OT:Gaming monitors

[alancw3]

Can any tech members give me advice and/or recommendations for a gaming monitor for my grandson? I did a search on the forum and a couple people suggested Wire Cutter as a good guide. They actually had a recent test and these were their top three choices. I was wondering about their budget choice? Anyone have experience with the ViewSonic XG2402 or can share opinion on specifications? Thanks for your thoughts.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-gaming-monitors/

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/xg2402.html

My grandson does have an older monitor but he says that for some reason that I do not understand he is at a significant disadvantage when playing games with his friends. again I know nothing about.

[FlashUNC]

The refresh rate of the monitor is everything. Combined with a graphics card that pump out more frames per second, the advantage is real that he can respond to things his friends are doing faster than a monitor that updates the image more slowly.

You can quibble about the features at either end, but really the highest Hertz rate you can find should be priority one.

[thirdgenbird]

Linus tech tips has done some very detailed comparisons on YouTube.

[Ozz]

My son is building a gaming computer for his 16th birthday....we just ordered this on Saturday: Dell S-Series 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Gaming Monitor (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2L5CXO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

He seems to think it has all the right specs...refresh rate and response time seemed to be his main criteria

Has a Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti video card

[yinzerniner]

The refresh rate of the monitor is everything. Combined with a graphics card that pump out more frames per second, the advantage is real that he can respond to things his friends are doing faster than a monitor that updates the image more slowly.

You can quibble about the features at either end, but really the highest Hertz rate you can find should be priority one.

I'd say also pay attention to the response time which is usually in ms.
Here's a good primer - it's from 2017 but the core principles are the same.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/refresh-rates-vs-response-times,news-24345.html

A good 27+inch gaming monitor can be found on the cheap. Graphics cards, not so much. GLWTS

[benb]

This is all well into the category of stuff the kid should pay for himself with earnings from a job IMO.

I grew up doing this, I'm a software engineer with a CS degree.

My dad gave me crap about wasting money on computer hardware for gaming and made me pay for it myself... it's a good lesson that is perhaps a little more difficult to learn today because hardware is so cheap. (Note my dad is also an engineer who grew up in this space and knew a ton about computer hardware and just had a very crystal clear picture of how fast money could fly out the door on this stuff.)

Eventually you come to regret spending this money. I could have had a car or something instead. Luckily I realized writing software was more interesting than gaming pretty quick and writing software required less of a constant churn of $$$ out the door on hardware and had a better pay off.

It seems to be a FPS thing.. same as it was 30 years ago.

The $700 on a monitor like this is a lost cause unless the other pieces of the computer are upgraded in turn to allow the computer to actually push the pixels fast enough to take advantage of the faster refresh rate. Pushing 2560x1440 resolution you're going to need a lot of horsepower depending on the game.

If the rest of the computer is not up to the task to push the target game at 144hz @ 2560x1440 I would recommend downsizing to a monitor that's smaller and lower resolution. Target a lower resolution in the game like 1080p and take the money that is saved and use that to upgrade the weakest point in the computer.

If the kid has to ask for help getting a $700 monitor I'd guess he doesn't have the brand new $2000-3000 computer that might be required to take advantage of this monitor. Repeat with more upgrades in 6 months.

[jkbrwn]

My son is building a gaming computer for his 16th birthday....we just ordered this on Saturday: Dell S-Series 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Gaming Monitor (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N2L5CXO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

He seems to think it has all the right specs...refresh rate and response time seemed to be his main criteria

Has a Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti video card

I can attest to this monitor. I use it for gaming and for work and it's very, very good. I got it pre-COVID and it was $275, so kind of a bummer that they're now charging it's MSRP, but I still think it's worth $399.

I use it for 1080p gaming with a 1660 Ti, but having 1440p screen real estate for work is really great and probably why I like it the most.

[Ozz]

I can attest to this monitor. I use it for gaming and for work and it's very, very good. I got it pre-COVID and it was $275, so kind of a bummer that they're now charging it's MSRP, but I still think it's worth $399.

I use it for 1080p gaming with a 1660 Ti, but having 1440p screen real estate for work is really great and probably why I like it the most.
yeah...he is bummed about how the cost of monitors and memory have gone up this year. I guess everyone working from home and building home offices.

He has been saving his money and working for me (mowing lawn, weeding, etc) for the past 4 years saving money for this. Parent contribution is essentially use of a credit card and we are buying the operating system for him.

Since he can't get together with his friend in person, they meet online and play games together....it's a hoot to hear them talk with each other. :rolleyes:

His school is also going to be online thru end of year....so probably some use there as well

[jkbrwn]

Since he can't get together with his friend in person, they meet online and play games together....it's a hoot to hear them talk with each other. :rolleyes:

His school is also going to be online thru end of year....so probably some use there as well


Reminds me of my life 12 or 13 years ago. Where did time go? :confused:

Remote learning alone is enough of a reason to have a good screen that he can put in a comfortable, ergonomic place in my opinion. On that subject, please don't let him buy a 'gaming' chair! An ergo desk chair is what he needs if he doesn't already have a good chair.

[benb]

Not much difference between the gaming chairs & office chairs AFAICT.

If a $200 gaming chair is more comfy for you than a Steelcase or a Herman Miller go for it.

[C40_guy]

yeah...he is bummed about how the cost of monitors and memory have gone up this year. I guess everyone working from home and building home offices.

Since he can't get together with his friend in person, they meet online and play games together....it's a hoot to hear them talk with each other. :rolleyes:



Hope he already has a webcam, if he needs one. Those things are almost unobtanium. I had to purchase one via eBay in march...

[Ozz]

Not much difference between the gaming chairs & office chairs AFAICT.

If a $200 gaming chair is more comfy for you than a Steelcase or a Herman Miller go for it.
He's got a $150 office chair from Costco..looks a like a Aeron clone. :cool:

No webcam....does not use for gaming for sure. It is optional for school, and opts not to....

[RudAwkning]

Can any tech members give me advice and/or recommendations for a gaming monitor for my grandson? I did a search on the forum and a couple people suggested Wire Cutter as a good guide. They actually had a recent test and these were their top three choices. I was wondering about their budget choice? Anyone have experience with the ViewSonic XG2402 or can share opinion on specifications? Thanks for your thoughts.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-gaming-monitors/

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/xg2402.html

My grandson does have an older monitor but he says that for some reason that I do not understand he is at a significant disadvantage when playing games with his friends. again I know nothing about.

I've just gone through this process twice for two different machines. Do you have the specs of the machine he has now? CPU and GPU?

[jkbrwn]

Not much difference between the gaming chairs & office chairs AFAICT.

If a $200 gaming chair is more comfy for you than a Steelcase or a Herman Miller go for it.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71iD3uTLZ0L._AC_SY741_.jpg

vs

https://www.cubicles.com/shop/images/steelcase-chairs-steelcase-leap-v2.jpg

I know which one is designed to be flashy and appeal to kids and which one is made to support a human effectively.

Glad to hear OPs kid already has a proper chair.

:)

[Bostic]

I need a new gaming monitor myself. For Xbox One though so anything with 1080 resolution and a 1ms response time are my needs. I only play Halo 1 with my close friends which is a 19 year old game. Unfortunately the only other gamers that still play that game are really darn good so I need all the help I can get.

[redir]

I think you will want to match up the monitor with the PC hardware. AMD uses Freesync while nVidia uses G-Sync. G-Sync generally has better performance but it cost more.

I have a curved monitor too which I like quite a bit. So that could be something to think about.