Compare gaming monitors by resolution, refresh rate, panel type, and use case. Find the best 144Hz, 240Hz, 1440p, 4K, OLED, IPS, or VA monitor for your gaming setup.
£70–£130
Fine for casual single-player gaming on a very tight budget. Any gamer who experiences 144Hz will immediately want to upgrade.
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£100–£180
The best budget gaming upgrade from a 60Hz monitor. If you're on a tight budget and want smoother gameplay, this is where to start.
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£160–£260
Best panel type for dark, atmospheric games. The deep blacks make horror, RPGs, and cinematic titles pop. Avoid if you play fast-paced multiplayer.
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£180–£280
The competitive esports pick. If you play CS2, Valorant, or Apex seriously, 240Hz at 1080p is the standard setup.
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£200–£320
The best all-round gaming monitor for most people. Fast enough for competitive play, good enough colour for immersive games.
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£300–£500
The premium all-rounder for players with high-end GPUs. Worth it if you play competitively and want sharper visuals than 1080p.
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£350–£550
The best choice for single-player immersive gaming. Note: many competitive titles (CS2, Valorant) don't support 21:9.
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£400–£700
The immersive gaming and creative work display. Best paired with RTX 4080 or above.
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£600–£900
The premium pick for players who want the absolute best. OLED delivers visuals no other panel technology can match. Burn-in is manageable with modern pixel-shift tech.
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Strength: Excellent colour accuracy, fast response, wide viewing angles
Weakness: IPS glow in dark rooms, more expensive than VA
Strength: Best contrast ratio, deepest blacks, great for dark games
Weakness: Slower response time causes ghosting in fast games
Strength: Fastest response time of LCD panels, cheap
Weakness: Poor colour and viewing angles, outdated tech
Strength: Perfect blacks, fastest response (0.03ms), best HDR
Weakness: Burn-in risk, expensive, limited peak brightness
If you play CS2, Valorant, Apex Legends, or Warzone, refresh rate is more impactful than resolution. A 240Hz 1080p monitor will give you a meaningful competitive edge over a 60Hz 4K display. Higher Hz means you see frames faster, react faster, and experience less motion blur.
IPS panels have better colour accuracy and faster response times — they are the best all-round choice for most gamers. VA panels have dramatically better contrast ratios, making dark scenes look far more cinematic. Choose IPS for competitive or versatile play; VA for single-player story games. TN is largely obsolete. OLED is the best but most expensive.
Both technologies do the same thing: synchronise your monitor's refresh rate to your GPU's output to eliminate screen tearing. G-Sync is NVIDIA-only and typically costs more. FreeSync works with AMD and many modern NVIDIA GPUs. Most gamers should just buy a FreeSync monitor — it works on both brands and costs less.
24" is the standard for competitive play — less eye movement, easier to see the full field. 27" is the most popular size for desktop gaming and a good balance of immersion and practicality. 32"+ is great for immersive gaming or when used as a hybrid work display. Ultrawide 34" is excellent for story games but unsupported in many competitive titles.
Use this comparison to shortlist monitors around the way you play. Refresh rate matters for competitive games, while resolution, panel behaviour, HDR, and response time matter more for mixed or cinematic use.
Example
A 1440p 165 Hz monitor can be a balanced choice for a mid-to-high range PC, while 240 Hz is most useful when the system can sustain very high competitive-game FPS.
A higher refresh rate is only useful when the computer can deliver matching frames consistently. A stable lower rate is often preferable to an unstable maximum.
Depends on your game type. For competitive multiplayer (FPS, battle royale), 144Hz+ is more impactful — smoother motion helps you track targets. For single-player story games, 1440p's sharper visuals are more noticeable. Ideally get both: a 1440p 144Hz IPS monitor is the sweet spot most gamers should target.
If budget allows, yes — the difference in image quality is dramatic. Perfect blacks, HDR that actually looks good, and pixel response so fast ghosting is eliminated. The burn-in concern is real but manageable: modern OLED monitors have pixel shift and screen savers, and most gamers won't see burn-in in normal use. Budget at least £600.
Yes, but only at integer scale (4K → 1080p at 4x scale looks perfect; non-integer scaling looks blurry). Many people buy 4K monitors and use upscaling (DLSS, FSR) to render at 1440p and output at 4K — this looks excellent and reduces the GPU power needed.
Response time (ms) measures how quickly a pixel transitions from one colour to another. Slower response causes ghosting or motion blur behind fast-moving objects. 1ms (GtG) IPS and OLED panels are effectively ghosting-free. VA panels at 4ms+ can ghost noticeably in fast games. TN panels are historically fastest but IPS has largely caught up.