Gaming Performance

The INNOCN 39G1R sports a 165 Hz refresh rate VA panel, which supports the adaptive synchronization technology on AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel graphics cards. The adaptive synchronization range is 48–165 Hz, so that's the framerate range your PC should be able to achieve at 2560x1440 resolution to experience buttery smooth, screen-tear-free gameplay. For modern mid-range gaming rigs, that's not too hard of a challenge, and that's exactly what INNOCN is counting on with the 39G1R.

Response Time and Overdrive

The response time of the INNOCN 39G1R is specified as 1 ms MPRT. The panel uses overdrive technology to make the pixel transitions faster, and you will find the option in the Picture Quality Setting > Response Time menu in the OSD. Overdrive has four settings: Off, Low, Middle, and High.

I tested the response time with the Open Source Response Time Tool (OSRTT), developed by Andrew McDonald of TechTeamGB. It's a nifty tool that, combined with the OSRTT Launcher app, measures panel response times and presents them through detailed graphs and easy-to-read heatmaps. You can find everything you might want to know about the OSRTT in its technical documentation and on the official website, where you can order your unit, too. The OSRTT gives us three interesting heat maps to observe.

Perceived Response Time tells us how much time the panel took to transition from one color to another. This measurement is expressed in milliseconds and includes overshoot. In other words, if the panel exceeded the target value, the perceived response time also includes the time it took for the transition to recover from overshoot and stabilize on the target value. I'm running my tests with recommended settings, so with a fixed RGB 5 tolerance level and with gamma-corrected RGB values.

RGB Overshoot tells us how much a specific transition missed the target value. For example, if the panel was transitioning from RGB 51 to RGB 204, and it initially landed on RGB 212, the overshoot RGB value is 8. Overshoot can be both positive and negative, and it commonly occurs at extreme overdrive settings when pixels are driven by high voltage. In practice, an overshoot manifests as an afterimage or a halo around a moving object. It can be easily spotted even when doing something as basic as scrolling through a webpage.

Visual Response Rating is the most abstract heatmap generated by the OSRTT Launcher; in essence, it's an ever-evolving scoring system. To quote OSRTT's technical documentation, it is a finite score rather than a direct measurement. The calculation is pretty simple; it's: "100 – (Initial Response Time + Perceived Response Time)". Since both metrics use the same tolerance level, if a display doesn't overshoot, both times will be identical. This essentially rewards displays that are fast with a small amount of overshoot over displays that aren't as fast even if they don't overshoot at all – while still overall preferring ultra-fast, accurate monitors.

Here's how the INNOCN 39G1R fares in the pixel response time test for all four available overdrive settings.






As you can see by examining the numerical data and accompanying heatmaps, Middle looks like the best Response Time setting, as it offers the best average perceived response time to overshoot ratio out of all four settings. Still, with the perceived response time sitting at 14.72 ms, you can't expect perfect moving image sharpness from the 39G1R – or any other VA panel, for that matter. There's some smearing visible in extreme cases, for example when quickly moving dark content over a gray background. I wasn't very bothered by ghosting while gaming, but if you're very sensitive to such issues, you should shift your attention to IPS or OLED gaming monitors.

Moving Picture Response Time (MPRT)

In the OSD's Picture Quality Setting menu, you'll find the MPRT toggle. If you turn it on, the backlight will start strobing to achieve a faster pixel response time at the expense of picture brightness. You're also losing the ability to use adaptive synchronization.

The MPRT response time is not to be confused with GtG response time, as the commonly used GtG value tells us how much time it takes for a pixel to change between two colors. At the same time, MPRT, also known as display persistence, represents how long a pixel is continuously visible. It's important to know that MPRT isn't a blur reduction technology but a measurement that can be lowered by backlight strobing.

Activating MPRT on the INNOCN 39G1R locks the panel brightness to 164 cd/m². To my eyes, that's too dim to enjoy the monitor in bright rooms, more so given its glossy coating. The MPRT also introduces a lot of strobe crosstalk, so I wouldn't consider using it regularly on the 39G1R (or at all, to be completely honest).

Input Lag

To measure the input lag of a monitor, I switched from using the LDAT V2 (Latency Display Analysis Tool), which I've covered extensively in my NVIDIA Reflex review, to the OSRTT Tool. The OSRTT Tool and the accompanying software include a DirectX code developed by Andrew McDonald of TechTeamGB, which allows the OSRTT Launcher to track the events and capture the frame time, making it possible to isolate the monitor latency from other factors that come into play when using the click-to-photon testing methodology, namely the USB polling rate and game render time. For a deeper insight, I suggest you watch an excellent overview video made by Andy himself.

While I used a consistent methodology in all my previous LDAT-based monitor reviews and kept everything the same, switching to the OSRTT-based approach isolates me from potential issues, such as game engine updates (I based my tests on Overwatch, which transformed into Overwatch 2), and allows me to move on to a different testing system at will. I have to admit it was becoming increasingly annoying having to keep my old Core i9-9900K/RTX 2080 Super test system around for nothing but monitor input lag testing. Thanks to Andy for his tireless work on the OSRTT Tool and the OSRTT Launcher software!

Here's how the INNOCN 39G1R holds up in terms of input lag after doing 100 iterations of the input lag test.



The INNOCN 39G1R shows an average input lag of around 3.6 milliseconds, which is a great score for a gaming monitor. Such low input lag can't be picked up even by the most hardcore gamers, including esports professionals.