Gaming screens
- Users are often confused about what to choose when it comes to purchasing a new computer monitor, whether they are gamers looking for a comfortable and enjoyable gaming experience or designers creating designs that require high color quality and excellent accuracy.
- If you're looking to buy a new computer monitor and you're a gamer or designer and you're confused about choosing the best gaming monitor , this article will help you choose the best gaming monitor and decide on the resolution that's right for you.
What are the available gaming monitor resolutions?
- The world of resolutions these days ranges from 1080p to 2K and 4K, each with different features and user experiences, whether you're a gamer or a designer.
- But before we delve into these precisions, we will introduce you to the common names for each precision so that you know exactly which precision to choose. The name displayed in front of you can often be confusing regarding the display precision, so I will explain the following to you.
1- FHD display resolution:
- It always means that it is a screen with a display resolution of 1920x1080, or 1080p for short, and the letter P stands for pixels. Don't be mistaken when you see a screen with HD resolution written on it.
- It means that it has a display resolution of 720 pixels, not 1080 pixels. Only screens that have the word FHD mean that they show you a display resolution of 1920x1080.
2- 2K display resolution:
- As for the 2K resolution, it clearly means that it is a screen with a display resolution of 2560x1440.
- But these days, another term is used with 2K resolution, which is WQHD. If you see this term, it means that the screen offers a display resolution of 2560x1440.
3- 4K screen:
- It displays a display resolution of 3840x2160. If you see the word 4K on a display, you should know that it displays a display resolution of 3840x2160.
- Like other resolutions, there is another name for 4K resolution, which is UHD, which also means a screen with a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.
- To clarify, there are a few monitors that use a display resolution of 3440 x 1440 pixels, also known as UWQHD. Some gamers prefer this type of monitor due to its large display area, but its drawback is, of course, its high price.
What is the best resolution for gaming and design monitors?
- If your question is which of these resolutions is right for me, my answer would be that it comes down to your personal preference. As you can see, there are 1080p, 2K, and 4K resolutions. As a designer, it's best to go for the higher resolution so you have double the working space to finish your work faster.
- For gamers, it all comes down to personal preference and the type of card you're using. For example, you can't go for 4K resolution if you have a GTX 1060! So, your personal preference as a gamer and the type of card will determine which resolution you'll go for. For designers, all resolutions can work, but to have a large working space, it's best to choose 4K or 2K.
- Just remember that 1080p resolution is suitable for a 24-inch or 21-inch monitor, 2K resolution will be suitable for a 27-inch or 28-inch monitor, while 4K resolution is best for gaming on a 27-inch to 35-inch monitor, so you can enjoy the many pixels that 4K resolution produces.
Important information about displays:
1- Response time:
- Remember that response time means how quickly a pixel needs to change the transition speed from black to white.
- A monitor with a slow response time, say 10ms, may produce a blur effect when fast-moving images are displayed on the screen.
- You will know the response time directly in the screen specifications, as it is measured in milliseconds (ms), so buying a screen with a lower response time between 2ms or 1ms is the best thing because it allows the screen to display fast movements without the problem of repeated blurry images.
2- Contrast rate and viewing angle:
- Contrast ratio is also important as it shows the range between deep black and bright white that a display can display.
- Higher contrast ratios usually result in better picture quality, but what will vary is that almost every company offers different standards for contrast ratio, so it may be confusing for you. However, in general, most monitors offer excellent contrast ratios.
- I don't see much benefit from the viewing angle for gamers. It shows you the maximum angle at which your eyes can see the screen clearly because you will basically be playing with that screen, and your eyes are directed directly towards it. Perhaps for designers, the viewing angle of the screen will be important, but for gamers, it is useless in my personal opinion.
3- Refresh rate:
- The refresh rate of a monitor is of greater importance to gamers than to designers, as it refers to the number of times a new image appears on the screen per second.
- Typically, regular displays with a 60Hz refresh rate are capable of displaying 60 frames per second, which is ideal for casual and graphic games like MOBAs, but when it comes to fast-paced, action-packed games like first-person shooters and racing games.
- It causes screen tearing or stuttering, which greatly affects your gaming experience.
- The reason is that your card, for example, produces fast frame rates between 60 and 100 frames, but the problem is that the 60Hz screen refresh rate is fixed and does not move and you cannot keep up with the frames?
- So you need a high refresh rate, so that there is a real synchronization between the frame rate and the frame rate, so that the higher the frame rate is 60, 70, and 80 frames, you will find that the screen refresh rate increases with it.
- So, you need a monitor that supports a refresh rate of up to 120Hz to 144Hz to achieve an excellent gaming experience. Don't forget to ensure that the monitor you choose supports AMD FreeSync or NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, depending on the graphics card you have.
4- Screen panel type:
First: TN panel
Abbreviation for Twisted Nematic, it is the first type of LCD display that was widely used by many display manufacturers.
- Its advantages include: lighter weight, lower production costs, fast response time, lower power consumption, much thinner display, clearer images, no resolution limits, flexibility in shape and size, and the ability to eliminate flicker. It also offers a refresh rate between 60Hz and 144Hz, ideal for gamers.
- However, its downsides include: poor viewing angles, relatively inaccurate color reproduction, average brightness levels, poor visibility in sunlight, unbalanced backlighting, and input lag.
Second: IPS panel
Abbreviation for In-Plane Switching, which came to us to address the drawbacks of TN screen panels, and to a large extent it succeeded in doing so.
- But also with some drawbacks, IPS displays have been able to solve the problems of TN displays in terms of viewing angles and poor color reproduction.
- In this regard, IPS displays have been very successful. Not only do they offer a higher contrast ratio and high color accuracy, but IPS displays also have effective color reproduction even when changing viewing angles.
- But what about the downsides? I'd say the downsides could be disappointing for gamers, as IPS displays have slower response times, higher production costs, higher power consumption, and lower refresh rates.
- IPS displays today have a refresh rate of up to 60Hz, although, like all displays, they can be overclocked to reach a faster rate. However, it should be noted that improvements have been made to IPS displays.
- They come in relatively different versions called E-IPS, in addition to H-IPS, but in the end the difference between these versions is not important to gamers because they do not improve either the response time or the refresh rate.
Third: PLS panel
Abbreviation for Plane to Line Switching, it was brought to us by Samsung, which announced it a while ago.
- This type of display panel is very similar to what the IPS panel offers, meaning that its pros and cons are similar, but with some advantages for this type of display panel.
- Samsung, proud of this type of display, points out that the PLS panel has better viewing angles, a 10% increase in brightness, a 15% reduction in production costs, improved image quality, and allows for the manufacture of more flexible displays, with the ability to overclock—and of course, we mean the refresh rate here.
Fourth: VA panel
Short for Vertical Alignment, it's not a TN panel, but it can be classified as a panel that combines the advantages of TN and IPS panels.
- This type offers much better color accuracy, greater brightness, and wider viewing angles, but it costs more than TN.
- Compared to IPS panels, VA panels have the advantage of higher refresh rates. VA panels also have an advantage over TN panels with better color reproduction, higher brightness levels, and better viewing angles.
- The positive is that it has the best contrast ratios of all the above-mentioned panel types, but it also has the worst response time of the bunch, which is frustrating for gamers, as it causes blurring in fast-moving images.
5- Screen with HDR support
Purchasing a computer monitor that supports the recently popular HDR standard means that on- screen scenes will have a wide color gamut similar to what we see on higher-quality digital cinema screens, with near-perfect consistency and brightness, without visible backlight drain in dark scenes, and without tearing or stuttering seen on traditional monitors, mobile devices, and TVs.