How to Make Your Monitor Run at 144Hz

Few things are more frustrating than paying for hardware specs and not getting your money's worth out of the deal. Users experiencing problems with monitors running at a lower hertz – or frames per second – than they should be can go through some standard troubleshooting solutions that have good chances of working in their favor. While many users are content with a lower frame rate, such as sixty Hz, there's no need for putting up with worse quality than your monitor can output.

Firstly, experts suggest that users check the status of any driver software that the hardware might require. Out-of-date drivers can cause different compatibility and performance problems, some of which impact the output quality of monitors. One way of checking is opening the Device Manager application by typing its name into the taskbar and clicking the top result. Double-click the Monitors section for expanding it. Your monitor should appear here, although its name could be generic, such as 'PnP Monitor.' Right-click it, choose Properties and go to the Driver tab. This tab shows both the date and version of the driver.

If your driver is outdated, experts recommend navigating to the manufacturer's website and manually downloading the latest version. However, Windows also includes an 'update driver' option in the same menu as the previous Properties option, which can be a useful alternative.

With driver updates out of the way, users also should look at their monitors and confirm that they support the desired Hertz rate. Type 'View advanced display info' into the taskbar and click the top result. The display information section in the new window provides the Hertz rate and also the monitor's model name – the latter is helpful for users looking up the specifications on the manufacturer's website. You also should check for using the correct port or 'plug' for the monitor. Not all ports will support 144Hz – DVI-D is an example of one that does.

If your monitor supports this Hertz rate but isn't displaying it, and the drivers are correct, the issue most likely is a settings error. Fortunately, you can correct it from the already-open display settings window from the previous paragraph. Click the 'Display adapter properties' link, which should be at the bottom of the 'Display Information' section. This link opens another window that defaults to the Adapter tab. Click the Monitor tab next to it. From here, you change the Hertz or screen refresh rate. Click 'OK' when you finish.

These fixes will solve most causes of a low Hertz output in standard monitors. When the price of a monitor can start at a low hundred USD and go up to thousands of dollars, it only makes sense that consumers should get what they're paying for – and not a penny less than that.