Monitor Response Test

Monitor response time, measured in milliseconds (ms), is the time a pixel takes to transition from one colour to another — most often grey-to-grey (GtG). A faster response time means less motion blur and ghosting. Typical values: OLED < 0.1 ms, gaming TN/IPS 1–4 ms, standard IPS 4–8 ms, budget VA 8–16 ms. Response time is different from input lag, which measures the delay from mouse movement to screen update.

For competitive gaming, aim for 1–4 ms GtG. Most gaming monitors rated at 1 ms use overdrive to push pixel transitions faster. At 1 ms response time, ghosting is imperceptible even at 240 Hz. At 4 ms, faint ghosting may appear at speeds above 360 fps equivalent. Standard IPS at 4–8 ms is perfectly fine for single-player gaming and general use. Office and productivity work is comfortable at any response time below 16 ms.

Ghosting occurs when pixels cannot transition fast enough to keep up with the frame rate. As an object moves across the screen, the pixels it passes through still hold the previous colour for a few milliseconds, creating a visible trail. VA panels are the most prone to ghosting, especially in dark transitions. Overdrive settings in monitor firmware apply extra voltage to speed transitions — too much overdrive causes inverse ghosting (a bright halo ahead of the moving object).

Overdrive (also called Response Time Compensation or AMA) applies extra voltage to accelerate pixel transitions. Most gaming monitors offer Normal, Fast, and Fastest presets. Normal typically yields the cleanest image with minimal ghosting and no inverse ghosting. Fastest reduces GtG further but can introduce inverse ghosting (a bright trail ahead of the object). Test each setting with this ghosting test at your monitor's native refresh rate and choose the fastest setting without visible inverse ghosting.

Response time (GtG) measures pixel colour transition speed — it affects ghosting. Input lag measures the total delay from input device (mouse, keyboard) to the final image appearing on screen — it affects how responsive the game feels. A monitor can have excellent 1 ms response time but 30 ms input lag (bad for gaming), or 8 ms response time and 4 ms input lag (fine for gaming). Input lag is determined primarily by the display controller and post-processing pipeline, not the panel type.

Higher refresh rates reduce the perception of ghosting. At 60 Hz, each frame is displayed for 16.7 ms — so even a 4 ms response time leaves the pixel in transition for less than 25% of the frame. At 240 Hz, each frame lasts only 4.2 ms, meaning a 4 ms response time occupies nearly the entire frame — making ghosting much more visible. This is why 240 Hz gaming monitors require sub-1 ms response times to avoid motion artefacts.

Manufacturer response time specs are measured under ideal conditions (often fastest overdrive, best-case grey-to-grey transition). Real-world ghosting depends on the specific colour transition (black-to-white is usually slower than grey-to-grey), overdrive setting, ambient temperature, and your panel's production variance. This browser test uses a subjective visual rating rather than hardware measurement, so individual differences in visual acuity and viewing distance also affect the result.