HDMI Cable Refresh Rate: Does Any HDMI Cable Support a High Refresh Rate?

About HDMI Cable Refresh Rate, Gaming monitors normally have a high refresh rate to provide immense gaming experiences. 

However, to take full advantage of this, you must ensure that your HDMI connectivity supports a high refresh rate. 

The article below will discuss the HDMI cable refresh rate different versions support in depth.

What Does the Refresh Rate Mean?

If you are a fan of online gaming and video editing, you have probably heard the term 144Hz. The term ‘Hz’ in this case means the refresh rate of the display panel. 

Refresh rate simply refers to the ability of your display to generate images in one second.

 Therefore, if your digital display has a refresh rate of 144Hz, it can draw up to 144 images per second.

A high refresh rate (144Hz) is extremely beneficial for online games because you can receive more info every second. 

The more frames you get every second, the better gameplay fluidity you experience.

You can tell the notable difference between a slow and high refresh rate screen by observing the gameplay.

 Also, a high refresh rate increases system response, providing a better gaming experience.

The modern generation of consoles and graphic cards are powerful enough to provide over 144 frames per second for the latest AAA games. 

Therefore, a high refresh rate monitor is important if you truly want to take full advantage of the latest versions.

Caption: Gaming Console

However, the more frames you receive every second, the heavier the data. 

Therefore, you must choose a connectivity option capable of transferring high levels of data per second to your display.

Can Any HDMI Cable Support a High Refresh Rate?

To put it simply, yes. Any HDMI cable can support a high refresh rate and produce images every second.

However, it’s not all to just get an HDMI cable and enjoy a 144Hz output at your resolution. 

There are several available versions for HDMI connections, all of which have different bandwidth capacities.

 Therefore, each version can provide 144Hz output at different resolutions.

Note: A higher resolution increases the number of pixels a graphic card requires to render and, in turn, impacts the FPS. 

 Also, your graphics card can render frames quicker when fewer pixels are in each frame. 

However, all this is separate from your monitor’s refresh frequency which doesn’t change in normal operation. 

If your monitor supports 60Hz, that’s all you are getting regardless of whether you get 100 or 40 fps in a game.

The Generations of HDMI Refresh Rate

It is important to determine the precise version of the HDMI connection your display provides. 

So you can make sure it can support the refresh rate at your resolution of choice. 

Also, it’s essential to determine the HDMI version of a cable before buying to avoid any future compatibility problems.

Numerous HDMI versions and their corresponding abilities

• HDMI 1.0 was released in 2002 and rapidly became among the most widely used display connectivity options. It was then adopted by graphic card and TV manufacturers. Since it was the first HDMI version, it was only capable of supporting a 24-bit color depth and 4.95 Gbps of bandwidth. HDMI 1.0 supported a maximum resolution of 50Hz at 1920p x 1200p.
• HDMI 1.3 – it brought about numerous upgrades to the current HDMI design, some of which included a deeper color gamut, higher color accuracy, and higher resolution support. Also, it brought forth the introduction of the surround sound and lip sync feature for the audio signals. HDMI 1.3 offers a bandwidth of 10 Gbps with 48-bit color depth and a maximum of 1440p support.
• HDMI 1.4 – they are currently the most widely used HDMI today. Introduced in 2009,  they are still in use as the main option for a number of devices. It offers a bandwidth of up to 10 Gbps with 48-bit color depth. Also, it offers a 30Hz refresh rate at 2160p and 144Hz at 1080p.
• HDMI 2.0 – our next option is HDMI 2.0, a major improvement to the previous HDMI options. It offers a bandwidth of 18 Gbps and a 144Hz refresh rate at 1440p, and a 240Hz refresh rate at 1080p. 
• HDMI 2.1 – this is currently the latest HDMI version and was introduced back in 2017. However, it’s slowly being adapted as the main HDMI version because it offers a bandwidth of up to 48 Gbps which is twice as much as the previously mentioned options. It is capable of supporting a 50Hz refresh rate at 4320p and a 144Hz refresh rate at 2160p. 

Screen resolution

HDMI is backward compatible 

It’s important to remember that almost every HDMI version is backward compatible. 

Therefore, you can connect an HDMI cable capable of supporting 144Hz signal to HDMI 2.0, HDMI 1.4, and HDMI 1.3 ports without encountering any issues. 

Also, you’ll be getting a higher refresh rate at a lower resolution with every HDMI port or cable.

Conclusion

There you have it; all you need to know about the refresh rate. 

Also, having discussed the different HDMI versions vs. types, you can make a more informed decision on what HDMI cable to get in regard to your needs, whether it’s online gaming, content creation, or watching movies.

 In case you have any questions about HDMI cable assemblies, feel free to contact Cloom Tech.