Things to Look For When Choosing a Gaming Monitor in 2020

Posted on Tuesday, June 23 2020 @ 19:19 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Monitors now play a vital role in every gameplay. Since games now have much more advanced graphics and high-pace movement, you need a monitor that is capable of taming all things. Regardless of your PC or console hardware, if you have a monitor with a slow refresh rate and low picture quality, you cannot expect to beat your in-game competitors.

All of the things like graphics card, processor, hard drive, memory are united into bringing the full gaming experience, but your monitor is equally essential for reaching the optimal balance.

In today’s article, we will highlight some of the important things you should look for when choosing your gaming monitor.

1. Panel Technology
Many gamers already know the importance of the panel technology used in the monitor. There are various panel types, all bringing their advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to gaming, the preferred choice would be Twisted Nematic, TN, panel type.

This is the most affordable panel technology and provides the best refresh rates and response times. The only downside to this panel type is the lower performance in color reproduction, viewing angles, and contrast ratios. However, color reproduction doesn’t make a significant difference when you are buying a gaming monitor.

2. Response Time
If you are a competitive gamer and like to gain an advantage over other players, buying a monitor with a lower response is crucial. If you have a high-end gaming computer, you wouldn’t want your monitor to hamper your performance.

The best gaming monitors you should go for is with responsive times lower than 5ms. The Holy Grail would be to go for 1ms response time, but they can be expensive.

3. Refresh Rate
If you like to play high-pace games with a lot of fast action, you want a smoother in-game movement. Many people often do not pay attention to the refresh rate, and it is one of the most important things if you want to achieve a smoother gaming experience. On average, monitors have a 60Hz refresh rate, which is considered to be very low for gaming. You should choose a monitor with a 144Hz or 165Hz refresh rate. If you go with a lower refresh rate, the picture that you see on your monitor might be delayed from the actual in-game footage.

For example, if you play NBA2K with some of the best players from the NBA, you might experience cut movement in opponent’s players, making it hard to predict where they will be. It is a small difference that might give you an in-game advantage.

4. 4K or Quad HD Monitor?
The picture quality of 4K monitors is unquestionable. However, as the resolution climbs up, the refresh rate is getting lower. This means that if you go for a 4K monitor, you might end up having only a 60Hz refresh rate.

There are 4K monitors with a higher refresh rate, but since it is a relatively new technology, they tend to be expensive. Honestly, you can still enjoy playing Quad HD monitors with 144Hz, but if you want to buy a high-end gaming monitor, 4K is the best option for you.

In the end, it all comes down to personal preference, so you should choose whatever you feel comfortable using.

5. Panel Resolution
Another important thing to bear in mind is the resolution of the panel. In order to get a crystal-clear gaming monitor, you need to choose the optimal panel resolution.

The recommended resolution would be 2560x1440 on a 27-inch monitor.

This represents the number of pixels in every dimension. More pixels will result in better picture quality. Generally, as the resolution climbs, there will be a better quality of the image. In spite of this fact, you should be careful when choosing your panel resolution. You must find out if your PC has the sufficient capability to operate at that resolution before buying.

These are some of the things you should pay attention to when buying your gaming monitor. If you already purchased a high-end gaming PC, you need to make sure that you have the right monitor that will bring showcase every component.

AOC gaming display