What are response times and why do they matter when gaming?

A monitor’s response time is one of the key specs when it comes to gaming monitor performance.

But what is it, and why does it matter to gamers?

TL;DR

• Response time is how fast a pixel changes from one color to another.
• Response time, along with refresh rate, directly affects motion clarity.
• OLEDs have near-instantaneous response times, but LCDs can have very fast response times too.

A monitor’s screen is made up of millions of pixels. Each of these pixels is made up of even smaller subpixels that are red, blue, and green (and in many OLEDs, there’s also a white element). When varying amounts of electrical current are sent through these pixels and subpixels, you get different levels of RGB, allowing for a huge array of color.

The speed at which a pixel transitions from one color to another is the response time. This can be measured in a variety of ways. Often you’ll see monitor manufacturers advertise gray-to-gray, or “GtG” response times. This is just the time it takes for a pixel to go from gray to another shade of gray and back again. The lower the time it takes to make that switch the better.

When a monitor such as an Alienware OLED has a 0.03ms response time, what advantages does that bring, versus a monitor that has a 3ms response time?

When response time is 0.03ms, that means pixels change color nearly instantaneously. When you look at a moving image on a screen, practically every one of those pixels are changing constantly.

When pixels can change virtually instantaneously, you can eliminate ghosting and blurring – the phenomenon in which moving images leave a trail, or “ghost,” behind them because pixels aren’t changing color quickly enough.

A fast response time combined with a fast refresh rate in a game running at high frames per second is the recipe for silky smooth, blur-free motion.

Alienware OLEDs have exceptionally fast response times, but our non-OLED monitors that use LCD technology, including our monitors preferred by esports players, can achieve latency as low as 0.5ms. So no matter which monitor technology you choose, you have options to enjoy crisp, clear motion, even in fast-paced games.

Check out our lineup of Alienware monitors here.