Across the whole field of tech, designers are taking a leaf out of the lyrics from Daft Punk’s 2006 anthem, to bring us products that continually perform harder, better, faster, and stronger. With huge recent advancements in tech capabilities, thanks in part to the ongoing development of AI technology we have been keeping a close eye on what gamers can expect from their tech in years to come.
One area where manufacturers have been pushing the boundaries of tech capabilities is monitor refresh rates, with the Asus ROG Swift PG248QP 540Hz gaming display previously being the highest spec we’d seen.
Imagine our surprise, however when TCL recently demonstrated the world’s fastest gaming monitor at Display Week 2024, with the screen boasting a 1,000Hz refresh rate at a 4K resolution. This demonstrates a humongous leap forward from the best screen tech currently available, and to be honest, left us scratching our heads a little.
Why are manufacturers pushing the limits of monitor refresh rates?
A monitor’s refresh rate refers to the number of times per second that a monitor updates its display. Measured in Hertz (Hz), a higher refresh rate results in smoother and more fluid motion on the screen with the most common refresh rates being 60Hz, 75Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, 240Hz, and even 360Hz in some common gaming monitors.
The smooth and fluid visuals promised by higher refresh rates are especially beneficial in fast-paced activities like gaming, where quick reactions and precise movements are crucial, with GPU supremos NVIDIA explaining why high refresh rates are beneficial to gamers in a recent post.
Popular gaming monitors tend to offer higher refresh rates such as 144Hz or 240Hz, but with the top modern games becoming increasingly detailed, with vivid fast-paced action and cutaway scenes, manufacturers are working to further improve the capabilities offered by their monitors.
Is a 4K 1,000Hz gaming monitor useful right now?
Here’s where we’re a bit confused by TCL’s latest demonstration. Impressive as the numbers are, it’s not just refresh rates that dictate the quality of the onscreen visuals. Your monitor’s resolution determines the sharpness and clarity of the images on screen, with the highest resolutions such as 4K providing the most crisp visuals of all. However, running high refresh rates such as 240Hz alongside high resolutions puts huge demands on your system and requires top components too in everything from your GPU to your cabling.
Right now it’s unlikely that your system has anywhere near the capabilities needed to run a 4K 1,000Hz monitor, showing that this product probably isn’t suitable for the market just yet. However this demonstration has shown us the potential for gaming monitors in future years and with NVIDIA’s 50 series due for release maybe it won’t be too long before these mind-blowing TCL figures will become the norm, and we for one, cannot wait.
