If you’re already using optimal overdrive settings, another thing you might want to consider is to lower your refresh rate in order to reduce VA smearing. So, let them run for at least 30 minutes before choosing the best overdrive mode. You should also keep in mind that monitors have better pixel response time performance after they’ve warmed up a bit. So, you will need to see which overdrive mode works best at 60Hz and use that instead when using VRR around 60FPS, and so forth. If you are using AMD FreeSync variable refresh rate (VRR) technology, you might also need to change the overdrive mode depending on your frame rate.įor instance, the ‘Strong’ overdrive might look the best to you at 144Hz, but if your frame rate is around 60FPS, VRR dynamically changes your refresh rate to 60Hz and the ‘Strong’ mode might be too aggressive here thus causing overshoot. pixel overshoot), which leaves bright (instead of dark) ghosting artifacts. Stronger overdrive makes the pixels transition faster, but a too aggressive setting can cause inverse ghosting (i.e. Try out the different options available and hopefully you will see some improvements. You will find a few different options there, such as Weak, Medium, Strong or Off, Normal, Extreme. Now go to your monitor’s OSD (On-Screen Display) menu and find an option called something along the lines of Overdrive, OD, Response Time, SmartResponse, TraceFree, etc.

Go to Blur Buster’s ghosting test and track the moving UFO with your eyes you’ll notice that it leaves trails as it moves. To start with, you need to make sure you’re using optimal response time overdrive settings. So, is there anything you can do about this? Proper Overdrive Settings Most VA monitors are affected by this, with the exclusion of Samsung’s Odyssey G9, Neo G9 and G7 curved gaming displays. trailing) artifacts behind fast-moving objects when a lot of dark pixels are involved in the scene. VA panel monitors, in particular, have very slow pixel transitions from dark to gray or bright shades (rise time), which results in a lot of visible ghosting (i.e. So, pixels might go from 80% gray to 60% gray in 4 milliseconds as specified, but it can take them over 30 milliseconds to go from 0% gray (black) to 20% gray, for instance. Now, if pixels change from one color to another slower than that, you will see trailing artifacts behind fast-moving objects.Ī certain 144Hz gaming monitor might have a 4ms GtG (gray to gray) pixel response time speed specified, however, this is just marketing shenanigans as it doesn’t actually refer to the average pixel transition speed – but rather the fastest possible.

We’ll take a 144Hz gaming monitor for an example – it refreshes the screen 144 times per second, so there’s a new ‘frame’ every 6.94ms. What Is VA Smearing?įirst, let’s tackle why dark level smearing occurs. In this article, we’ll go over everything you can do to reduce black level smearing and address any controversy surrounding this panel technology. While this is a fundamental weakness of most monitors using VA panel technology, there are some things you can do to reduce it a bit and even make it negligible or tolerable.ĭo you have a gaming monitor with a VA (Vertical Alignment) panel and want to reduce the amount of visible trailing behind fast-moving objects in dark scenes?Īre you interested in buying a VA monitor, but are worried about the infamous dark level VA smearing? Most VA panel monitors have slow black to gray pixel transition speed, resulting in noticeable trailing behind fast-moving objects in dark scenes – this is often referred to as dark level smearing.

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