60Hz vs 120Hz Screen Comparison

I am sorting out my options for my next AW and I was wondering about the 120Hz screen. I have no intention of using 3D but I remember someone commenting that the 120Hz screen actually 'looked' better than the standard 60Hz screen. So that raises two questions for me that someone who has seen both screens can help me with.

1. Is there a discernible visual difference between the two screens?
2. Is there a performance hit by using the 120Hz screen?

 

1. Yes
2. No


Plenty of comparison threads recently....

Quote from MogRules in the 120hz installation guide sticky: 'Obviously if your reading this before you are ordering your Alienware 17 and your just looking for weather or not the upgrade is worth it , there are plenty of people who think that it is. I honestly wish I had of jut gotten it with the laptop now that I have seen how much of a difference it makes. I can remember when my buddy got his Sager and it has 3D how much better it looked but we couldn't explain why it looked better being that we had the same hardware. Like I said it is hard to explain why it is better but it just looks cleaner and smoother with a noticeable difference.'

 

I am a bit confused about how if the screen is being refreshed twice as often how can it not cause a performance hit? I am not talking about using 3D here just as a 2D screen that has a refresh rate of 2x. I just don't understand why not.

I think it was Mog who commented somewhere else that the screen was better and that got me thinking and prompted me to ask in the first place.

 

Heh

It is really hard to describe what the difference is or how it works but I can tell you that it def makes a huge difference in terms or how the screen animates what is happening. There is a just so much of an improvement in the way my games look....they just look smoother even though my FPS has not changed at all. When I first got the screen I was playing a lot of BF4 and I saw no difference in the FPS going from the 60hz to the 120hz. If it did cause a hit then it could not have been more then 1 or 2 frames, it def was not noticeable. There may be a difference when you use the 3D but I don't use that much anymore at all TBH, as it was a nice gimmick for the first 2 weeks buy beyond that my glasses hardly ever get touched.

I really don't know how to describe it...I wish I could make a video that would demonstrate but I don't even know if that is possible. I can tell you that when I first used the screen, without the 3D as I didn't have the emitter that I didn't know you have to physically turn on the 120hz, it does not just use it when you turn the screen on for the first time ( or at least it didn't for me being an upgrade ). So even before I knew I was not using the 120hz I loaded up League of Legends and was just blown away by how much smoother everything seemed to animate and move, I was quite blow away. As I have said, I don't know why it does it but trust me, it isn't an upgrade you will regret.

Also...nicer colors

EDIT: Are you upgrading an existing system or your thinking for a new laptop? It is cheaper to do it at the time of ordering usually. I paid over $200 for all my parts and did it myself.

 

I am planning what I am going to get as my next computer after the 980M cards are released. Do you notice much difference between going from the 120Hz mode back to 60Hz?

 

Those frames are being rendered anyway unless you have vsync on, outputting them just uses display output bandwidth which is not related to performance.

 

As in when I go in and set the panel back to 60hz? That's the thing, this is just a much nicer panel overall. The difference isn't in the 60hz - 120 hz difference, the panel itself is doing it but I don't know why. The best way I know of to describe it is I have an LG TV with TruMotion built in....so I go away and I watch a friends TV for a few days...and then I come and watch mine and it looks much more realistic and has a much nicer animation to it then the other brands but I don't know why...For lack of a better description it is like taking a game at 30fps and then taking the same game and bumping it up to 60 or 70....everything just looks smoother and animates nicer, that is the only way I know how to describe it, not that anything was actually running at 30fps but it is the only way I can think of to describe it. I had the advantage of using the old screen and then installing the new one and seeing an immediate difference, where as someone who does not already have the same laptop will order a 3D screen and not realize what they were missing.

 

I think I am getting a bit confused with refresh rate and frame rate. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Video Theory 101

The refresh rate occurs at that frequency (either 120Hz or 60Hz) irrespective of the output of the GPU. For example - if my refresh rate is 60Hz but my frame rate is 30Hz then for 2 refreshes it will have the same picture. If my frame rate is 120Hz and my refresh rate is 120Hz then I will have a new picture every refresh.

 

Thanks Mog. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I understand what you are getting at and I when I order my next laptop it will have the 3D screen.

 

Are there any differences in benshmarck scores on 3dmark11 and 3DMark firestrike between 60hz - 120hz monitor? Is the 120MHz screen heavier and run for the graphics card?

 

There shouldn't be.

 

What then is the reason why intel gpu are unable and use 120MHz screen?

 

My benchmark scores didn't change at all in Firestrike, they have been consistent through both the 60hz and 120hz options.

 

I really don't think you will regret it

I presume the iGPU's just don't support that option. There have been a few that have tried to re-enable their iGPU's and it has bricked their machines....so it isn't recommended to try.

 

For no V-Sync gamers such as myself, the thing about 120 Hz is that you get half as much tearing as you do at 60 Hz since there are half as many frames per refresh.

 

Correct, even if you select 60hz refresh the display is still producing a 120hz refresh just artificially slowed down by the driver. Basically supplying the picture at 60hz when the display is refreshing twice for each frame.

Another one to get your head around! The display is a native 120hz. Unlike hi-res monitors it cannot sync with a 60 hz signal. Video cards have microcode on-board that contains a basic VGA driver. This is needed for the display to work before windows loads (driverless operation). The intel only supports 60hz on it's microcode. When the machine POST's the display is tested end-to-end and if the intel is visible it will attempt to use it. This fails and the machine will not boot. There is no software fix for this. If Intel introduced 120hz microcode all would be good - or if the panel was multi-sync like all monitors are these days, it would work fine with both GPU's.

I would hope AMD have introduced 120hz microcode by now but nobody I have seen has tested this . It has such a limited use and the VGA standard for the code is only 60hz, NV needed to come up with a card that could work 'native' for their 3D system.

Further to your 101, if the FPS is higher than the refresh then you are dropping frames from the GPU and in some cases screen tearing can occur - often older games running at 100fps+. Fixed by limiting the frame rate in the driver using 'vertical sync' to limit the max frames to the display's capability.

HTH

 

Damn!!!!
The things you learn when you start asking questions.
Thanks Mickey.

 

Haha, you're not alone in trying to understand just what is going on!

I could not possibly game at 60hz any more, this panel has ruined me but be aware some games inbuilt drivers do not 'see' the 120hz and only offer 60hz, you'll see it when selecting the game resolution. Again though you are still seeing a 120hz refresh .

 

The 120hz display also seems to cover more of the color spaces than the regular 60hz display. The color quality is better.

It's very noticable going from 120hz to 60hz, especially in fps games.

As long as you're getting 100-120fps in a game, the motion will be very smooth. Way better than the gimmicky trumotion stuff you see on tv.

You'll also have nVidia 3D vision support which is always a plus if you ever feel like trying it out.

There will be no performance hit between the 60hz and 120hz display. Also, keep note that the 120hz display requires the discrete gpu on 24/7. This translates to less battery life on the 120hz model over the 60hz model. You should be able to get about three hours of battery life though with decent brightness.

 

Thanks ssj92. I found the sticky on the front of this forum done by Mog and it along with the positive comments by others has convinced me. The next computer I buy will have the 3D screen.

 

Good decision

 

Do you think 120Hz monitor is a great choise with a GTX 860m? Or 880m is a must?

 

I would take 120Hz with 880M... With 860M it's mehh..

 

I've read the 120Hz 3D it's glossy, is it correct?

 

It is but I've been told that the truelife version installed in the latest AW17 does not reflect anything like the older model I have.
If you game in low light as I do the superiority of the display more than makes up for the reflections.

Dell TrueLife™ LCD Screens - What is it?

 

Yes but it is not as glossy as the R4's screen and isn't that bad at all...maybe if you are trying to use it outside on a bright sunny day...

 

Because 120Hz monitor use only dGpu, is there more fan noise on idle?

 

Not that I notice in normal use, pretty much silent with maybe a minute or so at just audible

Idle temps for me, 51c to 59c where the fan pulls it back down (around a 30 min cycle).

 

120 hz is basically just more fluidity of movement 120 hz =60hz per eye.

 

120hz is just more fluidity during movement. 120hz =60hz per eye

 

In 3d mode yes, in 2d 120hz if you have the fps behind it you do just get more fluid movement (for both eyes )