Is 120 Hz the same as 120 FPS? (2023)

Is 120Hz the same as FPS?

It's not the same - 120Hz is a monitor specification and FPS (frames per second) is a spec related to games. However, it's important to note that if you're playing a game on a monitor with a high Refresh Rate, your FPS will be higher than 60 (since the monitor refreshes each time you press a key or move your mouse).

Well in order to see the 120hz, you need 120 fps, so yeah you need 120 fps for a 120hz monitor. It isn't a necessity to run apps and games at 120 FPS for a 120Hz monitor to work. However, if you run a game at 60 FPS, your monitor will only be able to run at said 60 Hz.

It has a great selection of gaming features, including variable refresh rate (VRR) support to reduce screen tearing and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four of its HDMI inputs, meaning you can play 4k games up to 120 fps without any issue from the Xbox Series X and PS5.

A TV with a 120Hz refresh rate can display a new image 120 times per second. Combine that with a device that can output 120 individual frames per second (fps) and you've got graphics that look much smoother as you pan around environments, and objects that pass across the screen do so much more fluidly.

Nothing at all. You just aren't utilizing the full capabilities of your monitor. FPS that exceeds your Refresh rate would mean your PC is exceeding what your monitor can display, which is more of a problem but can be solved via v-sync, g-sync or free sync.

120Hz or 144Hz displays deliver smoother, tear-free gaming with less input lag. This improved performance is especially beneficial in games where fast inputs are vital to winning and in games with competitive fighters or shooters, including Fortnite, Overwatch, Mortal Kombat, and others in these genres.

Both 4K and 120hz are great for gaming. The difference between the two is that 4K has a higher resolution than 120hz, meaning it will provide a clearer picture of what is happening on the screen. However, with 4k, you will need to have an extremely powerful computer to run the game smoothly.

Hz (Hertz) measures your monitor's refresh rate and FPS is how many frames your GPU puts out per second. They're different measurements that are 'equal' to each other, in that a 60 Hz monitor can run 60 FPS perfectly, and a 120 Hz monitor can run 120 FPS perfectly, and so on.

Because of this it hasn't mattered that most TVs top out at 60Hz. But it is a problem for the next-gen consoles. To actually see Dirt 5 running at 120fps, you'll need a TV that runs at 120Hz or faster. That means the TV updates its frames 120 times every second.

Can my 4K TV run 120 fps?

Standard TVs refresh at 60Hz, while more modern TVs can achieve 120Hz at some resolutions. For 4K at 120Hz, a TV needs to support the HDMI 2.1 standard. The higher the refresh rate, the more fluid a game will feel.

You'll need to set the TV HDMI® Signal format to Enhanced format for your source device to recognize the 4K 120Hz capability of the TV. Note: Make sure your device is connected to the HDMI 3 or HDMI 4 input on the TV using the supplied Certified Premium HDMI cable.

Higher refresh rates are better. 60 Hz is the bare minimum, but 144 Hz will give a boost to performance. 240 Hz is nice but is unlikely to give as large a jump in performance as the 60-144 Hz jump. You need graphics powerful enough to run games at these frame rates to benefit fully from a fast monitor.

The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear to the human eye. This means that a 120Hz display – which updates itself 120 times a second – will look noticeable slicker and more natural than your average 60Hz screen which only updates itself 60 times a second.

The only real difference between 120 and 144 Hz is quantitative, and you'll only notice the difference for yourself if you are actively looking for any. Frametime, frame rate and refresh rate all contribute to the experience you get on 120 Hz or 144 Hz, so it also depends on your computer's other hardware.

Ideally, you'll want the game's frame rate to match the monitor's refresh rate 1:1 for an ideal experience. For example, your system should be outputting 144 FPS to get the full benefit of a 144Hz monitor.

While it's rare to find content other than games with this frame rate, displaying 120 fps has a significant impact on the perceived motion. As you can see in the picture below, content looks much smoother at 120 fps than at 60 fps on a 120Hz TV.

The visual cues in the world around us move at a particular rate, and our eyes can take in this information at a specific pace of perception. Most experts have a tough time agreeing on an exact number, but the conclusion is that most humans can see at a rate of 30 to 60 frames per second.

Simply explained, if the monitor has a refresh rate of 120Hz the image is refreshed 120 times per second resulting in a more realistic motion. For a gamer, this means better graphics and an improved gaming experience overall.

The GeForce GTX 1660 Ti includes 1,536 CUDA cores, 6GB of the latest GDDR6 memory, and a 1.8GHz boost clock. Nvidia says it has a power envelope of 120 watts, giving the GTX 1660 Ti “the best performance per watt of any GPU in its class,” according to the company.

Is 4K or Hz more important?

Most players aren't using a GPU that can comfortably run a game at 4K resolution with a reasonable refresh rate, so decreasing visual fidelity usually makes it easier to maintain that smooth image. For most PC enthusiasts, refresh rate is far more important than resolution.

Although 120Hz refresh rates on most midrange and high-end TVs work well, don't expect to see any real performance improvement from refresh rates of 240Hz and above. These higher-than-most-content refresh rates have rapidly diminishing returns, and you aren't likely to see much of a benefit unless you're an avid gamer.

50 FPS (UK & Europe) and 60 FPS (the US & elsewhere) — 50 FPS (UK & Europe) and 60 FPS (the US & elsewhere) — high frame rate with much more detail making it the best frame rate for 4K video. This and anything higher such as 120fps is generally used to shoot slow-motion footage.

Not all 4K TVs have a refresh rate of 120Hz. Most of the older models 4K TV have a refresh rate of 60Hz.

No; they are two separate things. Remember that FPS is how many frames your custom gaming PCs is producing or drawing, while the refresh rate is how many times the monitor is refreshing the image on the screen. The refresh rate (Hz) of your monitor does not affect the frame rate (FPS) your GPU will be outputting.

Hz does not directly affect FPS. FPS depends entirely on components like your GPU, CPU, PC temperature, and game optimization. On the other hand, the refresh rate (Hz) depends on your monitor. There's a common misconception that your monitor refresh rate (measured in Hz) affects the FPS of your GPU.

Read on for details, but short answer is HDMI 2.1 is becoming increasingly relevant if you're pushing 4K @120Hz or 2K faster than 165Hz. For lower refresh rates at lower resolutions, you can still get by just fine with HDMI 2.0 connections.

There are very few monitors that natively run at 120Hz, though, so most of the picks below default to a higher native refresh rate, but we've also tested their performance at 120Hz at their native resolution.

To run games at 120 fps, you'll need a recent TV that supports a refresh rate of 120Hz. You'll also need an up-to-date HDMI 2.1 cable, and will have to make sure your TV has an HDMI port that can support HDMI 2.1. That's the short version, but things are a little bit more complicated than that.

With some TVs and monitors, there may be a small sticker on the rear or underside of the product which states “50/60Hz”, without any reference to what this is applicable to. This sticker actually denotes the power rating of the unit and is unrelated to the refresh rate of the screen itself.

What HDMI do I need for 120 fps?

Plus, to be able to read the signal from either the PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, you need at least HDMI 2.0 connectivity (for 1080p at 120fps). Whereas, HDMI 2.1 is mandatory for 4K at 120fps.

All modern TVs are 60 Hz or 120 Hz – anything higher than this is down to image processing features.

PS5 games will run at a variety of framerates, including 60fps (See Also: Will PS5 Games Be 60 Frames-Per-Second?). However, Sony's new-gen system also supports 120fps, so we've compiled a list of all PS5 games running at 120fps as part of our PS5 guide.

Read on for details, but short answer is HDMI 2.1 is becoming increasingly relevant if you're pushing 4K @120Hz or 2K faster than 165Hz. For lower refresh rates at lower resolutions, you can still get by just fine with HDMI 2.0 connections.

So to recap, currently there is no such thing as a 120Hz or 240Hz HDMI cable. HDMI cables are 60Hz, anything beyond that is handled by the display through frame insertion or what you see on the screen as the "soap opera" effect.

HDMI versions

Supports 3840x2160 (4K UHD) with a refresh rate of 120Hz, or 120 frames per second. Supports 7680x4320 (8K) with a 60Hz refresh rate, or 60 frames per second.

A monitor with a high refresh rate produces smooth images, which makes it an important part of your gaming setup. As a novice gamer or a non-gamer, you can use a 60Hz monitor or 75Hz monitor. As a more experienced gamer, it's better to use a 144Hz gaming monitor.

A higher number of hertz or a higher refresh rate means you get more pictures per second adequately which makes an increasingly smoother picture display on the screen. More refresh rate essentially causes you to get a smoother gameplay or video quality, which matters incredibly when gaming.

In addition to being inherently better at handling fast-paced video games, the 120Hz spec also ensures that you'll be able to play console games that offer 120fps game modes to perfectly sync up with the ultra-fast motion and get the best out of your gaming experience.

For most people, smartphones with higher refresh rate displays will feel smoother and faster to use, and the difference is most obvious if you compare a 60Hz smartphone to a 120Hz device. The latter will feel slicker, especially when scrolling through websites and social media feeds.

Is 4k 60Hz better than 4k 120Hz?

The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the content you can view on display. And Hz, the short form of Hertz, is a unit used to measure refresh rate. A 60Hz display can let you view the content of up to 60 frames per second, while a 120Hz TV can let you view the content of up to 120 frames per second.

If you are using freesync and have a perfectly stable 60fps, it will be exactly the same. If you don't have a stable 60fps (e.g. it sometimes goes above that or below that), 120Hz will have better frametimes, but it won't be much noticeable. If you are not getting above 60fps, I don't see a need to get 120Hz monitor.

Monitor hertz is how frequently the monitor will refresh itself (per second) . Fps, frames per second is how many frames per second the video card can produce and send to the monitor. 60fps on a 144hz monitor will give you 60 Fps, limited by the video card.

The only real difference between 120 and 144 Hz is quantitative, and you'll only notice the difference for yourself if you are actively looking for any. Frametime, frame rate and refresh rate all contribute to the experience you get on 120 Hz or 144 Hz, so it also depends on your computer's other hardware.

The short answer is that 60fps is more widely available and cheaper to run, but is noticeably less smooth than 120fps. Fast-paced, competitive video games will absolutely benefit from 120fps over 60fps, but the extra 60fps won't matter much for everyday tasks like browsing the internet.

60 Hz is the bare minimum, but 144 Hz will give a boost to performance. 240 Hz is nice but is unlikely to give as large a jump in performance as the 60-144 Hz jump. You need graphics powerful enough to run games at these frame rates to benefit fully from a fast monitor.

Essentially, 1 hertz (or Hz) equals 1 frame per second.

The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear to the human eye. This means that a 120Hz display – which updates itself 120 times a second – will look noticeable slicker and more natural than your average 60Hz screen which only updates itself 60 times a second.

Refresh rates are measured in Hertz (Hz), and the number refers to how many times per second a screen can pull a new image. A 120Hz screen, for example, can refresh itself 120 times a second. So if your content plays back at 120fps, your 120Hz display will be capable of displaying every single frame.