Monitor Overdrive is a work actually coming from response time overdrive. If you are experiencing a monitor ghosting problem on your device, you might be hearing about the overdrive to get rid of this issue. In fact, response time overdrive is one of the main methods to fix the ghosting issues.
It helps you to get rid of the problem caused by the delayed frames. As we all know that the frame rates should be in co-relation with the response time of your monitor, if they are a little bit delayed, you can start seeing ghosting issues.
So, the monitor overdrive helps you to decrease the monitor response time speed. In fact, the overdrive function has the simple work of boosting that response time speed.
It helps the monitor to switch through new frames more quickly as per the response rate’s requirements. Now, if you are a gamer, you might be hearing about this phenomenon a lot. In PC games, especially FPS games, ghosting issues are widely popular.
Because of those fast frame rates, most monitors tend to offer ghosting problems. So, the overdrive function will speed up that switching and help you see the fast-paced elements in a proper manner. The response time is basically the time one pixel takes to change its color from one to another.
So, when the speed of response is high, the pixels will get converted to the other colors more accurately and fastly. This will end up causing any ghosting problems.
Here, you should keep in mind that the monitor overdrive has nothing to do with the Frames Per Second (FPS) offered by your graphics card. It has everything to do with your monitor and this is what it is good at.
So, the response rate is decreased a little bit so that input signals are getting processes as fast as possible. This is the reason why the monitor overdrive function is so popular. Now, let’s start digging deeper into this topic below.
What is Overdrive in monitor and how to Turn it On?
As you are aware that different monitors will have different response times, this may impact your gaming visuals a lot. If the game has high-speed graphics and your graphics card is capable of generating a very high FPS e.g. >100, but your monitor has a high response time, it wouldn’t be able to process that data at that rate.
Now, if the inputs are coming at a high pace but not getting processed at the same time, more inputs will come and this will create the ghosting problem. The ghosting means that some of your previous frame’s contents are visible in the next frame. Now, the overdrive function can help you decrease your response time a little bit more.
For example, if your monitor has a 5ms response time, the overdrive function can decrease it to 2 or 3 ms. So, if this was the actual difference that was causing the ghosting issues, you have actually solved the problem.
Fortunately, in most cases, you would be able to get rid of the problem using this inbuild function. Keep a thing in mind that the overdrive feature can be called OD, Response overdrive, or Response time compensation in some cases.
It will depend on the type of your monitor and its manufacturer. It is an inbuilt function and you can find it in the OSD menu. The best way to know about it is to read the user manual.
How to turn On Monitor Overdrive?
As we just talked about it above, the monitor overdrive is your monitor’s hardware feature. The main method to access this setting is to open the OSD menu and find the appropriate option there. You can see Response Overdriver, OD, or any other related name written there.
You just have to enter it and change the response time as per your needs. The best way to utilize this feature is to experiment with different levels of overdrive and see which one is working for you. This feature will increase or decrease the response time by some milliseconds.
Now, if you are not able to locate these settings, you can read the user manual or get in touch with your monitor’s support services.
However, if your monitor doesn’t support this feature, you might not be able to access it ever. So, make sure to confirm whether it is available or not to save your time.
How does Monitor overdrive help to fix monitor ghosting?
Using the monitor overdrive feature, you just decrease your monitor’s response time a little bit. Now, if the ghosting was caused by a high response time as it always does, increase the response time means your monitor is working with the input signals at a much faster rate.
The frames are now getting interpreted within a shorter time frame. So, when everything is going on as per the inputs, the outputs will never get interrupted by anything. The ghosting issues are mostly there when the fractions of earlier frames are visible because they aren’t completely done showing up.
So, it will end up making the next frame worse. So, the overdrive is just there to solve this problem.
Not only ghosting, but if you are seeing any simple or even very long trailing effects behind very rapid-paced things on your monitor, you will surely see good results with this amazing function.
Is monitor overdrive bad?
If your monitor has the overdrive function, you are lucky. Lots of monitors, even some high-end variants do not have any feature like this. So, there is nothing bad in it. However, if you are using this feature to increase the response time instead of decreasing it due to any reason, it may offer you several hassles.
While playing games or doing any fast-paced tasks on your PC, you can experience various problems. The issue is not only related to gaming but you can experience ghosting while watching movies that have high response time requirements.
So, in these cases, you must make use of the monitor overdrive function. It is actually a good thing for you instead of a con.
Lots of gamers prefer buying monitors with overdrive functions because they know they are going to help their gaming down the road. So, we would suggest you going for a monitor with this feature because you might feel the need at any time.
The issue can become serious at any time so that you have to buy a new monitor just in order to solve the ghosting problems.
Does overdrive cause input lag?
The main purpose of the monitor overdrive feature is just to increase your monitor’s pixel transition time. But, there is a lot of confusion about whether this thing contributes to the input lag or not. Well, input lag is a different thing from the response time, they are co-related to each other.
So, yes, there were times when the high overdrive values tend to increase the input lags. But, in all the modern 4K, FHD, and other advanced monitors, this is not a problem at all.
However, if your monitor is properly updated but it is still using an older display technology, you can surely see the input lag issue.
Again, it is not possible to say directly just by seeing a monitor whether the input lag will increase as we increase the overdrive. So, that’s totally dependent on your specific monitor’s model and technology utilized for manufacturing.
How to using overdrive for gaming?
The first step is to turn On the overdrive function using the steps given above. Then, make sure to adjust the overdrive value as per the requirements. If the ghosting or display trails are very long, you can try to increase the response time a lot more.
However, if the issues are appearing whenever you do any fast-paced activity, you can make some small changes first of all. You can easily observe the changes just after doing the settings.
We would suggest you do this whenever you are playing the game for real-time results. So, just set the overdrive as per your needs and leave it as it is for your benefit.
Is it good to keep overdrive always turned On?
No, there is no need to turn this function On in any way if you are not playing any fast-paced game. When your graphics card or the undervolt CPU is providing frames at a very high rate to your monitor, this is the only time you should be curious about this function.
Also, the only time you will have to think about overdrive is whenever you start to see the trails behind your fast-moving objects on the display.
If there is no issue like that, there is no point to turn the overdrive On or keep it On in any way. In that case, it is good to keep it turned Off. However, some people would still argue that what is the problem in keeping it On. Again, there is nothing wrong with that. This will just keep your refresh rate lower without any requirements.
So, it may put some extra load on your monitor but the experience may get enhanced for sure. So, you can see if it is working for you. If you can see no difference at all, just keep it Off.
Let’s talk about too much overdrive
With the question of keeping the overdrive function On, another question comes to mind. What if you increase the overdrive too much. In that case, you will start to see problems like pixel overshoot or inverse ghosting. Now, instead of an increase in seeing trials, you can start to see the frames going away without appearing at their fullest.
So, the visuals might appear dull or the colors may start to fade down. This will happen again whenever you do any fast-paced activity. This time, the monitor is processing the frames at a faster rate than the requirements.
It will eat up some content that was to be displayed as per the required frame timing.
Final Verdict
We hope you have found this article helpful and got the required information about the monitor overdrive. But, still, if you found any weak points, you can surely let us know in the comments section. We would love to hear from your side this time.
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