Tips for Buying an LCD or LED Monitor for Gaming
There are a few tips before you buy a gaming monitor – Monitor is one of the supporting hardware in playing games. There are many things to consider before you buy a gaming monitor. Starting from resolution, screen size, ratio, panel, response time, to refresh rate. Why not use the TV? The reason is because the TV is designed for long viewing distances.
In addition there is what is called pixel density, where the pixels on a monitor screen are denser than a TV with the same size or resolution. If you look at the TV & monitor at the same distance, of course the monitor will provide a sharper image than the TV. Therefore, if your needs are editing or gaming, it is recommended to use a monitor instead of a TV. Following tips for buying a gaming monitor.
1. Resolution & Screen Size
Monitors have many resolution variants, ranging from HD (1280p x 720p), Full HD (1920 x 1080p), Quad HD (2560p x 1440p), and 4K (3840p x 2160p). The higher the resolution, the sharper the resulting image.
The higher the resolution, then you must also use an equivalent VGA so that stuttering does not occur when playing games, especially in games that are quite heavy like GTA V, Doom, and others.
The resolution I have mentioned above is a resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio. There is still something higher, namely the 21:9 aspect ratio which is generally found on ultrawide monitors.
The advantage of ultrawide monitors is that when watching videos or movies, you will not find black bars so that the image looks wider. In addition, playing games using an ultrawide monitor can also provide a more optimal gaming experience.
2. Panels & Response Time
Monitors that are commonly used today are monitors that use TN (Twisted Nematic) panels and IPS (In Plane Switching) panels, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Monitors with TN panels have relatively cheaper prices with a response time of 1-2 ms.
The disadvantage of the TN panel is in the view angel, where if you look from the left / right side, the screen will look dim. However, this type of panel is more suitable for gaming because of the smaller response time.
On the IPS panel, the resulting color is more accurate and the view angle is wider than the TN panel. The disadvantages of IPS panels are that they have a higher response time (4-5 ms) and are a little expensive. Monitors with IPS panels are more suitable for editors who require good color accuracy.
3. Response Time
Still related to the type of panel, response time is how quickly the monitor pixels change color from one color to another. That’s why gamers are advised to use a monitor with a TN panel that has a fairly fast response time to minimize ghosting.
4. Refresh Rate
Refresh rate is very influential when playing games. In short refresh rate is the number of times a monitor refreshes in one second. For example, a monitor with a refresh rate of 60Hz, then in one second the monitor will refresh up to 60 times.
The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the picture will be when you play games. The problem is if the refresh rate and fps when playing games are not equal, screen tearing will occur. Therefore there is an adaptive sync feature, G-Sync for Nvidia and Freesync for AMD.
This feature serves to equalize the fps and refresh rate so as to minimize screen tearing. A few tips that I can give. Hopefully it can help those of you who are going to buy monitorgaming. Hope it is useful.