Is your 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitor stuck at 60 Hz?

A new monitor, a driver update or a different cable, and the screen quietly drops to 60 Hz. Nothing warns you. Here is how to check in a minute, and what usually causes it.

Check the refresh rate in Windows

Open Settings → System → Display → Advanced display.
At the top, select the monitor you want to check.
Look at Choose a refresh rate. If it says 60 Hz and the list offers 120, 144, 165 or more, pick the highest one.

While you are there, check that the resolution under Display is the one marked (Recommended). A monitor running below its own resolution looks soft, and is just as easy to miss.

If the higher rate is not in the list

The cable. An old HDMI cable, or HDMI 1.4 on the monitor or the graphics card, often cannot carry a high refresh rate at a high resolution. DisplayPort usually can. Try the cable that came with the monitor.
The port. On a desktop PC, plug the monitor into the graphics card, not into the motherboard's video output below it.
The monitor's own menu. Some monitors ship with their highest refresh rate or overclock switched off, or set to an older DisplayPort version.
The driver. After a fresh install or a failed update, Windows may be using a basic display driver. Install the current driver from your graphics card's maker.

Let it check for you

Stillward Display's Diagnostics page checks every monitor and tells you when one is running below the refresh rate or the resolution it can show - after a driver update, a new cable, or a game that left it at a lower mode. One click fixes it.

Every display change is a question, the way Windows' own is: the new mode stays only if you press Keep. If the screen goes black or the picture is wrong, it switches back by itself after fifteen seconds - and even if the program or the PC stops halfway, the next start puts the old mode back.

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