Is 360Hz a Waste? - 240Hz vs 360Hz Monitors

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Is 360Hz a Waste? - 240Hz vs 360Hz Monitors
I know, I know, the human eye can't see past 4 frames per second, but guys 360Hz OLED monitors are here, and there selling like hotcakes, so is 360Hz truly a waste as some may think, or is it a huge upgrade worth paying for? Well fear not my fellow sweaty gamers, because as a reviewer whose thrown hands with over 20 OLEDs in just the last year alone I’m here to definitively answer that question, and in order to do so, let me buss down the 2 key advantages higher frame rates bring to the table.

The higher the frame rate the lower the input lag. Listen, you may be hard stuck in rookie lobbies now, but perhaps it's not you, but the high latency of your PC, who are we kidding, it's you, but regardless there is definitely an advantage to sustaining higher frame rates so you can react quicker. For example
60fps has a delay of 16.7ms
120fps a delay of 8.33ms
240fps a delay of 4.17ms
And 360fps a delay of just 2.78ms

As you can imagine someone at 360Hz will have a substantial advantage over a player with just 60fps, as they can theoretically react nearly 14ms faster, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but at high levels of play this is a huge difference and could make or break the game.

However when comparing 360Hz to 240Hz the difference is much smaller. In fact 360Hz is just roughly 1.5ms faster, and listen, faster is faster, but is this enough for you to have a substantial advantage? No. In fact many people may not even notice the difference if they aren't accustomed to 360Hz gaming already. Even worse, this tiny advantage comes at the cost of needing a PC that can pump out 50% more performance to sustain a stable 360Hz which also means spending A LOT more on your PC, but does that mean it's a waste?

Not necessarily

Before we make that call we need to talk about the second key advantage of higher frame rates. Motion performance.

Yes, everyone knows that lower latency is better, but in fast paced games seeing objects in motion clearly can be just as important to make sure you line up your shot correctly. This is likely the largest advantage running 360Hz has, because as you can see 144Hz OLED is already pretty decent, but trying to read text in motion is impossible. At 240Hz it starts to become much more feasible, but at 360Hz it is substantially clearer once again.

Now again you certainly don’t absolutely need this level of clarity, but even for day to day use the speed and clarity is quite nice, but in gaming it can give you that small edge you need to win the game.

However the question remains. Is it a waste? Yes and no. Yes it’s a waste in a sense that you have to pay for a significantly more powerful PC to get a small advantage in games, and I’m not just talking about the graphics card, you will even need an incredibly fast CPU and RAM to drive over 240fps consistently, but if your someone who can benefit from that advantage, or you simply enjoy the feel and look of ultra low latency & extremely smooth motion, then for you 360Hz will be worth it, as there is no technical disadvantage to having a higher framerate, so hopefully all types of monitors can eventually be available at 1000Hz.

But until that day, you will have to weigh the pros and cons of choosing between a higher resolution at a lower refresh rate, or a lower resolution at a higher refresh rate, and while that certainly will depend on your personal preferences, considering the diminishing returns beyond 240Hz, I think most gamers who play a mix of games would be better off purchasing 4K 240Hz OLED over a 360Hz 1440p OLED if you have enough PC power to run either option and you you can’t decide which you would rather have, as the bump in resolution & thus overall detail will be significantly more noticeable then the jump in speed.

Monitors Shown. Affiliate links below. I earn commission on purchases.
16:9 (4K)
Gigabyte 32" (4K 240Hz OLED) FO32U2: https://amzn.to/3W42Do0
16:9 (1440p)
Alienware 27" (1440p 360Hz OLED) AW2725DF: https://howl.me/clV5XkZbvs1
Gigabyte 27" (1440p 360Hz OLED) FO27Q3: https://amzn.to/4awu8u1

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