Chinese company BOE (Beijing Oriental Electronics) has announced a breakthrough in oxide semiconductor display technology that’s allowed them to produce a prototype gaming monitor capable of a 500Hz refresh rate.

That means the screen can refresh the image 500 times per second. That’s 140 refreshes per second faster than the fastest monitor currently available. There are a few 360Hz monitors available from Acer, Alienware and Asus but this is the first time anything has been seen that’s faster.

This monitor gotta go fast

This new panel is a 27in with a resolution of 1920 x 1080p, which is slightly bigger than the 360Hz offerings but the same res. Resolution has been a tradeoff that most monitor manufacturers have had to contend with.

We’ve only just seen major advancements at the 1440p gaming sweet spot. Samsung has a 240Hz offering and Asus recently announced the ROG Swift PG27AQN that can manage 360Hz at 1440p. But it’s still way more common to see 1440p monitors in the 144Hz – 170Hz refresh range.

While it’s always great to see improvements like this in tech, unless you’re an esports professional that’s looking for every edge, we think 500Hz might be a bit much. If you’ve used a 60Hz monitor next to one with a higher refresh rate you should notice the difference right away.

The difference becomes much less noticeable between a 120Hz and a 165Hz, for example, and even less between a 165Hz and a 240Hz or 360Hz monitor.

Important to keep in mind that this is a prototype after all. There’s no telling if BOE will push this to mass production. Maybe, if we’re lucky, they’ll work on a 1440p or 4K panel as well.

Source: The Verge