Include "Monitor refresh rate" in Steam Hardware Survey

[PowerDuDe_DK]

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

[Satoru]

Ya know everyone says teh same thing about "Wide screen monitors are the new standard!!!1!!!!"

There are more people running 720p monitors than people running widescreen monitors

Its the same with Refresh rates non 60hz monitors aer not really widely adopted. They're still fundamnetally a niche market just like ultra-widescreen monitors. All the survey is going to tell you is how mega niche it is

[Start_Running]

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

Because the refresh rate really has no actual influence on game design.

[nullable]

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

Probably not. Not when like 50% of users are running a 1060 or less. Just because you see people talking about things a lot doesn't mean every one of them owns the hardware.

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

When they feel like including it, which might be never.

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

So it seems like you want this statistic so you can rationalize your decisions and lecture others about theirs. I don't believe the hardware survey data is supposed to be used for your brand of gatekeeping.

All the hardware statistics give you is a snapshot of what people are running currently. Not what's the right or best configurations. And the reality is most folks are running aging and dated hardware. If you think "most people running above 60hz, but below 240hz" makes your argument that your nephew shouldn't have a 240hz monitor rational, well... it sounds like you're very invested in that belief, but you should probably fine a better hobby.

[PowerDuDe_DK]

Publicado originalmente por Start_Running:

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

Because the refresh rate really has no actual influence on game design.

Very solid point. But it does have something to say in some games, where higher refreshrates requires extra coding to make it play nice. Not to talk about making the game run smooth at those framerates (it's not all about good hardware).

[PowerDuDe_DK]

Publicado originalmente por Brockenstein:

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

Probably not. Not when like 50% of users are running a 1060 or less. Just because you see people talking about things a lot doesn't mean every one of them owns the hardware.

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

When they feel like including it, which might be never.

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

So it seems like you want this statistic so you can rationalize your decisions and lecture others about theirs. I don't believe the hardware survey data is supposed to be used for your brand of gatekeeping.

All the hardware statistics give you is a snapshot of what people are running currently. Not what's the right or best configurations. And the reality is most folks are running aging and dated hardware. If you think "most people running above 60hz, but below 240hz" makes your argument that your nephew shouldn't have a 240hz monitor rational, well... it sounds like you're very invested in that belief, but you should probably fine a better hobby.

bro, you're taking it too far.

[cinedine]

Publicado originalmente por Start_Running:

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

The past years A LOT of monitors beyond 60 Hz has been widely adopted, to the point where 144Hz is probably more common than 60 Hz.

So when will the Steam hardware survey include refresh rate?

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

Because the refresh rate really has no actual influence on game design.

Except when it has.
There are still devs who tie their gameloop to the refresh rate and having higher refresh rates will cause accelerated gameplay, wonky physics (thanks to everything being fast than expected) and increased difficulty.

High profile example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AekfC5u-Fxs
(yes, there are fixes, but ... come on)

---

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

(This is ALSO to show my sister how LUDICROUS it is that her 11 yo son have now got a 240Hz monitor...)

Actually it isn't. Bigger screen and higher refresh rates is easier on the eyes and can alleviate gaming sickness for some thanks to smoother animations and a more natural field of view.

[Crashed]

If you do this, what metric do you go by? Do you go for the highest refresh reported in the EDID, or whatever refresh rate the system is currently set to? If the latter, do you use the GDI refresh rate which gets rounded down by Windows to 59 on 59.94Hz monitors or do you dig for the fractional refresh and round it to the nearest whole number (60)?

[Mad Scientist]

The collection of hardware itself will allow Devs to determine if they can/should make the game more geared/advertised for higher Hz rate monitors as-is. CPU, GPU, monitors will easily give the ability to determine what they can decide to do, without needing who does what Hz rates.

No need to collect Hz rate when the Hardware capable of running it are collected as data, which points to their specifications/supported resolutions and Hz rate.

I see no point in adding it.

[PowerDuDe_DK]

Publicado originalmente por Satoru:

Ya know everyone says teh same thing about "Wide screen monitors are the new standard!!!1!!!!"

There are more people running 720p monitors than people running widescreen monitors

Its the same with Refresh rates non 60hz monitors aer not really widely adopted. They're still fundamnetally a niche market just like ultra-widescreen monitors. All the survey is going to tell you is how mega niche it is

Well, here in Denmark it's not so uncommon with high refreshrate monitors. Last time I was at a larger LAN party (SLZ with 100 participants or GGW with about 1500 participants) There was PLENTY of people who had a 144Hz monitor or above (165, 185, and a few 240Hz). It was not half, and probably not a quarter, but it was substantial enough for it to be a serious thing for common gamers (not professionals). And boy is it great. But yes, it requires expensive hardware, but sadly enough many people have a high refresh rate monitor without the needed hardware (I don't know why I include this but it's very true)

And I'm not buying the 720p thing. Widescreen monitors has been the standard the last 10 years!
Now they're just getting bigger and faster (More inches, higher res, and higher Hz)
Yes, many have old laptops with 1366x768 resolution, but that's a stretch to call it 720p (although not long from it). But that resolution is mostly on cheap notebooks for homework, and hopefully not overly represented in the Steam Stats. The resolution 1600x900 is just as common on laptops (my own estimate) and according to current steam hardware survey 66% have 1080p widescreen monitors.... that's 2 thirds, my friend.

And just to be a douche, 720p is a widescreen format :P

Your comment has some meme value, but maybe you should think it through before you post :)

[PowerDuDe_DK]

Publicado originalmente por PowerDuDe_DK:

Publicado originalmente por Satoru:

Ya know everyone says teh same thing about "Wide screen monitors are the new standard!!!1!!!!"

There are more people running 720p monitors than people running widescreen monitors

Its the same with Refresh rates non 60hz monitors aer not really widely adopted. They're still fundamnetally a niche market just like ultra-widescreen monitors. All the survey is going to tell you is how mega niche it is

Well, here in Denmark it's not so uncommon with high refreshrate monitors. Last time I was at a larger LAN party (SLZ with 100 participants or GGW with about 1500 participants) There was PLENTY of people who had a 144Hz monitor or above (165, 185, and a few 240Hz). It was not half, and probably not a quarter, but it was substantial enough for it to be a serious thing for common gamers (not professionals). And boy is it great. But yes, it requires expensive hardware, but sadly enough many people have a high refresh rate monitor without the needed hardware (I don't know why I include this but it's very true)

And I'm not buying the 720p thing. Widescreen monitors has been the standard the last 10 years!
Now they're just getting bigger and faster (More inches, higher res, and higher Hz)
Yes, many have old laptops with 1366x768 resolution, but that's a stretch to call it 720p (although not long from it). But that resolution is mostly on cheap notebooks for homework, and hopefully not overly represented in the Steam Stats. The resolution 1600x900 is just as common on laptops (my own estimate) and according to current steam hardware survey 66% have 1080p widescreen monitors.... that's 2 thirds, my friend.

And just to be a douche, 720p is a widescreen format :P

Your comment has some meme value, but maybe you should think it through before you post :)

EDIT: ohh.. so you mean ULTRA wide monitors... dude you gotta be more specific in your grammar... it's abysmal.

But that just shows your age.

Yes, go ahead and call me a boomer, what difference will it make lol.

[AustrAlien2010]

That's not possible.

[PowerDuDe_DK]

Publicado originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

That's not possible.

It's not possible for Steam to detect refreshrate? How so?

[AustrAlien2010]

I can't explain that. It's just not possible. Unless you know how?
Even if you would detect refresh rate, that still does not give you any information about the screen itself.
As far as I know a monitor does not communicate with the system. It only outputs. If someone uses plug-and-play drivers, then I am not sure how to detect the screen. Unless you know of a way to do that?

[Crashed]

Publicado originalmente por AustrAlien2010:

I can't explain that. It's just not possible. Unless you know how?
Even if you would detect refresh rate, that still does not give you any information about the screen itself.
As far as I know a monitor does not communicate with the system. It only outputs.

There are still Win32 APIs that return the current display refresh rate, and modern monitors have an EEPROM that stores the capabilities of the display accessible via the display cable.

[AustrAlien2010]

On second thought, maybe it is possible. It does have that information if I check my system settings in Steam. But I am not sure if that is possible with all screens. It's a nice idea.