Gadgetory

alright Steve my t-shirt dreams are finally over I've done this shirt I hope you're happy coz you've won this time welcome back to hard one-box we get asked a lot about gaming monitor recommendations especially after I started doing more regular monitor reviews on the channel well today I'll be providing you guys with five monitor recommendations across a variety of popular categories before I get into our picks I'm going to talk briefly about how I selected these monitors and what qualifies for a recommendation firstly in most categories we're looking for the best gaming monitor not the cheapest so basically that means the best monitor specs performance and other features as a result these recommendations are mostly for high-end monitors which naturally aren't always the cheapest but we do love products that are the best value for money so when two or more monitors under consideration are roughly equal in hardware and experience I went with the cheapest option a big factor in monitor prices these days is g-sync versus free sync with g-sync monitors universally costing around $200 more for otherwise the same hardware the primary focus of this video is on g-sync monitors as according to the latest steam hardware survey Nvidia has roughly 10 times the GPU market share among gamers as AMD and if you're an Nvidia user you will want a g-sync monitor to gain access to adaptive sync but if you are an AMD GPU owner and you are more interested in free sync models I will be providing free sync alternatives for each part the other thing is we aren't recommending monitors from ultra cheap companies like biotech moderate price or pick CEO because we haven't personally put any of their products to the test we don't want to recommend stuff in companies until we've had experience with their products to ensure we're not telling you to buy something dodgy so with that out of the way let's get on to the picks to kick things off we're looking at the best 1080p gaming monitor personally I prefer 27 inch monitors over 24 inch which are the two most popular sizes at this resolution and 27 inches pretty much the maximum size you'd want to use with this sort of resolution it's for this reason we're recommending the ASA predator xB 2 7 to a 27 inch 1080p TN monitor with a maximum refresh of 240 Hertz and support for g-sync this is actually the only monitor on the market right now as far as we know with these specifications and gsync support this makes it a winner by default of sorts though it's still a decent option we went with a 240 Hertz monitor over a cheaper 144 Hertz option purely for the extra smoothness during gameplay which is especially handy if you're playing fast-paced eSport shooters as you upgrade your hardware over time the additional refresh rate will also allow this monitor to stay relevant for longer for those of you who want a freesync alternative look out for the new ASIC cagey 271 B or the older XF - 7 th a which are basically the same monitor without the GC module when looking for the best 1440p gaming monitors there are a class of displays that stand out from the pack these monitors all use the same 27-inch a hv8 IPS type panel with a 165 Hertz maximum refresh rate which delivers great color performance to go along with excellent responsiveness these displays are the best for gaming in the entire market right now offering a great combination of resolution and refresh rate our favorite option of the bunch is the g-sync capable viewsonic XG 2703 GS but it's a little hard to find right now in some markets though it is readily available in Australia if you can't get this monitor opt for the ace of Predator X B 271 hu which shouldn't be confused for the 271 hua or the 271 H a or even the 270 hu yeah it's a confusing product line over at Asus so make sure you're getting the xB 271 hu to avoid either a TN panel or a 144 Hertz refresh rate we like the XG to 7:03 - 3 s for its superior build quality and view Sonic's better quality assurance as reported by owners of these monitors and we think that justifies the slightly higher price tag compared to the Acer option but if you're in North America where the XG 2 7:03 is scarce grab the xB 271 HU as the next best option it's similar to the asou space even 9q but at a lower price point unfortunately for freesync owners there are no 165 Hertz 1440p monitors available so the next best option is a 144 Hertz 1440p panel here we recommend the seuss mg279q that offers these specs along with the similar a hva panel for a great price unfortunately the highly-anticipated 144 hertz 4k monitors with HDR support have not hit the market just yet so the gaming options at 4k are still limited to just 60 Hertz the good news is that a 4k gaming monitor isn't that expensive these days and will end up costing you less than either the 1080p or 1440p options we've recommended so far a pic here is the aoc Aegon AG 271 ug as it's the cheapest model on the market to offer g-sync a 4k resolution at 27 inches and an IPS panel there are some other options around they give you a TN panel instead but IPS is better for viewing angles and color reproduction and the lower response times aren't a huge issue at 60 Hertz ideally we'd like to recommend a 32 inch 4k monitor instead of a 27 each option for the extra screen real estate but the one g-sync option on the market the ASA probe over xB 321 HK seems to be on the way out and cost an unreasonable $350 more than the AOC monitor we've decided on four freesync owners we like the look of the LG 27 UD 68 - W as it again provides a 27 inch IPS type panel instead of TN like many freesync 4k monitors it is more expensive than the 27 UD 58 - b but the extra money goes towards a newer superior panel and much slimmer bezels if you're not thinking of grabbing a 1440p high refresh monitor a high-end ultra-wide should be in consideration like with the 4k monitors new HDR capable ultra wise with a 34 40 by 1440 resolution and a 200 Hertz refresh rate have been announced but they aren't yet available so our recommendations at this stage are four monitors you can I guess actually purchase the top ultra high panels right now either 34 or 35 inches in size with a 34 40 by 1440 resolution and a 100 Hertz refresh rate or higher while not the absolute best panel available the value of the AOC a g35 to you CG is hard to ignore it comes with a 35 inch VA panel 34 40 by 14 resolution a 100 Hertz maximum refresh and gsync support all for just seven hundred and seventy dollars right now that's almost free sync level pricing for a g-sync modern up making it an absolute steal for NVIDIA GPU owners plus the VA panel used in this display is quite good and features an 1800 R curve that works well for gaming with such a large wide monitor the absolute best ultra wide display is the Dell Alienware aw three four-one HD w you had quite a product name there but the only real advantage amounts to a 120 Hertz refresh just 20 Hertz higher than the panel we've recommended from AOC and a somewhat superior IPS panel these features cost you an extra five hundred and forty dollars compared to the AG three five to you CG which is absolutely not worth it those after a free sync monitor should grab the Samsung c 34 F seven nine one which uses an SV a quantum dot panel and supports a 100 Hertz refresh along with the 34 40 by 1440 resolution it is slightly more expensive than the sous MX 34 VQ of recommended in the past but you get a better panel with a larger gamut for most of this video we've been talking about mana as therefore in the middle to upper range of pricing for a lot of you that's too much money so in this final category we're moving to the more budget end of the spectrum rather than recommending a dirt-cheap 1080p 60 Hertz model I've gone with a 1080p 144 Hertz display as these mourners there's such good value these days while you might not get the highest resolution or the best display tech having a high refresh rate does improve the game experience particularly if you can drive games more than 100 FPS the monitor we're recommending in this category is the AOC g2 460 PF a 24 inch 1080p TN display with the 144 Hertz refresh and free sync available for a touch under $200 from Amazon this is essentially the cheapest model available with this hardware and even packs features like a height adjustable stand visa mounting and a 350 in maximum brightness yeah it's not g-sync so it's not adaptive sync compatible with NVIDIA GPUs but $200 is the cost of just the g-sync module so it's not really possible to get a budget monitor at this price with J sync inside if you're interested in any of the monitors we've discussed in this video links to those are in the description below I will go through an update this list later in the year when those new HDR and high refresh high resolution monitors become available but until then it's back to the benchmarking see you next time you