Question Monitor recommendations please

Dec 15, 2023
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Hello,

Hope someone can help. I want to upgrade my monitor, but there are so many different options in the market, and I really don't know what to go for, or what will best match my usage and my graphics card. My current monitor is a low end TN display from ASUS. My budget is up to 250-300 pounds- I know it's not a very big budget, but I have seen some decent looking options in this range. My graphics card is 6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060, and I use my PC mostly for TV / film streaming and some gaming (mostly story rich AAA RPG titles, nothing competitive). Can anyone recommend something that would be decent for both streaming and for good looking graphics in games as described?
 
To pick a monitor, there are several criteria to look out for. For example; here's an example of my own, personal criteria, for good monitor to my build (1080p);

Size: 24", 27" or 32" (1080p does well on 24" and 27", 1440p does well with 27" and 32")
Ultrawide: No
Refresh rate: 144 Hz (or up)
Response time: 1ms
Contrast ratio: min 3000:1
TN, IPS or VA panel: VA
Color Gamut: never considered that
Curvature: 1500R or less
VESA mount: Yes. Preferably 100mm and 120mm all in one
Input port: Display Port
HDR: I don't mind it
Internal speakers: Don't need them
How many USB ports: Don't use monitor USB ports, so, i don't care
Headphone out: Don't use that either
G-Sync: Neat thing if you have Nvidia GPU but increases monitor price considerably
Price: If it's good, i'm willing to pay premium price
Brand: MSI, Asus

Note: These above are my personal preferences and may not align or even match yours. Take them as a guideline to look for a monitor.

For your build, i also suggest 1080p monitor, unless you plan to upgrade your GPU in near future.


To pick a monitor, it's also good when you know more about different monitor panel types. There are 3x kinds of monitor panels: TN, VA and IPS. Actually there are more (variations of the main three) but i focus on these main ones.

TN panel is oldest of the three and also cheapest. Where TN panel excels is it's performance, most notably response time (1ms).
Though, TN panel also has it's downsides. Prominent ones are: poor color accuracy (washed out colors), very narrow view angle and poor contrast ratio (max 1000:1).

Gaming wise, TN panel monitor is best suited for fast-paced games (FPS, racing etc), where you don't care as much about pretty colors as you do about smoothness of movements.

IPS panel has been around for some time and is also the most expensive of the three.
Where IPS panel excels is it's color accuracy, which is the best of the three. Also, it has widest viewing angles of the three.
But where IPS panel falls short is response time. IPS technology by design can't be any faster than 4ms (compared to the 1ms most TN panels are). Another area where IPS panel falls short is it's poor contrast ratio which is equal to a TN panel (max 1000:1), despite it's great color accuracy. This is most prominent when looking at black image and where black isn't black but instead gray or some form of blue. Refresh rates aren't IPS panel strong side either and many IPS panels are 60Hz, especially on higher resolutions. There are some 1440p 165Hz and 4K 120Hz IPS panel monitors out there but they are few and far apart, also costing a fortune.

Gaming wise, IPS panel monitor is best suited for slow-paced games (RPG, strategy etc), where you have time to see all those pretty colors and where smoothness of movements isn't that important.

VA panel is the newest of the three and price wise, it falls between TN and IPS. VA panel was created to take the best of both worlds (TN and IPS) and combine them.
Where VA panel excels is it's contrast ratio (min 3000:1), where you'd see the deepest and richest blacks. Also, it doesn't fall short on other aspects as well. VA panel color accuracy isn't as good as it is for IPS panel but it's close to the levels of IPS panel (considerably better than TN panel). It's viewing angle is also a notch smaller than that of an IPS panel but again, considerably better than that of a TN panel. Refresh rate wise, VA panel is more capable on different resolutions than IPS panel. Response time is another area where VA panel does good. While VA panel can't naturally be any faster than 4ms (just like IPS panel), it can achieve the magical 1ms response thanks to the software solution in it.
With VA panel monitors making waves lately, there aren't any major downsides of them. Availability used to be issue but not anymore.

Gaming wise, VA panel monitor is suited for all kinds of games. VA panel is like Jack of all trades but master of none (except when it comes to contrast ratio, there, VA panel is king).


Monitor that i'm using, is MSI Optix MAG241CR (23", 1080p, VA panel, 144 Hz, 1500R curvature),
specs: https://www.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-MAG241CR/Specification
 
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This tends to be a decent budget 1440p gaming monitor.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/W6QKHx/msi-g272qpf-270-2560-x-1440-170-hz-monitor-g272qpf

Also a good budget option for 1080p 27"

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/mcwypg/dell-g2722hs-270-1920x1080-165-hz-monitor-210-bdqb

Rtings.com is the best place to check out displays. Where the Dell and MSI recommendation came from. I'm not big on 27" 1080p, but if you are doing a lot more video playback than gaming/reading, it can be just fine. Nothing says you can't use your current monitor for other tasks.

I would also be tempted to use this as a more hybrid TV/Gaming experience:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/3HkgXL/lg-32gn600-b-315-2560x1440-165-hz-monitor-32gn600-b

2560x1440 is a little tough for an RTX2060, but it really depends on the settings.