If you are a gamer – whether casual or serious, usually when considering how to be the best you look at first at hardware.
The first item normally considered is obvious – you need a high end graphics card to be able to fully utilize fast paced games, first person shooter or sport games. Successful gaming is about fast response to what you see – to do this by just having a good graphics card is not sufficient.
The way we see things visually is prime, then it is how we interpret the situation and then how fast we can react. You need to be able to see the action clearly, without any blurring of the screen, screen tearing or flickering.
This is why the specialized gaming monitor becomes a must.
Things to look out for: Panel size, Resolution and refresh rates. Additionally knowing what the descriptive terms used by retailers to describe their products also mean, also helps if you are new to gaming!
REMEMBER EVERYBODY has to start somewhere – knowing the terms and starting from the basics is the best way to go!
Here a few tips:-
Panel size
- The major opinion here is that as far as serious gaming is concerned the bigger panel/screen is the best. If you are a serious gamer and have the room a 27” screen will offer the opportunity to stretch further than Full High Definition (FHD) – which normally will give you a maximum resolution of 1,920 X 1,080.
- If you are checking these out you will find that these are described as Wide, Quad High Definition (WQHD) and they will have maximum resolutions of 2,560 X 1,440 pixels. You will need a powerful graphics card (GPU) to get the best out of this type of display.
- B. it does not always follow that if the resolution is high that you will always need a powerful GPU, it is possible to downscale the gaming resolution and use the higher resolution for other things.
Refresh Rates
This is pretty simple to understand – as it just refers to the time (per second) that it will take to refresh the whole screen image….this will be measured in Hertz (Hz). The majority of LCD monitors normally have a 60 Hz refresh rate. This is fine for general use and casual gaming however for more fast paced gaming it may mean that your images become blurred or there may be screen tearing. A refresh rate of at least 120 Hz will eliminate this.
For the casual or first time gamer – i.e. Someone who may be using the computer for general work too, a standard 23.6 Wide TN LED monitor is ideal.
e.g. AOC E247OSWHE 23.6 Wide TN LED Monitor
N.B. Remember age is no limit when it comes to gaming. The BBC has reported that computer games are growing in popularity with older people as it is a good way to be able to keep mentally active!
Consequently if you are new to gaming do check out a few things first before purchasing. Just because the recommendations are for big screens this does not automatically mean that you need one when first starting out. The bigger the screen, the more functions it will have, and therefore the more expensive it will be. There are plenty of budget buys out there and a good retailer will have the experience to know which buy may be best for you. Customer service, albeit online chat or speaking personally to a member of the staff is important to help you make the correct choice.