Gamers definitely want the best window into the virtual worlds before them. As with most things in life, size matters in the screen arena too, but other key factors are backlighting (typically fluorescent or LED these days), a good response time (nothing more than 8ms), and a good contrast ratio.
Below is a list of screens that we think would be great for gaming.
We have balanced size, response time, and resolution, and made sure they were all available in South Africa.
Price took a back seat, but fear not, we will have an “affordable” screen round up coming soon.
ASUS VG248QE 24-inch LED Monitor – R6,100.00
Rated highly for its speed by PC Mag and TechRadar, this monitor was recommended by both sites for gaming. It scored a relatively low 3.5/5 overall in both reviews, though.
This screen has a 1ms response time, a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 resolution, and a contrast ratio of 80 000 000:1 – a solid choice for gaming.
ASUS VG248QE
Dell UltraSharp U3014 30-inch monitor – R16,600
The Dell scored a 4.5/5 on PC Mag and was praised on Anandtech for its prowess and speed.
It comes with a resolution of 2560 x 1600, a 16:10 apect ratio, a 6ms response time, and a contrast ratio of 1000:1.
Dell UltraSharp U3014
BenQ XL2420TX 24-inch monitor – R9,500
This pricey little package fared well in a hands-on review by Tech Tree and PC Mag, and was awarded 4/5 by both sites.
Its stats are quite impressive too – a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2ms response time, and a 1000:1 contrast ratio
BenQ XL2420TX
AOC G2460PQU 24-inch LCD – R5,200
The AOC cracked 4/5 on TechRadar and PC Advisor, both praising its quick response time.
Its specs are: 1920 x 1080 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, 80 000 000:1 contrast ratio, and a 1ms response time.
AOC G2460PQU
ASUS PB278Q 27-inch LED – R9,200.00
The Asus scored well in PC Mag (4/5) and was recommended by Hot Hardware for its ability to “handle gameplay”.
The Asus screen comes with the standard 16:9 ratio, a response time of 5ms, 2560 x 1440 resolution, and a 80 000 000:1 contrast ratio.
ASUS PB278Q
ASUS PQ321Q 31.5″ (4K) LED – R52,000.00
This one we added in soley because it was over R50 000. The ultra-high definition screen comes with a 3840 x 2160 resolution, a 21:9 aspect ratio, a 8ms response time, and a contrast ratio of 800:1. Not ideal for gaming, but you would want one for the prestige alone. If you had more money than brains, that is.
PC Mag gave it a a 3.5/5 – due to the enormous price tag – while Anandtech awarded their Editor’s Choice: Silver rating.
ASUS PQ321Q
Are any of you running one of these monitors? If so, let us know how they perform.
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I recently bought the 16:10 24″ brother of the that ASUS PB278Q, the PB248Q.
And I couldn’t be happier.
It’s full specs are similar with a 1920×1200 res (that means it does 1080P in a letterbox), 6MS (with ASUS Tracefree to try and smooth things out and prevent ghosting which it does indeed manage as well as any IPS can and it has very low input latency); 60Hz, IPS LED (so the screen’s colours are almost entirely uniform with none of that darker at the top and lighter at the bottom junk you get on traditional panels). Don’t know what the contrast is, it says 80 mil to 1 but that’s only with ASCR (dynamic contrast) on which tends to overglow everything and is too slow to respond massive light to dark changes often turning the screen off on changes to very dark scenes from very bright ones. But it’s contrast value is still superb either way.
All connectivity options (VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort); fully adjustable awesomely weighted solid stand (height, swivel and tilt including full portrait orientation if you want), fairly thin matte bezel, 4x USB3 passthrough and some dinky little speakers. Multiple independent colour adjustment options.
And lots of air holes for sufficient cooling during those scorching South African summers.
As far as I’m concerned it’s the best monitor for PC use one can buy at the moment. It’s one of the fastest IPS monitors out there, faster than any Dell, and almost able to match the best gaming monitors whilst offering infinitely superior colour accuracy and uniformity.
Although I am curious how the ASUS MX279H stands up to it since it’s slightly faster (5MS with the same ASUS Tracefree tech for increased smoothness) and standard 16:9 1080P but I wasn’t sure that it’s super thin body would be able to stand many African summers plus it’s not as adjustable as the PB248Q.
At R5600 from Rebeltech it’s well worth a look when you need your next PC monitor.