What is a refresh rate?
The refresh rate (or “vertical refresh rate”, “vertical scan rate” for CRTs) is the number of times in a second that a display is illuminated. This is distinct from the measure of frame rate in that the refresh rate includes the repeated illumination of identical frames, while frame rate measures how often a display can change from one image to another. For example, a movie projector advances from one frame to the next 24 times each second. But each frame is illuminated twice or three times before the next frame is projected. As a result, the movie projector runs at 24 frames per second, but has a 48 or 72 Hz refresh rate. Increasing the refresh rate decreases flickering, reducing eye strain. Basically, the faster the refresh rate of your monitor, the best gaming experience you will have, in contrast the less the refresh rate, the slow your game will be (like Hang time or logs).
The Refresh rate is the number of times a display’s image is repainted or refreshed per second. As it denotes a frequency of a process, the refresh rate is expressed in hertz. That is, a refresh rate of 75 Hz means the image is refreshed 75 times in one second. For academic interest, it should be kept in mind that refresh rate is different from frame rate in that refresh rate means the repeated illumination of identical frames, while frame rate measures how often a display image can change into another.
