixel clock slider. You’ll see that this causes the refresh rate to increase as well. Click OK after every 5 Hz increase in the refresh rate and check for stability—this can be done by simply using your system normally for a minute or so. If the display doesn’t go blank and if no artefacting is seen, you’re good to go for that particular refresh rate. Keep increasing until you reach a refresh rate where you either start to see artefacts or when your screen temporarily blanks out. No two monitors are made exactly alike so you’ll have to find your own maximum refresh rate.
Further Notes: The type of monitor you have has a substantial impact on the amount of available overclocking headroom.
- Ironically, TN and TFT LCD panels (considered the lowest quality in just about every other way), have the highest overclocking potential. Most TN and TFT monitors will hit at least 90 Hz, which is a visibly smoother than 60 Hz in-game. If you’re lucky, you may be able to push 120 Hz and above with a TN or TFT monitor.
- IPS LCD and LED monitors tend to have much less overclocking headroom. Some IPS and LED panels can hit 75-80 Hz, but others can’t handle even slight increases. If you have an IPS or LED monitor, try incrementing by 1 Hz while testing.
Some manufacturers like Samsung set a multiplier lock in place for the pixel clock. In the case of some Samsung panels, this can be as low as 64 Hz. If you try overclocking a multiplier-locked monitor, your refresh rate will not go above the lock unless you disable it. Usually disabling the multiplier is as easy as unlocking it in the monitor’s onscreen settings display. Most laptop displays are unlocked by default. In order to test whether or not your monitor is locked, visit BlurBuster’s UFO Motion Test here.
If you are using AMD hardware, monitor overclocking is still possible, though the process is a little more complicated. You can use ToastyX’s Custom Resolution Utility (CRU). The CRU, along with a tutorial, are available here.
Lastly, keep in mind that running games at high framerates can be very hardware intensive. Running a game at 90 FPS requires 50 percent more GPU power than running at 60. If you’re having trouble hitting 90 FPS or higher, consider adjusting your resolution and graphics settings.
If everything’s set up correctly, you should be enjoying high-framerate gaming in no time! How far can you push your monitor? Let us know! Post your max overclocks in the comments below.
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