What is a Gaming Monitor

If you find yourself playing PC games often, it may be time to invest in a high-quality gaming monitor. There are dedicated gaming monitors designed specifically to improve your PC gaming experience. But what exactly is a gaming monitor and what makes it different from a regular monitor? Let’s find out!

A Gaming Monitor’s Purpose

A gaming monitor is a computer monitor especially engineered for optimizing the display of computer games. Many modern gaming monitors are designed to support large-scale resolutions, such as 1080P, 4K, and 5K. Typical gaming monitors, on the lower end, start at 24” inches in length and include special features like Full HD, QHD, curved screens, multi-panels, high contrasts, and fast refresh rates, while providing superb color definitions and depth. NVIDIA recently released the largest gaming monitor available on the market in 2017, boasting a full 65” screen, breaking the industry norms.

Gaming monitors are designed to optimize the screen’s display to bring in images faster with 120+ refresh rates while providing sharper moving images and synchronization improvements. What this means is that all of the graphic data sent to the gaming monitor arrives on the screen in the fastest manner possible, delivering crisp images and sharp details.

Having a gaming monitor helps gamers show their skillful reaction times while playing competitive online games, such as RUST Experimental, PUBG, and CSGO. With a quality gaming monitor and the advanced, yet standard features they bring to the table can allow a gamer to feel more immersed in their game worlds. Gaming monitors also provide a much-needed edge in the world of competitive gaming.

Types of Gaming Monitors

There are a wide variety of different gaming monitors, however, the most common monitors are driven by LCD and LED technologies.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors have a layer of color arranged between two polarizing filters and a few transparent electrodes. The optical effect is achieved by polarizing the light and making it pass via the crystal layer with great results.
Light Emitting Diodes (LED) monitors are similar, they use light-emitting diodes instead of cold cathode fluorescent. This makes such monitors more environmentally friendly, as they do consume less power when compared to regular LCD monitors.
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLED) monitors are organic light-emitting diodes, in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is made of a film of an organic compound. This compound then emits light in response to electric current.

LCD Pros	LCD Cons
LCD gaming monitors are less expensive Huge variety of available sizes Exceptional for smaller gaming monitors Provide strong image detail A wide array of connection ports	Not the most environmentally friendly option Contrast is not the of the best quality

LED Pros	LED Cons
Highest quality, best in class contrast Can be used for any resolution Lightweight, thin design panels Low energy consumption Minimal heat production Longer typical lifespans than LCD A wide array of connection ports	Higher costs when compared to LCD Availability in specific sides can be limited

OLED Pros	OLED Cons
Thinner, lighter, and more flexible Brighter than regular LED technologies Self-emitting pixels that do not require backlighting The capability of larger fields of view	Extremely susceptible to water damage Manufacturing costs are very high right now The lifetime of an OLED monitor can be significantly less than others

Should I Consider a Gaming Monitor?

This question can only be answered in a case-by-case scenario, as you know yourself best. It really comes down to what you want from your overall gaming experience. It’s a similar question that gamers who pursue VR systems ask themselves.

Do you play many games competitively?
Are you looking for another edge to add to your system?
Looking to enhance your gaming experience and immersion?
Is your current monitor nearing the end of its life cycle or have dead pixels?

A gaming monitor can solve problems that gamers experience year after year with standard monitors. Issues like on-screen jittering, ghost images, screen and image burn, as well as unintended motion blur.

If you’re spending many hours sitting in front of a standard screen, whether you’re enjoying PC games or watching movies, you’ll learn to appreciate a top-notch, quality monitor when you come across one. It’s one of those things, once you try it, you’ll never go back. Really, it’s hard to imagine any regrets for upgrading and investing in this portion of your gaming system!

What is a Gaming Monitor