Higher refresh rates in gaming monitors were shown to improve actual game performance. LG Display said on Wednesday it compiled the results of a performance experiment proving the correlation and presented it at an international academic conference. The paper is titled "Analysis of the Effect of Refresh Rate on FPS Game Performance".

The experiment was conducted as a blind test involving 31 adult gamers. Participants played a first-person shooter game at 60Hz, 240Hz, 360Hz and 480Hz in a random order. Researchers measured quantitative and qualitative indicators. The quantitative indicators were hit score, meaning the number of hits, and event interval time, meaning the time from when a target appears to when it is eliminated.

Qualitative indicators assessed the smoothness of screen transitions, the ease of tracking moving targets and overall preference on a five-point scale. The results showed hit scores improved 38 percent at 480Hz, the highest setting, compared with 60Hz, the lowest. Even against 240Hz, where the improvement was already large, performance at 480Hz rose by an additional 10 percent. That is interpreted as meaning game performance continues to improve as refresh rates rise.

Qualitative satisfaction also increased. Gamers said higher refresh rates made the screen smoother and made it easier to track moving opponents, and they rated overall preference higher. The results stem from the physical characteristics of OLED monitors. As refresh rates rise, both input lag, the time it takes for an input signal to be reflected on the screen, and afterimages that make fast-moving objects appear blurred decrease.

The experiment also showed input lag fell by more than 10 milliseconds in a 480Hz environment compared with 60Hz. With shorter input lag, players were able to identify the positions of fast-moving enemies more accurately. LG Display's strategy, based on the results, is to continue rolling out gaming OLED products with enhanced high-refresh-rate performance and lead the gaming monitor market.

Choi Young-seok (최영석), LG Display's chief technology officer, said, "Based on our commercialization experience of overwhelming performance products such as the 27-inch 720Hz DFR OLED that achieved the world's highest refresh rate, we will further strengthen our technology competitiveness targeting the gaming display industry while securing key technologies for next-generation displays as a technology-focused company."