For PC gamers, the most important component is the graphics card we choose to jam into our machines. But without a quality screen to go with it, we're not going to be getting the best out of that GPU. So what makes a "gaming" monitor worth the money? What makes it better than the average LCD? We tested more than a dozen monitors to find the best, with the right balance of resolution, refresh rate, color quality and viewing angles.
Update 11/6/2015: Asus and Acer have near-identical G-Sync monitors releasing in November that are both strong candidates for the best gaming monitor. We'll be checking them out, so stay tuned.
Update 8/17/2015: We've got a new choice for the best gaming monitor, the Acer XB270HU, which offers a breakthrough 144 Hz refresh on a beautiful IPS screen, with Nvidia G-Sync and 1440p resolution.
The best gaming monitor
is simply the best gaming monitor you can buy right now. For years, gamers have been forced to make a choice between picture quality and refresh rate. Cheaper, faster TN panels delivered fast refresh speeds up to 144 Hz, while IPS screens offered more vibrant colors and dramatically better viewing angles, but at much slower refresh rates. Finally, with the XB270HU, that’s a problem of the past: Acer is the first company to pair an IPS screen with a 144 Hz refresh rate, which is why this monitor has replaced our previous favorite, the Asus RoG Swift.
We wrote that the RoG Swift was “dangerously close to being the perfect gaming display thanks to the sheer amount of tech it has shoved into its slimline chassis,” and the Acer XB270HU fits the same description. It offers a 144 Hz refresh with low input lag, Nvidia G-Sync support for variable refresh, and a beautiful, vibrant IPS screen.
Specs
Panel size: 27-inch
Native resolution: 2560 x 1440
Panel technology: IPS
Refresh rate: 144Hz
Pixel response: 1ms
Inputs: 1x DisplayPort
G-Sync: Yes
Like the RoG Swift, the XB270HU is a 27-inch monitor with a 2560x1440 resolution, which we currently consider the sweet spot for high-end gaming. It offers substantially more pixels than 1080p without being as demanding as a 4K panel, meaning games look sharp at 27 inches but won’t bring a good GPU to its knees.
The best argument for the XB270HU’s dominance as a gaming monitor comes from TFTCentral’s exhaustive review. The review dives into the panel’s refresh rate, color balance, and every one of its features, which you can read about at the link.
Screen sync
Nvidia's G-Sync is the first to synchronize GPU and monitor. It's a way to avoid screen tearing without the stutter or slowdown of V-Sync.
The G-Sync hardware added to compatible screens allows the GPU to synchronize with the screen so that it will only deliver full frames when the screen is ready to display them. Because it's a proprietary tech and requires additional hardware installed in the monitor, there is a price premium attached.
But here’s the conclusion: “When you combine the high 2560 x 1440 resolution, fast response times, freedom from overshoot, 144Hz refresh rate support, ULMB blur reduction mode, G-sync support and very low lag you have one hell of a gaming monitor. We feel that this screen pips the excellent Asus ROG Swift PG278Q thanks to its IPS panel, bringing with it a lighter, clearer AG coating and improvements in image quality and viewing angles compared with TN Film offerings. You're really combining the best of both worlds here.”
TFTCentral does point out a few minor drawbacks—the panel could use better presets and doesn’t quite have the build quality or style of the RoG Swift. It also only has a DisplayPort input, which is the case for all monitors that use Nvidia’s G-Sync module. That’s fine for PC use, but if you want an all-around monitor for plugging in consoles, too, it’s not the best option.
The only other drawback is price. At $800, this is an expensive monitor any way you look at it. But considering it’s a dramatically better panel than the Asus RoG Swift, launching at the same price, it’s easy to recommend.
We consider a monitor an investment. Don’t buy something cheap you’ll want to replace in two years. Buy a great monitor that will still be going strong half a decade from now. Asus has its own 144Hz IPS monitor coming out this fall, but it will be similar to Acer’s offering. That competition may drive down pricing, but for now, the is the best choice, and worth every dollar.
The best 1080p monitor for gaming
This 22-inch Viewsonic screen is probably the most controversial choice in this whole test. It’s a small display, isn’t boasting any 144Hz refresh rate and the chassis isn’t particularly nice. So why's it our favorite 1080p gaming monitor? Becuase it has a decent IPS panel inside that minimal bezel. More importantly, it’s an astoundingly good value. The is only $140 on Amazon.
I’ve been recommending Viewsonic’s VX2370Smh in the PC Gamer Rig of our mashed-up-dead-tree counterpart, but it is becoming harder and harder to track that 23-inch IPS screen down. This slightly smaller version is only a few months old, and is almost as cheap.
Specs
Panel size: 22-inch
Native resolution: 1920 x 1080
Panel technology: IPS
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Pixel response: 5ms
Inputs: 2x HDMI, 1x VGA
G-Sync: No
I’ve been recommending Viewsonic’s VX2370Smh in the PC Gamer Rig of our mashed-up-dead-tree counterpart, but it is becoming harder and harder to track that 23-inch IPS screen down. This slightly smaller version is only a few months old, and is almost as cheap.
At $140 (£110) it’s an IPS bargain, and given the screen size is relatively small compared to our other favorites, its diminutive pixel pitch makes it seem even sharper. And because it’s an IPS panel there’s none of the terrible washed out colours you get with a cheap 1080p TN panel.
It’s not the best IPS you’ll ever see—I’d wager it’s a 6-bit screen as there’s a certain amount of visible dithering in the gradients (in many cases, manufacturers don't reveal the exact specifications of their panel technology). That means the colours aren’t as vibrant as you’ll see on a true 8-bit or 10-bit IPS, but they’re easily as good or better than the very latest 28-inch TN panels that make up the affordable 4K ranges. And that makes them way better than most other TN screens you’ll see.
The contrast levels are good, the black levels and white saturation levels are almost perfect and the viewing angles are excellent. It’s a great panel for the price.
And if you’re going for a 1080p screen, you shouldn't spend much on it. If you’re going to spend good money on a brand new monitor, make sure it’s at least a 27-inch 1440p panel.
That’s why the makes the most sense at this size, and that's why I'm calling it the best 1080p gaming monitor. Yes, there are 1080p monitors with better specs and larger screens, but if you're seriously investing in a gaming monitor—one you'll be using for years to come—it's worth it to spend a bit more on one of the other models in this guide.
Picking the Viewsonic itself from a sea of 1080p monitors was a tough call: the AOC G2460PG is a fantastic 1080p monitor with a great panel, but it’s $450 (£330) which is a ludicrous amount of money to spend on a 1080p TN screen, even if it does have 144Hz and G-Sync.
The best 4K monitor for gaming
For the same price as the Asus Swift you can actually pick up the very first 4K monitor with G-Sync built in, the . Your excitement levels about such a thing are going to be entirely bound up in just how powerful a graphics array you have in your PC, and whether it’s an Nvidia-based setup.
One of the biggest issues with gaming on 4K monitors is that you need a colossal amount of rendering power to game at decent frame rates at such high resolution. And arguably the best hardware for 4K gaming resides in the top AMD graphics cards, mostly thanks to their far speedier memory interfaces. When you're chucking around so many more pixels you need that extra bandwidth, something which Maxwell's augmented 256-bit bus struggles with.
Specs
Panel size: 28-inch
Native resolution: 3840 x 2160
Panel technology: TN
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Pixel response: 1ms
Inputs: 1x DisplayPort
G-Sync: Yes
But the AMD Radeon R9 295X2 requires a pair of GPUs to actually be able to hit 60FPS at Ultra 4K settings in Battlefield 4, where even the best GTX 980 struggles to hit 36FPS.
A good 1440p screen will generally offer around twice the frame rate a 4K monitor will display because of the demands it puts on your graphics card (assuming you're playing at native resolution). So, is a G-Sync 4K monitor worth the money or the effort?
Most affordable 4K monitors are now rocking the speedy TN panel tech, which allows for a 1ms pixel response. That means they’re actually pretty good receptacles for having a bit of G-Sync hardware chucked inside. And because this screen is around $800 (£500), a similar price to most other 28-inch 4K monitors, you’re almost getting the G-Sync tech in this display for free.
The added bonus is the latest TN panels used for the latest 4K monitors are far better than most of the other panels we've tested. Even the otherwise lovely RoG Swift has to make do with a screen that’s noticeably lower quality than this cheaper, higher-resolution TN. The better quality of the latest panels is shown most noticeably in the viewing angles of the Acer XB280HK.
The vertical angles still aren’t on the same level as a good IPS or VA display, especially when you’re looking up at the screen, but the horizontal angles are almost indistinguishable from an 8-bit IPS monitor.
You’ll also see the difference in the white saturation levels too; this Acer screen gets almost perfect image quality in that regard. This panel's black levels are unfortunately worse than the whites. With the other TN screens I’ve tested it’s completely the other way around. Elsewhere, the contrast is excellent and there is no visible banding to the gradients.
There is one other problem with 4K: size, and how it affects pixel density.
At 28 inches, the is almost too small to be a 4K display; you’ll still end up having to scale the OS to get comfortably readable text and icons at the screen’s native resolution. And Windows scaling is still not great. Things have improved with Windows 8, but you will still get some fuzziness and a whole host of third-party applications will struggle to cope or fit with a scaled display.
You’ll also need a beefy system to get the best out of a 4K screen and, because this is a G-Sync monitor, you’re also stuck Nvidia cards to get the most out of the glorious smoothness it can bestow upon your games.
Until our graphics hardware gets to the point where you can run a 4K display from a modestly-priced single GPU, I'd recommend sticking with a lower resolution screen like the RoG Swift above. That way you get great gaming frame rates and are better able to take advantage of the benefits of the 144Hz and G-Sync technology.
For UK readers: the Iiyama Prolite B2888UHSU
In a rare twist, folks in the UK actually get a better deal when it comes to 4K monitors, because they’re blessed with affordable access to monitors from Iiyama. The price of Iiyama screens in the US makes them prohibitively expensive for the vast majority of people, while in the UK they can be amongst the best value. If you’re not fussed on G-Sync, or prefer an AMD GPU array for your rig, then the Iiyama Prolite B2888UHSU is one of the best 4K monitors you can buy.
At just £420 the Prolite really is exceptional value for a 4K screen, and that doesn’t equate to any quality reduction either. The modern TN panels used for these affordable super high-res screens are the best examples of this cheaper display tech.
The contrast levels and colour reproduction is genuinely hard to distinguish from an 8-bit IPS panel and that’s high praise for TN. And out-of-the-box this Iiyama screen shows that image quality right from the off.
The best widescreen gaming monitor
very nearly took the overall award for the best gaming monitor from the Asus RoG Swift. I am still quite torn over which should actually get the full honours, but for now the gorgeous 34-inch AOC will have to make do with the tag as the best widescreen gaming monitor. And boy, is it wide.
The 34-inch span across its diagonal is measured with a 21:9 aspect ratio, making it the same height as the Swift but almost a third again as wide. The 3440 x 1440 native resolution isn’t as demanding on the GPU as a move up to 4K would be, but I would argue that it’s a far more dramatic change to your gaming experience. For the better.
Specs
Panel size: 34-inch
Native resolution: 3440 x 1440
Panel technology: IPS
Refresh rate: 60Hz
Pixel response: 5ms
Inputs: 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 1x HDMI, 1x DVI-D, 1x D-sub
G-Sync: No
Sat at your desk, the 34-inch panel will almost entirely fill your field of view. That makes a big difference in-game, adding another level of immersion that the standard 16:9 aspect ratio cannot manage.
The AOC also has an absolutely beautiful IPS panel. It’s a stunning screen, with glorious colour reproduction and contrast levels, and the 1440 pixel height makes it just as effective on the Windows desktop as it is with the wind and bullets whistling through your hair in Kyrat.
Where the Asus Swift has the edge is its 1ms pixel response and 144Hz refresh rate. For games, that speedy response is important. It also has the added bonus of G-Sync as well, offsetting the weaker TN panel it’s sporting.
Another minor drawback for the AOC U3477Pqu: some games don't provide native 21:9 support. This can lead to images being stretched or unsightly black bars being placed around your screen. Thankfully, the PC gaming community has come to the rescue as always with the excellent Flawless Widescreen application. It's a piece of third-party software that is continually being updated with to support games that don't have native 21:9.
The AOC is also an incredibly high-priced screen, with a recommended retail price of some $900 (£600). That’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the good news is the beauty of this screen will wash away the nasty taste that leaves in your mouth the instant you boot up your favourite game in its full 21:9 glory.
How we test gaming monitors and others we tested
The search for the best gaming monitor is a tough challenge. There's no perfect screen, and there's a whole lot of exciting new technology being squeezed into current monitors, so finding a panel that combines everything is an impossible mission. A mission so impossible (because 70’s TV shows have taught us there are gradations of impossibility), we might need to get Leonard Nimoy and Tom Cruise on the case.
You might be reading this on a slow, dull, washed-out TN panel. Our eyeballs are lazy, and they quickly become used to whatever panel they're looking at. Why upgrade? Because a good gaming monitor will improve your gaming experience just as much as a new graphics card. And it will last longer.
Seeing Elite: Dangerous or Far Cry 4 running on a high-res, 144Hz G-Sync screen will make you question why it's taken you so long to make the change. A great panel will likely outlast your entire PC. Possibly twice over. I’m running a decade-old 2560 x 1600 Dell 30-inch panel on our test bench and it still looks great.
Is that titanic monitor the best gaming panel around right now? Of course not. The best gaming monitors right now are the and the AOC U3477Pqu. They are both expensive screens, but both offer something unique, each with their own positives and slight drawbacks.
panel technology
There are three main types of panel technology: twisted nematic (TN) vertical alignment (VA) and in-plane switching (IPS).
TN: The most common panels. Cheap, mature tech. Fast: Screens with sub-4ms pixel responses are TN. Generally the worst image quality and often poor, washed-out colour reproduction and weak viewing angles.
VA: Cheaper than IPS, with better image quality and viewing angles than TN monitors. The colours will generally be better than TN, but dimmer than IPS. VA panels do have great contrast ratios.
IPS: The expensive option, with fantastic colour reproduction, image quality and viewing angles. The downside is they require brighter backlights and consume more power, and have slower pixel response times. The difference between 1ms and 5ms response can be difficult to see, so they can still make fantastic gaming monitors.
The Asus RoG Swift PG278Q has a 1ms pixel response, 144Hz refresh rate and instant-on capabilities. It’s the fastest gaming screen in existence. The 2560 x 1440 panel uses Nvidia’s G-Sync technology to smoothly sync the panel's refresh rate to the graphics card's. Paired with a GeForce GPU, this is the best gaming monitor around.
But then the AOC U3477Pqu has a stunning IPS panel and an utterly immersive and vision-filling 21:9 aspect ratio. With a native resolution of 3440 x 1440, it’s crisper and more vibrant than the Swift’s weaker panel, and when you’ve got proper widescreen content it’s more dramatic than anything I’ve had sat on my desk.
Testing gaming monitors
There are two main ways to test out our screens to determine the best gaming monitor. The first is by playing games on it. Obv.
Subjectively testing the gaming performance of each panel isn’t necessarily going to give you the lowdown on the specifics of a particular screen, but will let you test the functioning aspect ratio, native resolution and any particular gamer-centric technologies they’re sporting.
Side-by-side comparative testing in this manner is also incredibly valuable for keying into the sometimes subtle differences between each panel. When you use a screen in isolation it’s easy to become blind to its comparative faults as you simply get used to them. Testing screens back-to-back allows us to discover and highlight specific issues between them.
You can do more objective testing using the LCD calibration pages here. This site offers several test screens you can bring up on any web connected panel to make reliable qualitative assessments. The days of actual retail space for such things are dwindling, but if you can get a look at a screen before purchasing it, plugging a notebook or such into it and checking out the Lagom pages is very handy.
Competitors
We tested a huge range of monitors to get a bead on the best panels to recommend, so we can be confident in our choice of the best gaming monitor.
We think a gaming monitor is a serious investment, and it's worth spending money now on something like the Asus RoG Swift or the AOC ultrawide. They'll both make your gaming experience better and still be great monitors years from now. But if you don't have that much to spend, there are some good alternatives below.
Some of these are still great monitors, but not the best. For example, check out the Ben-Q GW2765HT for a more affordable 27-inch IPS monitor, without the RoG Swift's amazing refresh rate or G-Sync.
Asus PQ321QE:
This 32-inch panel was our very first taste of 4K, and it is an utterly superlative panel. But while it’s price has halved since launch it’s still around $1,500 (£1,500), which is still too much.
Asus PB287Q:
This was one of the first affordable 4K monitors we saw and is still quite beguiling. It is though running the same 28-inch TN panel as the Iiyama 4K we love and is a good bit more expensive at $560.
AOC U2868Pqu:
It’s pretty much the same situation for AOC’s affordable 4K panel. It’s almost as good as the Iiyama panel, but more expensive and lacks the Acer’s G-Sync extras.
Samsung 32SD850:
This big-screen, 32-inch Samsung screen had all the hallmarks of a quality monitor. The VA screen tech should be better than TN and its 2560 x 1440 res is great for gaming...but it’s one of the poorest Samsung panels I’ve seen with terrible viewing angle problems.
LG 34UM95:
Again, it’s all down to price. I’ve got a feeling this is the exact same panel as in the other 34-inch 21:9 panel I’ve tested, but it’s got some extra Apple-pleasing Thunderbolt connectivity which bumps up the price without offering us much in return. Not worth the $900.
Ben-Q GW2765HT:
I’m actually rather taken by this BenQ panel. It’s a good price at $440 (£275) and offers a lovely 2560 x 1440 IPS panel with BenQ’s quality controls and chassis. A good 27-inch IPS option for gamers.
Iiyama Prolite GB2773HS:
If you can’t power a high-resolution monitor, but still want a bigger screen you can have a 27-inch 1080p panel instead. That said, we don't recommend it—pixel density is simply too low. This Iiyama’s also benefitting from a 144Hz TN panel too, but it’s got terrible white saturation levels and is super-expensive in the US.
AOC G2770Pqu:
The 27-inch AOC is running along the same lines as the Iiyama above. It’s a big, 1080p panel with a 144Hz refresh rate. But that TN screen is as bleached as the bones in Death Valley.
Iiyama Prolite GB2488HSU:
With possibly the worst TN panel I’ve ever seen, this Iiyama screen is beyond recommending even with a 144Hz display. The main issue is that it’s just so washed out, even without the brightness set at 100%.
AOC G2460PG:
This was almost my favourite 1080p gaming screen, and only misses out because I baulk at spending $450 (£330) on a 24-inch TN display. That said it is a lovely TN panel, almost as good as the current affordable 4K screens, and has both the G-Sync tech and a 144Hz refresh rate. The cheaper Viewsonic IPS though gets our vote for its sheer value.
Viewsonic VG2401mh:
And speaking of Viewsonic… This little 24-inch, 1080p panel is rocking the buttery-smooth 144Hz refresh rate, but still feels just a little too pricey for a wee TN panel.
Viewsonic VG2438sm:
The VG2438sm is a rarity both in this test and in real-life. It’s rocking a 16:10 aspect ratio giving you more height to your display. At 30-inches that works great with our old Dell 3007WFP, but at 24-inches this aspect ratio just feels a tad boxy to make a good gaming monitor.
Future testing
Obviously this isn’t a complete list of every single monitor available—I don’t have the desk-space for them all!—but we’ve covered a wide variety of different panel technologies, sizes, aspect ratios and manufacturers.
Right now the Asus RoG Swift PG278Q is our number one choice, with the AOC U3477Pqu just behind with its mega-wide aspect ratio. But we’re still waiting on the perfect panel. For my money that would be a 21:9, 34-inch IPS panel, running at 144Hz with either G-Sync or FreeSync capabilities.
A guy can dream, can’t he?
There are some fascinating screens coming soon—there’s a 40-inch 4K Phillips monitor with a 60Hz refresh, a VA panel and a single stream connection to ease driver problems. That is big for a desktop monitor, but its pixel pitch will be about the same as a 27-inch 1440p monitor and ought to mean this is one 4K monitor we wont have to scale in Windows.
I’m also jonesing for one of LG’s curved 21:9 34-inch screens, but their price is utterly prohibitive for the vast majority of us. New monitors will doubtless be announced at CES in January.
The monitor landscape is moving pretty fast, and new panels will soon arrive and we’ll make sure we take a look at the very best on offer. If there are some we simply must check out, let us know in the comments. We'll be updating this guide as we game on new screens.
A note on affiliates: some of our stories, like this one, include affiliate links to stores like Amazon. These online stores share a small amount of revenue with us if you buy something through one of these links, which helps support our work evaluating PC components.
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