Response Time Test
Test your monitor's pixel response time and motion clarity with moving test patterns
💡 Why This Test?
Response time measures how quickly pixels change from one color to another (gray-to-gray or GtG). Slow response (>10ms) causes motion blur and ghosting - where moving objects leave trails or appear smeared. Fast response (<5ms) delivers crisp, clear motion essential for gaming and fast video.
This test uses the classic UFO method and other moving patterns to reveal motion artifacts your eyes naturally track. Overdrive features on gaming monitors can speed up transitions but may cause inverse ghosting (bright halos) if set too aggressively.
✅ What You'll Check:
- Motion blur (smearing behind moving objects)
- Ghosting (faint trailing copies of objects)
- Overshoot/inverse ghosting (bright halos around objects)
- Color transition speed (white, red, green, blue)
- Overall motion clarity at different speeds
📖 How to Use This Test
- Start the test in fullscreen for best visibility
- Begin with UFO test mode to check classic motion blur
- Adjust speed slider to test different motion speeds
- Follow the moving objects with your eyes (pursuit tracking)
- Look for trails, halos, or blurring behind/around objects
- Try all test modes: UFO, Moving Squares, Strobe, and Pursuit
- Test with different overdrive settings if available on your monitor
💡 Tip: TN panels have fastest response (~1ms), IPS medium (~4ms), VA slowest (~8ms+). If you see bright halos, reduce overdrive. Some ghosting is normal on VA panels. Test at speed 7-10 for realistic gaming scenarios.
Test motion clarity and pixel response time. Best viewed in fullscreen.
👁️ What You're Looking For
✅ Fast Response (Good)
Clean, sharp edges with no trailing artifacts
❌ Motion Blur (Slow Response)
Smeared, blurry edges indicate slow pixel transitions
⚠️ Ghosting (Overshoot)
Faint copies following the moving object
⚡ Overshoot (Too Fast)
Bright halos or inverse ghosting around objects
⏱️ Response Time Guide
🎮 Test Modes
- ● UFO: Classic motion blur test
- ● Squares: Color transition test
- ● Strobe: Flicker and persistence test
- ● Pursuit: Eye-tracking motion test
🔍 Quick Tips
- • Test at different speeds for detail
- • Try overdrive settings if available
- • Compare light and dark objects
- • Test in darkened room for visibility
📋 How to Test
Start Fullscreen Test
Click the test button and enable fullscreen for accurate motion assessment.
Choose Test Mode
Start with UFO test for classic motion blur, then try other modes for comprehensive testing.
Adjust Speed
Test at different speeds. Slow motion reveals more detail, fast motion tests real-world gaming.
Watch Moving Objects
Follow objects with your eyes and look for blur, ghosting, or trailing artifacts.
Test Different Settings
If your monitor has overdrive settings, try different levels to find the optimal balance.
📊 Understanding Results
🏆 Excellent
- • Sharp, clean motion
- • No visible ghosting
- • Minimal blur
- • Perfect for gaming
👍 Good
- • Acceptable clarity
- • Minor ghosting
- • Some blur at speed
- • Fine for general use
⚠️ Poor
- • Significant blur
- • Visible trails
- • Strong overshoot
- • Not ideal for gaming
🔧 Common Issues & Solutions
👻 "UFO test shows 3-5 trailing copies, severe ghosting"
What's happening: Slow pixel response time, typically > 12-15ms GtG (gray-to-gray). VA panels notorious for this - Samsung CHG70/CRG9 measured 25-30ms dark transitions by TFTCentral despite "4ms" marketing claim. Black → dark gray transition slowest on VA (30ms+), white → gray on IPS (6-8ms).
Real vs advertised response time: "1ms MPRT" (Moving Picture Response Time) uses backlight strobing, NOT native pixel speed. True GtG response: Budget VA: 15-25ms, Good VA: 8-12ms (MSI MAG274QRF-QD), IPS: 4-6ms (LG 27GP850), Fast IPS/Nano-IPS: 2-4ms, TN: 1-3ms, OLED: 0.03ms (instant).
✅ Solution: Enable monitor's overdrive: "Normal" or "Medium" setting (not Extreme). ASUS: Trace Free 60-80. BenQ: AMA High. Samsung: Response Time Standard. If already maxed, panel is inherently slow - consider ULMB/backlight strobing (see Issue 4) or upgrade to Fast IPS/OLED. VA gaming monitors trade contrast for slower response.
⚡ "Bright white/colored halos around moving objects (inverse ghosting)"
What's happening: Overdrive overshoot - monitor pushes pixels past target voltage to speed up transitions, causing temporary "overshoot" artifacts visible as bright corona. Common when overdrive set to "Extreme," "Ultra," or "Fastest" mode. TFTCentral measures > 10% overshoot = visible inverse ghosting.
Variable refresh rate conflicts: Fixed overdrive optimized for 144Hz looks wrong at 60Hz (too aggressive) or 240Hz (too slow). G-Sync modules have variable overdrive tuned per refresh rate. FreeSync/G-Sync Compatible often use single overdrive curve causing overshoot at low Hz, undershoot at high Hz.
✅ Solution: Lower overdrive setting: Try "Medium" instead of "Extreme." ASUS: Trace Free 40-60. Dell: Response Time "Fast" (not "Extreme"). For VRR issues: Disable VRR for testing or upgrade to monitor with VRR-optimized overdrive (LG 27GP950, Samsung Odyssey Neo G8). Some overshoot normal on IPS - prioritize lower "overall blur" over zero artifacts.
🌫️ "1ms monitor still looks blurry in motion" (Sample-and-Hold blur)
What's happening: Eye-tracking motion blur (persistence blur) from sample-and-hold displays. LCD holds image for full frame (6.9ms at 144Hz, 4.2ms at 240Hz) causing perceived blur as your eyes track moving objects. NOT pixel response time - even 0ms OLED has sample-and-hold blur. Blur reduction formula: 1000 / refresh rate (ms).
Pixel response vs motion clarity: 1ms GtG response at 60Hz has more motion blur than 5ms GtG at 240Hz. Doubling Hz from 60 → 120 reduces blur by 50%. CRT monitors had zero sample-and-hold blur (instant phosphor decay) - why they felt "smoother" despite 60-85Hz refresh.
✅ Solution: Increase refresh rate: 240Hz+ significantly reduces perceived blur vs 144Hz. Enable backlight strobing (ULMB, LightBoost, DyAc, ELMB): Flashes backlight once per frame like CRT - eliminates sample-and-hold. ASUS VG279QM (280Hz ULMB), BenQ Zowie XL2546K (DyAc+). Trade-off: Strobing reduces brightness 50% and disables VRR.
🔦 "ULMB/Backlight Strobing causes headache/flicker" (BFI side effects)
What's happening: Black Frame Insertion (BFI) strobes backlight at 120-240Hz creating CRT-like motion clarity but visible flicker for some users. Flicker sensitivity varies - some see 144Hz strobing, others fine up to 180Hz+. BFI reduces brightness 40-60% (300 nits → 150 nits) and adds crosstalk (double images) if poorly implemented.
Strobing quality differences: NVIDIA G-Sync ULMB has low crosstalk, wide VRR window. ASUS ELMB worse crosstalk, single Hz only. BenQ DyAc+ best implementation (minimal crosstalk, 240Hz). LG UltraGear "1ms MBR" causes severe double images. RTINGS measures crosstalk: < 5% good, > 15% poor.
✅ Solution: If flicker bothers you: Disable ULMB, rely on high Hz (240-360Hz) instead. Increase ULMB refresh to 180Hz+ (less flicker). Try "Pulse Width" adjustment (ASUS monitors) - wider pulses = less flicker but more blur. DyAc Premium mode (BenQ) reduces flicker vs normal DyAc. For OLED: Unnecessary - 0.03ms response has zero blur without strobing.
🎨 "Dark scenes show purple/green trails (VA black crush smearing)"
What's happening: VA panel black-level transitions (0-5% gray) take 25-50ms due to liquid crystal physics. Samsung G7/G9 Odyssey notorious for dark scene smearing in games (Cyberpunk 2077 shadows, Resident Evil dark areas). Appears as colored "ghosting" - purple, green, or brown trails.
Why VA panels struggle: VA crystals rotate 90° (IPS: 45°) for high contrast (3000:1) but slower response, especially near-black. Black → 5% gray: 35ms typical (Samsung CHG70). Same transition on IPS: 6-8ms. Some VA monitors (MSI MAG274QRF-QD) improve to 12-15ms with better overdrive but can't match IPS.
✅ Solution: Enable "Black Equalizer" or "Shadow Boost" to raise black level 10-15% - reduces VA response time to 12-18ms by avoiding worst 0-5% range. Trade-off: Worse contrast (2000:1 vs 3000:1). Or switch to IPS/OLED for dark gaming. Future: Consider QD-OLED (Samsung Odyssey OLED G8) for VA-like contrast with OLED speed.