Hz vs FPS

[Beef Boss]

So in a MKBHD video about the razer phone he says that the screen is 120 Hz, which is cool yeah, and then says it's 120 FPS all the time. Frames per second and refresh rates are completely different, are they not? If we had 60 Hz monitors would we be locked at 60 FPS then on any computer we use? If this is true, wouldn't computers be wasting huge amounts of power by providing that many frames per second if we can only use devices that output a locked amount? I mean I never really thought about this, but like am I wrong here or am right...? 

[ARikozuM]

Hz and frames per second are the same when talking about screens.

 

Having more frames is better as your monitor has more accurate frames to render over time.

[Zando_]

No.... your PC can pump out more than 60fps (mine averages 90 or so in Battlefront), but you can only see 60 of those frames if you have a 60Hz monitor. 

[Drak3]

First, MKBHD is wrong. The Razer Phone has a dynamic refresh rate, 20Hz to 120Hz. 120Hz is only used if source content is 120Hz, otherwise it can do 60Hz to save power.

And the refresh rate of a monitor is effectively the max FPS it can output, not the maximum a GPU can push. Thing is, how many frames a GPU can push is not only dependent on its own power, but what is being rendered.

[Tsuki]

fps is the number of frames the gpu is sending to the monitor.

Hz is the number of times the monitor refreshes to view those frames.

 

[vanished]

There seem to be a lot of confusion here.  Frames are what are rendered by your PC and sent to the display.  hz is the rate at which the monitor refreshes.  So yes, they are different things, but they are definitely related.  Your monitor can't display more FPS than it refreshes at, but you also have to render a frame for every refresh or you're just seeing the same thing again.

[Glenwing]

5 minutes ago, BadluckBrian said:

So in a MKBHD video about the razer phone he says that the screen is 120 Hz, which is cool yeah, and then says it's 120 FPS all the time. Frames per second and refresh rates are completely different, are they not? If we had 60 Hz monitors would we be locked at 60 FPS then on any computer we use? If this is true, wouldn't computers be wasting huge amounts of power by providing that many frames per second if we can only use devices that output a locked amount? I mean I never really thought about this, but like am I wrong here or am right...? 

The FPS you measure with software on a little counter in the corner of your screen is the number of frames being generated by the computer. The monitor's refresh rate in Hz is the number of frames being displayed by the screen. If the GPU is generating frames at a lower rate, then the monitor will duplicate a frame until it receives a new one. If the GPU generates frames at a higher rate then the excess frames are discarded. Turn on V-Sync if you want to limit your GPU to your monitor's refresh rate to save power.

[BuckGup]

Just to add in Hz is not limited to just monitors. It applies to everything it's the SI unit for cycle per second

[Enderman]

The phone creates the same amount of frames as the screen refresh rate so in this case they are the same number.

[Mooshi]

120fps of Angry Birds lmao