Computer Gaming Monitors

[Youngman]

Hi All

I hope you're all well, especially in these troubled times. I look into these forums from time to time but not as much as I used to, real life getting in the way!
Ok, on with the Topic I've posted above.
I'm just building up a second computer solely to use for gaming. The new build is centred around an Asus MB which is a Rog Strix B650E-F Gaming Wi Fi DDR5. An AMD Ryzen 7 7800 X 3D Cpu, 32 GB DDR5 Ram 6000mhz Amd Expo. And a MSI Radeon RX 6750 XT Gaming X TRIO (3 Fan Model) 12 GB Graphics Card.

My Present Monitor Display is a iiyama ProLite B2409HDS 24" 2ms Monitor which (I'll probably regret saying this) I've been using for the last... ...maybe 8 -10 years (maybe even longer!), and it's still good as far as I can tell. It's refresh rate is 60hz native resolution 1920 x 1080p.
I'm just debating whether to buy a second monitor to go with this new build that would be more inline with 'gaming'.
I was thinking whether to keep to a 24" monitor with a faster refresh rate and the same resolution or perhaps a '2k' monitor 24", or maybe a larger screen?

Questions are:- Will I notice any improvement with the display if I buy a more gaming focused monitor?
What are the limitations (in respect to the core build of the computer at this present time) of choosing which type of monitor.?

As always, any suggestions welcome, either the experiences you have or had with gaming monitors (If you have one), which type would be generally suitable, which monitors to avoid for various reasons, and also bearing in mind the budget I'd be trying to keep within if possible (which is about £250).
I'd also prefer a monitor that can be adjusted for height, perhaps a small amount of tilt, (swivel not important) and colored black, also Energy efficient.

Feel free to discuss anything generally connected about the main topic!

Oldman

[matthewfarmery]

I have seen several videos on gaming monitors.

For rule of thumb, it also depends on your distance you view from your monitor.

24-inch monitors are best for distances of 3 feet or less. 27-inch displays work well for 3 to 4 feet. If you are interested in a larger gaming monitor, 32-inch screens work best when sitting about 5 feet away. Next, choose a resolution based on the size of your screen and the types of games you play

A higher refresh rate is good for FPS games. But some monitors might not work that well if set to a lower refresh rate. Also, there is HDR, if you are interested in that, you probably looking at a very pricey monitor. I'm currently using a 24 inch myself, and find it OK. I was looking at getting a larger monitor, but after some research, I decided against it.

Unless you got some serious money to burn, I would avoid getting a 4K monitor, unless its very good, and if you got a good graphics card. The higher the res and refresh rate, the lower your overall FPS will be.

One final thing is the type of display it is, ISP monitors are still very good, while there are others, like QHD, However, some can suffer from burn in. and then, do you want a curved or flat monitor. There are plenty of curved monitors out there, but not as many as there used to be.

This seems to be a good video to watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCB5NEWL4w0

Hope that helps.

[Youngman]

Hi Matthew

Thanks for the reply, and the link, will have a look
Hmm...I reckon a 24" monitor will be good enough, my computer desk is only about 2ft wide x 6ft 3" length, so I'm roughly (just measured it) 2ft away from screen. Besides, if I get a 24" there's enough room (lengthwise) to place the screens next to each other (and it won't look odd, if you see what I mean), whilst still being able to place keyboards (2), mouse mats and joystick in the same position roughly as they are now.
Okay, that's the size of screen figured out. I don't think I'd want (or need) a curved screen of that size so...to re-cap, a 24" flat screen. Just need to make a decision on refresh rate, and make / manufacturer I think now. There's so many manufacturers about nowadays, MSI, Asus, Sony, etc etc.....I'll obviously be looking at monitor reviews, and maybe look around locally in computer shops in my area, to try and see some of the actual displays working would probably be a good move.

Okay, cheers!
Oldman

[Imperial Good]

For a good gaming experience the properties I recommend having are...

• At least 120 Hz refresh rate support. Higher refresh rates improve overall motion clarity and lower input latency. The panel used must actually support that refresh rate with appropriate pixel response times. For this property OLEDs and related technology are ideal, IPS are typical and most VA should be avoided. TN are the best LCDs for this property but have other drawbacks.
• Variable refresh rate support with freesync and/or gsync as appropriate for your GPU. Helps to reduce input latency and makes screen tear a concern of the past. No in game vertical sync is required, usually you just set your desired maximum refresh rate a few FPS below the maximum refresh rate of the display and let variable refresh rate handle the rest. Some LCDs can end up with flicker if games run at very specific frame rates with specific displayed content but this usually a non-issue and can easily be worked around with a few setting or FPS tweaks.
• Very good colour accuracy. To really enjoy games you want them to look their best, which is where this is important. sRGB colour accuracy is especially important as most games have been made with that colour space in mind. Good HDR support is nice for games that support it, but this is still largely a premium feature and a lot of games are still made without HDR support. OLED and VA excel at this and IPS is good enough but can have contrast issues. TN should be avoided as they have very poor visual properties.

For resolution you will want at least 1080p as a lot of modern games are designed with at least this resolution in mind. 1440p is a good compromise for a little extra resolution while still being able to get most of the properties above and most modern GPUs can drive games at this resolution well, especially if a little upscaling is used. 4k is very much a premium feature for gaming displays, and to even benefit from it in newer games you will need to own higher end GPUs which are also premium products. For image quality, generally smaller displays can get away with lower resolutions while bigger ones need higher resolutions since it is about maintaining a good DPI more than just pixel numbers.

A lot of gaming displays are TN panels. This is because they offer very low pixel response times allowing for some absurd refresh rates. However they suck to visually look at and even the better looking ones suck compared to considerably lower tier displays using other panels. The main feature of these displays is the high refresh rate and low latency which is very important for playing esport "twitch shooter" games competitively. I recommend staying clear of these displays if you want to enjoy looking at or immersing yourself with the games you play, rather than playing them as a chore.

OLED and related technologies (e.g. QLED) seem poised to replace LCDs in most applications in the coming years. As listed above they offer near ideal characteristics for gaming displays, both good pixel response times and colour accuracy properties. It is already making its way as a gaming main stay with Switch OLED and Steam Deck OLED variants. Although costs are rapidly decreasing, this technology is still largely a premium feature in the desktop display segment as far as I am aware. It is also unclear how well these early generation OLED displays will age due to burn in concerns. If your money is quite tight it might be a good idea to avoid these even if they will deliver a very good experience for some years.

[burger1]

22 inches seems to be about the cut off for 1080p. 24 vs 22 seems to be different.

75 mhz minimum refresh rate is recommended by many people. Might depend on the individual.

Getting a height adjusting monitor might be the hard part? They all or at least most seem to tilt. Can mount using a stand/arm.

Read amazon reviews. Look at recent reviews to see if recent parts changes have made the monitor unreliable. Stuff can be the same product but the parts in it might change due sales/supplies, etc...

Maybe ask if you can return the monitor if it has a single dead/stuck pixel. Might not be able to get rid of the pixel. Usually require multiple dead/stuck pixels for a return.

Maybe watch youtube videos for your gaming set up to get an idea on fps/stability.

You'll likely need to mess around with the brightness, contrast. etc... to calibrate the monitor. Default settings seem to be off usually. The monitor will likely look bad before tweaking. Big difference.

Look for sales? Don't buy refurbished.

Buying non standard resolutions might not be great. 16:9 is fairly standard. Pictures can get stretched, distorted and might require extra work from your pc.

[Youngman]

(Abbreviated)....
Look for sales? Don't buy refurbished.

Buying non standard resolutions might not be great. 16:9 is fairly standard. Pictures can get stretched, distorted and might require extra work from your pc.

Hi Burger

No, I'd never consider buying a refurbished monitor, or any other computer stuff. As a side note I buy nearly all my computer stuff from Scan Computers (Here in the UK).
They have always delivered on time, great packaging, and fairly reasonable prices. What I don't understand is most of their refurbished components seem to cost more than the new stuff!...I don't get it. As Spock would say 'Totally illogical'.
I just missed a good buy I think (Black Friday deal) on a Gigabyte 24" monitor (G24 F2), list price £169 reduced to around £120 in the sale, was debating buying it but when I looked on their site this morning it had gone back up to the former price! .....
Ah well, such is life, not really important at the moment especially getting close to Christmas. I'll keep looking at reviews etc.

Thanks for the reply btw. @ Imperial Good

Oldman