LG Display announced on July 9 that it has completed performance experiments analyzing the impact of refresh rates on gaming monitor performance and has presented the findings at international conferences.
According to the paper titled "Analysis of the Impact of Refresh Rate on FPS Game Performance," using monitors with higher refresh rates improves users' ability to identify moving objects on the screen, enhancing both reaction speed and accuracy.
Refresh rate refers to the number of times a display refreshes the image per second. A refresh rate of 60Hz means the screen updates 60 times in one second, while 480Hz means it updates 480 times. High refresh rates are particularly crucial in first-person shooter (FPS) games, where quick judgment and rapid response can determine victory or defeat.
The experiment involved 31 adult gamers and was conducted using a blind test format. Participants experienced FPS games in four different refresh rate environments: 60Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz, and 480Hz, in random order. Both quantitative metrics, reflecting actual game results, and qualitative metrics, based on user experience, were measured.
Quantitative assessments included the "hit score," which indicates the number of targets hit, and the "event interval time," which measures the time taken to eliminate a target from the moment a specific situation occurs. Qualitative assessments evaluated the smoothness of screen transitions, ease of target tracking, and overall preference on a five-point scale.
The results showed a significant improvement in actual game performance in high refresh rate environments. The hit score for accurately hitting targets improved by 38% in the 480Hz environment compared to the lowest refresh rate of 60Hz.
Notably, performance continued to improve even beyond the already high refresh rate of 240Hz. The 480Hz environment showed an additional 10% increase in win rate compared to 240Hz. This counters the perception that users may not notice performance differences beyond a certain refresh rate, demonstrating that higher refresh rates can lead to actual improvements in gaming performance.
User satisfaction also increased with higher refresh rates. Participants reported that as the refresh rate increased, screen transitions became smoother, and tracking fast-moving enemies became easier. Consequently, overall preference for the monitors also rose.
LG Display explained that these results are linked to the physical characteristics of OLED technology. As refresh rates increase, OLED can reduce input lag—the time it takes for user input signals to be reflected on the screen—and minimize motion blur, where quickly moving objects appear blurry.
In this experiment, the input lag time in the 480Hz environment was reduced by more than 10ms compared to 60Hz. This allowed users to receive information displayed on the screen more quickly, enabling them to more accurately identify and respond to the positions of moving enemies.
Based on these research findings, LG Display plans to strengthen its strategy in the ultra-high refresh rate gaming OLED market. As the refresh rate competition in the gaming monitor market moves beyond 500Hz towards 700Hz, the company aims to leverage high refresh rates as a technological advantage that enhances user experience and gaming performance.
In May, LG Display developed a "27-inch 540·720Hz DFR OLED" panel that achieves world-class refresh rates. This product received the prestigious "Display of the Year" award from the Society for Information Display (SID), the leading display conference in the world.
Choi Young-seok, Chief Technology Officer of LG Display, stated, "Based on our experience in commercializing products with overwhelming performance, such as the 27-inch 720Hz DFR OLED, we will secure key technologies for next-generation displays and further strengthen our technological competitiveness in the gaming display industry."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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