Using one of the standard refresh rates simplifies monitor set up since monitors contain many of the VESA standards as presets. The plug and play function normally selects one of the VESA standards when it sets up the monitor. Horizontal Refresh Rate - The horizontal refresh rate is usually the limiting factor of the monitor in determining which vertical refresh rate the monitor runs at. Presets are usually setup to match the VESA standard resolutions that a monitor can display so preset is not inherently inferior to continuous. Color Depth - Most color monitors can display an unlimited number of colors.
Color depth is measured in the number of bits of color that are being displayed.
One-bit color displays 8 colors. Because of the large installed base of older systems many games and Internet pages are built to view in 256 colors. High Color is usually more than adequate for most applications. The amount of RAM on the video card determines the color depth you can use at a specific resolution. Also, many video cards come with software utilities that assist in setting up your display.