10 bit vs 8 bit w/ dithering?

[CephDigital]

Hi there!
I have an HP X34 monitor that is capable of going up to 165hz. One thing I noticed in the advanced graphics tab is that my bit depth is "8 bit with dithering" when my refresh rate is at 165hz. If I lower this to 144hz, the bit depth goes to 10. Is there any advantage to having the higher bit depth over the higher refresh rate? Running this off a Lenovo Legion 7 16 w/ RTX 3080 16GB.

[Origami Cactus]

If you have to ask, the most probably you won't notice any difference at all.

Unless you need to do some specific photo/video editing, 8bit is all you need anyways.

[Eigenvektor]

8 bit per color (bpc) means your monitor can display 16.7 million different colors, which most games use. With 10 bpc you can get 1.07 billion different colors, which can give you smoother gradients and generally a more realistic image, if the game supports it. Probably not that noticeable and/or important in fast past games where you'd want 165 Hz.

 

8 bpc with dithering simulates the effect of 10 bpc by using e.g. a checkerboard pattern where two slightly different colors are placed next to each other, making it appear like an in between color at high enough resolution.

 

The square at the bottom right looks sort of purple, but it is red/blue dots next to each other, like the bigger versions. That's basically how dithering works, simulate a color by using other colors next to each other at a sufficiently high resolution.

[Glenwing]

11 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

8 bit per color (bpc) means your monitor can display 16.7 million different colors, which most games use. With 10 bpc you can get 1.07 billion different colors, which can give you smoother gradients and generally a more realistic image, if the game supports it. Probably not that noticeable and/or important in fast past games where you'd want 165 Hz.

 

8 bpc with dithering simulates the effect of 10 bpc by using e.g. a checkerboard pattern where two slightly different colors are placed next to each other, making it appear like an in between color at high enough resolution.

 

The square at the bottom right looks sort of purple, but it is red/blue dots next to each other, like the bigger versions. That's basically how dithering works, simulate a color by using other colors next to each other at a sufficiently high resolution.

Dithering in monitors refers to temporal dithering (FRC) which is not the same as what you're describing.

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Glenwing said:

Dithering in monitors refers to temporal dithering (FRC) which is not the same as what you're describing.

Thanks. I wasn't sure which one I should describe

 

So… to add: FRC would simulate additional colors by quickly switching between two colors on the same pixel, rather than placing them next to each other.