Video refresh rate and eye strain?

[dud]

I just purchased a 19" monitor to replace my 4 year old vivitron. BTW I am using Win 98 R2 and a Gigabyte GF2 MX vid board. I started having eye strain symptoms almost immediately after installing the new monitor. I checked the display settings and found the refresh set to "optimal". Not trusting Windows to set the "best" rate I manually reset it to 75 Hz (maximum monitor refresh rate) but the problems remained (eye strain within 30 minutes). I checked the refresh rate of the monitor I use at work and found it set at 60 Hz! I figured I have been using this monitor for years without problems, so why not try this setting at home? I changed the refresh rate to 60 Hz on the new home monitor and away went the eye strain.

Can anyone explain why I have no strain at the relatively low refresh rate of 60 Hz while my eyes are a tearing at 75 Hz? I appreciate all feedback ...

 

[Confused]

I think it's more than likely that you've got used to 60Hz over the past 4yrs at work, and therefore anything different (even if higher) will cause strain to your eyes, which are not used to it, therefore you get eye strains


Confused

 

[Jeff7]

That's weird; 60Hz gives me a headache within a few minutes. I can see flicker at 75Hz, and sometimes at 85. My monitor right now at home is set to 144Hz at 800x600; I use 100Hz for 1024x768, and 89 for 1280x1024. The monitor supports 1600x1200@75Hz, but I can easily see the flicker then.
There's been computers where I went to school that I'd have to reset to 85Hz every time I used them - they were ALL set to 60Hz.
HZtool is good for Win9x.
This should work with WinXP

 

[joe678]

maybe you're just used to 60? for me, anything less than 75 bothers me...at school all the monitors in the general labs are stuck at 60 and i would avoid them at all costs...my monitor only does 75 at the res i like so i mainly use it for gaming and browse on a laptop...

 

[adrian12]

60hz makes me feel sick, all my uni computers were default at 60hz 1280x960 , i complained and now they are all set at 75-85hz

my home monitor is set 85hz 1024x768

 

[AaronP]

I HATE low refresh rates. My 19 inch monitor is set to 94 hz, and my 22 incher is set to like 110.

 

[GT578]

SO do you guys think 1280x1024@85Hz is not sufficient??? I'm using that now....but wonder if higher refresh rate is really better for my eyes......

 

[Rebel7254]

Just always put the refresh rate at the maximum level your monitor/video card will support at whatever resolution.

 

[dud]

Update: As an experiment I set my refresh rate to 60 Hz and away went my eye strain, go figure. I guess my eyes ARE so used to 60 Hz that going to 75Hz REALLY hurts. This brings up another question: OK, my eyes are used to 60 Hz (vs say 75 Hz). Should I have any concerns with using 60 Hz vs. a much higher refresh rate? Heck, if there are no drawbacks (for me personally) then I would MUCH RATHER be used to a low rate than a high one. My monitor is only rated for 75 Hz anyway.

 

[Sunner]

60 Hz makes me wanna claw my eyes out within minutes.

85 is my limit, and I refuse to go under it.
My current videocard can handle 100 Hz at 1600x1200x32, and my monitor supports 104 Hz at that res, but unfortunately Windows refuses to set it higher than 85 Hz at 1600x1200 for some reason

 

[recha]

What does refresh rate mean?

 

[bupkus]

Funny you should ask...
Like a television the image on a screen is made up of many horizontal lines. The entire image is drawn by a single pass of a stream of electrons from an electron gun across each and every one of all these lines starting at the top and ending at the bottom.
Since we are hearing about numbers such as 60Hz (hertz = times per second). We are saying that the entire screen image is being redrawn or "refreshed" 60 times every second.
The reason why that is not enough for most of us is because of the nature of our eyes and brains. When the light receptors in our eyes are stimulated by light they transmit a signal of a certain duration to the brain. If that duration is less than the time to the next pass from the electron gun the image appears to the brain as a series of flashs similar in concept to a stroboscope.
Why would that bother us? We humans have evolved in an environment where the sun, moon and stars were our only source of light. At no time in our evolutionary history did we run into a sixties strobe. Pass the bong.
Remember how it feels to have a camera flash your eye? Well, do that 60 times/second and there you have it.

 

[Mingon]

What does refresh rate mean?

its the amount of time that a monitor refreshes / changes the screen.
I dont know how anyone can put up with 60hz, it kills my eyes in a matter of seconds, its worse now I use laptops.

 

[Lorne]

No old Amiga owners in here LOL.

Heres a question for some of you that have a problem with handeling low refreshrates, Do games (FPS) that have the wavey/oceanlike/lurching dips in there walk make you sick?

I have a friend that gets ill playing some of these games and wondering if upping his refresh would help out some.

 

[TheCorm]

I like 85 or 100hz when running at 1024x768. I remember 60hz on my Old Packard Bell 14".....after a few hours of Warcraft 2 I looked like I was badly stoned.

Corm

 

[sep]

I would have to agree with everyone. 60 kills me in seconds. I must have 75 or higher.

Some other options you might want to look at would be a Radiation/Anti Glare screen over top of your monitor. Also, get a desktop light (not florecent). Florecent lights are know to cause headaches.

Good Luck!

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: Sunner
60 Hz makes me wanna claw my eyes out within minutes.

85 is my limit, and I refuse to go under it.
My current videocard can handle 100 Hz at 1600x1200x32, and my monitor supports 104 Hz at that res, but unfortunately Windows refuses to set it higher than 85 Hz at 1600x1200 for some reason

Do you have the correct drivers for your monitor loaded?