Computer Displays
On smaller CRT monitors (up to about 15"), few people notice any discomfort below 60–72 Hz. On larger CRT monitors (17" or larger), most people experience mild discomfort unless the refresh is set to 72 Hz or higher. A rate of 100 Hz is comfortable at almost any size. However, this does not apply to LCD monitors. The closest equivalent to a refresh rate on an LCD monitor is its frame rate, which is often locked at 60 frame/s. But this is rarely a problem, because the only part of an LCD monitor that could produce CRT-like flicker—its backlight—typically operates at around 200 Hz. Different operating systems set the default refresh rate differently. Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows 98 (First and Second Editions) set the refresh rate to the highest rate that they believe the display supports. Windows NT-based operating systems, such as Windows 2000 and its descendants Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, set the default refresh rate to a "conservative" rate, usually 60 Hz. The many variations of Linux usually set a refresh rate chosen by the user during setup of the display manager (although a default option is usually included with xfree86). Some full-screen applications, including some games, allow the user to reconfigure the refresh rate before entering full-screen mode, but most default to a "conservative" resolution and refresh rate and let you increase the settings in the options.
Old monitors could be damaged if a user set the video card to a refresh rate higher than the highest rate supported by the monitor. Some models of monitors display a notice that the video signal uses an unsupported refresh rate.
Read more about this topic: Refresh Rate
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