The new ROG Swift 360Hz gaming display from Nvidia and Asus, unveiled yesterday (January 5) at CES 2020, is suitable only for the most dedicated gamers looking to squeeze every nanogram of advantage to win. For the rest of us, they are probably overkill.

The 360Hz refresh rate, made possible by Nvidia's G-Sync technology, means this puppy can display up to 360 frames per second.

According to both companies, the Asus ROG Swift 360Hz offers "unmatched smoothness, low system latency for faster reaction times, and a 24.5-inch 1080p form factor that puts every pixel of the action in view."

Would 360 Hz be overkill? Wouldn't the current 240 Hz display be sufficient?

For most people, perhaps. But for professional players and serious gamers, any advantage is desirable. Any refresh rate up to 1000 frames per second, the fastest our eyes can see, can be noticed by the human eye.

There is a 1000 fps barrier because our eyes can see changes in the environment in less than one millisecond. The closer we get to that frontier, the faster we can react.

Blizzard's Overwatch forum user MistKO has an excellent explanation of why this happens.

"Now imagine an object moving from the left edge of the screen to the right. The resolution is 1920x1080, yet it moves at a speed of 200,000 pixels per second," says MistKO.

"How many FPS would it take to notice this object, since it appears on the screen at 1080/200,000, which equals 5.4 milliseconds, [i.e.] 1000/5.4 = 186 FPS to see it consistently on the screen," she added.

MistKO continues to claim that at 60 FPS on a 60 Hz monitor, there is a 66% chance of not seeing an object, whereas at 240 FPS, objects are always visible.

But that is just math and theory. Does the refresh rate make a difference in the ease of play in the real world?

Nvidia asked n0thing, a five-time CS:GO champion and professional esports player, to use the system. According to him, there is a clear difference between 240Hz and 360Hz during play. In the video above, he claims that the higher refresh rate allows him to react more quickly to everything on the screen and improves his kill effectiveness. (According to Nvidia's research, the actual improvement in latency reduction from 240Hz to 360Hz is 4%. The company states that this is "a game changer" with respect to pro-gaming. It is the difference between seeing a target and becoming a target.

If you are the kind of person who only plays solitaire, these improvements won't matter much. For the rest of us, they won't matter either, until long after the actual product ships from the Asus factory. No price or release date has been set for this crazy display yet.

Be sure to check out our CES 2020 hub for the latest news and hands-on impressions from Las Vegas.