Five must-haves for a good gaming monitor

A few days ago we shared with you an extensive guide to monitors where we reviewed some of their most important features to get it right when buying, and today we want to focus on something more specific, gaming monitorsa sector that has been growing in popularity and that right now comes a real golden moment.

The success of gaming monitors is easy to explain, and to understand. As of today their prices have come down a lotand functions and features that were previously exclusive to more expensive models have been extended to cheaper models. This has led to a  “democratization” of gaming monitors that has allowed even users with limited budgets to have access to this type of peripheral, and to enjoy a really good user experience.

You no longer need more than 500 euros to buy a good gaming monitor, in fact it is possible to find very interesting models for less than 200 euros, and if we refine our search a bit and have a bit of luck with the offers we may get a top level monitor for a little bit around 300 euros. This would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

This democratization of gaming monitors has had a very positive impact on the market and on consumers, and has generated increasing competition, which has allowed us to find a greater variety of products with better performance and more competitive prices. This has, however, had a downside, and that is that having more options to choose from makes it increasingly difficult to make a decision.

Therefore, I have decided to give shape to this guide, in which I will share with you five things that a good gaming monitor should have, regardless of the price range in which it is included. Not all of them have the same importance, in fact some may be “expendable” if the price is worth it, but in general the ideal is to choose a monitor that has all of them.

1.-Good pixel density per inch

This is key for a very simple reason, will determine the degree of sharpness that we will enjoy in our games when using the monitor, and it is much tighter when we talk about monitors than TVs because we sit much closer to the former, and this has implications that we must be very clear about. To understand it better, let’s look at it point by point.

The distance at which we sit from a screen directly affects our user experience. The closer we are, the less sense the larger panels will make and the more weight the resolution acquires, as we will perceive the pixels better. When using a television, it is normal to be between 1.5 and 3 meters away, but in the case of a monitor, it is more common to be between 60 and 80 centimeters away.

Being so close does not make sense to use huge panels, and the balance between size and resolution is essential because we will have that greater perception of the pixels that produces the proximity to the screen. If we use a very large screen with an inadequate resolution, we will have a low pixel density per inch, and this will result in poor sharpness in games.

For example, a 32-inch monitor with 1080p resolution would have a low pixel density per inch and would not be a good buy. However, a 32-inch monitor with 1440p resolution would have an acceptable pixel per inch density, and a model with 2160p resolution would offer an ideal pixel per inch density. To serve as a reference, I share with you the maximum values that we should not exceed to have a good pixel density per inch in gaming monitors:

  • 1080p and 19-24 inches maximum.
  • 1440p and 24-28 inches at most.
  • 2160p and 28+ inches. It would not make much sense to go beyond 32 inches because of the proximity to the monitor, always keeping in mind that we are talking about gaming monitors, not work monitors.

2.-AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync compatible

gigabyte monitor

Both technologies mark a substantial difference in gamesi can attest to this because one of the best upgrades I have made in my life was to buy a monitor compatible with NVIDIA G-Sync. On this subject it is important to remember that just a couple of years ago G-Sync compatible monitors had very high prices, so much so that few could afford them. Fortunately this has completely changed, and today we can find fully compatible models for less than 200 euros.

With AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync we will be able to enjoy a sublime gaming experience, thanks to the synchronization between GPUs which monitor that will free us from the classic stuttering problemswhich is the stuttering of the image caused by desynchronization in frame production, and tearing, which is image tearing, a failure that occurs when the frame rate per second exceeds the refresh rate of the monitor.

Nowadays most gaming monitors come with Adaptive Sync, which is what will allow us to activate AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync compatible technologies. Please note that in order to use them we will need a compatible graphics cardi.e. an AMD Radeon in the case of the former and an NVIDIA GeForce in the case of the latter.

Within the AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync technologies there are different levels that offer differentiated featuresbut even with the most basic version you will notice such a big difference that will be totally worth ityou can be sure of that.

3.-High refresh rate

The refresh rate is a very important aspect in gaming monitors. This refers to the number of times the image is refreshed in one secondand is deeply tied to the frame rate, which is the number of frames a graphics card is capable of rendering in one second while running a video game.

Both values influence the sense of fluidity we perceive in games, the amount of visual information we receive, and also our performance when playing games. A low refresh rate means that the image will refresh infrequentlyso that we will perceive less information and we will suffer a greater eye fatigue.

In general lines, the minimum to enjoy a good gaming experience can be found at 60 Hz-60 frames per secondbut if we want to enjoy a perfect experience, and we have a powerful enough computer to reach very high FPS rates, monitors with refresh rates between 120 Hz and 144 Hz are ideal.

For competitive gaming (professional gamers) there are monitors with refresh rates of more than 165 Hz. This is a level where prices skyrocket and perceived benefits are reduced, but they can still make a considerable difference in the hands of skilled gamers. They represent a very significant investment that not everyone is able to make a return on, so keep that in mind.

4.-Quality panel with good color representation

Corsair-XENEON-2

Color is very important, and so is panel quality. I know that many people believe that in a gaming monitor is not essential to have an IPS or VA panel because, at the end of the day, you’re always going to be sitting in front of it and you are going to look at the monitor from that position, with no deviations, which will make the viewing angles not matter, but i don’t feel the same way. In the end, it is easy to end up adopting positions that don’t place you fully forward, or to move around while playing and those changes in posture will eventually lead to poor viewing angles if you use a TN panel.

Monitors with VA or IPS panels are becoming increasingly affordable, offer 178-degree viewing angles, and have a optimal reproduction of NTSC and sRGB color spacesalways keeping in mind that we are talking about gaming monitors, and not for design or advanced editing. However, keep in mind that mid-range and high-end gaming monitors reach such a good level in this regard that they can also be used for professional tasks. The GIGABYTE M32UC is an excellent example of an all-rounder monitor.

And where would the starting point be in this regard? To make it clear I give you a concrete example, the MSI Optix G241VC 23.6-inch, a monitor for gaming that meets all the requirements we have seen so far to be considered a good gaming monitor:

  • Good pixel density per inch (less than 24 inches and 1080p).
  • 75 Hz refresh rate (exceeds 60 Hz).
  • FreeSync compatible.

To these three points we must add that it features a vA panelwhich means that it offers 178-degree viewing angles, and it reproduces the 110% of the sRGB color space and the 85% of the NTSC color space This means that it will allow us to enjoy our favorite games with vivid and realistic colors.

5.-Low response time

Response time is critical because our user experience will largely depend on it, and because it can affect our gaming performance. This value indicates the time it takes for a pixel to change colorand if this time is too long, blurring and ghosting problems are likely to occur, which will be especially pronounced in scenes where very fast movements occur.

The response time is expressed in milliseconds, and we can start from the general rule that the lower the response time, the better. However, this needs to be qualified, as its importance depends on the type of games we are usingand it also offers a value that decreases substantially as the response time improves and we get to the minimum recommended.

Thus, in games that do not have frenetic action and consist of scenes with very fast movements the impact of response time is much smaller. For example, the response time does not have the same impact when playing Resident Evil 2 Remake as it does when enjoying a game of DOOM Eternal, as the latter is pure frenetic action.

On average, the response time of one pixel is 10 ms “black to white to black”but measurements of gray-to-gray values are also commonly performed. From the 4 ms we are already at a more than acceptable level for gamingalthough most of the monitors we can find nowadays are between 1 and 2 ms, even the cheapest ones with prices below 200 euros.

Five recommendations to get it right when buying your gaming monitor

To finish this article I want to share with you five monitors that not only meet these five requirements that we have seen in detail, and that therefore can be considered as good gaming monitorsbut they are also very interestingly priced and offer an excellent good value for money.

  • AOC G2490VXA 23.8″, an affordable but very interesting option, as it supports FreeSync Premium and G-Sync, has a 144 Hz refresh rate and uses a VA panel. It is discounted to €149.98.
  • ASUS TUF Gaming VG249Q1R, an excellent monitor that features an IPS panel, has 1080p resolution, supports FreeSync Premium and G-Sync, and has a refresh rate of 165 Hz. It is discounted to €179.
  • Newskill Icarus RGB IC27QRC, equipped with a 27-inch VA panel, has a resolution of 2,560 x 1440 pixels, 165 Hz refresh rate, supports AMD FreeSync Premium and G-Sync and is discounted to €249.99.
  • ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q, a 28-inch 4K monitor with AMD FreeSync-compatible IPS panel that works seamlessly with G-Sync in compatible mode. Its refresh rate is 60 Hz, but it has a very affordable price and this gives it a great value for money, especially now that it is discounted to €319.
  • GIGABYTE M28U, 28-inch 4K monitor with Super Speed IPS panel, has a 144 Hz refresh rate and supports FreeSync Premium Pro and works with G-Sync smoothly. It is discounted to €649.
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