Is Overclocking Monitor Safe? Does it Reduce Monitor’s Lifespan?
If you are a gamer, you’ve probably already heard about the possibility of overclocking your monitor to enhance the performance of your screen. But “how risky is overclocking a monitor? Is overclocking monitor safe in the long run?”
If you’re currently gaming on a 60Hz monitor and you really can’t afford to shell out hundreds of dollars to upgrade, one of the options to improve your display’s performance is to overclock it.
However, before overclocking your monitor, you’d better know what it means and – above all – what the risks are related to this practice. This article will explore the dangers of overclocking a monitor.
Also, you might need to know, is there any risk of permanent damage? Will it affect the durability of the monitor in the long run? Let’s find out together.
Overclocking a Monitor, What does it mean?
Overclocking consists of modifying the values established by the manufacturer in a product to obtain better performance in return. When talking about overclocking, generally mean it to refer to modifications and practices that allow us to achieve higher clock speeds (for example, in RAM, CPU or GPU).
In this case, when you overclock your monitor, you enhance a monitor to run at a higher refresh rate than the one specified – (the stock rating for our display panel from graphics settings).
The refresh rate is nothing more than the number of frames that the monitor is capable of displaying on the screen, it affects the sharpness of the image and its fluidity in games.
For example, you can bring a 60 Hz monitor (generates the image 60 times per second) to 75Hz and make it regenerate the image 75 times per second.
What improvement you will see after overclocking a monitor?
While most people won’t distinguish between the two, gamers enjoy a smoother experience with a higher refresh rate. It helps with certain games because speed and reflexes are essential gameplay components.
Generally speaking, the higher your monitor’s refresh rate, the smoother and more responsive everything will feel, which can ultimately have a big effect of smoothness if you’re a gamer. Furthermore, improvement FPS, reduces eye fatigue.
With a higher refresh rate, things can also seem to load faster on the screen, often leading to a higher peak’s advantage in online FPS games, where a person has a fraction of a second to see someone else, one enemy before appearing on the other’s screen.
Moreover, in competitive games like COD, Valorant and Crossfire, having a refresh rate of at least 120 to 144Hz gives you an edge over your opponents as it allows you to reach the highest frame rates so you can dominate your enemies.
Thus, the improvements are useful in esports, for those who like to watch high-quality videos, and for those whose activities are closely related to permanent work on the computer.
Of course, higher-refresh-rate monitors type are more expensive; that’s why many gamers choose to overclock their displays. Once you know what advantages overlocking can bring to you, it’s time to discuss the risks.
Note: Unlike GPU or CPU overclocks, monitor overclocks are generally very stable. If your monitor can handle an overclock, this boost won’t convert your display from 60Hz to 120Hz. In most cases, 60 Hz monitors can be overclocked to at least 75 Hz.
Things to consider before overclocking your monitor
The monitor warranty.
The first thing you should do is check whether or not overclocking your monitor could invalidate the device’s warranty. Needless to say, if your monitor is old and your warranty is already expired, you shouldn’t worry about this.
But if it is pretty new, overclocking may mean that you can’t count on its warranty anymore, and if any issues happen – even if it’s not related to your overclocking procedure – you’ll be asked to pay for reparations and you won’t be able – in any case – to obtain a replacement or refund.
Check the monitor’s specs.
Every device comes with the user manual, including the device’s specific features. Check the monitor specs to understand if your monitor can sustain higher refresh rates than the one it’s already set up with.
If it is, you can reasonably assume that your overclocking won’t cause any damage and that the procedure won’t affect the device’s durability. If it isn’t, the risks of wear and impaired durability would be higher.
Panel compatibility
It is important to know that the result of this practice will not be the same for all monitors and there will be models between 22, 24, and 27 inch monitors that allow you to increase your refresh rate more or less significantly, they may even not allow it.
The refresh rate and its increase depend on each panel/monitor. Sometimes, it is not a safe process to carry out because some panels do not react well and can be blocked or broken, depending on the specific monitor.
Thus, everything will depend on the quality of the panel and how much the manufacturer has adjusted it to its limit to put it on sale. However, as I mentioned the ease and low risk, you are free to try it at your responsibility.
Document yourself well on how to overclock your monitor
One way of making sure that overclocking your monitor won’t cause any damage is performing the procedure well, making every step in the proper order. Before proceeding, you may want to check the internet for a detailed guide; better if you find one that is specific to your monitor’s brand and model.
Overclocking a monitor: are there any risks?
While many gamers find it worth it to overclock their monitor and attest that they’ve never had any issue with their overlocked monitors, overlocking is not entirely safe from risks.
Some problems can occur, overclocking will affect the current consumption and, therefore, the overheat can happen given off by the affected component, but if you know what you are doing, it will rarely be a problem for the useful life of our components and peripherals.
Knowing what they are can prevent these issues other than allowing you to understand in advance the most common problems that could arise with potential disadvantage.
7 Risks of overclocking a monitor
1. Flickering
The most common issue when you overclock a regular or even gaming monitor is flickering which may led to the monitor failure: it is noticeable to the eye the slowdown of the image when the video card outputs fewer frames than the monitor screen, but it can also happen sometimes (for example, only at specific resolution settings).
2. Dropped frame rates & White stuck pixels
When you overclock your monitor, one possible side effect is that you’ll notice an increase in dropped frames, which can appear as jumpy graphics. Sometimes, you can also see white stuck or dead pixels appearing randomly on your screen after overclocking.
3. Black screen
In the worst-case scenario, your screen would go completely black after overclocking. The good news is that all these issues, in most cases, are entirely reversible. You can change your settings back to default, and the screen should start working as usual. If the screen goes completely black, you can still access the BIOS, go back to default settings, and reboot or restart the computer.
4. Resolution issues
Sometimes, changing the refresh rate is impossible or causes issues because the settings you choose don’t match the screen’s resolution. Try different resolutions – starting from the lowest – to fix this problem.
5. Computer GPU
Issues can emerge even when your computer’s GPU doesn’t support your monitor’s settings. Check your GPU characteristics and upgrade it to see if the overclocking procedure provides a better outcome.
As you can see, there are no contraindications to monitor overclocking, so why not do it? Also, even a few Hertz boost (roughly at least 10% of your computer’s performance) will relieve eye strain while working on the computer which will help make work more enjoyable!
6. Higher power consumption than normal
Overclocked monitor consumes more electricity, as it takes more power than usual to run beyond the normal refresh rate.
7. Overheating
When overclocking, the overall temperature commonly associated with computers rises which can crash the computer operations. In fact, excessive heat from the processor is detrimental. So it may need to go through the cooling system to prevent overheating.
Does monitor overclocking reduce its lifespan? How does it affect durability in the long run?
To improve something, almost everyone who loses must have something. Likewise, to ensure that you significantly increase your monitor’s refresh demand, you have to slightly sacrifice your monitor’s lifespan at the same time.
This is mainly due to overheating problems: the main controller chip can overheat when used above its possibilities. You could add some small heat sinks to any component within the monitor that gets very hot from overclocking. This will extend the durability of your device while it performs at its best and even above its possibilities.
Overclocking some kind of limiter prolongs the life of your monitor, it’s true. But that’s incredibly short of the monitor’s estimated life. For example, if a monitor is going to be rated at 10 years, it is also rated at least ¾-inch.
If you’re already using an old, rugged monitor, its lifespan will be significantly reduced. However, the tools will last for decades if properly cared for.
Is it risky to overclock a laptop screen than desktop monitor?
Overclocking monitor requires a suitable high-end laptop processor. But you can and also overclock the screen of our laptop, although that is a bit risky.
If your laptop is very well ventilated, you can overclock just fine after the monitor. Despite this, most laptops are not as well ventilated as computers. So it is not recommended to make it easy for you to overclock your laptop if someone is a professional gamer.
Serious. Technically, this can cause issues with your trusty monitor’s mainboard and shorten lifespan goals.
So, what’s the Conclusion? Is it safe to overclock your Monitor?
When it comes to overclocking a processor, involves a high temperatures and operating voltages might cause thermal throttling, which are not always safe for the machine.
But with monitors it’s different, here the risk of damaging your monitor due to overclocking is low. Of all the parts of the computer that you can overclock, the monitor is the safest. Still, you have to be careful because serious bugs will cause damage, or can decrease its lifespan of it.
There was a time when changing the resolution could make a repair difficult, but these days Windows automatically restores the previous settings unless confirmed. Plus, you don’t need specialized tools or hardware to overclock a monitor.
However, some monitors have an overlocking feature that allows you to increase the refresh rate until a certain point. If your manufacturer is not allowing you to overclock your hardware still, don’t worry as it will not harm your device in most of the case.
As you’ve just learned, overclocking your monitor is not completely free from risks. In some cases, overclocking your monitor is completely worth it. In other cases, you may want to consider the possibilities more carefully.
FAQs
Does monitor overclocking damage the GPU?
Overclocking our monitors does not necessarily result in a negative end result on the GPU. Instead, it boosts GPU performance to improve overall program performance.
Does overclocking a monitor increase the FPS of a game?
Overclocking your monitor will allow you to get a maximum refresh rate to support higher FPS numbers but overclocking your monitor’s frame rate will NOT increase the FPS of a game. To increase the FPS of a game, you need to overclock your GPU.
How much can you overclock a monitor from 60hz?
If you have a 60hz monitor, you can overclock it to 75hz. Some monitor also allow overclocking to support 80hz from 60hz. However, in the event that you try to overclock your meter to more than 80 Hz, you could damage your hardware.
Is it safe to overclock a monitor from 60hz to 144hz??
It’s extremely unlikely you’ll be able to get a 60HZ monitor anywhere near 144Hz. The 60HZ monitors that I have experience overclocking usually get shaky at around 75HZ, and none are able to get past 80 no black screen.
Here you reached the end of this post “Is overclocking monitor safe?”, now it’s up to you: consider your needs, the characteristics of your monitor, and your capabilities. Is overclocking your monitor worth it in your case?
