What is refresh rate?

[MultiGroup]

I did a search for this and could not find anything...

Can someone explain me a little more about what the monitor refresh rate is and how it works?

What are the suggested settings?

Thanks!

[PMich]

Refresh rate refers to the number of times the cathode ray fires at each point on the screen in a second. IIRC, the average human eye refreshes about 30 times a second (some higher some slower) so 60-70Hz is standard for monitors so that we cannot see the image being refreshed on the screen.

If you have ever seen an image of a monitor or tv on a television that has lines running through it you can get the idea. The lines are there because the camera capturing the image of the tv or monitor has a similar refresh rate so it is allowing the viewer to see the ray firing.

[lil Jimmie]

The refresh rate is how many times the monitor draws the image on the screen per second so the higher the refresh rate the better. Lower refresh rates can cause eye strain, many people can see the flicker at 60Hz which is if I recall really only 30 times a second*2. I can see the flicker and have a problem using a CRT no matter how high the refresh rates are.

Set it as high as the monitor will allow, check the specs of the monitor before cranking it up.

Here is some more info on CRTs

[glc]

The reason you see a "flicker" at 60 Hz is the strobe effect - your room lights are running at 60 Hz also (in the US, anyway). This strobe effect is more pronounced with fluorescent lighting.

The ideal setting, if your monitor is capable, is 100 Hz in 60 Hz AC countries, 85 Hz in 50 Hz countries.

[lil Jimmie]

Well I have a Halogen bulb in my desk lamp and fluorescent lights really bother me. My problem went away with a TFT/LCD monitor.