Now that we’ve listed and discussed the pros and cons of some of the market’s latest and greatest gaming monitors, it’s time to start shortlisting! Every gamer has unique display preferences which mostly depend on the types of games you play, how competitive you are, and how big of a budget you’re working with. These determine your ideal spec sheet, including the display size, refresh rate, response time, screen curve, resolution, panel type, and more.
Here’s everything you need to consider to end up with the perfect gaming monitor on your desk!
As you’ve seen from the above list of monitors, gaming displays come in many different sizes like 22, 24, 27 inches, and even bigger! The ideal size for you depends on how far you plan on placing your display from your chair.
You’d think that everybody would buy the biggest monitors out there if they had the budget, but that’s not the case. Even some seasoned pros prefer to play on 22-inch monitors because they do a better job at keeping the whole game within their field of view without having to move their necks or eyes around.
But if you’re not competing and love to enjoy visually appealing games like the “Assassin’s Creed” series, you’d prefer larger screens to have more of a cinematic, immersive experience.
We’d recommend the 24 to 27-inch range as the sweet spot for all games, but feel free to deviate from that based on your personal preferences and gaming needs.
Unfortunately, there’s no fixed number of resolutions that’s “sharp enough” in every situation, because that’s subjective and varies with your monitor size, and again, how far you’re positioned from your monitor.
The bigger your gaming monitor is, the more it’ll stretch your pixels, which means a resolution might be “sharp enough” for a 22-inch monitor but look extremely pixelated on a 30-inch monitor. So, if you prefer bigger monitors, you’ll have to invest in higher resolutions to maintain a crisp level of pixel density for a crystal-clear viewing experience.
Generally, Full HD to 2K (1080p to 1440p) works well for 24-inch monitors, 2K (1440p) to 4K for 27 to 32-inch monitors, and 4K+ resolution for monitors and TVs over 42 inches in size.
If you don’t have a PC that’s powerful enough to run your games at 4K resolution, then a 4K monitor would just be a waste of money. In gamer’s terms, this would be an overkill monitor purchase since you’ll never get to use the full potential of your monitor.
Similarly, if you’ve got a beast of a PC equipped with an RTX 3090 GPU, and end up buying a 1080p monitor, then that’d be a waste of performance. Gamers would call this monitor purchase a “bottleneck” because your PC processes and outputs a gorgeous, crisp, 4K image at high FPS, but your low-resolution monitor bottlenecks it all and displays it in 1080p.
So, remember to purchase all your PC components (including your gaming monitor) in relation to the other hardware you have in your setup.
The refresh rate of a monitor is just as relevant for gamers as a monitor’s resolution and size, possibly even more. If you’re an FPS player, the refresh rate of your monitor is what matters most as it directly impacts your ability to react faster, which makes all the difference in getting those clutch, game-changing headshots.
The higher, the better — but remember that after 144Hz, any further increase in refresh rate isn’t nearly as impactful due to diminishing returns.
If your PC is powerful enough to pump out 144 frames per second of the game you plan on playing, we’d recommend sticking to this range of refresh rates to get optimal performance without breaking the bank on expensive 240Hz and 360Hz displays.
The Sceptre Curved Gaming Monitor comfortably sits at the top spot with a display size that’s bigger than all other monitors listed below. At 30 inches, it’ll almost make you feel like you’re physically in the game, especially since it has an aggressive curved display for maximum immersion! It has a response time of just one millisecond, which is as low as it gets in modern monitors. This means it’ll give you the biggest competitive advantage as it cuts down performance delays to essentially nothing, to the point where it’s almost like you’re playing in real time. There’s no screen tearing either, thanks to Free Sync!
This monitor has the highest refresh rate out of all other options on this list, which means every single movement will be buttery smooth (as long as your FPS is just as high), making it the top choice overall!
Just like we’ve seen the bezels on our smartphones shrink away in the last few years, the trend has trickled over to PC displays as well, and this LG Gaming Monitor is a prime example of it. It almost has no visible border, with clear edge-to-edge visibility, making it look futuristic and immersive. But, aside from aesthetics, this monitor doesn’t fall behind in terms of specifications either!
Even though it’s only a Full HD (1080p), 24-inch display, it has a super high refresh rate of 165Hz. It also features one-millisecond motion blur reduction, which can make all the difference when you’re tracking an opponent in a game like “Fortnite” or “Call of Duty: Warzone”. Best of all, this gaming monitor has AMD FreeSync Premium to deal with tearing issues and can be wall mounted to save space on your desk.
If you primarily like playing first-person shooter (FPS) games during your gaming sessions, this Pixio Gaming Monitor could be a great fit. Such games include “Counter-Strike”, “Call of Duty”, “Fortnite”, “Battlefield”, and any such game that typically gets 200 to 300+ frame rates on a decently powerful PC. This provides a massive advantage to the player as a faster refresh rate allows them to react quicker.
Aside from its high refresh rate, the monitor pairs it with an industry-leading response time of just one millisecond, which makes it almost instantaneous with no noticeable input lag. With that said, if you’re interested in sight-seeing titles like “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” or “Red Dead Redemption 2”, the 1080p resolution can still bottleneck your PC as those games are most enjoyable at higher, more crisp resolutions like 4K.
If you’re on a tight budget, there aren’t many displays out there that are quite as well-rounded as the BenQ Gaming Monitor. It starts at 22 inches and comes at a super affordable price range that’s even below the $130 mark! For slight bumps in price, you can also get the 24 and 27-inch variants, which have everything you could need in your gaming monitor to get the most out of your powerful PC.
The 75Hz refresh rate means that it can display 15 more FPS than the average 60Hz monitor, which is solid for such a competitive price. Aside from that, you get an insanely fast one-millisecond response time, as well as an ultra-high contrast ratio and a wide color gamut for accurate color representation. Whether you play a gorgeous-looking game on it or use it to watch Netflix, color reproduction will be on point!
Our last pick is the MSI Full HD Gaming Monitor. At a pretty reasonable price for its size, it offers many key features like a sufficiently high 144Hz refresh rate, curved angle, non-glare finish, and a lightning-fast one-millisecond response time!
Aside from the Sceptre monitor at the top, this is the only other option that features a curve, which is super impressive to see in this price range. And, thanks to its Adaptive Sync technology and ultra-fast response time, you won’t ever have to complain about choppy frame rates or screen tearing — unless, of course, your PC is too slow to put out high enough frames per second
A: Not really, no. Unlike faster refresh rates or quicker response times, having a curvature in your screen will not impact your gaming performance. It’ll make the experience more enjoyable through a significant boost in immersion, but that’s about it.
A: No, you don’t need it. It’s for people who prefer to have a sharper image quality. The sweet spot for most gamers is 1440p resolution, though even a 1080p monitor is good enough for casual gaming.
A: It depends on the types of games you mainly play. High refresh rate (like 144Hz or 240Hz) monitors are only useful for first-person shooter games. If you only play campaign-focused games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin’s Creed, and Red Dead Redemption, you won’t need anything over a 60Hz monitor.
