Increase Monitor Refresh Rate: Reduce Flicker, Eye Strain and Headaches

March 26th, 2005 | Filed under Computers, Tips.

Ever have headaches after staring at your screen?
Maybe your computers monitors screens refresh rate is too low and your screen flickers. Many users are used to the flicker, or your eyes are not sensitive enough to detect it, but the flicker is there. And till it flickers, it will irritate your eyes and cause eye strain. Higher refresh rates are less likely to cause eyestrain

Increase Monitor Refresh Rate

What is the refresh rate?
The refresh rate (or frequency) refers to the number of times per second that the video board redraws the entire screen.

How to change the refresh rate
In Windows XP

Go to Control Panel>Display
In Settings> Advanced>Monitor
Always Check the box for ‘Hide modes that this monitor cannot display’ to avoid hardware disputes. This will then give a drop down list of refresh rates that your monitor safely supports and you may set it up without error. You may also check your manufacturer’s documentation for information about the settings that your monitor supports.
And then increase the monitors refresh rate. Most users agree it should be 75 Hz or more for optimal results. My computer was set to 60 Hz, the minimum by default.

Note: If you specify a refresh rate that is too high for your monitor, your screen may become unusable and your hardware may be damaged. Also note, Some monitors shiver at higher rates and some of the higher resolutions and color depths may be unavailable at the higher frequencies.

My computer displayed resolutions from 60Hz to 200Hz. When I clicked the ‘Hide modes that this monitor cannot display’ box, the choices were only few from 60-80Hz. So I was glad I did not mess up by selecting a higher value which my CRT monitor did not support. I decided to select the recommended 75Hz. Increasing the refresh rate setting to 75 Hz has made a marked improvement and got rid of the headaches.

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Comments

Anonymous | 27/02/06 #

another gr8 post. thanks!
Himanshu | 22/11/06 #

I have installed Windows 98 and Intel(R) 82810E Graphics Controller.
I am unable to change the refresh rate as stated above. Is there any other method available to change the refresh rate.
RedFox | 31/12/06 #

thanks i saw a change the moment that i changed the herts on my pc
jammy128 | 8/01/07 #

i can only choose a refrsh rate of 50hz or 60hz even when i uncheck the box why is this?
mark | 4/02/07 #

woww…thank you so much for such a wonderful post. this post has made my day =) this is such a cool site.
Firas | 12/04/07 #

i can change the rate till 100, but my screen still flickering too much. is it from the voltage around my room ? how can i solve it please ?
matthew | 19/04/07 #

i tried stuff and it didnt work
bizmiss | 1/06/07 #

my pixels slider in contrtol panel is stuck. it doesn’t move and when i try to, the screen says ‘…not able to change your displays refresh rate’
i use windows98 second edition. oddly that has changed to windows98(!)
i don’t get (reccommended-)75Hz(?) option, only ‘optimal’ i can’t even download because pixels won’t change(!)
MartyParty | 20/08/07 #

Hi,

Thanks, the screen is much more crisp, and I’m sure it will help alleviate the headaches caused by staring at the screen for hours.

M
sridhar | 5/09/07 #

i am unable to change my monitor refresh rate from 60Hz to any other.At this arte , image is flickering .So can you give me solution .
Os-XP sp2
Monitor : SAMSUNG sync master 892 MG
processor AMD ATHLON DUal core 4200+
uutshu | 6/10/07 #

i had clicked on ‘Hide modes that this monitor cannot display’ check box. my monitor shows something like “Hz” which rolls down from left top cornor to right bottom cornor when i wish to play some games, what may cause it? can i again have that check box as default? my processor is Pentium IV 3.00Ghz and RAM is 512 Mb and my board is Intel(R) 82945GCCR
Ramil | 13/12/07 #

If you can find a solution on how to reduce flickering at 60Hz that would be great. Maximum resolution of my screen is at 1280×1024 and 60Hz is the only available refresh rate.
dgx82 | 12/01/08 #

CRT Company manufacture should create 100 hz or more as a monitor standard. It is hard to create monitor with minimum 100 hz?
somebody | 24/01/08 #

Thanks man, I think its working.
VLiNi | 12/04/08 #

why not set it to 85Hz? why 75Hz? im just confused, what should it be if ur screen is 1024 x 768 resolution?
QuickOnlineTips | 12/04/08 #

Simply select the maximum rate that is supported by your monitor. Higher frequencies will already be grayed out and you cannot select them.
Harish Nair | 22/07/08 #

Hey…thanks for the tip…it worked and I set it to 75 first and there was a bit of flickering and then I increased it to 85 and now its very stable..thanks once again for saving my eyes!!!

regards
Harish