How To Choose the Best Gaming Monitor – Tips From Experts

After investing in a powerful gaming system, you’ve decided you want to buy a new gaming monitor. Perhaps you want to improve your current PC’s visual performance or you want to have a little bit of advantage in the online arena. Both are great reasons to get one. Now, there’s a lot of talks online about what you should look for when it comes to the perfect gaming monitor. In this article, you’ll learn the most important things to consider before deciding on the best piece for your PC.

Monitor Size And Resolution

Size largely depends on the gaming resolution you want to use and your personal preference. Do you like big screens? Are you more into immersive games and want the best picture quality? Of course, the bigger ones come at a cost. When it comes to the resolution, you’re deciding the sharpness and clarity of your monitor. Basically, the more pixels your monitor can handle, the better is its display quality and resolution. There are different kinds of resolution but the ones normally used in gaming are the following:

  • 1080p which is known as Full HD
  • 1440p which is also known as the QHD/2K resolution
  • 2160p or the  UHD/4K resolution.

Important! Before setting up a gaming computer and deciding which resolution you want, consider first your current GPU power. As of today, the QHD is the new standard and most gaming computers in mid-range prices can maintain a stable 30 FPS in this resolution. UHD is reserved for gaming computers with the most powerful GPUs, most of these monster rigs can run 60 FPS easily.

Game Monitor Speed

Nobody likes it slow. Of course, you want a gaming machine that’s fast. When hunting for fast monitors you should consider two important things: display response time and hertz. Response time is known as the amount of time between when your monitor receives an image from your PC and when it displays the image on the screen.

Response Time: The average monitor has a response time of under 10ms per second. A gaming monitor will need to be faster than this. Gaming monitors usually have response times of 5ms. The best gaming monitors can have response times of as low as 1ms. The faster the response time, the faster will the image render for you to react in-game. This is very important in online shooting games such as PUBG (Player Unknown’s Battleground) and COD (Call of Duty) where one second of lag can leave you unguarded to a fatal bullet that can end your character’s life.

Hertz:  Fast animation doesn’t just rely on your connection or VPN tools. The average TV has 60hz panels, this means that the computer can render sixty frames of animation every second. The more frames it can render, the smoother and more visually enjoyable the game will be. When shopping for gaming monitors, try to choose those with 120Hz, 144Hz, or 240Hz.

Monitor Panel Type

There are two common types of panels. The TN and the IPS panel. TN panels are probably the cheapest type of panel out there. They have the worst color reproduction and tend to have narrow viewing angles. However, they offer the lowest response times which makes them the best for online gaming.

Buy Best Gaming Monitor

IPS panels look amazing with its great viewing angles and color accuracy. However, they come at a much higher price and higher response times. This isn’t very noticeable if you’re running a computer between 1 and 4 ms. In summary, TN panels are preferred for their cost and speed while the IPS panel is known to provide a better viewing experience.

Video Inputs and Extra Features

Gaming monitors need to be fitted for the required input option to reach their best gaming performance. For example, if you want to use double monitors, you should have at least two ports found in your monitor. If you value aesthetics and minimalism, you should also try to go for monitors with built-in speakers so that you don’t have to connect another output to your setup (fewer wires on the desk!).

There is also a new line of monitors today that feature eye-care technologies to reduce the risk of eye damage. They often come with anti-glare and flickers screen with the option to control blue light emissions on your display. Blue light has the shortest wavelength and the highest energy and can be harmful to our retinas.

Gaming is always more enjoyable when you’re using the most appropriate hardware and software for your machine. At the end of the day, a good setup is not measured by how pricey your equipment is. Every part is equally important in piecing together a PC that meets your needs. You want a machine that 1) delivers what it promises  2) has all its components working together and 3) renders your game as smoothly as possible.

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