Should you overclock?

[Avean]

I got a XG279Q which is a native 144Hz IPS panel. But it can be overclocked to 170Hz. Ive always runned my monitors at overclock not thinking anything about it. Then i read yesterday something about overclocking leads to input lag and worse colors? Is this true? Should you stay at native montitor refreshrate?

[exdablju]

Hi! I'm not expert, but Chief Blur Buster did quite a nice explanation in other topic of diffrences of improvement in OC. I quote his post below.

Also, at around 165hz overclock I start to see microstuttering and the screen sometimes goes black momentarily if brightness is very high or I am displaying a fast graphic. After I realised that, I switched right back to 144hz and honestly I did not see the difference.

This is normal.

(A) You need to double Hz to halve motion blur. (without help by blur reduction modes)
144Hz vs 165Hz is almost worthless. You want 144Hz vs 240Hz, or even 144Hz vs 360Hz.

(B) In certain cases overclocking sometimes worsen GtG due to LCD refreshing behavior
See "LCD Pixels as GtG soccer balls" metaphor.

60Hz vs 144Hz = 2.4x improvement
144Hz vs 240Hz = 1.5x improvement
144Hz vs 360Hz = 2.5x improvement
144Hz vs 165Hz = only 1.1x improvement (this tiny overclock margin is sometimes cancelled out by GtG worsening)

Honestly, I am not surprised you did not see a difference. It's too subtle a refresh rate difference.
It's easier for me to tell apart 240Hz and 480Hz (my experimental unit) than 144Hz vs 165Hz.

So i don't think it's worth it, but you can give it a go. I noticed a big diffrence between 60->75hz on my old asus monitor even though it's only 1,25x improvement.
Also based on what i read - OC can lower input lag at higher refresh rate and framerate. I think colours change is for me - mildly noticeable (144-200hz benq xl2411z). Again, don't trust me in 100% I'm not an expert!

[Avean]

Yeah and also its easier for me to hit that 144 fps in game instead of 170. So i think i will adjust the monitor to native 144Hz instead of 170Hz and set my fps limit to 141.