MSI's new 24-inch gaming monitor hits a sizzling 600 Hz and has me wondering how many Hz you genuinely need

(Image credit: MSI)

Remember when 144 Hz seemed pretty slick? I mean, it wasn't that long ago, was it? Well, get a load of this 600 Hz beast from MSI.

The MSI MPG 242R X60N will be showcased at CES next week according to TFT Central, and its appeal will be all about that wild 600 Hz refresh. The rest of the package, the TN panel tech, the 24-inch size and the 1080p resolution are not exactly the stuff of gaming dreams, after all.

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Eventually, we will surely get to the point where higher refresh is of no truly tangible value. But we'll have to wait and see where that dividing line eventually lands.

In the meantime and getting back to this MSI panel, arguably slightly unexpected is the inclusion of USB-C connectivity with 98 W of power delivery. That's a handy feature for productivity and ergonomics, less so for gaming.

Using a laptop is a little implausible when you're trying to achieve the very highest frame rates. And even if you do, you'll need more than 98 W to keep a high performance gaming laptop powered.

For now, we have no specs in terms of metrics like brightness, contrast, viewing angles, color coverage and all that jazz. But as a TN panel, you wouldn't expect much from those aspects. It's just not what a high-refresh TN monitor does well.

Oh and for the record, the response is rated at 0.5 ms, which is excellent for an LCD panel, albeit miles behind the 0.03 ms typically claimed for OLED monitors.

Pricing has yet to be announced, but the MPG 242R X60N isn't expected to go on sale until at least April. So, it's a case of wait and see for now. But it will be very expensive for a 24-inch TN monitor, that's for sure.

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.