Is 120Hz worth it?

The flicker is from the backlight or (more likely) dithering algorithms - it has nothing whatsoever to do with refresh rate, which unlike on a CRT has nothing to do with the 'screen refresh' and is all to do with the electrical signal (i.e. how much information is sent from the graphics card to the monitor every second). An LCD at the simplest level is a colour filter placed infront of a backlight - this fundamental setup is not altered by a 120Hz refresh rate.
 
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Wait

It depend on your GPU. If you are using nVidia, you should get it now because it IS worth it. If you use AMD/ATI 6xxx then you should wait a while because of displayport 2.2 and HDMI 1.4 for better FPS. 3D hasn't become really mainstream because until recently, only nVidia supported it.
 
I'm sorry I just dont get this, how the hell are you people playing games in 1080P at 120FPS or even 70FPS for most titles

What do you have for processors and GPU's? Human Brains?

It just doesnt makes sense most people dont get over 60
 
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So the fact of the matter is if FPS is equal to HZ, for most gamers playing modern titles, 120hz is not woth the extra money, 60hz is more than enough as even on a modern top of the range GPU bolted to a decent system games like Bad Company 2 wont see over 60FPS in 1080P with high settings, you'd just set everything to high and enable VSYNC
 
120Hz monitors also use particularly aggressive overdrive and achieve very low input lag as well as good ISO and G2G response times - but the same can be true for 60Hz monitors as well.
 
Which is what i'm saying, you might as well spend less on a good 60hz monitor like the Samsung as the 120hz feature of the more expensive 120hz monitors just wont be used by most people playing high end games that want the eye candy, they are better off with a 60hz monitor with everything on full and VSYNC enabled
 
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I side with you on this as I say if things are consistently above 60fps then you should turn the graphics up in some way! Maybe enable 32x SSAA if you have to. ;) On some titles people report issues with using V-sync (even with triple buffering enabled) such as sluggish controls and a generally less smooth experience. Personally I've found the opposite to be the case in the titles I test, but for some people they like to know that they can disable v-sync and if the framerate climbs above 60fps they won't get tearing. Another thing that could have some affect is that an increased refresh rate does strange things to the pixel response time - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/overdrive_at_75hz.htm
 
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Currently my GPU is a bottle neck in my system as its 3 years old and i'm looking to upgrade GPU and monitor for 1080P (i'm currently gaming at 1680x1050) with as high settings as possible and i've done a hell of a lot of reading on the subject and I still dont understand a lot of it but I do know that 120hz from a cost per gain point of view isnt worth it on a high end gaming system when eye candy is what you're after.

I dont even use VSYNC currently as i'm gaming at around 40/50FPS on my current hard ware but the way I look at is, when I get my new monitor which will more than likely be a Samsung for around £170 and my new GPU running games at 1080P with high settings if I get tearing I can enable VSYNC and thats that hopefully

However, I can understand why people would pay more for a 120hz IF.. they are playing older games like Counter Strike competatively and graphics dont matter or they are wanting to play/watch 3d games/films
 
Relentless81 said:
Currently my GPU is a bottle neck in my system as its 3 years old and i'm looking to upgrade GPU and monitor for 1080P (i'm currently gaming at 1680x1050) with as high settings as possible and i've done a hell of a lot of reading on the subject and I still dont understand a lot of it but I do know that 120hz from a cost per gain point of view isnt worth it on a high end gaming system when eye candy is what you're after.

I dont even use VSYNC currently as i'm gaming at around 40/50FPS on my current hard ware but the way I look at is, when I get my new monitor which will more than likely be a Samsung for around £170 and my new GPU running games at 1080P with high settings if I get tearing I can enable VSYNC and thats that hopefully

However, I can understand why people would pay more for a 120hz IF.. they are playing older games like Counter Strike competatively and graphics dont matter or they are wanting to play/watch 3d games/films
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you are aware you still get tearing if you disable vsync and still get under 60 fps aren`t you? getting more than 60 fps isn`t the only way to see tearing.Also just enabling vsync if you cant maintain 60 at all times isnt the best idea,triple buffering is best used in pretty much all instances (unless its an old game that really never does drop below 60)

Also on the subject of how can people get 120fps etc with current cards ,i admit i have a pretty strong system.2x5870 in x-fire can give me pretty much solid 120 fps in just cause 2,borderlands,left for dead 1+2 and can even give me some areas in crysis/warhead (though admittedly it spends most of its time between 50-90).I can`t help but feel that some who are commenting on this have`nt actually tried a 120 hz screen or not for any significant amount of time.Or have seen 120 fps+ running on there 60hz monitors.

I also get the impression there`s a few "you cant see above 30/60 fps " types aswell,i really thought we had got rid of this argument by now :(
 
I cant afford to buy a 60hz monitor and a 120hz monitor for testing, I have to do my research and make a decision based on what I learnt and i've already said I dont fully understand it, feel free to educate me where I am wrong but currently thats the way I am looking at it, decent non-120hz monitor, see how it runs with and without VSYNC on my next GPU as I currently never use VSYNC as my current GPU as previously mentioned is bottle necking my system and needs upgrading so i'm used to between 40 and 50 FPS, i'm waiting for the 6950's to come out before I buy either monitor or GPU
 
No your approach is correct, Relentless. We don't all have a Crossfire 5870 system and thinking about what framerate your system is likely to achieve in the games you play is a good way of thinking about it. Now if only this EW2420 was as responsive as a 120Hz LCD it would be such a great monitor. The contrast and colour reproduction leaves any 120Hz LCD monitor in the dust, frankly... But alas; I am sending it back because I want a 30" OLED screen. ;)
 
Relentless81 said:
I cant afford to buy a 60hz monitor and a 120hz monitor for testing, I have to do my research and make a decision based on what I learnt and i've already said I dont fully understand it, feel free to educate me where I am wrong but currently thats the way I am looking at it, decent non-120hz monitor, see how it runs with and without VSYNC on my next GPU as I currently never use VSYNC as my current GPU as previously mentioned is bottle necking my system and needs upgrading so i'm used to between 40 and 50 FPS, i'm waiting for the 6950's to come out before I buy either monitor or GPU
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I agree,on one of my posts on here i said as much.If your system struggles to get to the required frame rates then it`s not gonna be the best of purchases.But if you can maintain them frame rates or play older games that can, the extra smoothness of 120 fps compensates for the colour quality and viewing angles issues.

IMHO of course,and judging by a few others who have gone the 120 hz route.Borderlands really does look astonishing at 120 fps and with the new 10.10a ati drivers with morphilogical (err) anti aliasing it really is a sight to behold.

Don`t let anyone tell you there`s no diferance between 60 and 120 fps......yes it isnt as prononced as the leap from 30-60 but it most definatly is in the same ball park ;)
 
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My experience of 120Hz and nVidias' 3D goggles..

A mate has an i7 SLi'd 3 monitor setup with nVidia 3D vision. He has:
1. a 60Hz DELL - ok
2. a 120Hz Samsung - dim in 3D with muted colours and as such the 3D isn't great.
3. a new Alienware 120Hz - bright, colours better than the samsung and the 3D is far better by a long way. The downside is that I can see some backlight bleed on it.

If you're gaming and you're building 3D into it then yes as your rig and the games you're likely to buy will deliver the goods.

Personally I think 3D movies are a bit of a gimmick.
 
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