Is your newly bought 144 Hz monitor showing only 120 Hz? This can be one of those really frustrating things when you think all my money has just been wasted. You may start to accuse the retail shop owner of selling a monitor to you that has a lower refresh rate instead of 144 Hz. Wait a minute; don’t get mad at others when the problem persists with your computer. What can be the reason behind this issue? In this article, we are going to share with you why a 144 Hz monitor can show a 120 Hz of refresh rate and how you can fix the problem.
How to Troubleshoot – ‘144hz Monitor Only Showing 120hz’ Error
Refresh rate is very crucial for gamers. Many crazy competitive gamers go for as high as 144 Hz monitors just to get the upper hand over their gaming mates. The monitor refreshing 144 times per second is certainly going to give them that extra moment to shoot enemies a microsecond earlier. Supposing you are a gamer and you have recently bought a 144 Hz monitor @1080p resolution and then found out that games are running at 120 Hz instead of 144 Hz. You must be perplexed why this is happening.
Games are running at a lower refresh rate mostly because the OS has been commanded to cap the refresh rate. So, you have set the refresh rate at 120 Hz instead of 144 Hz and this can be the number 1 reason behind the issue. Nevertheless, you have to be sure at what numbers the PC is currently running. Follow these sequences:
Settings>> System>> Display>> Advanced display settings>> Display Information
You should be able to find out whether or not your PC is running at 144 Hz. Continue to read to find out details of these steps along with figures in our next segment.
Steps Guide to Fix the ‘144hz Monitor Only Showing 120hz’ Issue
The first fix is all about changing the refresh rate limitation from the display settings. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Click on the Windows logo found in the bottom left corner of your PC. There you will see the gear icon i.e. settings option. Tap on it to enter the settings menu.
Step 2: Next, click on the ‘System’ option.
Step 3: From the left tab tap on the ‘Display’ option. In the middle, you will notice ‘Advanced display settings’; hit it.
Step 4: You will be able to find out the current refresh rate of this PC on the advanced display settings page. If it does not show 144 Hz, rather it shows 120 Hz or 60 Hz, then you will need to fix it. Click on the ‘Display adapter properties’ option to enter your graphics properties page. Under the ‘Monitor’ tab, you will find drag down option for selecting refresh rate. Select the 144 Hz refresh rate and then hit the ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons.
This should fix the problem of running the monitor at a lower refresh rate. However, if the problem persists, then you must update your graphics card to resolve the issue. Your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) must be powerful enough to sync well with such a high refresh rate. So, you might even need to change the graphics card.
Frequently Asked Question
How Do I Unlock My 144 Hz Monitor?
To unlock your 144Hz monitor, you need to use HDMI 1.4 or higher. But you need to ensure that your monitor supports 144Hz refresh rate. You won’t be able to unlock 144Hz monitor while using the standard HDMI cable due to limited bandwidth. Also, you need to ensure that you have plugged the cables into the correct port.
Why Is My 144 Hz Monitor Not Showing 144 Hz?
A 144Hz monitor is supposed to show 144Hz on computers by default. But if your 144Hz monitor not showing 144Hz, then you need to ensure first that you’ve plugged into the display or DVI-D port. Because if you plug into another display port, then they won’t be able to render at 144Hz.
Why Is My 144 Hz Monitor only Showing 60 Hz Windows 11?
If it is showing 60 Hz only on your 144 Hz monitor, then it is happening because you’re probably using an HDMI cable. Some displays support HDMI and DisplayPort. As HDMI can’t render as DisplayPort, you can get the limited refresh rate of 60Hz on your 144Hz monitor because of this. Switch to the display port and check if the issue resolves or not.
Conclusion
The problem of showing 120 Hz on a 144 Hz monitor is either due to limiting the refresh rate on the graphics side or due to having a GPU with minimal resources. Follow the first method mentioned above to fix the issue. If the problem is not gone, then you might have to buy a quality graphics card as the 144 Hz monitor cannot run on most of the older graphics cards.
Leave a Reply