There is a lot more to be aware of when you choose the best gaming monitor for you then you probably think. So let us go over all the different specs you need to look at and balance the pros and cons of each. If you are looking for a gaming monitor, you probably know that high refresh rate monitors are very popular. High refresh rate 144hz monitors are perfect for gaming especially if you are playing fast-twitch games like Counterstrike or something like that. But refresh rate isn’t the only spec you should look at because there are some high refresh rate gaming monitors that might have some other specs that make it worse than another type of monitor such as ghosting. So let me explain a little bit about that.
144hz monitors for FPS games
If you play a lot of FPS games go with the high refresh rate. If you don’t then go for a high resolution better quality monitor for color reproduction. I will get into that in a bit. So let us say you have decided on a high refresh rate monitor. Next, you are going to need to think about what type of panel you want to get. Choose from IPS, TN or VA because these all have different properties that may be better suited for applications that are better for color reproduction or gaming.
The best IPS gaming monitors are much better for color reproduction and image quality. If you are doing a lot of Photos and video editing, an IPS monitor is a must. You really can’t get that accurate colors with the other types of monitors. IPS is the industry standard for color quality. However, that being said even if it is a high refresh rate, 144 Hertz, IPS monitor, IPS monitors inherently are not that good regarding ghosting. There is going to be a bit more latency and input lag and gray to gray response time. So even if it is a high refresh rate monitor you are going to get ghosting which means that the pixels are going to have almost a trail of a character for example, because the pixels can’t refresh fast enough and have a little bit more latency than say a TN Panel. Gray to Gray response time is is the time it takes a pixel to switch from one color to another. So you can imagine if it has a very low gray to gray response time you are not going to get ghosting because the pixels can switch to what it should be showing very quickly.
TN Panels they are pretty terrible at color reproduction. If you are doing Photoshop or video editing where you need to see the color accurately then, TN is not your choice. However, if you are just worried about gaming, TN panels are probably the best option assuming you get a good one. And that is because TN panels are the fastest. They have the best gray to gray response time and the lowest input lag. A lot of times you will see under 4ms response times. And because TN panels have much lower response times you are going to get a lot less ghosting which means there is going to be less of a trail behind things.
A third type of monitor panel is VA. It is kind of like in between a TN and IPS. It has pretty decent color reproduction, but it is also not as fast as a TN. So if you want the best of both worlds of balance I would go with that. But if you do need one of the other, it is best to go with the TN or an IPS probably. So to sum up the last couple of points before moving on. If you are looking at a higher refresh rate monitor, don’t just look at the refresh rate and assume that they are all going to be the same. You also want to look at the specs for something called either response time or input latency which they are two different things.
Input latency is how long it takes the mouse moving to appear on the screen. And you kind of want to look at both of those typically as I mentioned a TN panel is going to have a much better response time and input latency. But an IPS panel for example even if it is a 144 Hertz. If it has a very high response time or input latency, you are going to still get a lot of input lag and a lot of ghosting because the pixels can’t switch fast just because the nature of IPS.
G-sync and Freesync to eliminate screen tearing
The final thing you need to consider is whether or not you want to get a G-Sync or FreeSync monitor. These are very similar technologies. They eliminate tearing and make your game appear much more smooth. But you also need to decide which one because G-Sync only works with NVIDIA cards and FreeSync works with AMD, and usually you can’t get both. It is just one of the other. Now you don’t necessarily need to get a G-Sync or FreeSync monitor. A G-Sync monitor might be more expensive because they have to license the proprietary module for it from NVIDIA. But I would say if you can, I would still get it, especially if you are not getting a high refresh rate monitor. And that is because G-Sync shines when it is under 60 Hertz.
When the refresh rate drops quite a bit and tearing is at its worst. G-Sync and FreeSync remove the tearing and will make the game look very smooth even if it is dropping to 30 or 45 fps. That is going to make that game look great. At a high refresh rate like 144 Hertz, G-Sync and FreeSync probably won’t make that huge of a difference because tearing is going be reduced to that refresh rate anyway. But it still has good to have.
So to sum everything up if you are looking for gaming monitor you don’t just want to look at the refresh rate. There are other factors such as the monitor panel type that are going to have an effect.