How to Check Your Monitor's Refresh Rate

A brand-new high-refresh monitor very often arrives running at 60Hz, because the operating system picks a safe default and leaves the rest to you. On Windows, open Settings → System → Display → Advanced display and set the refresh rate to the highest number offered; on a Mac, hold Option and click Scaled under Displays to reveal the refresh-rate list. If your panel's top speed is not in the list at all, the cause is almost always the cable or the port, not a broken monitor. This is the single most common reason people say they “cannot feel” the upgrade they paid for. The panel is capable; it is simply being driven at a fraction of its speed until you change one setting.

Why your monitor might not be running at full speed

Operating systems default to 60Hz because it is the rate every display in existence supports, so it is the safe choice when the machine has no reason to assume otherwise. Plug in a 144Hz or 165Hz panel and Windows will happily run it at 60Hz until you tell it to go faster — the higher rate is available, just not selected. The result is a monitor that looks and feels exactly like the 60Hz screen it replaced, which understandably reads as a fault when it is really a default.

The jump you are missing is a big one. Moving from 60Hz to 144Hz is the single most-felt upgrade in gaming, as our 60Hz vs 144Hz guidelays out — motion looks clearer and the whole system feels more responsive. That is exactly why it is worth thirty seconds to confirm you are getting the rate you bought.

How to check and set the refresh rate on Windows

Windows keeps the setting a few clicks deep, but the path is the same across Windows 10 and 11.

• Right-click the desktop and choose Display settings, or open Settings → System → Display.
• Scroll down and open Advanced display (older builds call it “Advanced display settings”).
• Find Choose a refresh rate and pick the highest value in the dropdown. If your panel is 144Hz, choose 144Hz; if it supports an overclocked mode, that appears here too.
• If you have more than one monitor, select the correct display at the top first — each screen has its own refresh-rate setting, and it is easy to change the wrong one.

The number shown on this screen is the rate Windows is currently driving the panel at, so it doubles as the check and the fix. If the highest option available is lower than your monitor's rated speed, jump to the cable and port section below.

How to check the refresh rate on a Mac

Most gaming monitors are driven by a PC, but if you are on a Mac the control lives in System Settings → Displays. Hold the Optionkey while clicking the “Scaled” option and a refresh-rate menu appears, letting you pick the highest rate the connection supports. Apple's own high-refresh “ProMotion” displays manage this automatically, but an external gaming panel needs you to select the rate yourself, exactly as on Windows.

Confirm the rate you are actually getting

Setting a number in a menu and receiving it on the panel are not always the same thing, so it is worth a second confirmation. Many monitors show their live refresh rate in a corner of the on-screen menu — a genuinely useful feature, because it reports what the panel is receiving rather than what the OS thinks it is sending. There are also free browser-based tests, such as the refresh-rate tools published by Blur Busters, that measure and display the rate your display is running. If the monitor's own readout and the operating system disagree, trust the monitor.

When the top rate is missing from the list

If your monitor's full speed simply is not offered as an option, the panel is almost never the problem. Work through the usual causes.

• The cable. High refresh rates need enough bandwidth to carry them, and an old or low-spec cable is the most common bottleneck. Use the cable that came in the box, and prefer DisplayPort on a PC for the highest rates.
• The port. An older HDMI input can cap the refresh rate well below what DisplayPort on the same monitor allows. If the panel offers both, plug into DisplayPort. Our how to set up a gaming monitor guide walks through which input to choose.
• The graphics driver. An out-of-date GPU driver can hide the higher rates. Updating the driver often makes the full list appear.
• Resolution and rate together.Some panels only reach their top refresh at a specific resolution, or need an “overclock” toggle in the monitor menu enabled first.

Once you are running at full speed, the last thing worth doing is turning on adaptive sync so the frames you render arrive without tearing — our how to fix screen tearing guide covers that. And if you are still deciding whether a higher rate is worth chasing, our is 240Hz worth it guide is the honest take, while the best 144Hz monitors page is where the upgrade itself lives.