All gamers know that the last thing they want to happen when they are battling raging dragon or dodging bullets is for your screen to blur leading to you missing that shot, bullet or not being able to see part of your game because your gaming monitor is not clear enough.  With many of the latest breeds of gaming PC’s coming as a console only, it allows gamers to customize their gaming experience for their own personal preference. Gone are the days when gamers simply took the first generic monitor that was available to them, they are now looking for ways to customize their gaming experience through their monitor as well.

The obvious question here is, what should you look for in the perfect gaming monitor. Yes we’re looking for a super screen that comes with a display that is both especially sharp and come with a resolution that is pixel-perfect, however when you factor in price and realize that you can get perfect at an extreme cost, you need to start thinking about what you really need and what actually you can do with out.

When choosing the best gaming PC desktop monitor, you need to take into account the following:

Screen Size – Size is very important these day’s as a larger screen will give you more display, however if you have a to big a screen can slow you gaming speed.  Most people that we speak to typically mention that the sweet spot is somewhere around the 25-30 inches in size.

Screen Resolution – In the good old days, a Full HD (1920 x 1080 resolution) was considered top of the range, however with the introduction of Quad HD, WQHD, 4K or Ultra HD, the standard HD is simply not enough.  Given these higher resolution displays have bee around for a while now, the price has dropped significantly meaning that you can now get a Ultra High Definition screen with 3840 x 2160 resolution for under $400, however you will need to upgrade your graphics card as most GPU’s don’t offer UHD support.

Response Times – You need to your monitor to handle even the fastest of game plays. Ideally this means that your response time need to be around the 1.5-to-2ms.

Input Lag – which is the time taken for your monitor to process the image before it displays it. Obviously the quicker the better.

Contrast Ratio – Dynamic contrast ratios work okay, however standard ratios are best and if you’re wanting to play in direct sunlight, then the option of a matte screen could help.

TN Panels – these are cheap to buy and will help with high quality images which works well especially when you want to use your monitor outside of the gaming world.

Extra Features – Ideally you want to choose a gaming monitor with a selection of inputs meaning that if you want to use your gaming monitor for watching movies using an external DVD player you can do or maybe you want to adjust the height of the display unit and therefore ergonomic stands will allow you to do this.

Price – This is very important given that not everyone has a grand lying around to spend on the latest design.  The important thing about choosing the right gaming PC monitor is that its a personal choice and what’s right for me, might not be right for you.  If you have money to burn, go and get yourself a NEC MultiSync PA322UHD-BK 32-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor which retails for around $3,500.  Its a fantastic model which you can see here, however if you want to think about realistic gaming monitors, then check out our top models below.

Here are our top Three Best Gaming Desktop PC Monitor

The 27-Inch AOC i2757FH

This is my favourite screen and one that I use with my Alienware Aurora R4 which we reviewed here. This new 2014 model comes with a 27-Inch wide screen that has all the features of IPS technology but at the same time comes with a realistic price tag that means even if you decide to buy two, its still affordable. Its fantastic design, great viewing angle performance and dual HDMI ports mean that it’s a good buy, however it’s still expensive for a screen and does not come with any USB ports.

The 27-Inch BenQ XL2720Z

If money is no object then take this screen as it provides epic performance, super fast pixel response, 144HZ refresh rate, dedicated FPS modes and a super clear high-resolution gaming screen. The 27-inch screen allows you to view you game, however all this does come at a cost and the price makes this monitor just out of reach for most people. BenQ do make a smaller 24-inch screen that does bring the price down enough to make it affordable, however like most gamers I would prefer my monitor to be as large as possible. The only other slight downside of the BenQ models is that there gaming view for perfect graphics is actually very narrow and unless your sitting directly in front of the screen its becomes blurred very quickly. This is fine when you only have one screen, however when you start having multiple screens, this can become a problem quickly.

HP DreamColor Z27x

The HP Dream Color Z27X is another fantastic gaming PC monitor that comes with a maximum resolution of 2560 X 1,400 and a 27-inch screen with the only real problem being the price tag which is a rather steep $1,499.  The Z27X looks like any other professional gaming monitor and comes as standard with a 27-inch screen, 2.5 inches thick and weight in at around 14 pounds. 

It’s fully adjustable both for height and tilt, and comes with a selection of ports to include two display inputs, an HDMI ports, three, USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 ports.  There is also an audio output, digital output and an RJ-45 LAN jack.  The monitor is fully customizable meaning that you can adjust the Picture-In-Picture (PIP) configurations and aspect ratio.  Performance is fantastic straight out of the box with all colors remaining true from every angle with very good response times.  Overall we love this gaming PC monitor, however whilst you get a lot for your money, we do feel that the price tag does limit those who will be able to afford it.

James Montano