3 Tips You Can Try if Your Monitor Doesn't Run at 144Hz
With advancements in technology and prices of higher-end hardware, at least when it's not GPUs, slowly dropping to more appealing levels, high refresh rate monitors are also becoming increasingly common.
Even though it may be a great idea to get a 144Hz monitor, the actual process of setting it up and getting it to run at 144Hz, both on your desktop and when playing games on it, can turn out to be less straightforward than you think.
This article will give you three quick tips you can try if you just purchased a 144Hz monitor but have been unable to get it to run at its maximum refresh rate.
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Table of Contents
Make sure you are using the right signal cable
While modern monitors will usually not have a VGA port and you can't plug in an outdated VGA connection cable even if you wanted to, even if you use a DVI connection, you may not be getting 144Hz if you are using the wrong type of DVI cable.
If you want to run your monitor at a 1920 x 1080 resolution and still make use of the 144Hz refresh rate, you will need to get a dual-link DVI connection cable. Single-link cables will not provide sufficient bandwidth to accommodate both this resolution and refresh rate.
Another solution is to use a DisplayPort cable, which, even in its older 1.2 version, supports up to 1440p at 144Hz, so you will likely have no issues. With the update to 1.3 and 1.4, DisplayPort can output 240Hz at 1440p and a staggering 120Hz even at 4K resolution.
If you want to run your monitor both at 4K and at 144Hz, you may need to look into specialized solutions.
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Check your Windows refresh rate settings
Right click on your desktop, then click on Display Settings. In the new window that comes up, scroll down until you see the interactive text that says "Advanced display settings" on the right. This will bring up a new view, where you will find a dropdown menu at the bottom, called "Refresh rate". Make sure you set your desired 144Hz refresh rate in that menu, so your monitor runs at 144Hz when you are on your desktop, browsing or watching media.
When it comes to games, each game will have in-game menus where you should be able to set your desired refresh rate.
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Update your GPU and monitor drivers
If you are still struggling and can't get the appropriate refresh rate options to show up, you should update your GPU drivers. Either visit your respective manufacturer's website or use the software provided by AMD and NVidia to manually force a driver update and install the most recent driver package.
Finally, while Windows will install a default, generic monitor driver, you may not be able to get 144Hz using that. Visit your monitor manufacturer's website and download the driver package for your product line, then install the drivers.
Doing all of the above will likely be enough to get your monitor to run at 144Hz and perform the way you want.
