What To Look for A Best Gaming Monitor

So, you have built a gaming rig and looking for a monitor to be paired with your beast PC. If you are new to gaming, you will be surprised by so many options with so many technical terms thrown around.

How big a monitor does you really need? What resolution to buy? What refresh rate to buy? And so many other features you would not be aware of. So, we are here to help you on this battlefield to choose the right one for your need and give you the best value for your money spent.

Gaming monitor buying is actually pretty complicated if you are just like us normal people who have a limited budget. You have to factor in the capability of your GPU to make sure that you are not limiting yourself with the wrong choice. Also, you have to look at the type of games you want to play. This will help you in calculating the tradeoffs to save money.

So, let’s start with the basics.

Table of Contents

Screen Size for your Gaming Monitor

First, you have to look at the space you got on your table where you are planning to set up your gaming rig. Keep in mind about the CPU, if you are putting it on the table or off the table. If you have the space, go for as big as you want it to be, but don’t go too far as you will be sitting close to the monitor, and very large size can make it uncomfortable for you to look at it for a longer time. For us, we would recommend not more than 32 inches as it is a sweet spot.

The size of the screen is actually measured diagonally. So, you have to keep in mind to measure the space diagonally, or if you are familiar with some mathematics, you can use this simple formula (width² + height² = diagonal² and width/height = aspect ratio) to calculate the height and width of the screen. The further the aspect ratio goes from 1:1, the wider the monitor gets. This will help you figure out, most notably the width, so you can surely know if the monitor fits in the space you have on your desk.

Keep in mind that the screen size doesn’t take the bezels in the account, so you have to adjust your space as required by seeing the monitor and guessing about the bezels, or you can physically see the monitor in an offline store. Keep in mind about the stand also if you are going to keep the monitor on the stand rather than wall mount it. Curved monitors can also be a little tricky. They have most probably smaller horizontal dimensions than their flat-screen counterparts. Can I use a TV, instead of a monitor, for my gaming setup? Yes, you can use a TV for your setup, but TVs are not meant to be viewed from close distances, so it can cause some fatigue in the eyes if viewed for longer times. Some companies have now made a few TVs that are better with the game modes built in them. You can actually get a good OLED TV with gaming mode at the lower price you will be paying for an OLED monitor of the same size. For high refresh rate gaming, we still recommend going for a monitor instead.

What resolution to go for in your Gaming Monitor?

Well, it depends mainly on three things, what type of games you will be playing, how powerful your graphic card is, and how big your monitor is. Resolution is represented by the number of pixels a screen contains, horizontally and vertically. What you really want to focus on is, optimizing the pixel density of the monitor, which means going for a resolution that will give you good pixel density on the monitor size you are going for. If you have low resolution on a big monitor, the screen will be pixelated due to lower pixel density, which will not look good in the games.

Most common resolutions that are very popular among gamers are 1920 x 1080p(FHD), 2560x x 1440p(QHD), and 3840 x 2160p(4K). If you are going for a monitor within the size limit of 24 inches, then you are good with the Full HD resolution which is 1920x1080p. It gives you good pixel density, and your graphic card can crunch a high no. of frames for it. If you are going above 24 inches, we recommend you switch to a Quad HD (1440p) or Ultra HD (4K) resolution. Make sure you have a powerful enough graphics card that can drive these higher-resolution displays, as these displays demand much more performance.

Do I need more than a 60Hz Refresh Rate?

Refresh of a monitor is the number of times the monitor can update the image on the screen in a single second. Well, it is said that a human eye can only see up to 60 frames per second. This doesn’t mean that you should stop at a 60 Hz monitor. Most of the gamers nowadays are going for higher refresh rates because it does make a difference. The more refresh rate gives you a smoother gaming experience. But if you go up the ladder of refresh rate, you will find that the gap gradually becomes smaller and smaller. Most monitors come with a refresh rate of 60Hz, but if you start using a 120Hz monitor, you will notice a massive difference in the smoothness of the game. You can feel the difference up to 144 Hz but going above it makes less and less sense. Our recommended refresh rate is 120 Hz for casual gaming, and if you are a competitive gamer or like to play many multiplayer games, then we would recommend going higher, 144 Hz, or even 165 Hz. But you have to keep your budget in mind as monitors with higher refresh rate costs more.

What is pixel response time and GtG?

In simple terms, the pixel response time is the time taken by the monitor to change the color of a pixel from black to white or vice versa. GtG is the pixel time response taken by the monitor to change from one gray shade to another gray shade of a single pixel. So, the lower the response time, the better for your monitor. Lower pixel response time helps in reducing the motion blur and screen tearing on the monitor while playing games or fast motions. It is calculated in milliseconds. Most gaming monitors now come with a low pixel response time. We would recommend buying a monitor with a pixel response time of not more than 5ms (milliseconds).

Should you go for TN Panel, IPS, or any other technology?

The technology of the monitor does not matter that much for a gaming monitor. The price gaps between different technologies are slightly high. Like the same configured monitor in TN panel will cost cheaper than its IPS counterpart. There are advantages and disadvantages of the different technologies. TN panels have a lower viewing angle compared to IPS or OLED, and the color reproduction of the IPS and OLED panel is better than the TN panel. TN panels are cheaper than the IPS or OLEDs. But when you are gaming, you barely notice these minor differences, so we would recommend going for a TN panel, or if you are going to watch some media content and editing and stuff, you can opt for an IPS. We do not recommend going for OLEDs or QLEDs for gaming monitors as they are too highly priced in the market.

Do you really need Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync?

At the most basic, there can be a slight or huge difference between the screen refresh rate and the gameplay frame rate, which can cause different types of artifacts on the screen due to the mismatch. It will look like two frames are merged together sometimes to create an ugly gameplay experience. AMD and Nvidia have created these technologies to compensate for these artifacts by syncing the two frame rates (screen and gameplay). You can call them Variable Refresh Rate or VRR. If your monitor supports these technologies, they will help you make your experience much smoother and stutter-free.

Should you get two smaller screens or a single big ultrawide?

This depends on the type of work you will be doing with your gaming setup. Most people also use their gaming setup for work. If you want a fast monitor with a high refresh rate and a high-resolution work monitor, you can buy two separate monitors, which will be much cheaper than buying a single one that can do both tasks. If you need a ton of space for your work, you can go for an ultrawide monitor, which will give you enough space to play around with different documents and files on a single screen. Also, if you plan on streaming, you will be better off buying two monitors, which will be much more efficient on two screens rather than a single one.

We hope that this informative guide will give you all the info you need to choose the best gaming monitor which will suit your need and help you save some money also by not going for quirks and features which you will not be using. Good Luck! With the purchasing of your new gaming monitor.

Source:- https://askrapidly.com/what-to-look-for-a-best-gaming-monitor/

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