Tech

Five things a good gaming monitor should have

A few days ago we shared with you an extensive monitor guide where we reviewed some of its 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 a real golden moment is coming right now.

The success of gaming monitors is easy to explain, and to understand. Today their prices have dropped a lot, and functions and features that were previously exclusive to more expensive models have been extended to cheaper models. This has generated a “democratization” of gaming monitors that has allowed even users with the most limited budgets to access 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 the search a bit and have a bit of luck with the offers, we may be able to get a first-rate monitor for a little over 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 growing competition, which has allowed us to find a greater variety of products with better features and at more competitive prices. This has, however, a counterpart, and that is that Having more options to choose from makes it increasingly difficult to make a decision.

For this reason, I have decided to give shape to this guide, in which I am going to 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 compensates, but in general, the ideal is to choose a monitor that has all of them.

1.-Good density of pixels 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 televisions 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 see it point by point.

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

Being so close, it makes no 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 the proximity to the screen produces. If we use a very large screen with an inadequate resolution we will have a low density of pixels per inch, and this will result in poor sharpness in games.

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

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

2.-AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync supported

gigabyte display

Both technologies mark a substantial difference in gamesI can attest to this as one of the best upgrades I’ve ever made was buying an NVIDIA G-Sync compatible monitor. 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 access them. Luckily 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 can enjoy a sublime experience in games, thanks to the synchronization between GPUs and monitors that it will free us from the classic stuttering problemswhich is the image stutter caused by desynchronization in frame production, and tearing, which is image tearing, a glitch that occurs when the frame rate per second exceeds the monitor’s refresh rate.

Today most gaming monitors come with AdaptiveSync, which is what will allow us to activate AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync compatible technologies. Keep in mind that to use them we will need a compatible graphics cardthat is, an AMD Radeon in the case of the first and an NVIDIA GeForce in the case of the second.

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

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 per second, which is the number of frames a graphics card is capable of rendering in one second while a video game is running.

Both values ​​influence the sensation of fluidity that we perceive in games, in the amount of visual information that we receive and also in our performance when playing. A low refresh rate implies that the image will be refreshed infrequentlyso that we will perceive less information and we will suffer a greater Eye fatigue.

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

For competitive gaming (professional players) There are monitors with refresh rates of more than 165 Hz. It is a level where prices skyrocket and the benefits that we perceive are reduced, but which can still make a considerable difference in the hands of expert gamers. They represent a very important investment that not everyone is able to make profitable, so keep that in mind.

4.-Quality panel with good color rendering

Corsair-XENEON-2

Color is very important, and the quality of the panel too. I know that many people believe that an IPS or VA panel is not essential for a gaming monitor. because, in the end, you will always be sitting in front and you are going to look at the monitor from said position, without deviations, which will make the viewing angles not matter, but I don’t think the same way. In the end, it’s easy to end up in positions that don’t fully face you, or move around while gaming and those posture changes ultimately lead to poor viewing angles if you’re using a TN panel.

Monitors with VA or IPS panels are increasingly affordable, offer 178-degree viewing angles, and have a optimal reproduction of NTSC and sRGB color spaces, always keeping in mind that we are talking about monitors for gaming, and not for advanced design or editing. However, keep in mind that mid-range and high-end gaming monitors are so good 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 be the starting point in this sense? So that you have it clear, I’ll give you a specific example, the 23.6-inch MSI Optix G241VC, a gaming monitor that Meets all requirements that 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).
  • It is compatible with FreeSync.

To these three points we must add that it has a VA panelwhich means it offers 178-degree viewing angles, and reproduces the 110% of 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

The response time is essential because our user experience will largely depend on it, and because it can affect our performance in games. This value indicates the time it takes for a pixel to change colorand if this time is very high, it is likely that there will be problems of blurred image and trails, which will be especially marked 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 it is, the better. However, I must qualify it since its importance It depends on the type of games we are usingand it also offers a value that decreases substantially as the response time improves and we reach the recommended minimum.

Thus, in games that do not have frenetic action and that consist of very fast moving scenes the impact of response time is much less. For example, response time doesn’t have the same impact when playing Resident Evil 2 Remake as it does when playing a game of DOOM Eternal, since the latter is pure frantic action.

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

Five recommendations to get the right purchase of your gaming monitor

To finish this article I want to share with you five monitors that not only meet those five requirements that we have seen in detail, and therefore they can be considered as good monitors for gamingbut they also have very interesting prices and offer a good value in relation cost-performance.

  • AOC G2490VXA 23.8″, a cheap but very interesting option, since it is compatible with FreeSync Premium and G-Sync, has a refresh rate of 144 Hz and uses a VA panel. is lowered 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 165Hz. It is downgraded to 179 euros.
  • Newskill Icarus RGB IC27QRC, equipped with a 27-inch VA panel, has a resolution of 2,560 x 1440 pixels, a refresh rate of 165 Hz, is compatible with AMD FreeSync Premium and G-Sync and is downgraded to €249.99.
  • ASUS TUF Gaming VG289Q, a 28-inch 4K monitor with an 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 great value for money, especially now that it is reduced to 319 euros.
  • GIGABYTE M28U, 28-inch 4K monitor with Super Speed ​​IPS panel, has a 144Hz refresh rate and supports FreeSync Premium Pro and works with G-Sync seamlessly. is lowered to 649 euros.

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