For the most part, a screen set to refresh at 60 Hz will provide a clear and flicker free image.
Some LCD monitors are a little more sensitive to outside electromagnetic interference (EM) than others. It used to be that one could change the refresh rate in the video card driver to 70 Hz or even 75 Hz to eliminate any EM interference.
On the newer and larger LCD monitors this does not seem to be the case.
Electricity cycles at 60 Hz. Sometimes, when the monitor is set to refresh at 60 Hz, the image will flicker.
Some may never notice it, but for those of us with relatively sensitive eyes we pick it up immediately. In the case of CRT monitors, the refresh rate was the first thing to get adjusted due to the annoying characteristics of the CRT's image flickering.
In this case, the monitor in question is a new Acer X243w. When the ATI driver was set to refresh at 60 Hz, there was no end to the amount of flickering in the monitor's image.
But, there was no option on that monitor to bump up the refresh rate to 70+ Hz.
There was however an option to bump it down:
Once the setting change was made and applied, the flickering was gone.Acer X243W Refresh at 59 Hz
Having the refresh rate on the monitor set to 60 Hz along with the A/C being at 60 Hz when having EM issues is a bit like having two fans, one directly behind the other, spinning at the same rate but not synchronized. One will notice the lack of synchronization in the way of a flicker.
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
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