What monitor refresh rate gives you a headache?

cdhostagecdhostage
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I found while I was fiddling around with an old Mac with an old Apple monitor that I could adjust almost everything pertaining to how the CRT displayed info.



I found that any refresh rate below 80 Hz allowed me to see a faint flickering in the screen, and gave me a headache after a while.

Now I use an iMac at 95 Hz, and it works fine. I've read that you shouldn't set it below 75 Hz or you risk brain damage or something.



What Hz gives you the hurts?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 31
    trekkietrekkie Posts: 61member
    I used to have that problem when I had my Performa and iMac, but I moved to LCD the summer of last year and man am I happy little camper. No computer related headaches or eye strain ever since. CRT's have already ruined the vision in my right eye; not gonna give them a chance to ruin my left eye. I'm never going back to CRT.



    /me hugs his 17" Apple Studio LCD Display
  • Reply 2 of 31
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Usually I don't get headaches from any monitors so the refresh rate doesn't matter to me.
  • Reply 3 of 31
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    I run my 17" ASD at 1280 by 1024 and it refreshes at a solid 75Hz. I love high resolutions and would have it at 1600 by 1200, but five minutes of a 60Hz refresh makes my sinuses tingle.



    I get a headache after looking at my CRT for more than about 45 minutes straight or so, but I just can't stand 1024 by 768 on a 17 inch monitor...a waste of screen space, running it at such a low resolution. I cringe when I go to friends' houses and see them running an iMac at 640 by 480. AHHHH!!!!
  • Reply 4 of 31
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]I cringe when I go to friends' houses and see them running an iMac at 640 by 480. AHHHH!!!!<hr></blockquote>



    How could anyone actually do that??
  • Reply 5 of 31
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    People with poor eyesight do it all the time.



    A fair number of the people I work with run their 17" monitors at 800x600, and they think I'm crazy for running mine at 1024x768! I'd run it higher if the video card in the Dell didn't suck.



    I can't stand any CRT refresh rate below 75Hz, and I prefer to have it near or over 100Hz. That's why I got an LCD for my home computer.



    [ 11-22-2001: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
  • Reply 6 of 31
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    I used to get headaches a lot sitting in front of CRTs at school, and then by spending hours in front of one while working as a coder. Most of the time, they had reasonable refresh rates too.



    When I got my first iMac in 1998, I wanted to run it at 1024x768, but couldn't handle the 75Hz refresh rate. It would give me migraines.



    I honestly wouldn't buy a new computer without an LCD now.
  • Reply 7 of 31
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>How could anyone actually do that??</strong><hr></blockquote>Actually, I just got back from visiting family and my grandfather's iMac was at 640x480.



    I can't handle lower than 75 Hz for more than just a few minutes. My head hertz just thinking about it.



    [ 11-22-2001: Message edited by: starfleetX ]</p>
  • Reply 8 of 31
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Actually, the experts say that 72 is the cutoff but thats not really accurate. Even at 75, if you look out of the corner of your eye, there is flicker, especially with bright colors. That's because the periphery of your eyes is responsible for perceiving color, and motion changes, the macula (center) gives you detail. Thus, when you stare right at the center of the screen at about 72-75 hertz you probably don't notice any flicker, but the periphery of retina senses it, those neurons get fatigued b/c of your unusually still glare, and presto, you get a headache!



    85 is better, and the more you use computers, the more sensitive you may become. People that stare at screens for 8-10 hours everyday, will notice flicker where the rest of us don't.



    Solutions. LCD's!!! Turning pixels off is much better than flashing them all the time. Or if you're using a CRT, look around, take your eyes off the screen, and shift your focus around the screen. Have you ever noticed that TV, even at 60hz, doesn't really have the same effect, unless you're playing videogames? Why? Because the action is usually moving your focus around the screen, and the sensitive neurons on the outer retina don't get fatigued.
  • Reply 9 of 31
    alexandrealexandre Posts: 14member
    I found out that it depends a lot of a number of factors, not only the quality of the monitor, but also the quality of the video card! 72 Hz in one set up might be unbearable while it could be passable in a computer with a good video card.



    That being said, anything above 72 Hz is fine with me.
  • Reply 10 of 31
    mac the forkmac the fork Posts: 722member
    I'm not what you'd call headache-prone, but anything under 72 Hz is very irritating to mah eyes. Stepping down refresh rates is also irritating for a while. My monitor is set to 85 Hz right now... as high as it goes.



    The iMac at 640x480 has a great refresh rate (117 Hz).
  • Reply 11 of 31
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    1024 by 768! On a 17 inch monitor! What a waste! 1280 x 1024 or above!



    One of the best way to get free monitor space is increasing the resolution. I kind of want to get a new monitor so I can pump the res higher...1280 by 1024 is too big.
  • Reply 12 of 31
    joe cooljoe cool Posts: 10member
    Damn... you guys are right, just going from 1280 x 1024 at 75hertz to 1056 x 792 at 96 Hertz makes my eyes feel so much better. I guess im running at 1056 x 792 from now on. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 13 of 31
    mandricardmandricard Posts: 486member
    [quote]Originally posted by Joe Cool:

    <strong>Damn... you guys are right, just going from 1280 x 1024 at 75hertz to 1056 x 792 at 96 Hertz makes my eyes feel so much better. I guess im running at 1056 x 792 from now on. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Are all you folks using a Radeon in your machines? I am stuck with my factory-issue Rage 128 Pro. If so, this sounds like a good reason to buy a Radeon...
  • Reply 14 of 31
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
  • Reply 15 of 31
    the toolboithe toolboi Posts: 557member
    Depends on the monitor. A good apple monitor is fine down to 70htz, on my PCs NEC Multisync under 100 kills me.
  • Reply 16 of 31
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    Something more than 80 hz is perfectly fine for me. 75 hz is the minimal, 60 hz give me Headhakes.

    LCD i screen are fine but the anle of vision of my powerbook G3 300 first version is far too limited, no headakes with it but pain in my neck by trying to have the best angle of vision
  • Reply 17 of 31
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    60 Hz makes my eyes pop out. 72 Hz and greater doesn't really bother me. Unless I use my peripheral vision, I won't seen scan lines. I run my monitor at 1280x1024 @ 85 Hz anyway, just to make sure my eyes won't strain. LCDs refresh at 60 Hz, but they don't have scan lines.



    Working with the lights off in front of a big bright monitor would induce migraine headaches for me, but I haven't had one in a long time. A telltale sign that I'm going to get a migraine attack is if I start seeing stars (streaking stars...think of a meteor shower...) I get migraines from overexercise and dehydration as well.
  • Reply 18 of 31
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i already lost my eyesite due to stupid computer monitors, so when i got a good line on some 21" and above sonys i lept at the chance. now i don't use anything under 85Hz. lol, it's a little overkill to have three of them on one machine, but oh so much fun.
  • Reply 19 of 31
    mandricardmandricard Posts: 486member
    No one has answered my question... I am using a stock g4-500 with the Rage Pro, and do not seem to have all these options. What graphics cards are you all using in order to get these refresh rates?



    Mandricard

    AppleOutsider
  • Reply 20 of 31
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    I got 1152x870 at 85Hz (from memory) using a PCI Rage 128 attached to a 17" Radius M1.



    A RADEON could probably do much better.
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