How to overclock your 60Hz monitor for better gaming

In recent years, we have seen a boom in the popularity of high refresh rate monitors and overclocking. So much so that a high refresh rate is an essential standard for a monitor to classify as gaming.

High refresh rates like 144Hz or 240Hz are a substantial upgrade over the standard 60Hz. If you upgrade, you will undoubtedly feel like you are playing a completely different game. It gives you control and immersion like you have never experienced in games.

Nevertheless, many people still want to suffice their 60Hz monitors and make do with what they already own. Let us address a popular misconception. Some people say that if you are playing on higher FPS than what your monitor can output, there is simply no benefit. While there is truth to this statement, you certainly won't be able to see the higher FPS in motion, but you do get less input delay at the cost of slight screen tearing.

If you are playing competitively, playing higher FPS on a 60Hz monitor is a fair decision. Although for story mode games where immersion is vital, feel free to cap your FPS at 60. If you do want to stick to your 60Hz monitor, you can definitely manage a decent gaming experience, but what if we told you that you could get an even better experience?

Although there is the concept of monitoring overclocking, some people are unaware that something like that is possible. Overclocking a monitor means changing the base factory refresh rate of the monitor to a higher refresh rate. Monitor overclocking is definitely possible, but it is not certain. It is dependent on your particular monitor model as some monitors support overclocking and some don't.

You must research on your own if overclocking is possible for your monitor and to what extent. The average overclocking potential of most monitors is up to an additional 15Hz, so that means a 60Hz monitor can be overclocked to 75Hz. Although this is not the most sizeable upgrade, you can still notice a slight visual smoothing.

Disclaimer: This article features the concept of monitor overclocking, which can void your product's warranty and may reduce the lifespan of the monitor. Please proceed at your own discretion.

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Guide to overclocking your monitor

Follow the steps provided below:

Overclocking a monitor with an Nvidia GPU

Nvidia Control Center (Image via Sportskeeda)

1. Open Nvidia Control Panel.
2. Nvidia control panel can be accessed by right-clicking desktop and choosing the Nvidia Control Panel option.
3. Click change resolution - Customise - Create custom resolution
4. A new window should open. Change the refresh rate option. If you are on 60Hz, try changing it to 75Hz. If you get a black screen and a prompt that says that the monitor does not support the overclock, try reducing it.
5. If you are successful in creating a supported overclock, click OK and exit out of this window. Now go to the main page that says change resolution. Here find the newly created overclock settings under custom option, select it, and hit apply.
6. Find the final step after the next portion, which demonstrates steps for AMD.

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Overclocking a monitor with AMD GPU

AMD Radeon settings (Image via AMD)

1. Open up AMD Radeon Settings.
2. Select the Display option. Here you will find Custom Resolution option. Click on Create, which is next to it.
3. Type the appropriate refresh rate in the Refresh Rate (Hz) field.

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Common steps for both AMD and Nvidia GPU-based monitor overclocking

Windows Advanced Display settings (Image via Sportskeeda)

The last step is to make Windows recognize the newly created custom resolution and apply it.

• Right-click on your desktop and select Display Settings.
• Select Advanced Display Settings.
• Click on the Monitor tab to find your custom resolution listed here.
• Select your entry and hit OK.

You should get a black screen, but it should go away in a few seconds. If Windows says your overclock is not possible, you may have to reduce the overclock and try again. If you want to test if your overclock was successful, go to this website to find out if the chosen values are depicted or not.

You have now successfully overclocked your monitor. Enjoy gaming with an improved refresh rate.