Remember when 144Hz seemed pretty sleek? I mean, it wasn’t This a long time ago, right? Well, download this 600Hz beast from MSI.
The MSI MPG 242R X60N will be unveiled at CES next week according to TFT Central, and its appeal will be its wild 600Hz refresh rate. The rest of the package, TN panel technology, 24-inch size and 1080p resolution, is not exactly a gaming dream come true.
Of course, this monitor is designed exclusively for e-sports. So things like 4K resolution, ultra-wide aspect ratio, huge panel sizes and the HDR effect don’t really matter here. What you need is absolutely minimal lag and a compact panel that allows you to see everything that’s happening on the screen.
Therefore, you expect the highest possible refresh rate on a 24-inch screen, something even faster than, for example, the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP 540 Hz.
That said, as refresh rates raise, the gains likely decrease. We’re certainly at the point now where there’s no benefit in terms of visual smoothness of this 600Hz panel over the 500Hz alternative. But what about the delay?
The input lag at 600 Hz will be slightly less than at 500 Hz, that’s an undeniable fact. So the real question is at what point latency reduction becomes essentially undetectable to human perception.
Therefore, we will take 5th place. Personally, in the past I would probably say that the difference above 240 Hz is almost imperceptible. However, I must admit that really solemn esports players seem to benefit from even faster panels.
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Eventually we will surely reach a point where a higher refresh rate doesn’t really have measurable value. But we’ll have to wait and see where this dividing line ultimately lands.
Meanwhile, back to this MSI panel, what’s probably a bit unexpected is the inclusion of 98W USB-C connectivity. It’s a useful feature when it comes to productivity and ergonomics, but less so when it comes to gaming.
Using a laptop is a bit improbable when you’re trying to hit the highest frame rates. And even if you do, you’ll need more than 98W to power a high-performance gaming laptop.
For now, we don’t have any specifications for metrics like brightness, contrast, viewing angles, color coverage, and so on. But as a TN panel you can’t expect much from these aspects. It’s just not something a high refresh rate TN monitor does well.
Oh, and just to be clear, the response time is 0.5 ms, which is excellent for an LCD panel, although it’s miles behind the 0.03 ms typically claimed for OLED monitors.
Pricing has not yet been announced, but the MPG 242R X60N is expected to go on sale at least before April. So for now we just have to wait and see. But it will definitely be very pricey for a 24-inch TN monitor.
