Whether you are dumping a thousand or more dollars into a new gaming rig (and by dumping I mean investing in the most glorious of hobbies) or trying to step up your desktop game by finally upgrading from that 10-year-old LCD screen that came with your Dell, a high-end display is integral to the modern gamer’s hardware arsenal. With Nvidia and AMD cranking out more powerful graphics cards every season, there are faster displays and higher resolutions to take advantage of all that flawless graphical goodness.
With so many options, however, it can be hard to tell which monitor is truly the king of displays. Have no fear, as we have compiled a list of the top five best monitors that will make you the envy of all who gander at your desktop prowess.
Here is our list of the best gaming monitors available right now:
5. BenQ XR3501
The fifth-place spot on our list is a powerhouse for its size and price. Featuring a 35-inch ultra wide display with a curved screen, this beast is designed from the ground up to cover your entire field of view. Having a 144Hz refresh rate also puts it at the front of the pack in terms of frame-to-frame fidelity. It would have been higher on our list if only it had a higher native resolution than its 2560 x 1080.
BUY: BenQ XR3501
4. Dell UltraSharp U3415W
I know that I totally made fun of Dell monitors in the intro to this article, but a stock monitor that comes with a $300 pre-built machine, this is not. This 34-inch ultra-wide curved display features a native resolution of 3440 x 1440 and a 21:9 aspect ratio. Toss in a few more bells and whistles like its height adjustability (harder to find than you think) and USB 3.0 ports and it is not difficult to see why Dell’s UltraSharp made the list.
BUY: Dell UltraSharp U3415W
3. Acer Predator Z35
Yes, another curved display. It’s the future, man. Get used to it. Acer’s Z35 has an ultra wide 35-inch screen with a 4ms response, 144Hz refresh rate (with overclocking capabilities of up to 200Hz) and a native resolution of 2560 x 1080. The Z35 (as well as the other top choices on this list) features one of the newer innovations in display-tech, Nividia G-Sync. G-Sync aims to do away with screen tearing and the need to enable processor-sucking software solutions like Vsync. This will boost performance and visuals by off-putting that process onto dedicated hardware rather than software. A great concept for a quality display.
BUY: Acer Predator Z35
2. Acer Predator X34
While the X34 falls short of the Z35 in refresh rate (can only reach 100Hz if overclocked) and one inch of curved-screen real-estate, the X34 more than makes up for it with its 3440 x 1440 native resolution. On top of that, it has built in speakers and five USB 3.0 ports. It also has Nvidia’s G-Sync, which you will need at those resolutions. And in case you are still not sold, it’s the same monitor Terry Crews just used for his first build… and if it’s good enough for Terry, it’s good enough for you.
BUY: Acer Predator X34
1. Asus ROG PG348Q
If I didn’t know any better, I would say that this is the monitor to end all monitors. Asus’s 34-inch ROG is a beautiful piece of hardware. The ROG is truly a display meant for… display. Finished with the ROG Armor Titanium, Plasma copper color scheme and built in light effects on the frameless design, this monitor will look as ostentatious and glorious as the gaming-rig sitting next to it. The curved monitor can display resolutions of up to 3440 x 1440 with response times of as low as 1ms. This monitor also boasts a five-way OSD joystick for controlling and accessing extended display features and for using ASUS Game Plus modalities on-the-fly. Oh yeah, and it has G-Sync.
