@CueBallHead No you cannot increase refresh rate in software beyond what the hardware is capable of achieving. Refresh rate means how quickly the display refreshes, and if the display only supports 60 Hz, then software cannot make it go faster. High refresh rate panels in laptops are relatively rare even among gaming-oriented systems, and although I'm aware some Alienware systems have offered them, the m15 R2 may not have one, at least not yet. Dell does sometimes introduce more options after initial launch, however. But if you want a high refresh rate panel, I'd recommend making sure it also supports G-Sync. The reason is that if you run a high refresh rate panel without it, your only options are V-Sync Off or V-Sync On. The former means you can experience frame tearing, since that's exactly what V-Sync is designed to eliminate. But the latter is difficult with a high refresh rate panel because you need to make sure your GPU can sustain a frame rate at least as high as your display's refresh rate, and even on a fairly high-end gaming laptop, that will be tricky at 144 Hz and nearly impossible at 240 Hz unless you want to reduce detail settings dramatically. The reason this is important is because if your GPU does NOT sustain a frame rate to match the display's refresh rate, i.e. it doesn't have a new frame completely rendered when the display is ready to refresh, then it will repeat the previously rendered frame, which you will experience as motion judder. If that happens a lot, you end up with a pretty bad experience. This is the exact dilemma that G-Sync is meant to solve by allowing the best of both worlds where you have no frame tearing AND no judder because G-Sync allows the display’s refresh rate to adjust dynamically based on what the GPU can deliver at any given moment -- but G-Sync is not always available on displays.
jphughan
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May 18th, 2020 06:00
@CueBallHead No you cannot increase refresh rate in software beyond what the hardware is capable of achieving. Refresh rate means how quickly the display refreshes, and if the display only supports 60 Hz, then software cannot make it go faster. High refresh rate panels in laptops are relatively rare even among gaming-oriented systems, and although I'm aware some Alienware systems have offered them, the m15 R2 may not have one, at least not yet. Dell does sometimes introduce more options after initial launch, however. But if you want a high refresh rate panel, I'd recommend making sure it also supports G-Sync. The reason is that if you run a high refresh rate panel without it, your only options are V-Sync Off or V-Sync On. The former means you can experience frame tearing, since that's exactly what V-Sync is designed to eliminate. But the latter is difficult with a high refresh rate panel because you need to make sure your GPU can sustain a frame rate at least as high as your display's refresh rate, and even on a fairly high-end gaming laptop, that will be tricky at 144 Hz and nearly impossible at 240 Hz unless you want to reduce detail settings dramatically. The reason this is important is because if your GPU does NOT sustain a frame rate to match the display's refresh rate, i.e. it doesn't have a new frame completely rendered when the display is ready to refresh, then it will repeat the previously rendered frame, which you will experience as motion judder. If that happens a lot, you end up with a pretty bad experience. This is the exact dilemma that G-Sync is meant to solve by allowing the best of both worlds where you have no frame tearing AND no judder because G-Sync allows the display’s refresh rate to adjust dynamically based on what the GPU can deliver at any given moment -- but G-Sync is not always available on displays.