Does anyone really need a 1,000 Hz gaming display?

Enlarge / A better monitor refresh rate might help with all that motion blurring… (credit: Getty Images)

Just a couple of years ago, companies like Nvidia were talking up prototype 500 Hz gaming monitors as having “benefits [for] every game and gamer, not just competitive games and esports pros.” Now, the high frame rate experts at Blur Busters bring word of a 4K, 1,000 Hz prototype screen being shown off by Chinese panel maker TCL CSOT at the manufacturer-focused DisplayWeek 2024 conference.

TCL’s proof-of-concept panel is all the more impressive for not sacrificing resolution in the name of its high frame rate—many current 480 Hz monitors tend to top out at 1080p resolutions or offer “dual mode” options for higher resolutions at lower maximum refresh rates. And while recent advancements in pixel-flipping times have enabled TCL’s LCD prototype, Blur Busters estimates that 1,000 Hz OLED displays could be commercialized as soon as 2027.

4K 1000Hz being shown off at #DisplayWeek2024 by TCL CSOT pic.twitter.com/xc2qsYocxX

— Blur Busters (@BlurBusters) May 15, 2024

The apparent, impending breaking of the four-digit refresh rate threshold got us thinking: Are we finally approaching a point of diminishing returns in monitor-makers’ long-running battle of the Hz? Or is 1,000 Hz just the latest stepping stone to realms of motion smoothness yet unimagined by most gamers?