1. The account in brief
2. Best overall
3. Best 4K
4. Budget 4K
5. Best 1440p
6. Budget 1440p
7. Budget 1080p
8. Best ultrawide
9. Budget ultrawide
10. Best 42-inch
11. Best 32-inch
12. Also tested
13. How we test
14. Find the deals
15. FAQ
16. Jargon buster
Picking the best gaming adviser is ascendant for any PC builder. Why absorb so abundant money on your gaming PC if you won't pay out for a affection screen? What constitutes a affection awning will alter from architect to build—some crave a abundant high-refresh 1080p panel, while others will appetite to advance their cartoon agenda to the max with a 4K or ultrawide option. Whatever you're after, the gaming adviser you buy should be the best for your budget.
Right now, the best gaming adviser is the Alienware 34 QD-OLED. The bright one, and the cheaper one. It uses the aforementioned accomplished Samsung OLED console as the pricier Alienware and gives it the aforementioned glossy, not ever reflective, blanket that the additionally added big-ticket Philips Evnia 34M2C8600 comes with. And it's ace.
You appetite to bout your adviser best with your PC specs to get the best for your money. A 4K adviser with a aerial brace amount would be abstract if your rig alone packs a GTX 1060. But if you've had the banknote to bead on an RTX 40-series or a high-end AMD RX 7900 alternation GPU again you can booty your aces of 4K panels.
For the aggressive gamer who ethics acceleration aloft all else, analysis out our account of high brace amount monitors active at 165Hz, 240Hz, and alike 360Hz. I've consistently been testing gaming monitors throughout my career and accept ensured that alone the best for anniversary account has crept into this guide. It's extensive, but there are a accomplished lotta gaming monitors out there, and affluence deserves your attention.
Dave's been testing PC accouterments for the best allotment of 20 years, and has apparent every affectionate of awning imaginable. As such he knows what makes a acceptable gaming adviser and what makes a bad one, too. Whether it's LCD, OLED, mini-LED, or apparent ol' CRT, he's had his eyeballs on them all, and has alone arrested out the best gaming monitors on this list.
The Quick List
The best overall
Alienware and its use of the Samsung-made QD-OLED panel, has created the best gaming monitor, and afflicted the acumen of OLED screens for gaming. This is the cheaper adaptation of Alienware's OLED and the better, bright version.
The best 4K
The LG 27GN950-B accoutrements you a agitating console with admirable IPS angel quality. Admitting the bottom HDR capabilities, it additionally nets admirable colors and adverse for your amateur too. G-Sync offers abiding pictures and smoothness, and the accelerated brace amount and acknowledgment times aback this up too.
The best account 4K
In agreement of amount for money, Gigabyte has hit the attach on the arch with the M32UC. That makes the M32UC a abundant best if you're planning advanced for a next-gen 4K-capable gaming PC or if you already accept a high-end GPU but are not yet authoritative the best of it.
The best 1440p
The archetypal 27-inch Allowance S2722DGM marries that awning absolute acreage with a 2560 x 1440 built-in resolution, which gives you a abundant pixel angle for accomplished detail. At 1440p it's additionally a appropriate resolution for accepting aerial anatomy ante after the GPU demands of a 4K display.
The best account 1440p
The PXC277 doesn't absolutely attending like a arrangement basement account it ability accept done. This adviser delivers. At this amount point we were accommodating to accomplish a few excuses. But that's not absolutely necessary. The Pixio PXC277 Avant-garde does about aggregate appealing accursed well.
The best account 1080p
Strictly not to be abashed with the Mobiuz EX240N—and that's actual important, because it's a far worse monitor—this 1080p IPS affectation is a able 165Hz gaming adviser that ticks all the boxes for boilerplate PC gaming.
The best ultrawide
As able-bodied as actuality the best all-embracing gaming monitor, and the best OLED, too, the Alienware has to go bottomward as the complete best ultrawide gaming adviser as well. A amateur threat, then. The ample ambit of its curve, that 34-inch expanse, and the affection of the console itself are all telling.
The best account ultrawide
A contrasty VA panel, affluence of backlight bite provided you run the awning in HDR approach (where SDR agreeable looks bigger anyway), reasonable pixel acknowledgment and aerial abundant brace for best gamer's purposes. That you can accept all that for $370 absolutely is fantastic.
The best 42-inch
The Abrupt brings all the best genitalia of the LG C2 into the gaming space, convalescent it in a host of means that gamers will be bigger admiring with. Abiding the adjustments are limited, but the ROG Abrupt is a gamer's bestie area it matters, and addition best for the OLED cause.
The best 32-inch
It's account canonizing that appraisement for this chic of display—a 32-inch 165Hz 1440p panel—extends all the way up to $800 in the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165. So, while the Allowance S3222DGM isn't all that agitative from a abstruse point of view, for the money, it's appealing convincing.
Best gaming adviser overall
It's a simple, low-tech tweak. But it makes all the difference. Alienware has a additional 34-inch ultrawide OLED gaming adviser out in the Alienware 34 AW3423DWF and, hallelujah, it has a bright anti-glare blanket in abode of the OG model's matte coating. Authority that thought, we'll appear aback to the bright advantage in a moment.
When Alienware wheeled out what was the world's aboriginal OLED gaming monitor, the Alienware 34 AW3423DW, it went beeline to the top of the table. It was artlessly stunning.
But it wasn't, you know, absolutely perfect. Now there's addition 34-inch ultrawide Alienware OLED adviser that looks about identical but costs several hundred dollars less. So what, exactly, is activity on?
The new Alienware 34 AW3423DWF adds an "F" on the end and loses a few on-paper appearance in the adventure for that lower amount point. For starters, the mostly absurd Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate acceptance and the cher G-Sync dent it requires accept been ditched.
Hallelujah, it has a bright anti-glare coating.
In its abode you get AMD's Freesync Exceptional Pro and accordingly altogether able adaptive brace support. Speaking of brace rates, this new F archetypal accomplish bottomward from 175Hz to 165Hz. You're never activity to feel that aberration in-game and it seems like the array of accessory blueprint abuse advised for artefact differentiation. You know, to advice Alienware absolve the amount of the added big-ticket model: it's 10Hz faster!
Whatever, those capacity abreast you're mostly accepting the aforementioned 34-inch ultrawide and hardly arced hypothesis as before. The Samsung QD-OLED console is agitated over, which is a actual acceptable thing.
This Alienware does accept a accuracy limiter, but it's far beneath advancing than on best LG-equipped monitors and you almost apprehension it happening. Added to the point, this adviser consistently looks punchy, which you actually cannot say of monitors with LG OLED tech.
In fact, it's bigger than that because the bright absolutely lets the OLED console sing. In that regard, it's aloof like the Philips Evnia 34M2C8600, which is addition affiliate of the Samsung QD-OLED assemblage and additionally has a bright anti-glare coating. It does wonders for atramentous levels and contrast. Forth with the Philips, this is artlessly the best HDR gaming acquaintance you can currently get.
Incidentally, the blanket is actual able-bodied judged. It's not over cogitating and confusing in that regard. It aloof ups the adverse and removes that slight greying of darker tones that comes with a matte coating.
It's additionally cheaper than the Philips Evnia and compared to that adviser is alone missing a USB Type-C connection, which in a gaming ambience isn't a huge loss. Accepted USB Type-C ability commitment is bound to 100W, which isn't abundant to accumulate a gaming laptop juiced.
As for reservations, well, already afresh it's the aforementioned adventure as the OG Alienware OLED. For accepted accretion the pixel body ain't great. That doesn't accomplish for awfully brittle fonts in Windows or cool aciculate angel detail. The triangular rather than angular striped RGB subpixel basement doesn't advice with argument clarity, either.
And of course, this is still a actual big-ticket monitor, alike at the about discount. But you can still ink the new Alienware 34 AW3423DWF in as our new favourite gaming panel. Because it's actually farking fabulous.
Read our abounding Alienware 34 AW3423DWF review.
Best 4K gaming monitor
4K gaming is a exceptional endeavor. You charge a colossal bulk of apprehension ability to hit appropriate anatomy ante at such a aerial resolution. But if you're agitation a top-shelf cartoon card, like an RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX then this dream can be a reality.
The LG UltraGear is the aboriginal 4K, Nano IPS, gaming adviser with 1ms acknowledgment times, that'll appropriately appearance off your superpowered GPU. Advancing in with Nvidia G-Sync and AMD’s FreeSync adaptive brace compatibility, this glossy slim-bezel architecture alike offers LG’s Apple Lighting 2.0 RGB beheld theatrics.
And accumulated with the crazy-sharp detail that comes with the 4K pixel grid, that buttery bland 144Hz is appealing special.
While it does ache from a little appropriate IPS glow, it appears mostly at the awning extremities back you’re spying darker bold scenes. This isn't an affair best of the time, but the HDR is a little black as, frankly, 16 edge-lit bounded concealment zones do not a accurate HDR console make.
The blush allegiance of the NanoIPS console is outstanding.
What is best impressive, however, is the Nano IPS tech that offers a added blush area and arch examination angles. And the blush allegiance of the NanoIPS console is outstanding.
LG’s absence arrangement is around faultless, with categorical detail in both atramentous and white scales. Above the austere metrics, it’s a actively active and befuddled affectation in agreement of angel affection on the Windows desktop.
This awning pops.
Hop in bold and it’s aloof as impressive. We’ll never annoy of the buttery bland advantage that is 144Hz. But accumulated with the crazy-sharp detail that comes with the 4K pixel grid, well, it’s appealing special.
The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B accoutrements you a agitating console with admirable IPS angel quality. Admitting the bottom HDR capabilities, it additionally nets admirable colors and adverse for your amateur too. G-Sync offers abiding pictures and smoothness, and the accelerated brace amount and acknowledgment times aback this up too.
And while the abridgement of HDMI 2.1 and USB Type-C are a little limiting, abnormally attractive forward, appropriate now it's one of the best monitors going.
Read our abounding LG Ultragear 27GN950 review.
Best account 4K gaming monitor
We're assuredly in an era of gaming area an affordable 4K adviser and a fast 4K adviser are one and the same. You could still buy a lower resolution console for a accomplished lot less, and there are beneath adorable 4K panels out there, but as the Gigabyte M32UC proves you can get a accomplished lot of awning for what feels like a fair price.
You can acquisition this adviser activity for as low as $600, which is an clumsily aggressive amount tag for a accelerated 4K gaming adviser at this size. Gigabyte has ample out a exciting alloy of appearance for that array of money too, with two HDMI 2.1 ports, 1ms MPRT, FreeSync Exceptional Pro, and alike a USB 3.2 hub.
The M32UC runs at a altogether reasonable 144Hz out of the box—and you'll charge a able cartoon agenda to accomplish the best of that at 4K. However, if you angle this adviser up via DisplayPort 1.4 you can additionally overclock the console via the OSD. That bumps the brace amount up to 160Hz, and while that's apparently boundless for most, if you're activity big with the blow of your rig (or plan to aces up a able next-gen GPU ancient in the future) again it's a appropriate advantage to accept at the ready.
Fine capacity are able-bodied preserved and this console doesn't attempt with saturation.
But article to accede with the M32UC's alloy of resolution and brace amount is that alike a high-end GPU won't consistently accomplish the best of it. That's what makes the M32UC's FreeSync capabilities so crucially important. Befitting this console in accompany with your cartoon agenda back it's under the max brace amount of the screen, as it is acceptable activity to be at times, prevents a accomplished lot of awning tearing.
It should appear as no abruptness that the 32-inch console active at 4K after-effects in a stunningly brittle angel while gaming. I've been arena arguably too abundant Afterlife 2 appropriate now and the M32UC is a beauteous way to acquaintance the game. Accomplished capacity are able-bodied preserved and this console doesn't attempt with saturation, which makes for a adorable and active image.
The M32U additionally offers a DisplayHDR 400 appraisement on the box, admitting I wouldn't accede it for its HDR capabilities. It's defective abundant of what's appropriate of a accurate HDR monitor, such as a college accuracy and bounded dimming. You additionally accept to attending accomplished what is contrarily a adequately banal alien carapace on the Gigabyte.
In agreement of amount for money, Gigabyte has hit the attach on the arch with the M32UC. If you attending about for antagonism with agnate specs at about the aforementioned price, you'll generally alone acquisition added Gigabyte models advancing close, including a scattering of generally discounted Aorus models. That makes the M32UC a abundant best if you're planning advanced for a next-gen 4K-capable gaming PC or if you already accept a high-end GPU but are not yet authoritative the best of it.
Read our abounding Gigabyte M32UC review.
Best 1440p gaming monitor
The archetypal 27-inch Allowance S2722DGM marries that awning absolute acreage with a 2560 x 1440 built-in resolution, which gives you a abundant pixel angle for accomplished detail. At 1440p it's additionally a appropriate resolution for accepting aerial anatomy ante after the GPU demands of a 4K display. It's additionally able of carrying that resolution at 165Hz, which is appreciated.
At 2ms GtG response, it's aloof a beard abaft the 1ms and 0.5ms ratings of the best IPS panels, so you're covered back it comes to speed. That said, you can acquisition quicker panels if you absolutely appetite to hunt speed. This VA console does accept a aerial adverse ratio, at least, accustomed the technology's inherent able contrast.
This Allowance adviser is best chiefly accessible at a abundant price.
As for account quality, the Allowance S2722DGM is a analytic befuddled and active adviser because it's a authentic SDR panel. The able inherent adverse absolutely helps with that, ensuring you don't feel short-changed active amateur like Cyberpunk 2077, which abutment HDR, in SDR mode.
We'd beacon bright of MPRT mode, which hammers the panel's accuracy and vibrancy. 'Extreme' mode, which is rated at 2ms, does ache from a aroma of overshoot, but that's alone aloof arresting in-game, while 'Super fast' resolves the overshoot but allows aloof a little beating of darker tones.
USB Type-C connectivity doesn't feature. But the bifold HDMI and a distinct DisplayPort access are aloof fine, alike if the HDMI ports top out at 144Hz rather than 165Hz.
This Allowance adviser is best chiefly accessible at a abundant price. Allowance delivers high-quality gaming panels, with all the appearance you charge and a few accidental ones to bang up the price. And that makes it one of the best gaming monitors for best PC gamers today.
Read our abounding Dell S2722DGM review.
Best account 1440p gaming monitor
What are the absolutely capital capacity for a acceptable gaming adviser and how abundant will that amount you?
On paper, the acknowledgment ability aloof be $240 with the new Pixio PXC277 Advanced. It's a 27-inch 1440p console with 165Hz brace and 1ms claimed response. Oh, and HDR support. That's one heck of a amalgamation for the price.
It additionally meets appealing abundant all our key metrics. 1440p on a 27-inch console charcoal a abundant all annular accommodation amid size, pixel density, and GPU load. Additionally 165Hz is affluence for all but the best ambitious esports addicts. Akin 1ms response, in theory.
Ostensibly, there's HDR support. But unsurprisingly, the backlight is monolithic. There's no full-array bounded concealment and the rated accuracy acme out at 320 nits, which is bashful by today's standards.
As for the absolute angel affection and gaming experience, well, there are no actual horrors. Phew. The panel's absence arrangement is analytic authentic and there are none of the awe-inspiring cutting filters or backlight blotchiness you ancient see on absolutely bargain panels.
Even with the backlight set to maximum, this absolutely isn't the punchiest display. But it's analytic active and the inherent adverse of the VA console tech delivers acceptable atramentous levels. The basal desktop acquaintance in SDR approach is appealing pleasing.
Less impressive, predictably, is the panel's HDR performance. It will action an HDR arresting and bite out broadly actual colours. But it's not accidentally a absolute HDR experience. The HDR arrangement additionally has some compression at the aerial end which after-effects in ablaze capacity actuality absolute out.
Thankfully, with abbreviate bezels on three sides, additional a bit of a chin, and a brittle metal stand, the PXC277 doesn't absolutely attending like a arrangement basement account it ability accept done. The alien ability accumulation does absolutely annoyance the accent down. It's a all-encompassing account with a bargain attractive Pixio sticker slapped on the side. And the above angle is tilt-only.
But you apperceive what? This adviser delivers. At this amount point we were accommodating to accomplish a few excuses. But that's not absolutely necessary. The Pixio PXC277 Avant-garde does about aggregate appealing well.
Read our abounding Pixio PXC277 Avant-garde review.
Best account 1080p gaming monitor
You can acquisition 1080p screens for cheaper, but there are few absolutely affordable 1080p gaming monitors as acceptable as this. It's abnormally a acceptable fit for aggressive gamers that don't appetite to breach the bank.
In an age of megabucks GPUs, $200 seems like a abject bulk of money for, well, about anything. But BenQ is actuality to acquaint you it's abundant for a appealing abuse acceptable gaming monitor, the BenQ Mobiuz EX240, to be precise.
On paper, this 24-inch console ticks a lot of boxes for entry-level esports. It's a 1080p model—predictable enough—hits 165Hz, and offers IPS console tech with 1ms acknowledgment times.
BenQ ante the Mobiuz EX240 at 350 nits accuracy and includes HDR10 support. There's no VESA acceptance or bounded dimming. So this isn't a accidentally austere attack at an HDR panel, but it will action an HDR arresting correctly, which is something.
As for absolute angel quality, the aboriginal out-of-the-box impressions are good. This is a appealing vibrant, befuddled panel. The examination angles are acceptable and the absence blush arrangement betrays no absolute nasties. There is a little compression at the darker end of the blush spectrum. But, generally, this adviser has been adequately able-bodied set up well.
Head in-game and the acceptable account continues. BenQ claims 1ms acknowledgment by the MPRT metric. In ample terms, MPRT acknowledgment abstracts tend to be lower than grey-to-grey for a accustomed monitor, putting this console almost in the 2ms arena for GtG response.
And it feels absolute abundant adequate for 2ms. This is a abrupt little panel. In abstract terms, it looks little altered to the best 1ms GtG IPS monitors. Sure, you could aggravate out the differences with aerial acceleration photography, but in agreement of absolute gameplay, motion becloud is kept to a thoroughly adequate minimum.
All told, there's a lot to like here. Granted, this adviser has affluence of limitations. 1080p feels appealing stingy these canicule as built-in resolutions go, but on a baby 24-inch monitor, the pixel body is tolerable and the capital account is that you don't charge to be active a cryptocurrency Ponzi arrangement to pay for this monitor.
That you can accept a appropriate IPS gaming console active at 165Hz with acceptable pixel response, reasonable all-embracing calibration, about befuddled and adorable angel quality, and nice low latency, all blimp into a acceptable attractive chassis, for aloof $200 is a adored abatement actuality in inflationary 2023. For that we can alone acknowledge BenQ. Nice job.
Read our abounding BenQ Mobiuz EX240 review.
Best ultrawide gaming monitor
OLED has actually accustomed on PC. Alienware's 34 QD-OLED is one of actual few gaming monitors to accept such a arch account from us, and it's no surprise. Allowance has nailed the OLED console in this awning and it's actually attractive for PC gaming.
You'll see a few manufacturers with agnate screens to this, and that's because Alienware and abounding others are application the aforementioned Samsung-sourced QD-OLED panel. It's a superb panel, so we don't accusation them all for application it. Our admired of the lot is apparently the Philips Evnia 34M2C8600, as it comes with a superb bright accomplishment that brings out the OLED's best bits. And afore you say 'why isn't that cardinal one then?', it's not accessible in the US aloof yet.
The Alienware is still actually excellent, anyways, and if you adopt a matt console or appeal G-Sync for your Nvidia cartoon card, it's actually still the best gaming adviser to buy today.
It's actually attractive for PC gaming.
What that QD-OLED console can bear in either of its HDR modes, HDR 400 Accurate Atramentous or HDR Aiguille 1000, is annihilation abbreviate of exceptional. The angel it produces is befuddled and vibrant, but it doesn't stop there. In gaming terms, this affair is a beast, too. It's able of carrying 175Hz refresh, on a smart-looking OLED no less, and its acknowledgment time is absurdly quick at 0.1ms. It cruised through our adviser testing suite, and you absolutely apprehension that acceleration in-game, too.
Heck, alike about underwhelming titles—in beheld terms—like Alarm of Duty: Warzone attending abundant acknowledgment to the breakthrough dot-enhanced assimilation and accelerated response. The slight abatement of the angel that you accept to put up with appealing abundant any LCD console back aerial about maps in online shooters and added fast-paced amateur artlessly isn’t there.
Not alone is it OLED, it’s additionally Samsung’s hot breakthrough dot tech, which combines the ideal RGB subpixel anatomy with breakthrough dot technology to aftermath both accomplished colour assimilation and an alike brighter panel. Net result? Alienware is claiming both an absorbing 99.3 percent advantage of the ambitious DCI-P3 colour amplitude and absolutely 1,000 nits brightness, admitting that accuracy akin can alone be accomplished on a baby allocation of the panel, not beyond the absolute screen.
OLED is additionally far faster than LCD. By how abundant depends on how you admeasurement things. The fastest accepted IPS monitors are quoted at about 1ms for grey-to-grey response. But that alone measures allotment of the alteration amid colours. The abounding change takes abundant longer. By comparison, Alienware is commendation this OLED console at 0.1ms. And that’s acceptable for the abounding transition. It’s at atomic an adjustment of consequence faster.
If all this sounds a little hyperbolic, it doesn’t absolutely beggarly that all LCD monitors are now awful. In fact, back it comes to brace ante and accordingly latency, LCD monitors with 360Hz-plus brace are acutely quicker. Cessation is commonly a anemic point for OLED, and while we didn’t faculty any abstract affair with this 175Hz monitor, there’s little agnosticism that if your gaming fun and success hinges on accepting the everyman accessible latency, there are faster screens available.
There's no HDMI 2.1 on this panel, however. So it's apparently not the best fit for animate gaming as a result. But this is PC Gamer, and if you're activity to angle your PC up to a high-end gaming monitor, we acclaim it be this one.
Read our abounding Alienware 34 QD-OLED (AW3423DW) review.
Best account ultrawide gaming monitor
Does beneath than $400 buy you a exceptional gaming panel? That affectionate of money almost touches the abandon back it comes to cartoon cards these days. But the new ASRock Apparition PG34WQ15R2B gives you a 34-inch ultrawide experience, with 165Hz refresh, 1ms acknowledgment and alike HDR support, all for aloof beneath $370.
What added do you absolutely need? The catch, of course, it that bald blueprint rarely acquaint the accomplished adventure with gaming monitors. We've apparent several $2,000 screens with abandoned on-paper capabilities afresh that thoroughly disappointed. What are the allowance that ASRock has delivered at able-bodied beneath $400?
Beyond those banderole figures, the PG34WQ15R2B absolutely is promising. Predictably, it's based on VA rather than IPS console tech accustomed the ambrosial pricing. That about agency compromising on pixel acknowledgment performance, but not necessarily by a huge amount.
Brightness is rated at a bite 550 nits, which is absorbing at this amount point, and you get DisplayHDR 400 certification, which is access akin being but bigger than nothing. Accustomed the befuddled backlight and the actuality that the VA console offers 3,000:1 built-in contrast, it absolutely all bodes appealing able-bodied for a bisected appropriate entry-level HDR experience.
What about response? ASRock claims 1ms MPRT, but VA console tech about lags abaft the best IPS panels. Unfortunately, the ASRock's fast MPRT approach crushes accuracy so badly, it's adamantine to brainstorm anyone absolutely application it.
As acceptable as the best 1ms GtG IPS screens? Not quite, but at this amount point, the acknowledgment is acceptable enough. The aforementioned goes for the 165Hz brace and all-embracing ascribe latency. If acute esports are your thing, you'll be bigger off with a college brace 1080p panel. But For anybody else, the PG34WQ15R2B is activity to be quick enough, it absolutely is.
So, yeah, this absolutely is a decidedly nice awning for the money. 34-inch ultrawide charcoal a absolutely nice anatomy agency for immersive gaming, you get a nice, contrasty VA panel, affluence of backlight bite provided you run the awning in HDR approach (in which ambience SDR agreeable in any case looks better), reasonable pixel acknowledgment and aerial abundant brace for best gamer's purposes.
That you can accept all that for $370 absolutely is fantastic. That this is ASRock's aboriginal ache at a gaming awning is alike added impressive.
Read our abounding ASRock Apparition PG34WQ15R2B review.
Best 42-inch gaming monitor
High acceleration OLED gaming monitors are assuredly legit. That's acknowledgment in no baby allotment to Alienware's absorbing AW324DW QD-OLED, with affluence of added brands afterward suit. Amid them, Asus has unleashed the ROG Abrupt PG42UQ OLED, a 41.5-inch behemoth that accurately could be the alone adviser you'll anytime charge for the accountable approaching of gaming. Leveraging the aforementioned console from the LG C2 OLED TV, the Abrupt PG42UQ adds on college brace rate, an anti-glare coating, DisplayPort 1.4 and added gaming adviser accoutrements.
The aftereffect is one of the best 4K gaming monitors around.
The capital catechism is whether it's account the $1,399 amount tag. At that amount it's added big-ticket than LG's 42-inch C2, but it does a few things bigger for the premium. Firstly, it works like a able adviser and not a acute TV. One huge irritant with Acute TVs is they can't deathwatch and beddy-bye in bike with your PC, necessitating chiral control. Not so with the Abrupt PG42UQ which works aloof like any adviser and alike has USB upstream. In affiliation with its four USB after ports can accomplish active in your peripherals so abundant easier. Booty that C2!
Very chiefly though, it comes in with a 138Hz refresh, over the C2's 120Hz. It's alone a baby improvement, but will be accepted for anyone packing one of the best cartoon cards out there appropriate now. Bandy in 0.1ms (2ms GTG) acknowledgment time, as able-bodied as G-Sync compatibility, and Asus is assimilate a winner.
One affair to agenda is that boilerplate in the official blueprint does it say FreeSync, admitting in adjustment to be G-Sync accordant we accept the VRR works for the red team.
One huge irritant with Acute TVs is they can't deathwatch and beddy-bye in bike with your PC. Not so with the Swift.
Out of the box, colors are already amazing, with affluent saturation, vibrance and contrast. There are several blush profiles to aces from the OSD including committed DCI and sRGB modes. Dive into the OSD and you can calmly calibrate the adviser to your liking. SDR accuracy peaks out about 450 nits and up to 750 nits in HDR. Not the brightest but with absolute blacks, who needs added brightness?
The OSD controls sit on a ample tab (or chin?) at the abject of the adviser in the center. It's donned with an affronted red ROG logo and abyssal is done via a blow acute joystick and buttons. Airheaded are bright and straightforward, so no adventitious of confusion, and there's alike a committed Gaming area for overclocking, atramentous blaster and all the accepted gaming enhancers. It additionally has some tricks to anticipate the alarming burn-in, including alternate pixel about-face and refresh, as able-bodied as an automated accuracy limiter. Alone time will tell, of advance but I anticipate if you’re alert of the basics, burn-in shouldn’t be a problem.
The Asus ROG Abrupt PG42UQ actually slaps and I've thoroughly enjoyed application it. The capital check is how big-ticket it is, though. With LG's C2 42 advancing in $300 cheaper, and alms a lot of the aforementioned experience, it's difficult to acclaim the Abrupt for artlessly your boilerplate cine watcher. However, the accepted C2 is not (and will never be) a gaming monitor.
The Abrupt brings all the best genitalia of the C2 into the gaming space, convalescent it in a host of means that gamers will be bigger admiring with. Abiding the adjustments are limited, but the ROG Abrupt PG42UQ is a gamers bestie area it matters, and absolutely addition best for the OLED cause.
Read our abounding Asus ROG Abrupt PG42UQ review.
Best 32-inch gaming monitor
We'd all adulation to accept a thousand bucks afire a aperture in our aback pockets to draft on a new gaming monitor. But aback in the absolute world, the Dell S3222DGM wants a able at the affectionate of account best of us absolutely have.
It's a 32-inch barbarian with a VA console active at up to 165Hz and carrying 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. Yup, the approved and activated 1440p resolution, the candied atom for real-world gaming according to many, the absolute antithesis amid achievement and beheld detail. The bolt is all that commonly applies to 27-inch models. 32 inches? That makes for a appealing big console for 1440p in agreement of pixel density.
To put an absolute cardinal on it, you're attractive at aloof 93 pixels per inch.
Where the low pixel body hurts best is absolutely in Windows. If you like brittle fonts and lots of desktop absolute estate, this isn’t the adviser for you. For anybody else, well, it comes bottomward to the amount proposition. There are faster monitors. There are monitors with above IPS-powered angel quality. There are monitors with all kinds of HDR abutment not begin here. And others with far added pixels or added affecting aspect ratios.
This is a gaming-centric adviser after any HDR abutment but based on VA console technology. So, the aiguille accuracy is 350 nits, changeless adverse is about as acceptable as it gets at 3,000:1, and there's official AMD FreeSync Exceptional certification.
Rounding out the basics is a affable 1800R console curve.
Rounding out the basics is a affable 1800R console curve. It's a hardly odd, admitting not absolutely unique, affection for this chic of display. Curvature is a added accessible and accustomed fit for ultrawide displays. On a accepted 16:9 panel? We still charge a little convincing.
Dell quotes 8ms gray-to-gray in 'fast' mode, 4ms gray-to-gray in 'super fast', 2ms gray-to-gray in 'extreme', and finally, and somewhat confusingly, 1ms gray-to-gray in 'MPRT' mode. The 'MPRT' ambience is, for us, a non-starter back it crushes accuracy so comprehensively. 'Super fast' it is, then, and the aftereffect is acceptable but not actually abundant acknowledgment with no overshoot. Appealing abundant what you’d apprehend accustomed the 4ms appraisement for 'super fast'.
But add in the 165Hz brace and you accept a appealing acceptable adviser for response-critical online shooters. To be sure, if that is your cardinal one priority, you’d be bigger off with a higher-refresh 1080p IPS adviser with faster response. If you appetite a beyond console like this, 4K isn’t an all-around win. It comes with a huge added GPU amount and that in about-face requires mega-investment levels in a acceptable cartoon card
It's account canonizing that appraisement for this chic of display—a 32-inch 165Hz 1440p panel—extends all the way up to $800 in the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165. So, while the Allowance S3222DGM isn't all that agitative from a abstruse point of view, for the money, it's appealing convincing.
Read our abounding Dell S3222DGM review.
PC Gamer gaming adviser reviews
If Alienware's actual agnate 34-inch archetypal was the OLED adviser we've been cat-and-mouse for, Philips has aloof baffled it. Acknowledgment to a bright console coating, the OLED tech absolutely sings. HDR games? They absolutely sizzle. A few accessory OLED limitations remain. But this is as acceptable as gaming monitors currently get.
PC Gamer score: 95%
For
- Glossy console lets OLED tech sing
- Super accelerated performance
- Fewer OLED downsides than the competition
Against
- Very expensive
- Pixel body is annihilation special
- Some accuracy limitations remain
It’s been an abundantly continued time coming. But OLED awesomeness has assuredly appear to the PC. LCD technology still has the bend for latency, but this breakthrough dot-enhanced OLED awning is absurd back it comes to contrast, HDR performance, and response. Net result? Artlessly one of, if not the, best gaming monitors ever.
PC Gamer score: 95%
For
- Fabulous adverse and colours
- Stupendous pixel response
- Genuine HDR capability
Against
- Not a abundant advantageous panel
- Latency isn't a able point
- No HDMI 2.1
Corsair's booty on the 27-inch 1440p OLED is beautifully engineered and all the accepted LG-powered OLED upsides appear, including warp-speed responses and admirable per-pixel lighting. But so does the inconsistent brightness. And that's a little catchy to acquire at this aerial amount point.
PC Gamer score: 80%
For
- Outrageous pixel response
- Per-pixel OLED lighting
- Nicely engineered
Against
- Inconsistent brightness
- Very big-ticket for a 27-inch panel
When it comes to angel detail, pixel body counts and the 32-inch 4K Lenovo Countless Y32p-30 assuredly delivers on that front. Agency in a 144Hz brace amount and abundant response, and the aftereffect is a able high-DPI gaming experience. The botheration is the amount and the ability that OLED gaming can be had for not abundant added money.
PC Gamer score: 84%
For
- Sweet 4K IPS panel
- Zippy acknowledgment and latency
- Nice body quality
Against
- Limited HDR support
- Expensive
With the new G7, Samsung has active the abstraction that VA panels can't be quick. But the acute console ambit and characterless HDR accomplishing complicate the proposition.
PC Gamer score: 85%
For
- Stellar VA console with abundant response
- Buttery-smooth refresh
- Great architecture and quality
Against
- HDR accomplishing is disappointing
- Curve is actual extreme
- Painfully cher for a 27-inch panel
Waiting for the big-screen adviser that absolutely delivers on the affiance of OLED tech? This isn't it. The Bandit Xeneon Angle 45WQHD240 suffers from all-too-apparent accuracy limitations, while the resolution and pixel body are a actual adamantine advertise at this amount point.
PC Gamer score: 68%
For
- Ultra-fast acknowledgment time
- Pretty abundant absolute atramentous levels
- Good connectivity
Against
- Disappointing full-screen brightness
- Feels brittle back flexing
- Relatively low resolution
- A 42-inch 4K OLED gaming TV is bisected the price
The cheaper of two apparently agnate adviser models, the BenQ Mobiuz EX240N looses a little too abundant in the alteration from IPS to VA console tech. The pixel acknowledgment can be problematic, the HDR abutment is afflicted and there's an all-embracing abridgement of action and punch. Again there's the hardly down-covered chantry apprehension and maddening OSD menu. 165Hz brace is assuredly absorbing at this amount point, but we'd absorb that little but added on the non-"N" model.
PC Gamer score: 70%
For
- Very low price
- 165 brace and acceptable latency
- Doesn't attending cheap
Against
- Mediocre response
- Not actual bright
- Silly OSD card and options
All in, the Inzone M9 is a hell of a gaming monitor, abnormally for Sony's aboriginal attack into PC gaming. I'm aloof as afraid as you are that the M9 calmly competes with some of the best 4K monitors out there appropriate now. It's loaded with a ton of gaming appearance and best chiefly costs beneath than $1,000.
PC Gamer score: 87%
For
- Excellent contrast
- Exclusive PS5 features
- Great look
Against
- Limited advancement
- 2W speakers are weak
- PS5 appearance should be on PC too
As a agreeable architect and designer, I can acknowledge the account of a adviser that I can additionally use for able assignment but additionally get absent in the august apple of Elden Ring. The Predator X32 FP makes a acute case for Mini LED gaming monitors but it does so at a absolutely ample price.
PC Gamer score: 79%
For
- Stunning HDR Gaming
- Four HDMI 2.1 with VRR
- Plenty of USB ports with KVM
- 90W USB Type-C PD
- FreeSync Exceptional Pro
Against
- So expensive
- Still some blooming
- Few bounded concealment zones
Best computer speakers | Best gaming headset | Best gaming laptop | Best wireless gaming headset | Best PC controller | Best abduction card
How we analysis gaming monitors
How does PC Gamer analysis gaming monitors?
Like aggregate abroad we test, we alive with a gaming adviser in the aforementioned way you would at home. We accomplish abiding to use it for circadian monitor-y tasks on your windows desktop—because your PC acceptable isn't aloof for gaming—and we, of advance analysis it while gaming.
The Windows desktop will highlight any failings in branch calibration, and appearance up any issues with chantry scaling, too. It is additionally a acceptable way to analysis the vagaries of whatever backlighting tech a console is employing. Application a aphotic accomplishments and a ablaze browser or Charlatan window (or the added way around) is abundant for highlighting what a screen's backlight will do as the akin of accuracy is accepted by what's on the display.
It's a acceptable way to analysis out any auto accuracy attached (ABL) functions on a avant-garde OLED display, too.
Using fast-paced shooters is a abundant way to analysis out the acknowledgment of a accustomed gaming monitor, and again the neon-dripping apple of Cyberpunk 2077 makes for an accomplished HDR tester.
We additionally go through a alternation of empiric tests to highlight any ghosting, backlighting issues, or accepted smeariness or abashing of images. We acquisition it too accessible to get absent in the weeds of specific console benchmarks and absence added accessible problems that ability crop up during circadian gaming use.
So, we put added weight on what it's like to absolutely use a gaming adviser than what the specs ability say.
Where to buy a gaming monitor
Where are best gaming adviser deals?
In the US:
- Amazon - Money off aerial brace amount gaming monitors
- Walmart - Save on quick gaming monitors
- B&H Photo - Gaming monitors for as little as $110
- Best Buy - Often Samsung gaming monitors activity for less
- Target - LG and Asus gaming monitors on sale
- Staples - Regular sales on called HP gaming monitors
- Newegg - Lots of bargain gaming monitors to accept from
- Dell - Money off Alienware gaming monitors
In the UK:
- Amazon - Save on big-name adviser brands
- Overclockers - 1440p LG gaming monitors from £190
- Scan - AMD FreeSync monitors from as low as £100
- CCL - deals on the best screens around
- Box - discounts and refurbished monitors abound
Best gaming adviser FAQ
Should I go for an IPS, TN or VA panel?
We would consistently acclaim an IPS console over TN. The accuracy of image, examination angle, and blush reproduction are far above to the cheaper technology, but you'll generally acquisition a faster TN for cheaper. The added alternative, beneath big-ticket than IPS and bigger than TN, is VA tech. The colors aren't absolutely so hot, but the adverse achievement is impressive.
Should I go for a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor?
In general, FreeSync monitors will be cheaper. It acclimated to be the case that they would alone assignment in aggregate with an AMD GPU. The aforementioned went for G-Sync monitors and Nvidia GPUs. Nowadays, though, it is accessible to acquisition G-Sync accordant FreeSync monitors if you're absorbed on spending less.
Should I buy a HDR monitor?
With a Aerial Activating Ambit monitor, you can booty advantage of the ever-growing account of amateur and apps that affection HDR support. It offers added active colors and greater adverse but is activity to drive up the amount a little. Windows' built-in HDR action additionally leaves a lot to be desired, and you may acquisition you accept to dabble in the settings to get HDR attractive like it should.
What aspect arrangement should I go for?
Today's movies and amateur are best enjoyed in a widescreen architecture at a 16:9 aspect arrangement or above. In 4:3, those accurate moments will attending bantam with atramentous strips forth the top and bottom. There are a host of minute variations on anniversary ratio, but at the end of the day allotment amid these depends absolutely on your claimed preference.
And the actual avant-garde option, if you accept a little added banknote to blow, is ultra-wide aspect ratios like 21:9 and 32:9 and their variants. These will accommodate a abundant added immersive, encompassing experience. Or literally, beset yourself with a arced monitor, up to you.
Jargon buster - gaming adviser terminology
Refresh Amount (Hz)
The acceleration at which the awning refreshes. For example, 144Hz agency the affectation refreshes 144 times a second. The college the number, the smoother the awning will arise back you comedy games.
V-Sync
Graphics tech synchronizes a game's framerate with your monitor's brace amount to advice anticipate awning disturbing by syncing your GPU anatomy amount to the display's best brace rate. About-face V-Sync on in your amateur for a smoother experience, but you'll lose information, so about-face it off for fast-paced shooters (and alive with the tearing). Advantageous if you accept an earlier archetypal affectation that can't accumulate up with a new GPU.
G-Sync
Nvidia's anatomy synching tech that works with Nvidia GPUs. It basically allows the adviser to accompany up with the GPU. It does by assuming a new anatomy as anon as the GPU has one ready.
FreeSync
AMD's booty on anatomy synching uses a agnate address as G-Sync, with the better aberration actuality that it uses DisplayPort's Adaptive-Sync technology which doesn't amount adviser manufacturers anything.
Ghosting
When movement on your affectation leaves abaft a aisle of pixels back watching a cine or arena a game, this is generally a aftereffect of a adviser accepting apathetic acknowledgment times.
Response Time
The bulk of time it takes a pixel to alteration to a new blush and back. Generally referenced as G2G or Grey-to-Grey. Apathetic acknowledgment times can advance to ghosting. A acceptable ambit for a gaming adviser is amid 1-4 milliseconds.
TN Panels
Twisted-nematic is the best accepted (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to accept poorer examination angles and blush reproduction but accept college brace ante and acknowledgment times.
IPS
In-plane switching, panels action the best adverse and blush admitting accepting weaker blacks. IPS panels tend to be added big-ticket and accept college acknowledgment times.
VA
Vertical Alignment panels accommodate acceptable examination angles and accept bigger adverse than alike IPS but are still slower than TN panels. They are generally a accommodation amid a TN and IPS panel.
HDR
High Activating Range. HDR provides a added blush ambit than accustomed SDR panels and offers added brightness. The aftereffect is added active colors, added blacks, and a brighter picture.
Peak Brightness
This refers to the best accuracy of a adviser or television and is abstinent in nits.
Ultrawide
Shorthand for monitors with aspect added aspect ratios like 32:9 or 21:9
Resolution
The cardinal of pixels that accomplish up a monitor's display, abstinent by acme and width. For example: 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p), 2560 x 1440 (2K), and 3840 x 2160 (4K).
