How To OverClock Monitor – 7 EASY Steps!! [2021]

For the ones without much computer knowledge, overclocking a monitor might sound like alien language! But if you are a gaming enthusiast, you will probably understand how important machine performance is while gaming.

We tend to squeeze the best out of our CPU’s, RAM’s, Graphic cards, and every other piece of hardware or software we can get our hands on! 

One of the least known tricks to increasing gaming performance is by overclocking your monitor with the help of these best monitor settings and that is what we will help you learn today.

What is the meaning of Overclocking a monitor?

Well, you don’t need to be a tech wizard to understand what overclocking your monitor means. Every display is designed to work at a certain speed or to display images at a certain speed. In computer parlance, this is known as the Refresh Rate. 

The Refresh Rate of a monitor is basically the number of times the screen gets refreshed every second. This is measured in Hertz (Hz). If the refresh rate is too low, you will experience flickering in the screen and this leads to strain and headache.

So, overclocking a monitor involves increasing the refresh rate of the best computer monitors 2021 for music. An increased refreshed rate leads to better video quality and a seamless gaming experience.

Steps to Overclock your monitor

Every computer comes with its own brand of graphics cards and displays so the process to overclock monitors differs across brands. In this tutorial, we will cover the most common ones. The process is quite simple and all you have to do is to follow these exact steps to overclock your monitor.

How to overclock your monitor with AMD Graphics

One of the oldest ways to overclock a monitor with AMD graphics is via the Custom Resolution Utility Tool or CRU. If it’s not already installed in your system, you can download Custom Resolution Utility it online for these best 24 inch monitor under 150. 

1.    Once downloaded, double click on the software icon and launch the tool

2.    On your screen, you will now see two boxes – one for detailed resolutions and another for standard resolution

3.    Select the ‘Detailed Resolution’ box

4.    In the ‘Timing’ option, you need to select LCD standard. This should be under the drop-down menu.

5.    Next up is the screen where you get to change the refresh rate. The factory settings can be seen on the tool and you can enter your settings here. Remember, it is best to increase it to 5 Hz at a time only to see how it looks. Every time you increase it, do it by 5 Hz only otherwise it might have an adverse effect on your monitor

6.    Change the setting and select OK

7.    Reboot your PC to see the monitor with the new rate. If you want to make changes, follow steps 1-6 again to overclock your monitor.

After your computer restarts, you will need to change the refresh rate settings for Windows as well. You can do it by following these simple steps

1.    Right-click on desktop and open Display Settings

2.    Click on Advanced Display Settings in the popup window

3.    Keep scrolling down till you see Display Adapter Properties

4.    Select it and then click on the Monitor tab

5.    Here you can change the refresh rate to your setting

6.    Click on OK and you’re done. That easy!

If your refresh rate setting was too high, your monitor might go black. But it will be back to its normal state in 15 seconds and that’s your cue to make updates to the refresh rate setting. Lowering it gradually should get you to the right setting in order to overclock your monitor.

How to overclock monitor with NVIDIA Graphics

If you are using an NVIDIA graphics card like me, then this is what you need to do. The process is similar to the one for AMD but with a few minor changes to overclock your monitor.

1. Right-click on the desktop and click on the NVIDIA control panel. Now you need to expand the Display Menu

2.    Click on Change Resolution and then click on Customize at the bottom of the popup window

3.    In the Customize screen, you need to click on Create Custom resolution and enter your settings in nvidia control panel.

4.    Under Display Mode, you will see the Refresh Rate box. Enter a number and click on Test for overclocking your monitor.

Now the beauty of the NVIDIA control panel is that you can actually see the changes of the refreshed rate before you apply the settings. This should save you a whole lot of time and energy.

Remember, do not change the rate beyond 5 Hz at a time. Once you see your desired refresh rate come to life, you need to apply the settings and reboot your PC. That’s about it!

How to overclock monitor with Intel Graphics

Now there are quite a lot of us out there using Intel graphics so you will know that Intel’s graphics tool lets you create custom resolutions as well. Here are the steps

1.    Go to Control Panel and open Intel HD Graphics Control Panel

2.    Click on Display and then on the left, you can click on Custom Resolutions

3.    Click on the Add section. Now you will be able to enter the height, width, and refresh rate. Once you are done with the settings, click on Add at the bottom right part of the window. 

Keep doing this in increments of 5 Hz and the minute your display is not able to support the refresh rate, you will get a prompt. Once you are at your desired settings, you can apply them and restart your PC.

Frequently Asked Questions Related to Monitor overclocking

Can I check if my monitor got overclocked?

Apart from the settings on your system, there are ways to check if the overclocking has gone through or not. There are quite a few websites that run programs to assess your monitor refresh rate. All you have to do is to open your browser and click on this link to check what your monitor refresh rate is! 

But that’s not all. There is another step you need to follow. In the above tool, you will see an object move through the website. You need to take a camera and lower its exposure to 1/10^th second and take a picture of the tool with the object in motion.

The next series of steps will be mentioned on the website. If this test fails, it probably means that the overclocking higher refresh rate has failed.

Can any monitor be overclocked?

Well, technically yes. Any kind of monitor or display can be overclocked but the amount of overclocking can vary from brand to brand.

Computer manufacturers do make provision for overclocking in all their displays and you have the freedom of playing around with the numbers a little bit.

Is it safe to overclock a monitor?

Every display monitor sets the monitor to a refresh rate that pumps out maximum efficiency. But there are settings that can help you change the refresh rate, as we saw in the earlier sections.

However, there are some disadvantages of overclocking your monitor. For starters, it might lead to a reduction of the monitor life as overclocking consumes more energy and heat. This takes a toll on the components of the monitor. 

Secondly, before overclocking you should always find out if it voids your monitor warranty. Lastly, the effects of the overclocking also depend on the monitor brand you use and what its capabilities are.