Measurement methodologyNewDemo data
Understanding Response Time and Overshoot
Why the time pixels take to change colour decides how sharp motion looks, and how to read our total response time and overshoot results.
HannahRev Test Bench · Published · Updated
Demo data. This article describes HannahRev's draft methodology using fictional demo products. Any figures are illustrative — they are not laboratory results.
When an image moves, every pixel along its edges has to change colour. If that change is slow, the edge smears across several frames and moving objects look blurry. Response time measures how long those changes take.
Total response time
We measure transitions between a fixed grid of gray levels with a photodiode and report the average time for each transition to settle within a small tolerance of its target. Lower is better. As a rule of thumb, a transition should finish within one refresh cycle: about 4.2 ms at 240Hz or 6.9 ms at 144Hz.
Overshoot
Monitors speed up transitions with overdrive, which pushes pixels harder than necessary. Too much overdrive makes them overshoot their target and leaves bright or dark trails behind moving objects. We report the average overshoot as a percentage of the transition, with the overdrive setting we recommend.
| Rank | Product | Response time (max refresh) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norvik NX27-Q240 | 0.4 ms | 10.0 |
| 2 | Vireon V32-W240 | 0.5 ms | 10.0 |
| 3 | Vireon V27-Q360 | 0.3 ms | 10.0 |
| 4 | Norvik NX32-U160 | 5.2 ms | 5.9 |
| 5 | Altairon A27U Pro | 5.8 ms | 5.4 |
| 6 | Kestrova K24F-165 | 5.9 ms | 5.3 |
| 7 | Kestrova K27F-180 | 6.9 ms | 4.4 |
| 8 | Solenne Vista 34C | 9.8 ms | 1.9 |
Why we also test at 60Hz
Consoles and some older games run at 60Hz. Overdrive tuned for a high refresh rate can behave very differently at 60Hz, so we repeat the test there.
| Rank | Product | Response time (60Hz) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norvik NX27-Q240 | 1.8 ms | 9.6 |
| 2 | Vireon V27-Q360 | 1.9 ms | 9.5 |
| 3 | Vireon V32-W240 | 2.1 ms | 9.4 |
| 4 | Norvik NX32-U160 | 9.1 ms | 5.7 |
| 5 | Altairon A27U Pro | 9.6 ms | 5.5 |
| 6 | Kestrova K24F-165 | 10.5 ms | 5.0 |
| 7 | Kestrova K27F-180 | 11.8 ms | 4.3 |
| 8 | Solenne Vista 34C | 14.5 ms | 2.9 |
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