You bought a 144Hz monitor, but scrolling and the mouse cursor look no smoother than on your old screen. Usually the panel is fine. A setting, a cable or a port is holding it at 60Hz. Measure the real rate first, then work down the fixes below in order.
Measure the rate your screen really runs
Open the refresh rate test, pick 144 as your rated Hz and click Start measuring. The verdict lands in about two seconds. Full rate means the screen keeps up with the 144 you picked. Anything less names the rate it actually hits, such as 60 Hz, not 144.
Keep that tab in front while it measures. A background tab gets a throttled frame timer, and the number sinks with it. If the test comes in low while Windows says 144Hz, check that hardware acceleration is on in your browser settings.
Safari on a Mac paints pages near 60 fps by default. A 120Hz or 144Hz screen can then test at about 60 with nothing wrong. Turn off the Prefer Page Rendering Updates near 60fps feature flag in Safari, or run the test in Chrome.
Run it again after each fix below, so you know which one worked.
1. Set the rate in Windows or macOS
Windows doesn’t always pick the top rate when you plug in a new monitor. Open Settings, then System, Display and Advanced display. Got more than one screen? Select the right one at the top. Then pick 144Hz next to Choose a refresh rate.
A rate marked with an asterisk doesn’t work at your current resolution. Pick it and Windows changes the resolution too, which you probably don’t want. On a Mac, open System Settings, then Displays, and use the Refresh Rate menu.
2. Rule out the cable
Is 144Hz missing from the Windows list altogether? Start with the cable. One that can’t carry the signal takes the option off the list.
A 1440p image at 144Hz is about 12.7 Gbps of raw pixel data, before any overhead. An older High Speed HDMI cable is certified for 10.2 Gbps. It can’t carry that mode at all.
| Link | Bandwidth | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| HDMI, High Speed cable | 10.2 Gbps | 1080p at high rates on some monitors, not 1440p |
| HDMI, Premium High Speed | 18 Gbps | 4K at 60Hz |
| HDMI 2.1, Ultra High Speed | 48 Gbps | 4K at 120Hz and up |
| DisplayPort 1.2 | 21.6 Gbps | 1440p at 144Hz |
| DisplayPort 1.3 and 1.4 | 32.4 Gbps | 4K at 120Hz |
Use the DisplayPort cable that came in the box if there was one. Plug it straight into the monitor and the PC, with no adapter, dock or KVM switch in between while you test.
3. Use the right port on both ends
Start at the PC end. On a desktop with a graphics card, the video ports on the motherboard’s back panel run from the processor’s graphics, not the card. Plug the monitor into the ports on the card itself.
Then check the monitor end. Some monitors only reach their full rate over DisplayPort, and their HDMI inputs stop lower. Your manual lists the top rate for each input, so if HDMI caps you, switch to DisplayPort.
4. Look in the monitor’s own menu
Open the monitor’s on-screen menu with the buttons on the panel. Some monitors run their top rate only after you switch on an Overclocking option and pick the rate there. The ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q works this way. It runs at 144Hz out of the box, and 165Hz shows up in Windows only after you turn the overclock setting on.
While you’re in the menu, look for a DisplayPort version setting. Some panels let you choose DisplayPort 1.1 or 1.2 for compatibility, and the older version can hold the rate down.
5. On a laptop, turn off the power savers
Windows 11 has a Dynamic refresh rate switch on the same Advanced display page. On a screen that supports it, Windows lowers the rate when you aren’t gaming, browsing or drawing, to save battery. Microsoft says it can also limit the top rate in games that don’t use variable refresh. Turn it off while you test.
Some laptop makers’ own utilities also drop the screen to a lower rate in their battery or silent modes. Plug the charger in and set the maker’s app to a performance mode, then measure again.
6. Hold one fixed rate while you test
FreeSync and G-Sync let the screen follow the frame rate of a game. That’s what you want when you play, but it makes a fixed reading harder to trust. Turn adaptive sync off while you test, confirm the full rate, then turn it back on.
When nothing on this list works
If every check passes and the rate still won’t climb, try a second PC or a laptop, first on the same cable and then on another. A screen that stops at 60Hz on two machines and two cables points at the monitor. That’s when you contact the seller or the maker. For a full checkup of the rest of the panel, see how to test a monitor.