Joshua Galyon
If you’re looking to build the ultimate gaming setup, or simply upgrade your current monitor configuration, it may seem like a pretty obvious choice – a 4k gaming monitor. After all, they offer four times the number of pixels present on screen when compared to a 1080p monitor, making a significant difference to the clarity and presentation of images and video.
However, this might not necessarily be the best idea – while you’ll be sure to reap the rewards if it’s exactly the right fit for your set up, there are a number of factors you should be aware of before taking the leap, to ensure that you don’t end up with an expensive, unusable piece of tech.
What are the Options on the Market?
While it’s correct that 1080p monitors cannot offer the same level of detail compared to a 4k monitor, they have been entrenched as the standard for gaming monitors for a long time – which comes with its own benefits.
There is an additional competitor on the market, too – super wide monitors have made their emergence in recent years, providing gamers and creatives alike with an alternative to the traditional single or double monitor set up.
Read on to find out more about the strengths and drawbacks of each option.
4K Monitor
The main benefit and selling point of 4k Gaming Monitors is the picture quality. It’s quite hard to visualize what it actually looks like in reality, but four times the number of pixels when compared to a 1080p exhibits unparalleled detail that will have you questioning whether you’re looking into a monitor or through a window.
This makes it ideal for gamers that love large, open world titles that put emphasis on making the in-game world as beautiful as the world outside – while the fact that there is so much space on the screen makes for much improved multitasking abilities.
The price of these monitors has also decreased significantly in recent months, meaning they’re in a more reasonable range for most consumers.
The one issue with having such a high-quality monitor is the demand that it puts on the graphics card. This is the main thing holding 4k gaming back, as most games are native to 1080p in order to maximize frames and performance over graphics.
1080p Monitor
1080p monitors are stalwarts of the gaming scene, and have dominated gaming set ups for a considerable amount of time. While their picture quality is notably lower than a 4k monitor, most games and gaming accessories are optimized for exactly this resolution meaning you will find the highest performance by using 1080p.
While the current top range of GPUs can easily produce magnitudes more power than is required for 1080p gaming, players of competitive games such as CSGO and Overwatch prefer to maximize their 1080p monitors for optimum frames and reliability.
Ultrawide Monitor
If you’re looking to expand your horizons, then an ultra-wide monitor may be the choice you go for. With a 21:9 aspect ratio, compared to the standard 16:9, there are acres more space for effective multitasking and consuming entertainment such as video and movies.
There is also a myriad of benefits for gaming – including a much wider field of view, which not only gives you a competitive advantage while playing shooter games, but also provides a truly immersive gaming experience, with the curved nature of most ultrawide monitors making the user feel surrounded by the screen.
