You just spent $400 on a high-end gaming monitor. It’s got the "144Hz" or "240Hz" sticker right on the bezel. You plug it in, boot up your favorite shooter, and something feels... off. It’s not buttery smooth. It’s kinda choppy. Honestly, there is a massive chance your screen is still outputting a measly 60 frames per second because Windows defaults to the lowest common denominator. Learning how to see refresh rate of monitor isn't just about curiosity; it’s about making sure you actually get what you paid for.
Most people assume that hardware is "plug and play." It’s not. Not really.
The refresh rate is essentially how many times per second your monitor redraws the image on the screen. It’s measured in Hertz (Hz). If your monitor is set to 60Hz, you are seeing 60 images every second. If you’ve got a 144Hz panel but the software is stuck at 60, you’re essentially throttling your own experience. It’s like buying a Ferrari and never shifting out of first gear.
The Quick Way to Check Your Settings in Windows 10 and 11
Windows makes this relatively easy, though they’ve moved the buttons around over the years. If you’re on Windows 11, right-click anywhere on your desktop. Hit "Display settings." You’ll see a bunch of options for HDR, scale, and resolution. Scroll down until you find "Advanced display."
This is the holy grail for monitor nerds.
Under the "Display information" section, you’ll see your active signal resolution and the bit depth. Right next to "Choose a refresh rate," there’s a dropdown menu. If that menu says 60Hz and you know your monitor can do 144Hz, click it. Change it. Your screen will probably go black for a second. Don't panic. It’s just the hardware handshaking with the OS to confirm the new timing.
Windows 10 is almost the same, but the UI looks like it was designed in a different decade. You still go to Display Settings, but you have to click a blue link that says "Advanced display settings" near the bottom. Then, you click "Display adapter properties for Display 1." A small legacy window pops up. Go to the "Monitor" tab. There it is. A tiny dropdown list.
Why Your Monitor Might Not Show the Right Hertz
Sometimes you go into those settings and the high refresh rate isn't even there. It’s frustrating. You might see 60Hz and 59.94Hz (which is a broadcast standard holdover), but nothing higher.
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Usually, this is a cable problem.
HDMI cables are a mess of different versions. If you are using an old HDMI 1.2 cable from your 2012 DVD player, it physically cannot carry enough data for 4K at 144Hz. It’s a bandwidth pipe. If the pipe is too small, the data won't flow. You generally want a DisplayPort 1.4 cable or an HDMI 2.1 cable for modern high-end displays. According to the HDMI Licensing Administrator, HDMI 2.1 supports up to 10K resolution, but for most of us, it’s the ticket to 4K at 120Hz on consoles like the PS5 or Xbox Series X.
Then there’s the GPU driver issue. If you haven't updated your Nvidia or AMD drivers lately, the communication between your PC and the monitor might be garbled. The computer basically says, "I don't know what this thing is," and defaults to a safe, low refresh rate to prevent the screen from breaking.
Using the Nvidia Control Panel or AMD Software
If you’re a gamer, you probably ignore Windows settings and go straight to the source. For Nvidia users, right-click the desktop and open the Nvidia Control Panel. Under the "Display" tree on the left, click "Change resolution."
Here’s a pro tip: scroll down.
Nvidia often splits resolutions into "Ultra HD, HD, SD" and "PC." If you select a resolution under the TV category, it might cap you at 60Hz. You have to scroll down to the "PC" section to unlock the 144Hz, 165Hz, or 360Hz options. It’s a weird quirk of the software that catches people off guard all the time.
AMD users have the Adrenalin software. It’s a bit more modern-looking. You go to Settings (the gear icon), then Display. It will show you the current "Reported" refresh rate. If it’s wrong, you can usually override it or check if "Radeon FreeSync" is messing with the detection.
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Testing Your Refresh Rate Online
Software can lie. Sometimes Windows thinks it's sending 144Hz, but the monitor is dropping frames. This is where the community-standard tool comes in: TestUFO.
Created by Mark Rejhon of Blur Busters, TestUFO is a web-based tool that visually verifies your refresh rate. You open it in a browser (preferably Chrome or a Chromium-based browser, as they handle high refresh rates better), and a little alien flies across the screen. At the bottom, it will tell you your "Frame Rate" and "Refresh Rate" in real-time.
If your Windows settings say 144Hz but TestUFO says 60fps, something is blocking the sync. It could be your browser settings. It could be "Hardware Acceleration" being turned off. It could be a secondary monitor with a lower refresh rate that is confusing your GPU.
The Multi-Monitor Trap
This is a classic. You have a beautiful 144Hz primary monitor and a cheap 60Hz secondary monitor for Discord or YouTube. In some versions of Windows, if there is any movement on the 60Hz screen—like a video playing—Windows will occasionally sync the primary monitor down to 60Hz to match.
It’s annoying. It’s a known bug that Microsoft has tried to patch several times. The best way to check for this is to unplug your second monitor and see if the primary one suddenly feels smoother. If it does, you might need to enable "Variable Refresh Rate" in Windows Graphics settings to let them operate independently.
Checking Refresh Rate on a Mac
Apple does things differently. They don't call it a gaming monitor; they talk about "ProMotion." If you’re on a MacBook Pro or using a Studio Display, you go to the Apple Menu > System Settings > Displays.
Click on the display you want to check. You’ll see a "Refresh Rate" dropdown. If you have a ProMotion display, it’ll usually be set to "ProMotion," which means it scales dynamically from 24Hz up to 120Hz. This saves battery. If you want it locked for video editing, you can manually set it to 60Hz or 50Hz.
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The Physical Hardware Check
Don't forget the monitor's own OSD (On-Screen Display). Most monitors have buttons on the back or a little joystick. If you open the monitor's internal menu, there is almost always an "Information" or "Status" tab.
This is the ultimate truth.
The monitor's internal software will tell you exactly what signal it is receiving from the cable. If the monitor OSD says "1920x1080 @ 60Hz," but your Windows settings say 144Hz, you have a signal mismatch. The monitor is likely discarding the extra frames or the GPU is performing a weird downsampling. Trust the monitor’s menu over the OS every single time.
Why Does This Even Matter?
You might think, "I can't see past 60 frames per second anyway." That’s a myth. While there’s a point of diminishing returns, the jump from 60Hz to 144Hz is massive. It reduces motion blur. It makes the mouse cursor feel like it's attached to your hand rather than floating on a string.
In competitive games like Counter-Strike or Valorant, a higher refresh rate gives you a literal advantage. You see the enemy peeking a corner a few milliseconds earlier. You can react faster. Even just scrolling through a long PDF or a website feels more premium when the text doesn't turn into a blurry mess during the move.
Actionable Steps to Verify and Fix
- Open Windows Advanced Display Settings to see what the OS thinks it is outputting.
- Check the "Choose a refresh rate" dropdown and select the highest number available.
- Use a DisplayPort 1.4 cable if you are on a PC; HDMI is often limited by the specific port version on your laptop or GPU.
- Run the TestUFO tool in a browser to confirm the browser is actually syncing at the correct speed.
- Check your monitor's physical OSD menu to see the "Active Signal" information.
- Update your graphics drivers via Nvidia GeForce Experience or AMD Adrenalin to ensure the hardware handshake is working.
- Disable "Battery Saver" modes on laptops, as these often force the screen to 60Hz to save power without telling you.
Getting the refresh rate right is the single biggest "free" upgrade you can give your setup. You've already bought the hardware; you might as well use all of it. If you've followed these steps and you're still stuck at 60Hz, it's time to look at your cable or check if your laptop's HDMI port is an older version that physically can't handle the load.