How to Check if Monitor Is 144Hz? | Verify Your Refresh Rate

A monitor runs at 144 Hz only when the operating system or its own menu shows 144 Hz as the active refresh rate.

Whether you’re troubleshooting a display that feels less smooth than it should or confirming a new purchase is working as advertised, the question of how to check if monitor is 144Hz comes down to one simple truth: the advertised maximum and the current setting are often different things. A 144 Hz-capable monitor frequently ships running at 60 Hz out of the box, and the fix is a two-minute settings change once you know where to look.

Below are the exact paths for Windows and macOS, plus the monitor’s own on-screen menu, which is often the most direct confirmation of all.

Check the Active Refresh Rate in Windows

Windows shows the current refresh rate in the display settings, and it is the number that decides whether you are actually seeing 144 frames per second. The path is Settings > System > Display > Advanced display.

Once there, read the refresh rate listed under the monitor’s name. If it shows 144 Hz, the monitor is running at that rate. If it shows 60 Hz, use the Choose a refresh rate drop-down beneath it and select 144 Hz.

Two things trip people up here. First, in a multi-monitor setup, make sure the correct display is selected at the top of the Display page — Windows shows one entry per connected screen, and checking the wrong one tells you nothing. Second, the GPU control panel is not the source of truth; the operating system’s own readout is the decisive number.

The macOS Route to Confirming 144 Hz

On macOS, the refresh rate appears in the display settings, though the exact menu name depends on your system version. Open System Settings (macOS Ventura and later), or System Preferences on older versions, and go to Displays.

Select the display you want to check, then look for the refresh rate option. If 144 Hz is available but not selected, choose it from the list. Some external monitors require a specific cable or port to unlock higher rates, so if 144 Hz does not appear at all, the limitation is almost certainly the connection rather than the monitor itself — a topic covered below.

What the Monitor’s Own Menu Tells You

The monitor’s on-screen display (OSD) often provides the most reliable confirmation because it reports the signal it is actually receiving. Open the monitor’s menu using its physical buttons or joystick, then look for an Info, Status, or Information entry. Inside, the active signal refresh rate is usually listed alongside the resolution and input source — for example, “1920 × 1080 @ 144 Hz.”

This readout reflects the live signal from your computer, so it is the ground truth for what the monitor is doing right now. If the OSD shows 60 Hz while Windows claims 144 Hz, the cable or port is throttling the signal, and the OSD is the one to trust.

Why 144 Hz Might Not Be Available — and How to Fix It

Using 144 Hz requires every link in the chain to support it: the device, the cable, the port, and the display mode. A common culprit is an older HDMI cable limited to 60 Hz at high resolutions, or a laptop port that caps output to 60 Hz on external displays.

Here is the practical order to work through when 144 Hz is missing from the options:

• Confirm your cable is rated for 144 Hz — DisplayPort 1.2 or newer, or an HDMI cable rated for the bandwidth your resolution demands.
• Check that the cable is plugged into the correct port on both the monitor and the computer; some ports share bandwidth and run at reduced rates.
• Update the graphics driver, since an outdated driver can hide higher refresh rates from the OS entirely.

Once the hardware supports it, the refresh rate should appear in the settings menus described above. On Windows, Microsoft’s own guidance confirms the settings path and the requirement for compatible hardware. Apple’s support documentation likewise covers the refresh rate selection for Mac displays.

If you are in the market for a new display rather than troubleshooting an existing one and want a model that balances resolution and speed, the tested roundup of best 2K 144Hz monitors available now covers the options worth buying.

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