What is Ghosting in Games and Ghosting in Monitors, How to Fix it?

Ghosting in Games is nothing but an annoying phenomenon that ruins your gameplay and makes your eyes perceive old frames even when you’re on the latest/next frame. The feeling is unexplainable that causes pain to your eyes(in the heart as well). If you’re playing games from genres like shooting and action, then it could be a raw deal to digest for you.

In simple words, ghosting in games occurs filthy trails of a previously loaded image on your monitor. Those repeated impressions are known as Ghosting in Games or Ghosting in Monitor. To be more specific whenever you move your gun in shooting games and sees its last position even when you’ve moved your camera then it’s because you’re facing ghosting in your gaming.

So here in this article, we’ll be looking out how to fix ghosting in games and how to check whether you’re a victim of this dangerous phenomenon or just a simple issue bickering up with you.

What Causes Ghosting in Games

Basically, ghosting doesn’t occur from a single thing and needs a lot of unwanted nuisance to come and destroy your gaming. Some of them are response time and refresh rate. So to understand what causes ghosting we need to understand what the heck are these things and how do they work.

What is Response Time?

Response time is related to your CPU & GPU, meaning how fast your processor and graphics card is processing the image of your game or movie. If the brain of your computer works fine and produces frames in less than 3ms then you’re good to go and can enjoy gameplay like everybody else.

But if unfortunately, the luck isn’t at your side and the CPU provides a response time of more than 3ms, then you’re in trouble and need to make a hole in your pocket. Sometimes it’s the GPU that causes the problem and sometimes it’s the CPU that makes you feel outclassed from your counterpart in games like PUBG and COD.

What is Refresh Rate?

Refresh Rate is something more related to your monitor that occurs due to various reasons. Basically every second your monitor shows a set of images to your eyes so that you can play the game or watch movies without any hassle. But sometimes as I said earlier the luck isn’t at your side and your monitor fails to generate enough frame in the particular second that causes the ghosting in games.

A monitor should generate at least 60 fps so that you can play games smoothly. However, there are tons of monitors that provide frame rates in 75hz, 144hz, & 240hz. I know many of you must be thinking that why I used HZ(hertz) with those numbers. So the simple answer is, that fps always measured through Hz(hertz).

How to test monitor for ghosting in games?

Well, if you’re new in the Valhalla of victim gamers who constantly facing the nuisance of ghosting while their gaming. Then there might be chances that you’re facing a fixable issue or a just small error that’ll get fixed automatically.

Therefore, I’d recommend you to check your monitor for any problem before getting onto any decision. The tool I mostly use or recommend to my friends to look for is Testufo. It’s a tool that helps you to identify whether your monitor is in a troublesome situation or just a minor problem that doesn’t even need your attention.

It’s a web-based application that makes your work easy and shows details like refresh rate in Hz, pixel per frame, fps rating, etc. The only thing you’ve to do is, select the settings according to your monitor, and boom, you’re good to go. Testufo will automatically tell you the problem. That whether you’re in need of a new monitor or just need to shut down your computer for some seconds. Although, you should understand the technical terms of your computer.

How to Fix Ghosting in Games or Ghosting in Monitor?

We’ve already talked a lot about what is ghosting in games, what occurs ghosting on the monitor, and finally how to identify ghosting in your monitor through web-based application testufo. So now, it’s time to dive into the section that’s going to help us fix this phenomenon that confines us to play video games at their best.

Update Your Drivers

As I said earlier, most of the time, ghosting in games occurs due to your CPU or GPU’s low response time. So it’s necessary to update all your graphics drivers to their latest version. Because those drivers help your CPU/GPU to work efficiently with the latest apps, games, & technology. The only thing you need to do is, go to your Windows update section and click check for updates. If new updates are available, you’ll see them right away in the front of your screen.

Turn On/Off Your Overdrive

If you’ve never heard of this concept named “OVERDRIVE”. Then don’t worry, because it’s not something that requires a lot of technical knowledge in your computers. It’s the most succinct manner to fix ghosting in your monitor and increase the refresh rate by just clicking one or two buttons. Although, I’d not recommend this step to people who don’t know what they’re doing.

But still, if you’re pretty confident and knows the possibilities of this type of hacks, then carry on. Every monitor have some buttons on it, that lets you change some simple setting in it, Overdrive is one of them. Every monitor has its own way to describe Overdrive. So the most common terms are Response Time Compensation, OD, Response Overdrive, etc.

However, if by any chance, you have got a small amount of luck on your side. Then you’d find a direct button to adjust your Overdrive according to your needs. But in most cases, it’s not going to happen. So try to find Overdrive adjustment settings on your monitor.

After searching for ages, if you find out the settings. Then set it according to your monitor’s response time. Although, I’d recommend you to put Overdrive in the medium settings. Because it’s the most efficient way to generate enough FPS to play games smoothly.

Check Your Cables

Cables are the only thing that transmits all the videos and gaming frames from your CPU/GPU to your monitor. It’s necessary to keep them in a good situation so that they can deliver you the best experience you deserve. So if a small pretty mouse has recently chewed the cables then you should be considering changing them asap.

Also, if your cables are tangles like a tornado then they need your attention. You’ve to untangle cables/wires so that they can flow all your stuff smoothly inside them.

Try to Overclock your CPU/GPU

Sometimes, the luck is neither on your side nor on the opposite side. It’s just got away like your ex. So if you’re in this type of situation then the problem might occur due to your CPU/GPU which is the most painful thing about ghosting in games. Therefore, whether you need to upgrade your gaming beast to the latest hardware or just overclock it from the tools available on the internet.

However, I don’t recommend this step to the people who simply just don’t know what they’re doing. Because overclocking your CPU & GPU could fry your computer and makes it dead in a few seconds(I ain’t scaring you). But it’s a noted solution that most people do when they’re in this type of situation. So it’s also an option if you’ve not fixed the problem from the above solution.