PC - Gaming Monitor Recommendations?

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to ask if anyone could give me some recommendations for a good PC Monitor that want be too expensive. I noticed Rorie, had just picked up a Acer Predator which looks awesome, and on UPF they use a Dell monitor while playing on the stream.

I was aiming to buy something for around $400 - $500.

Can anyone recommend a good make?

Thanks.

@spikespiegel00: First off, don't get 21:9. Most games' UIs will not scale and you won't get much out of it. The next question is do you care about greater than 60Hz and 1080p? With a GTX 1070 you'll get the best experience if you don't push too far in that regard (it's not that fast of a card). 144Hz IPS G-sync monitors (like the Predator) are normally in the 6-700 buck range, so I'd personally just go for a nice 1080p 60Hz IPS monitor with a decent response time, something like this 27" Acer G277HL for around 150-200 bucks. Reinvest any cost savings in a better graphics card. If you're struggling to hit 60fps on max settings, a fancy 144Hz monitor isn't doing you any good.

Speaking about response time, obviously lower is better, but realistically anything less than 16.67ms is going to be enough for 60Hz (that's less than one frame), and you'd only need less than 7ms for 144Hz. G-sync is great, but personally I don't think it's worth the cost (and there's the vendor lock-in issue as well).

My dad just bought a pair of monitors for his home office, I've got screen tech on the brain lately.

I picked up a 24" non-gsync Acer for about 200 bucks last year. It's still LED and has 144hz with low latency. Made a massive difference and saved a bunch of money.

If you have an AMD video card then you can pick up a Freesync monitor, which is way cheaper than any gsync monitor while providing the same tech.

Otherwise, make sure it has a high 144hz refresh rate, you'll never see screen tearing even without gsync/freesync. IMHO

I think we need to know what your PC specifications are and if your priority is higher image fidelity or refresh rate, otherwise our recommendations will be unhelpfully general.

@flaminghobo:

Sure, I’m in the middle of a new build. I have listed some of the specs below.

Intel Core I7 7700K 4.2G

EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW2

Asus ROG Strix Z270H

2 8GB DDR4 3000 VengLPX

Hope this helps.

Are you a bad enough dude to go 21:9?

@hnke: Hmm if only I had the money. :(

Thanks for all the great input guys, lots to think about and after reading the posts, I should be able to get a nice monitor and save some cash.

Hopefully a new graphics card too.

I'm am more than happy with my 27 inch Asus 1440p IPS.

It's the ASUS PB278Q.

AOC G2770PF 144hz is a solid choice for 1080p monitor with high refresh rate and only 1ms delay

@spikespiegel00: Only thing I forgot to mention, if you do decide to get a 144Hz monitor, most of them are TN panels, so watch out.

TN (twisted nematic) is a very mature screen technology that has really crap color quality and viewing angles, but it has very low response time and is extremely cheap. The IPS (in-plane switching) and VA (vertical alignment) techs were both designed to address the shortcomings of TN, but as a result of how they work and just the fact that they're newer, they tend to have higher response time.

If I had to chose between IPS or 144Hz I'd pick the image quality over the refresh rate every time. They do make monitors that are both, but they cost a bit more.

@freedom4556: I do a lot of online gaming such as BF, Overwatch and PUBG. So I was leaning towards a TN. However looking at the image quality the IPS the do look really nice, but like you said if you want the best of both there is just a massive difference in price.

Don't be discouraged by people advising you to avoid TN panels at all costs. I have used both IPS and TN panels and honestly viewing angle is not really a concern if you are sitting straight at your desk and using the screen primarily for gaming. You could put some of what you save towards a new GPU. It's all a matter of preference and if you can demo the screen before you buy that may help you decide.

Currently using an Asus 27" at 144hz with GSYNC (TN) and loving it.

If you are going 1080p i would go for the higher refresh rate. I think a 1070 can handle 1440p at decent settings right now too, maybe not so much in the future though.

I have a 1070, and went with the ROG PG248Q. Seemed to make sense for a few reasons:

• I want to max out settings on every game for some time to come, power through poorly-optimized games, run games windowed/borderless, etc. I'm not so concerned with framerate snobbery (it has to be a fighting game for me to even care about getting 60), but sandbagging extra power appeals to me. It seems like running at 1080p on a 1440p screen isn't a good idea, either.
• I wanted adaptive sync for fighting games. As much as I don't like supporting Nvidia's proprietary G-Sync tyranny, I was enough of a sucker to buy a 1070 before gaining an understanding of the adaptive sync landscape, so I was basically walled in. I don't know how much adaptive sync matters when your graphics card can easily output 100+ fps, but fighting games are generally locked at 60, so I think it comes into play here? We'll see how much more consistently I block overheads, I guess. (My previous monitor likely had worse input delay, too.)
• I wasn't about to outlay twice as much money on a PG279Q (144Hz 1440p G-Sync), or likely four times as much on the upcoming PG27UQ (144Hz 4K HDR G-Sync). I'd be tempted by the latter if I felt okay about the standards involved (I'll pay a lot more money if I think a product solves every problem), but it's some closed concoction of proprietary Nvidia solutions that makes me really uneasy, and monitors get made redundant very easily (much more easily than graphics cards, and yet they cost more?), so I'd rather settle and wait for Nvidia's properietary empire to crumble.

That said, I didn't put a lot of thought into colour reproduction, and it's something the PG248Q isn't great at out of the box. The gamma and contrast were out of wack in a way that gave everything a light and foggy appearance, and whilst I managed to get it to a good place, calibration took quite a bit of effort, and might not be possible without the options afforded by the Nvidia control panel. (So in particular, it might not be great for consoles.)

In hindsight the IPS panel on something like the PG279Q has some appeal, and I've even considered sending the PG248Q back and coughing up the extra cash, but I think the PG248Q will probably be fine now that I've got colour reproduction into a decent place.

Depends on the games you play honestly. I don't think I could back to anything less than 144hz after playing CSGO on it for the last 2 years.