Upgrading your display to one of the best gaming monitors is a great way to improve your gaming experience. Bigger gaming monitors let you see more in greater detail, while higher resolutions let you make your games look crisper and clearer than ever. Higher refresh rates can make games feel smoother, and you a more competitive player, and new display technologies like OLED can make colours and contrast really stand out.

There is a wide range of gaming monitors to pick from, though. From fast 1080p models designed for Esports gaming, to gigantic 4K+ ultrawide monitors that will take up your whole desk, and everything in between.

Here are some of the best gaming monitors you can buy today.

Dell Alienware AW3423DW

Size: 34-inch

Type: QD-OLED

Resolution: 3,440 x 1,440

Refresh rate: 175Hz

Resonse time: 0.1ms

The Dell Alienware AW3423DW might not have the catchiest of names, but it is a head-turning display.

It uses the cutting-edge QD-OLED display technology found in the latest high-end TVs from Samsung and Sony, delivering the same gorgeous deep blacks of OLED technology, but with much higher brightness and more vibrant colours. Even with this early-adoption tech at its core, this Alienware monitor still offers a refresh rate of 175Hz, so it’s fast enough for smooth animations and competitive play.

Its resolution is 3,440 x 1,440, so at 34 inches it’s like having two smaller 1440p displays side by side. That’s enough pixels to make this display look better and more detailed than traditional 2,560 x 1,440 displays, but without the extreme demand on your GPU that you find with 4K monitors.

This gaming monitor won’t get as bright as some of the brightest Mini-LED displays, but it gets bright enough to compete with traditional LCD displays. It can hit around 1,000 nits on a 2% section of the screen, or 500 nits on a 10% of the screen; that’s plenty for a little HDR in movies and supporting games.

It also supports G-Sync and Freesync, so no matter what graphics card you have, you don’t need to fear screen tearing, and it has wide viewing angles, so if you want to buddy up with a friend for gaming or a monitor movie night, it’s a great choice.

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 Gaming Monitor

Size: 32-inch

Type: VA (Mini-LED)

Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160

Refresh rate: 240Hz

Response time: 1ms

For the ultimate 4K gaming monitor, look no further than the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8. It is a 32-inch VA panel with steep curvature and some of the most incredible brightness you will find in any monitor, gaming or not. It is also the world’s first 240Hz 4K gaming monitor, so if you have a high-end gaming PC to power it, there are few monitors you’ll find that can even hold a candle to this incredible gaming monitor.

In SDR or HDR it can hit over 1,000 nits, which is very rare in a PC gaming monitor. Local dimming with the Mini-LEDs is impressive, too, with almost 1,200 local dimming zones.

That means that in high-contrast scenes, you shouldn’t see any blooming around bright elements. And, with dynamic brightness control, the monitor will adjust its settings on the fly to give you the best quality picture for what you’re playing, and the environment you’re playing in. It can even use its ambient lighting to mirror what’s on screen for improved immersion.

The curvature is an aggressive 1000R, so this really is a gaming monitor for use by yourself, but that curve does make it more immersive by keeping the whole screen at the same distance from your eyes. Input lag is super low on this monitor, so if you want one for competitive play, there are few better.

Asus ROG Swift PG259QN

Size: 25-inch

Type: IPS

Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080

Refresh rate: 360Hz

Response time: 1ms (GtG)

If you’re an aspiring professional gamer, then you want a fast gaming monitor.

Higher refresh rates and fast response times ensure your reaction times are as fast as possible, and you have the most up-to-date in-game information possible.

The Asus ROG Swift PG259QN is the fastest display you can buy, with an incredible 360Hz refresh rate. You’ll need to have a powerful PC to hit the kind of frame rates you’ll need to fully take advantage of it, even at 1080p, but if you can, you’ll have a gaming monitor that will truly make you a more competitive player.

This IPS panel is 25-inches and at 1080p, doesn’t have the detail of higher-resolution displays. However, that resolution is deliberate, letting your PC pump out more frames without the added burden of higher resolutions. It still looks crisp and clear on a monitor this size, and 25-inches is the perfect size so that you aren’t turning your head or moving your eyes too much to see the edges of the screen.

With a 1ms response time, you can rest assured that ghosting isn’t a problem, and this monitor has a very low input lag, so it won’t hold you back when it comes to responding quickly to the action on screen. It supports both Freesync and G-Sync, so there’s no need to fear screen tears or stuttering.

It’s not the brightest display, maxing out around 450 nits, so it’s not the best for HDR gaming or movies, but it’s bright enough to play in a brightly lit room. Playing in the dark isn’t so great, though, as the IPS panel can make blacks look a little grey.

Gigabyte Aorus FV43U Gaming Monitor

Size: 43-inch

Type: VA

Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160

Refresh rate: 144Hz

Response time: 1ms (MPRT)

If you want a gaming monitor that can double as a big screen TV, or just want the biggest gaming monitor you can find, the Gigabyte Aogus FX43U is hard to beat.

It’s a 4K gaming monitor that at 43 inches, is easily as big as some of the best gaming TVs. But it’s a monitor. So along with HDMI 2.1 inputs for any console gaming you want to do, it also has a pair of DisplayPort 1.4 connections, and a USB Type-C port.

It’s a 4K display, so you’ll want a powerful graphics card to run it, but at this sort of size, 4K games look amazing. It’s fast too, with a 144Hz refresh rate (120Hz for console gaming mode), and it has impressive colour saturation, with support for 97% of the professional DCI-P3 gamut, and 150% of the sRGB gamut.

It has a very low input lag and a fast response time, so it’s great for competitive play, and it supports Freesync and G-Sync, so screen tearing isn’t an issue. Its contrast is one of its standout features, giving you deep blacks in darker rooms for bedroom gaming. It even gets pretty bright, at up to 1,000 nits, so HDR can really pop off the screen in supporting games.

At this sort of size, it is unweidly, and you’ll need a big desk to take it, but if you can, there’s little out there that can look as good as the Gigabyte Aorus FV43U.

LG UltraGear Ergo 27GN88A

Size: 27-inch

Type: IPS

Resolution: 2,560 x 1,440

Refresh rate: 144Hz

Response time: 1ms (GtG)

The LG UltraGear Ergo is a great monitor twinned with a great stand. It’s a 1440p, 144Hz IPS gaming display with a fast response time, and impressive brightness. It has a low input lag which makes it great for competitive play, and it has wide colour support, giving you a vibrant picture.

It’s not the brightest of displays, maxing out at around 400 nits, so its HDR performance is subpar, but there aren’t that many games that support that anyway.

Contrast, as with most IPS panels, isn’t the best, so you’ll be better off playing games in brighter-lit rooms. It does have great viewing angles, though, so if you want to play with a friend or partner, they’ll have just as good a picture as you.

One of the biggest selling features of the LG Ergo is that it has one of the most unique stands you’ll find on any monitor.

It lets you orient it exactly how you like it. That lets you change the display position easily if you’re constantly moving – like when using a standing desk – or you can move the stand to the side to give it an invisible-mounting look. Its desk clamp is strong, reducing the need for a large foot stand for the monitor, making your desk neater and tidier in the process. It’s a great additional feature for a similarly excellent display.

HP X24ih Gaming Monitor

Size: 24-inch

Type: IPS

Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080

Refresh rate: 144Hz

Response time: 1ms (GtG)

If you just need a cheap gaming monitor that’s better than your average office display, then the HP X24ih is a great choice.

It’s well under £200, and yet gives you a 24-inch, 1080p display with a fast 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms G2G response time. It has HDMI and DisplayPort connections, so you can hook up consoles, or other media devices as well as gaming PCs. Plus, it enjoys wide viewing angles, so if you want to play some couch coop with a friend, it’s great for that.

There’s native Freesync support, helping to cut screen tearing and stuttering at lower frame rates, and with its fast 1ms response time you can rest assured ghosting won’t be a problem on this gaming monitor. Its contrast isn’t the best, so in darker rooms, blacks will look closer to grey. But if you’re gaming in brighter rooms the picture should look perfectly fine.

There’s no HDR support with this monitor, but it gets bright enough for day-to-day gaming – around 350 nits at maximum – and avoids reflections. Input lag on this display is incredibly low, so if you’re a competitive player, you won’t feel it holds you back; especially if your PC is fast enough to hit high frame rates.

Sony InZone M9 Gaming Monitor

Size: 27-inch

Type: IPS

Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160

Refresh rate: 144Hz

Response time: 1ms (GtG)

Sony has a range of new gaming accessories and peripherals designed for PS5 gamers, including this InZone M9 gaming monitor. However, just because it might be designed with the PlayStation 5 in mind, doesn’t mean it’s not a great fit for PC gaming too – especially if you’re playing some of those excellent PlayStation ports that have been making the leap in recent years.

This is a 4K monitor with support for 120Hz (for console gaming) and 144Hz refresh rates, giving you options and smooth gameplay. It has a 1ms response time, so ghosting isn’t a concern, and input lag is impressively low too, so it’s great for esports play.

As an IPS panel, it has fantastic viewing angles, so is great for multiplayer, although its contrast isn’t as strong as others, so it’s not the best for gaming in dark rooms.

It features HDMI 2.1 ports for connecting PlayStation and Xbox consoles and playing at 4K 120Hz, and it gets impressively bright, managing over 800 nits in HDR mode, so it will make HDR games really pop off the screen. That’s especially true if you’re gaming on a PS5, where the TV will link up with the console to adjust its settings for the best picture quality possible.

Conclusion

The best gaming monitors of today offer everything. They have high refresh rates, fast response times, great colouring, high brightness, and impressive ergonomics. There are some monitors better suited for certain tasks than others, though, and you shouldn’t buy a 4K monitor if you don’t need it, or can’t power it properly.

Fortunately, there’s a great spread of different display options, from those aimed at esports gamers looking for every advantage, to console gamers looking to relax with a monster of a screen. Whatever kind of gaming monitor you’re looking for, there’s something here for you.