How to Check Your Monitor Refresh Rate (Windows, Mac & More)

Your monitor's refresh rate determines how many times per second the screen redraws its image — measured in hertz (Hz). A display running at 60Hz refreshes 60 times per second. One running at 144Hz refreshes 144 times. The difference is visible: motion looks smoother, cursor tracking feels more responsive, and fast-moving content appears cleaner at higher rates.

But knowing your monitor supports a high refresh rate isn't the same as knowing it's actually running at that rate. Your OS, cable type, and GPU settings all play a role — and they don't always default to the maximum.

Here's how to check what your display is actually doing right now.

How to Check Refresh Rate on Windows 🖥️

Windows makes this reasonably straightforward, though the exact path depends on your version.

Windows 11 and Windows 10:

1. Right-click on your desktop and select Display settings
2. Scroll down to Advanced display settings
3. Under your selected display, look for Refresh rate — it shows the currently active rate
4. A dropdown menu lets you see all rates your monitor supports at the current resolution

If you have multiple monitors, select the correct display at the top of the Display Settings page before checking.

Alternative route via Display Adapter Properties:

1. Go to Display settings → Advanced display settings → Display adapter properties
2. Click the Monitor tab
3. The Screen refresh rate dropdown shows your current rate and available options

This path is useful if you're troubleshooting or want to change the rate manually.

How to Check Refresh Rate on macOS

Apple's approach is cleaner but slightly less visible.

1. Open System Settings (macOS Ventura and later) or System Preferences
2. Go to Displays
3. Look for the Refresh Rate dropdown — this shows both the current rate and what's available

On older macOS versions, you may need to hold Option while clicking Scaled in display preferences to reveal all available refresh rate options. Apple sometimes hides rates that don't match recommended settings.

For ProMotion displays (found on newer MacBook Pros and some external Apple displays), the refresh rate is adaptive — it scales dynamically between lower and higher values depending on content. macOS may show this as a range rather than a fixed number.

Checking Refresh Rate on Linux

On most Linux distributions running X11:

• Open Display Settings through your desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, etc.)
• Your current refresh rate is typically listed alongside resolution

For more detail, open a terminal and run:

xrandr 

This outputs all connected displays, supported resolutions, and refresh rates — with an asterisk (*) marking the active rate and a plus (+) marking the preferred rate.

On Wayland compositors, the method varies by desktop environment, but display settings GUIs generally show the active rate directly.

Why Your Refresh Rate Might Not Match Your Monitor's Maximum

This is where things get more nuanced — and where many users discover a mismatch.

A 144Hz monitor connected via an older HDMI cable to a weaker GPU might only offer 60Hz as an option — not because the monitor can't do more, but because the full signal chain can't support it at the current resolution.

Third-Party Tools and Browser-Based Tests 🔍

If you want a quick confirmation outside of system settings, several browser-based tools display your current refresh rate by measuring actual frame output. Searching for "monitor refresh rate test" turns up reliable options that show a live reading.

Desktop utilities like HWiNFO (Windows) or GPU-Z can also report active display refresh rates alongside other system information — useful when you want a single dashboard view of your hardware.

These tools measure what's actually being output, which can sometimes differ from what Windows or macOS reports if there's a configuration inconsistency.

What the Numbers Actually Mean for Different Users

60Hz remains the baseline for general computing — web browsing, document work, and casual video watching. Most content (including standard streaming video) is produced at 24–60 frames per second, so a 60Hz display handles it without issue.

120Hz and 144Hz are the common mid-range targets for gamers and anyone doing fast-paced visual work. The smoothness difference is immediately noticeable when scrolling, moving windows, or playing games — especially for users coming from 60Hz for the first time.

165Hz, 240Hz, and higher serve competitive gaming contexts where every frame matters and the GPU can consistently produce enough frames per second to actually use the headroom.

Variable refresh rate technologies (G-Sync, FreeSync, HDMI VRR) add another layer — these synchronize the monitor's refresh rate dynamically to match the GPU's frame output, reducing tearing and stutter. Whether those features are active isn't always shown in the same settings panel as the base refresh rate.

The rate showing in your system settings is your current operating rate — not necessarily your monitor's ceiling, and not necessarily the rate your games or applications are actually delivering frames at. Those are related but distinct numbers, and understanding which one matters depends on what you're actually trying to diagnose or optimize.