What's the best gaming monitor right now? Is OLED really worth it?

Posted by Nathnael-Melgarecho@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 22 comments

So I've been going down a rabbit hole trying to pick a gaming monitor and honestly I'm more confused than when I started lol.

Everywhere I look people are hyping up OLED panels, the contrast, the colors, the response times. It all sounds insane on paper. But then you've got folks warning about burn-in, and the price jump is pretty steep compared to a solid IPS or even a high-refresh VA panel.

I mostly play a mix of competitive FPS (so refresh rate matters to me) and some story-driven single player games where visuals actually count. My budget is somewhere around $500-$800 but I could stretch it if something is genuinely worth it.

So I guess my questions are:

Is OLED actually as game-changing as people say, or is it one of those things that sounds better in reviews than in daily use?
What would YOU buy right now if you were me?

Appreciate any real-world takes over spec sheet comparisons, Thanks!

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t0b1n4tOr315@reddit

In my opinion, OLED is worth it. The instant gtg response times allow for clarity that no IPS panel can really match. So for competitive gaming this is a great positive. The much better colour accuracy and "pop", especially on glossy panels, is great for the singe player games.

Personally i bought a 4K 240Hz QD-OLED from MSI. When I bought it it happened to be in your budget right now.

At 1440p you can definitely find cheaper models with even higher refresh rates.

Even though OLED panels are great for HDR, a lot of games don't properly support it or not at all.

Burn-in isn't much of an issue anymore. There's great videos from Hardware Unboxed that abuse these panels and you can decide for yourself if that much burn-in will make or break that deal. If you are gaming a lot but not 10 hours a day of the same game it should be fine.

Claptown420@reddit

How is the brightness? Not an issue during the daytime?

Personally not, it has a peak brightness of 1000 nits and so most of the times it's just fine. The glossy finish can be annoying for reflections though.

lcullj@reddit

I would not have a screen that is not OLED now.

It’s officially outlived my last IPS too which started to have purple bars and lines at the bottom upon boot up until it warmed up.

The quality difference is huge though, OLED all the way for me.

IndianMilkman@reddit

i got my 360 hz, 1440p oled from alienware about an year ago and when i upgraded from my old 165hz ips to oled it was actually an insane change. But i would advise to focus on upgrading everything else before upgrading the monitor to oled if you mainly play fps.

Dependent_Wafer3866@reddit

It depends. The thing is, I can't go back to a single monitor. So I always need to have two units whenever I'm upgrading, because mismatching monitors just look awful.

That really elevates the cost of an upgrade to OLED for me in particular. I also have no issue with how my VA panels look right now. But if you only need one monitor and you can afford it, might as well. They're no longer as outrageously expensive.

angry_aardvark@reddit

What resolution and panel size are you looking for?

lichtspieler@reddit

The color pop is nice—at least with W-OLEDs that don’t turn grey or purple under ambient light—but most popular games use fairly mild color contrast, so it won’t impact your gaming experience that much.

My ASUS 4K and 1440p W-OLEDs are now at 8000+ hours of usage and show no signs of burn-in from daily use, which is great. Either it’s a good panel generation, or the ASUS “tax” for the oversized heatsinks wasn’t just marketing. Either way, I’m happy with the result.

With all that said, I’m not sure OLEDs would be my top priority in your situation.

IMHO, audio upgrades make a much bigger impact on the gaming experience—especially if you have a good ear.

Going from a wireless headset to a low-latency headphone or studio monitor setup can really change how you perceive directional and distance-based audio cues. You’ll usually hear details you missed before.

IPS to OLED is kind of like going from a good mechanical keyboard to a Hall Effect keyboard with rapid trigger. It’s a nice upgrade for certain gaming situations, but it’s not really a “game-changing” experience.

RationalDialog@reddit

I went with IPS because nowadays especially remote working I do more static "text" based stuff with static menus than gaming and I hate babysitting a new device.

But if gaming is your priority then yeah OLED is clearly better simply also due to motion clarity that comes from it.

But with static menues, burn in will happen. Windows taskbar, browser menus, background image. Do you wanna babysit that? I mean it wouln't happen in weeks but years. Of course if you replace our display every couple years no problem but I had my last for like 10 years so yeah oled will burn in eventually if you don't babysit it.

whatthes@reddit

If you simply find oled too expensive just get LCD, I sleep well not wondering if i stayed at a specific page for too long or whatever to cause burn in

TheDreadfulSagittary@reddit

I have used a QD-OLED for 3.5 years now, probably averaging 10-12 hours of daily use (work at home + relaxation). I have a little bit of burn in which can be noticed on certain grey background, and that is from my Firefox search and bookmark bar, for the rest there is nothing to see. So intensive usage daily, and the only thing that has popped up is very static internet browsing content (I have since switched to a browser that can hide all static UI elements).

Personally I'd go OLED again, it outperforms IPS/VA in almost every measure, and the burn in can be avoided.

PCBuilderCat@reddit

Yeah I’d say 3+ years of 10-12 hour use with burn in that can only be seen in specific scenarios is definitely worth it

I mean idk how much you paid but if you divide it down to $ per hour of use, or even day at this point it makes perfect sense

Im12AndWatIsThis@reddit

When I got an OLED TV it made me stop wanting to play games on my PC (in favor of my PS5) becuase the difference in display is so crazy. It's definitely worth it, and there are plenty of good OLED/QD-OLED monitors in that price range. My TV is an LG CX from several years ago that cost a pretty penny but was still worth it imo.

As for "best", that's going to be a lot of personal preference. RTings is going to be the most reliable source for fact-based reviews. There are other things to consider outside of the product itself like warranty, support, etc.

I purchased an Alienware AW2725D on a black friday sale last year for $480 that I have been quite happy with. There are other 'better' monitors that are still well within your budget. Mainly picked mine based on a friend's recommendation and the fact that Alienware is a Dell brand with their support system behind it.

JamesEdward34@reddit

the real concern with OLEDS should be VRR flicker not burn in.

How does one ‘fix’ vrr flicker? Not familiar with the term

Stolen_Sky@reddit

I had some VRR flicker on one of my games, but it was quite easy to solve by changing the settings around.

I've not played any games where this is an issue that can't be fixed with a quick Google search.

Mikaeo@reddit

For me, getting an OLED monitor was the single biggest upgrade for my PC gaming experience I've ever had, maybe only competing with going from HDD to SSD or being able to actually play at 1440p for the first time. Specifically, it's the response times. On my previous monitor, if I was playing games at ~60 fps, it needed to be switched to a different pixel response mode if I wanted to play at ~120 fps and still have the frame rate look proper. On my OLED, I don't have to worry about that. The only notable issue I've run into has been VRR flicker. So I just don't use VRR, and honestly, I haven't noticed any issues not using VRR anymore, although that might be something you care about.

cbntlg@reddit

OLED looks so much better than any other display. And, IMHO, burn-in is a non issue: My Dell XPS 15 has an OLED screen and I've used it, virtually every day for the last three years, for gaming, browsing and watching and it has absolutely no sign of burn-in.

I would by the MSI 321 CRUX

It's a 32" 4k 240hz QD-OLED. Costs about $800 I think. It's the monitor I currently use; its absolutely beautiful and I'm incredibly proud of it. In my opinion, OLED is game-changing and absolutely worth it.

Interesting-Big1980@reddit

Sounds like a case for 1440p 145Hz. In terms of panels, if you have the money go with OLED, if you don't want to spend too much, IPS will do too. Just don't touch VA or TN

G-nome420@reddit

Burn in with new oled panels isn’t as bad as it used to be. MLA and QD oled are much better than the panels of 5-6 years ago.

If you can find MLA or QD for 500-800 go for it. Otherwise a really nice IPS 4k, or 1440p monitor less than 30 inches will look very sharp.

If I were you I’d buy a high refresh rate 27-30inch ips 1440p display. Good mix of refresh and pixel density, IPS gives excellent color and viewing angles but really struggles with inky blacks. You’ll see some haloing and bloom in grey where it should be black, especially in a dark room; but imo it doesn’t alter the experience enough for me to care.

Response time as long as it’s under 10ms has literally 0 impact. You can’t tell. Unless you’re like a top 1k valorant/csgo player I don’t think it will ever matter

CryptikTwo@reddit

If you have the money buy an oled you won’t regret it and burn is basically a non issue on a modern panel unless you abuse it.

My ultra wide oled is the single best purchase I’ve made for my pc in the last decade.