A 520 Hz OLED gaming screen in the pipeline from ViewSonic, for gamers with bionic eyes

ViewSonic would prepare a 27-inch OLED gaming screen with WQHD resolution and a refresh rate of 520 Hz. The monitor, which should be unveiled at CES 2025, would visibly target e-sports competitors and very demanding gamers.

ViewSonic is reportedly preparing to unveil an OLED gaming monitor boasting a dizzying refresh rate of 520 Hz. This model, which does not yet have an official name but which will a priori be presented during CES 2025, promises on paper almost unprecedented image fluidity: only the AGON PRO AG276FK from AOC and Phantom Gaming PG27FFX2A from ASRock achieve such a refresh rate, but neither of them achieves this feat on a from OLEDs.

From OLED to 520 Hz: a technical feat with uncertain implications

The new gaming monitor from ViewSonic would likely display a WQHD definition (i.e. 2560 x 1440 pixels) on a diagonal of 27 inches, with an MPRT response time (Moving Picture Response Time) of 1 ms. OLED technology, renowned for its deep blacks, high contrast and vibrant colors, would here be accompanied by AMD FreeSync Premium technology, making it possible to minimize the effects of screen tearing (or tearing).

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The most notable feature of this gaming screen would of course lie in its refresh rate of 520 Hz, a first for an OLED screen. This advance nevertheless raises questions about its real usefulness for players and the motivations underlying such technological escalation. If the transition from 60 Hz to 144 Hz is perceptible for the vast majority of gamers, the gains beyond 240 Hz are on the other hand much more subtle, and almost invisible for most users (except perhaps for e-sport competitors who love 480 Hz panels). We can therefore legitimately question the concrete advantages of a frequency of 520 Hz for the gaming experience, which would require an extremely powerful hardware configuration, inaccessible to the majority of players.

A technological arms race with murky motivations

If this 520 Hz OLED monitor from ViewSonic would undoubtedly represent a technological feat, its practical usefulness for gamers would therefore be questionable. The human eye’s ability to perceive the benefits of such a refresh rate is limited, and the hardware requirements to fully exploit it are prohibitively expensive.

This innovation would be more part of a marketing logic aimed at impressing consumers and fueling a technological arms race, rather than responding to a real need of players. So let’s not let ourselves be blinded by the refresh rate of this monitor alone, and wait to know the other characteristics: quality of the panel, ergonomics of the monitor or even color fidelity. And above all, its price.