Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong?

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exigeous
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Joined: 09 Oct 2018, 07:29

Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong?

Post by exigeous » 09 Oct 2018, 07:35

Been pulling my hair out - I just got the new Samsung CHG90 49" super-ultra-mega-monster-amazing wide screen (basically 2 27" 1080p displays in one frame). It's a 3840x1080 144hz display with HDR. I also have an older Samsung 1080p 60hz display that I'm replacing (and will use as a secondary display).

When I run the tests here it shows 144hz - but in games/etc. it absolutely does NOT look like it - there's the same level of "blur" that I'm seeing on my 60hz display. Here's what I've verified:

- Windows control panel is set to 144hz
- Nvidia control panel is set to 144hz
- If I change either to 120 as a test the site here reports 120 (but visually in games no difference)
- RTX 2080 Ti video card, i7 8086K, 32GB RAM, NVMe SSD (not a pretty beefy system)
- Displayport 1.2 cable (the one that came with the monitor)
- Tested 2 other 1.2 cables
- Upgraded the firmware on the monitor
- Am only running the one display (disconnected my old monitor)
- Tested different ports on video card
- Testing in a number of games (Doom, Project Cars, Elite Dangerous)
- Created a custom resolution of 3840x1080 with 140hz refresh (again tests show yes but no difference visually)
- Tried "Normal", "Fast" and "Faster" response times in the monitor options
- Set the monitor to 120hz and 100hz to see - again tests show it's fine but no dice.

What the hell am I missing? I even shot some video with my cell phone to show some friends (all playing Elite Dangerous) and on their 144hz monitors they are reporting it looks MUCH better than what I'm seeing.

HELP! I love this thing but want my 144hz!!!

~X

UPDATE: Here is a video I shot with my (crappy) cell phone - what you see here is NOT due to the phones framerate - this is exactly what it looks like to my eyes (those are stars as I'm spinning while flying in Elite Dangerous)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bwarldjxy2azl ... 8.mp4?dl=0
Last edited by exigeous on 09 Oct 2018, 08:10, edited 1 time in total.

Kosmos
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Joined: 05 Aug 2018, 03:14

Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by Kosmos » 09 Oct 2018, 07:57

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Last edited by Kosmos on 10 Oct 2018, 02:58, edited 1 time in total.

exigeous
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by exigeous » 09 Oct 2018, 08:07

Yep, I'll update my first post as absolutely, I've tried both of those. I've also tried setting everything to 120hz just to see (no difference) and to create a custom resolution in Nvidia control panel at say 140 - and again nothing. All the tests (like here and vsynctester.com) report 144hz - but to my eyes it is ZERO difference between it and my 60hz display. Dragging windows around, scrolling, even moving my mouse all look identical.

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RealNC
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by RealNC » 09 Oct 2018, 08:17

What does the monitor say when you're in-game? What's the Hz it reports? There should be a section in its OSD that shows current res and Hz.

Also, use an FPS indicator in the games. If the game doesn't have one, then use the Steam FPS indicator. Or install RTSS and use that. When doing that, what FPS are you getting?
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exigeous
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by exigeous » 09 Oct 2018, 09:27

RealNC wrote:What does the monitor say when you're in-game?
144hz
RealNC wrote:What's the Hz it reports? There should be a section in its OSD that shows current res and Hz.
144hz
RealNC wrote:Also, use an FPS indicator in the games. If the game doesn't have one, then use the Steam FPS indicator. Or install RTSS and use that. When doing that, what FPS are you getting?
144+ (sometimes I dip but the 2080 Ti is decent ;-) Have played several games, all with FPS counters (and using FRAPS too) and all show faster than 144

After talking with a friend he thinks I just have unrealistic expectations - as when I read people saying you can easily see a difference between 60 and 144 in just Windows, uh, I don't - at all. I'm typing this on my 60Hz display and when I move windows between the two it's visually the exact same (re-enabled my 60Hz as I needed to get work done, all testing is with it disabled/unplugged).

Is it just really not that big a deal? What's the best way to test/demo it to be sure it's working?

Thanks BTW!

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RealNC
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by RealNC » 09 Oct 2018, 09:58

So when you go back to 60Hz (set "preferred refresh rate" in the nvidia 3D settings to "application preference" and make sure monitor OSD says 60Hz), it looks fine to you? Not a huge downgrade?

I don't know what's going on then. The difference for me between 60FPS and 90FPS is huge already. The image clears up immensely during motion.

Also, switch to 120Hz and go here:

https://www.testufo.com/

You don't see a difference between the 60FPS UFO and the 120FPS UFO?
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exigeous
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by exigeous » 09 Oct 2018, 17:15

So I've done some more testing and after talking with a few friends and going through stuff we've pretty much determined I'm just massively underwhelmed. When I switch back and game on my 27" 60hz display I can see a difference, however VERY slight, between the overall "feel" of things and my 144hz. In Windows I really can't tell hardly at all - but ever test we run shows fine (including here). When I set things to 60 or 144 on testufo.com it definitely looks different but I really don't experience anything that massive while gaming or just using Windows.

So it seems that after reading the hype for several years I was just expecting far too much. Fortunately the massive size of the display, the reason I purchased it anyway, is incredible enough on its own. Had it been 60hz for a few hundred off I would have absolutely done that given how underwhelmed I am. But either way you slice it a 49" 32:9 display is pretty incredible.

Thanks to those that chimed in, really appreciate it.

mello
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by mello » 10 Oct 2018, 00:38

exigeous wrote:So it seems that after reading the hype for several years I was just expecting far too much.
From what you said it looks like it is because of your eyes you are not seeing the big difference. If you can't see and feel the difference between 60Hz/144Hz, which is quite substantial, it is definetly because of your eyes, which is similar to different people beeing bothered (or not) by tearing, motion blur, ghosting, stutter etc. Same thing with headaches and eye strain.

exigeous
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by exigeous » 10 Oct 2018, 02:13

mello wrote:
exigeous wrote:So it seems that after reading the hype for several years I was just expecting far too much.
From what you said it looks like it is because of your eyes you are not seeing the big difference. If you can't see and feel the difference between 60Hz/144Hz, which is quite substantial, it is definetly because of your eyes, which is similar to different people beeing bothered (or not) by tearing, motion blur, ghosting, stutter etc. Same thing with headaches and eye strain.
Sure, I suppose this could be the case (and it seems it is) that said I have 20/12 vision (so I can see at 20 feet what most can see at 12), no glasses and have used high resolution monitors for a very long time. I've shown a few family and friends (non-gamers mind you) and none of them can see it either. So as I said I think this comes down to my expectations and sorta like you say for some it's a much bigger deal than to others, and to me it's a total gimmick.

Kosmos
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Re: Can't see the difference in 144hz and 60hz, what's wrong

Post by Kosmos » 10 Oct 2018, 02:35

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