LG Display study links higher refresh rates to better gaming performance

LG Display workers showcase the company's high refresh rate monitor. Courtesy of LG Display

LG Display said it has completed an experiment and published a paper showing that higher refresh rates on gaming monitors improve players' real-time performance in first-person shooter games.

The paper, "A Study on the Impact of Refresh Rate on Real-Time FPS Gaming Performance," found that players using monitors with higher refresh rates were better able to identify moving targets, improving both reaction speed and accuracy, the company said.

The blind test involved 31 adult gamers who played a first-person shooter at four refresh rates — 60Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz and 480Hz — presented in random order. Researchers measured quantitative metrics including hit score and event interval time, as well as qualitative ratings on screen smoothness, ease of target tracking and overall preference on a five-point scale.

Hit scores, a measure of shooting accuracy, improved 38 percent at 480Hz compared with 60Hz. The gain from 240Hz to 480Hz alone accounted for a 10 percent improvement, which LG Display said shows performance continues to rise as refresh rates increase, even from an already high baseline. Qualitative ratings also rose with refresh rate, as players reported smoother visuals and easier target tracking.

LG Display attributed the results to reduced input lag and motion blur at higher refresh rates; input lag measured more than 10 milliseconds lower at 480Hz compared with 60Hz in the test.

In May, LG Display won the Society for Information Display's Display of the Year award for a 27-inch OLED gaming panel capable of 540Hz and 720Hz refresh rates.

"As a technology-driven company, we will continue to strengthen our technological competitiveness targeting the gaming display industry," said an LG Display official.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.