The 5 Best High Refresh Rate Monitors - Spring 2025

The best high refresh rate monitor we've tested is the Sony INZONE M10S. It's a premium 27-inch, 1440p OLED gaming monitor with a 480Hz refresh rate, making it a fantastic choice for competitive gamers. Motion looks extremely sharp on it thanks to its near-instantaneous response time, which is fast enough that the monitor makes full color transitions before it draws the next frame. This means that the monitor is taking advantage of its high refresh rate. Combining this with its very low input lag for a responsive feel, it has a class-leading signal-to-response latency of only 1.9 ms, so it adds a minimal delay in your system's total latency.

Although the monitor supports all common VRR formats, the biggest downside when it comes to gaming is that it has distracting VRR flicker in dark scenes. This is common with any OLED and happens when the frame rate changes rapidly, and you'd have to set a frame rate cap or disable VRR if you want to avoid this issue. Besides that, your favorite games look realistic and detailed thanks to its incredible picture quality. It displays deep and inky blacks in dark rooms, and small highlights pop against the rest of the image.

Although the Sony INZONE M10S' 480Hz refresh rate is high enough for most gamers, its 1440p resolution also requires more power from your PC compared to lower-resolution displays. If you're a competitive esports gamer and want the highest refresh rate at the cost of a lower resolution and worse picture quality, check out the BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X. It's an esports monitor with a 540Hz refresh rate for a smoother feel than the Sony, but it doesn't have the same near-instantaneous response time. While this means that there's a bit more blur and it has a slower signal-to-response latency of 4.4 ms, fast-moving objects still look sharp at its max refresh rate.

Another advantage of this monitor is that it has a versatile backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur. It works across a wide refresh rate range and effectively improves the appearance of motion at its max refresh rate. However, this monitor has some drawbacks to getting it over the Sony. For example, its TN panel has much worse picture quality, particularly in dark rooms, and it doesn't support HDR at all, so this is something to think about before buying a monitor.

If you care about having better picture quality and don't mind getting a monitor with a lower refresh rate, then look into the MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED. It's different from the BenQ ZOWIE XL2586X because it's a 27-inch, 1440p QD-OLED, so it has much better picture quality with deep blacks and bright highlights. Plus, it displays more vivid colors than the Sony INZONE M10S, so it delivers the best picture quality out of the previous two monitors mentioned, and it's a fantastic choice for HDR gaming.

The biggest trade-off of getting this versus the Sony or the BenQ is that it has a lower 360Hz refresh rate, so gaming doesn't feel as smooth. That said, it still has a near-instantaneous response time for sharp motion, and its signal-to-response latency at its max refresh rate is 2.2 ms, better than that of the BenQ. It doesn't have a black frame insertion feature (BFI) to reduce persistence blur, though, but if you want a monitor that does, then look into the ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27ACDNG. It performs similarly, and you can sometimes find it for less than the MSI, but the BFI feature only works with 120Hz or 180Hz signals.

If your PC can't take advantage of high refresh rates, there are plenty of 240Hz monitors you can get for a cheaper cost. One of those is the ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG, which, like the MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED, is a 27-inch, 1440p OLED. This means it offers all the benefits of an OLED with deep, inky blacks, and sharp motion, but at a lower refresh rate. It doesn't display colors as vividly as on the MSI, but because it gets bright, it still offers incredible picture quality no matter the environment you want to use it in. It also has a quick signal-to-response latency of only 2.9 ms, which is slightly higher than the MSI, but that's still low overall and gaming feels responsive.

Like the MSI, the 1440p resolution delivers detailed enough images without being too demanding on your graphics card. However, if you prefer a higher resolution, and if your computer can handle it, there are some fantastic 4k, 240Hz QD-OLEDs you can get, like the MSI MPG 321URX QD-OLED. It's an upgrade over the ASUS in terms of picture quality, but it also costs more.

Should you be on a budget looking for a high refresh rate monitor, then the ViewSonic XG2431 is a good choice. Besides its lower 1080p resolution, the biggest trade-off as you get into the budget category is that you lose out on picture quality to save money, which is the case of this monitor versus the ASUS ROG Strix OLED XG27AQDMG. It doesn't display the same deep and inky blacks with bright highlights, so it looks worse in HDR. Another difference is that because it isn't an OLED, it doesn't have the same near-instantaneous response time as the ASUS.

However, with a 240Hz refresh rate and signal-to-response latency of 9.2 ms, it's still good enough for most gamers. Plus, it has a unique backlight strobing feature that many entry-level monitors don't have. It works across a wide refresh rate range and you can customize the flicker of it to your liking, which helps improve the appearance of motion. However, if you don't need this feature and you find the monitor too expensive, you can also check out the Dell G2524H. It has a 280Hz refresh rate, but worse overall motion handling than the ViewSonic.