I still remember the moment the high-refresh-rate bug bit me. It was probably around 2015. I was at a friend’s place, still perfectly happy with my trusty 60Hz monitor. He had just dropped a ridiculous amount of money on a 144Hz panel to play Counter-Strike, and I was giving him a hard time about it. “There’s no way it’s that different,” I scoffed. After one round of whipping my mouse around and seeing a buttery-smooth image with no tearing or stutter, Going back to my own setup felt like watching a slideshow.Fast forward to today, and the conversation has shifted. The new standard for many gamers isn’t 144Hz, but 165Hz. So, the big question is, is 165Hz good for gaming?
Let me cut right to the chase: yes, it’s not just good, it’s fantastic. For a huge majority of gamers, from competitive die-hards to people who just want a more premium experience, 165Hz represents the absolute sweet spot of performance, price, and visual fluidity. It’s a game-changing upgrade that you can truly feel.
But saying it’s “good” is easy. Let’s dig into the why, who it’s truly for, and whether it’s the right investment for your rig.
More in Refresh Rates Category
What Exactly Is Refresh Rate and Why Does It Matter So Much?
Before we dive deep, let’s get on the same page. Think of your monitor’s refresh rate as a flipbook. The number, measured in Hertz (Hz), tells you how many times per second the monitor can draw a new image.
A 60Hz monitor is like a flipbook that can show you 60 pages per second. A 165Hz monitor can show you 165 pages per second.
This is different from your game’s frames per second (FPS), which is how many images your graphics card (GPU) is creating per second. Your refresh rate is the maximum number of those frames your monitor can actually display. If your GPU is pumping out 150 FPS but your monitor is only 60Hz, you’re only ever going to see 60 of those frames. You’re leaving a massive amount of performance on the table.
The magic of a higher refresh rate is in the smoothness. With more images being shown every second, the motion on screen becomes incredibly fluid. This reduces motion blur, making it easier to track moving objects, and generally makes the entire experience feel more responsive and connected to your inputs.
165Hz vs. the 60Hz Standard
Let’s be blunt: the difference between 60Hz and 165Hz is staggering. It is not subtle. It is not placebo. It is a genuine, night-and-day transformation of your gaming experience.
I have a friend who I finally convinced to upgrade from his ancient 60Hz panel. He mostly plays single-player games like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077. He was skeptical, thinking high refresh rates were only for esports pros. The day he set it up, I got a text that just said, “WOW. Even my mouse cursor on the desktop is smoother.”
And he’s right. Everything feels better.
In-game, the benefits are immediately obvious. When you quickly pan the camera, the world doesn’t dissolve into a blurry mess. It remains clear and defined. Objects in motion are sharper. It’s not just prettier, either. This clarity reduces eye strain because your brain doesn’t have to work as hard to interpret a blurry image. It’s a tangible upgrade that makes gaming more comfortable and immersive.
How Does 165Hz Stack Up Against 144Hz? Is the Jump Worth It?
This is where the conversation gets more nuanced. The leap from 60Hz to 144Hz (or 165Hz) is a revolution. The jump from 144Hz to 165Hz is more of an evolution.
When I moved from my old 144Hz to my current 165Hz, I had to really look for the difference at first. It’s not the same jaw-on-the-floor moment. It’s a subtle refinement. The motion is just a little bit clearer, the input feels a hair more responsive. It’s an incremental gain of about 15% more visual information.
So, is it worth ditching a perfectly good 144Hz monitor for a 165Hz one? Honestly, for most people, probably not. You won’t feel like you’ve been gaming in the stone age.
However, the market has already made this decision for you. Nowadays, if you’re buying a new gaming monitor in the 24- to 27-inch range, 165Hz is the new baseline. It often costs the same, or just a few dollars more, than a comparable 144Hz model. In that scenario, it’s a no-brainer. Grab the 165Hz and enjoy that extra bit of refined smoothness.
Will I Even Notice a Difference Going Above 165Hz to 240Hz or 360Hz?
This is where we hit the point of diminishing returns for the average player. Going from 165Hz to 240Hz is an even smaller jump in perceived smoothness than 144Hz to 165Hz. Going to 360Hz is a difference that most mortals, myself included, would struggle to identify in a blind test.
These ultra-high refresh rates are built for a specific purpose: professional-level esports. These are for players whose careers can hinge on a single millisecond of reaction time. For them, any potential edge, no matter how small, is worth it.
For the rest of us, there’s a huge trade-off. To even take advantage of a 240Hz monitor, you need a beast of a PC that can consistently push 240 FPS or more in your favorite games, often at lower graphical settings. For my money, I’d much rather invest in a gorgeous 1440p 165Hz IPS monitor than a 1080p 240Hz TN panel. The overall experience is just better.
What Kind of Games Benefit the Most from a 165Hz Refresh Rate?
While nearly every game feels better at 165Hz, some genres leverage the technology far more than others. It’s all about how fast things are moving on your screen.
The Competitive Advantage in Shooters
This is the genre where high refresh rates were born. In fast-paced first-person shooters, that extra smoothness translates directly into better performance.
- Clearer Target Tracking: When an enemy is running across your screen, they don’t turn into a pixelated blur. They remain a clear, distinct target, making it significantly easier to keep your crosshair on them.
- Faster Reaction Time: You’re seeing new information on the screen sooner. At 165Hz, a new frame appears every 6 milliseconds, compared to over 16 milliseconds at 60Hz. This gives you a few crucial milliseconds to react, which can be the difference between winning and losing a gunfight.
- Reduced Peeker’s Advantage: In online games, when a player peeks around a corner, the high refresh rate allows you to see them fractions of a second earlier, helping to level the playing field.
For games like Valorant, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, or Overwatch, a 165Hz monitor provides a real, measurable competitive edge.
Is It Just for Shooters? What About Other Genres?
Absolutely not! The smoothness is a universal benefit.
Racing Games: In titles like Forza Horizon or Assetto Corsa, 165Hz provides an incredible sense of speed. The world flies by with stunning clarity, making it easier to spot your braking points and nail the perfect apex.
Action RPGs & MOBAs: Think about a chaotic team fight in League of Legends or a screen full of effects in Diablo IV. At 60Hz, that can become a visual mess. At 165Hz, the action remains more coherent, allowing you to better track cooldowns, enemy movements, and skill shots.
Strategy Games: Even something as simple as scrolling across the map in Civilization or Age of Empires feels far more fluid and less jarring on the eyes.
The only genres where the benefit is minimal are very slow-paced point-and-click adventures or turn-based games. But even then, the general desktop experience is still much nicer.
Do I Need a Super-Powerful PC to Run a 165Hz Monitor?
This is a critical and often misunderstood point. Buying a 165Hz monitor doesn’t mean you must hit 165 FPS in every game. Your refresh rate is a ceiling, not a requirement.
The ideal scenario, of course, is to have your PC’s frame rate (FPS) match your monitor’s refresh rate (Hz). This gives you the smoothest possible experience. However, the real world is messy, and your FPS will fluctuate. That’s where a crucial piece of technology comes in.
What’s the Deal with G-Sync and FreeSync?
I consider this technology non-negotiable on any modern gaming monitor. G-Sync (for NVIDIA GPUs) and FreeSync (for AMD GPUs, though many now work with NVIDIA too) are forms of “adaptive sync.”
In simple terms, they allow your monitor’s refresh rate to dynamically match the frame rate your GPU is putting out. If your game is running at 112 FPS, your monitor will refresh at 112Hz. If it drops to 87 FPS, your monitor adjusts to 87Hz.
This is a lifesaver. It completely eliminates screen tearing (that ugly horizontal line that appears when the monitor and GPU are out of sync) and dramatically reduces stutter. It makes a variable frame rate feel almost as smooth as a locked one.
Will My Games Look Bad If I Can’t Reach 165 FPS?
Not at all, thanks to adaptive sync. Playing a visually demanding game like Alan Wake 2 at 90 FPS on a 165Hz monitor with G-Sync or FreeSync will still feel and look infinitely better than playing it at 90 FPS on a 60Hz monitor.
The high refresh rate ceiling gives your GPU headroom, and adaptive sync smooths out all the bumps along the way. Don’t let the fear of not hitting a constant 165 FPS stop you from getting the monitor.
What Else Should I Look for Besides Just the Hertz?
A monitor’s refresh rate is a headline feature, but it’s only one part of the puzzle. To get a truly great gaming experience, you need to pay attention to a few other key specs. These factors all contribute to the final image quality and responsiveness. If you want to get into the deep science of it, you can look into concepts like display persistence. I stumbled upon a technical presentation from Purdue University that explains how pixel transition times directly impact motion blur. It’s dense, but it really highlights why these specs work together.
Let’s Talk About Response Time: The Pixel’s Need for Speed
Response time is a measure of how quickly a pixel can change from one color to another (usually measured in gray-to-gray, or GtG). If this is too slow, you get “ghosting” or “smearing,” where you can see a faint trail behind fast-moving objects.
For a 165Hz gaming monitor, you should be looking for a response time of 1ms (GtG). This ensures the pixels can keep up with the high refresh rate, giving you the sharpest possible image in motion.
Does Panel Type (IPS, VA, TN) Matter for a 165Hz Monitor?
Yes, it matters a lot. This determines your color quality, viewing angles, and contrast.
- TN (Twisted Nematic): This is the oldest panel tech. It’s known for having the fastest response times historically, but it comes at a huge cost: poor color reproduction and terrible viewing angles. Unless you’re a professional esports player on a tight budget, I’d avoid TN panels today.
- VA (Vertical Alignment): The superstar feature of VA panels is their contrast. They produce deep, inky blacks that make dark scenes in games and movies look incredible. Their colors are good, but their main weakness can be slower response times, which can lead to black smearing in some cases.
- IPS (In-Plane Switching): This is the king for most people right now. IPS panels offer the best color accuracy and the best viewing angles. For years, their weakness was slower response times, but modern “Fast IPS” panels have solved that, offering that coveted 1ms response time. For a do-it-all monitor that looks stunning in story games and is fast enough for competitive shooters, IPS is my top recommendation.
What About Resolution? 1080p vs 1440p vs 4K
This is your final big decision, and it’s a trade-off between visual sharpness and GPU demand.
- 1080p @ 165Hz: The easiest resolution to run. A mid-range GPU can easily push high frame rates, making this the perfect choice for gamers who prioritize performance and FPS above all else.
- 1440p @ 165Hz: I believe this is the new “sweet spot” for PC gaming. It’s a significant step up in clarity and sharpness from 1080p without being as punishing on your GPU as 4K. You’ll need a solid mid-to-high-end graphics card to get the most out of it.
- 4K @ 165Hz: The dream setup. It offers breathtaking visual fidelity, but it requires an absolute monster of a GPU (and a deep wallet) to power it effectively.
So, What’s the Final Verdict on 165Hz for Gaming?
After all the technical talk and personal anecdotes, the conclusion is simple. A 165Hz monitor is one of the single most impactful upgrades you can make to your gaming setup. It’s not a gimmick or a minor tweak; it fundamentally changes how your games look and feel.
It offers a clear competitive advantage in fast-paced titles and makes every other genre more fluid, responsive, and immersive. It’s the current gold standard for a reason, providing a perfect blend of high-end performance without the extreme hardware demands or diminishing returns of 240Hz and beyond.
If you are still using a 60Hz or even a 75Hz monitor, I can’t say this enough: your next upgrade should be a 165Hz panel. It will feel like you just got a brand new computer. It’s an investment in your experience that you will appreciate every single time you sit down to play.
Frequently Asked Questions – Is 165Hz Good for Gaming
What other factors should I consider besides refresh rate when choosing a gaming monitor?
Aside from refresh rate, important factors include response time (preferably 1ms GtG for clarity in motion), panel type (IPS for better color and viewing angles, VA for contrast, TN for speed), resolution (from 1080p to 4K), and technologies like G-Sync or FreeSync to reduce tearing and stuttering.
Can I benefit from a monitor higher than 165Hz, such as 240Hz or 360Hz?
Upscaling beyond 165Hz to 240Hz or 360Hz offers diminishing returns for most players. These higher refresh rates are mainly targeted at professional esports athletes, and the average gamer may not notice substantial differences.
How does 165Hz compare to 144Hz, and is the upgrade worth it?
Moving from 144Hz to 165Hz delivers a more refined and slightly smoother experience, with an approximately 15% increase in visual information. If you are buying a new monitor, opting for 165Hz is advisable as it often costs similar to 144Hz models.
Why is 165Hz considered excellent for gaming?
165Hz offers a significant improvement over lower refresh rates like 60Hz or 144Hz, providing exceptionally smooth visuals and better responsiveness, which is especially beneficial for fast-paced, competitive games.
What is the significance of refresh rate in gaming monitors?
The refresh rate, measured in Hertz (Hz), indicates how many times per second the monitor updates its image. A higher refresh rate results in smoother motion and reduces blurring and stutter, enhancing the overall gaming experience.
