How can i tell if my game is actually running at 144hz frame rate?

[KevinWS]

I just got a new 144Hz monitor, but I’m not sure my game is actually running at that refresh rate. It feels smoother in the menus, but during hectic firefights, I can’t tell if it’s dropping frames or if it’s just my perception. My FPS counter says it’s holding above 144, so I’m wondering if there’s something else I need to check.

[OliviaT]

I did something similar and the menus felt smooth, but in firefights I still worried. I checked Windows display settings and made sure the monitor was in the right refresh mode, ran the game in full screen exclusive, and turned off V-Sync in the game. I started logging frame times with an overlay and while the average fps stayed high, the frame times weren’t perfectly steady, so there was subtle stutter when things got hectic.

[Sofia66]

My FPS counter stayed high too, but motion still looked off sometimes. I realized you can have consistent fps above the target and still have micro-stutter if frame times swing or if there are brief GPU hiccups.

[Jerry70]

Have you tried toggling adaptive sync on or off and seeing if the motion improves?

[JustinFH]

I once blamed the game for every stutter, but it turned out the signal path mattered. After switching from HDMI to DisplayPort and confirming the monitor was set to the right internal mode, the motion felt more stable, at least for a while. Still not a perfect fix all the time.