Best Gaming Monitor 2023: Top screens for PC, PS5 and Xbox

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 is an excellent all-round gaming monitor, mainly thanks to it being the world’s first 4K panel with a 240Hz refresh rate.

We found it to offer smooth motion with that 240Hz refresh rate with only minor bouts of ghosting. In addition, the 1000R curve provided us with an immersive gaming experience, as well as one that’ll be familiar to anyone who currently owns a Samsung Odyssey-line monitor, as it’s the same curvature.

Its Mini LED backlight also provided incredibly high brightness, which we measured to be 1411 nits, which is bright enough for an outstanding HDR performance and great contrast. In turn, this also meant there were some excellent colours on offer, with both the G8’s support for 10-bit colour, and the vast colour space coverage we measured: 99% sRGB and 92% DCI-P3 to be exact.

The G8 also looks fantastic with a sandblasted and sturdy metal base alongside a glossy white plastic finish that replicates the larger Odyssey G9, which we consider one of the best ultrawide gaming monitors, and certainly puts the G8’s design in good stead.

The G8 is quite the expensive monitor though, with all of these fantastic features coming at a premium price. Alternative 4K Mini LED monitors such as the Acer Predator X32 FP are available at a slightly more affordable price if you’re worried about the cost. But if you’re craving a high gaming performance, including that 240Hz refresh rate, then the Odyssey Neo G8 remains the best gaming monitor money can buy today.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review

A lot of the gaming monitors on this list cost a fortune, so we’ve made sure to include the budget-friendly AOC Gaming 25G3ZM/BK, which offers top specs and performance despite being available for less than $200/£200.

This 23.8-inch monitor has a standard 1080p VA panel rather than the more luxurious Mini LED and OLED options, but our testing showed it to still offer an outstanding picture quality with a high 4,000:1 contrast and superb colour coverage. It has a great performance too, with a 165Hz refresh rate ensuring butter smooth motion, which is especially useful for multiplayer shooters.

The appearance is fairly basic, but offers great adjustability options as a 90-degree left pivot, 130mm of height adjustment and -5/23-degree of tilt. There’s no RGB lighting or USB connectivity, but it still packs all of the necessary ports for gaming.

The AOC Gaming 25G3ZM/BK is limited to a 1080p resolution and lacks fancy features such as HDR, but at this low price, this monitor is an absolute steal for gamers. This is the best gaming monitor option you’re going to find without spending considerably more.

Reviewer: Alun Taylor
Full Review: AOC Gaming 25G3ZM/BK review

The Asus ROG PG35VQ is a proper premium gaming monitor option and we think is an outstanding choice for anyone after more of a widescreen option.

It comes with a 35-inch panel which we found offered exceptional image quality with a measured brightness of 353 nits, which is perfectly fine for most games. And with HDR enabled content became incredibly vibrant, especially thanks to the measured 1000 nits or so of brightness.

The widescreen form factor with a 3440×1440 resolution means this is quite a good monitor for more immersive titles, as is also exemplified by its gentle 1800R curve. The pixel density figure of 107ppi means games also look excellent with a sharp level of detail, too.

A measured 4.9ms response time means the PG35VQ is also a great monitor for eSports and competitive gaming, alongside the 200Hz refresh rate offers some immensely smooth gameplay. Support for Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate is also particularly welcome, which helps to make this screen an incredibly responsive one, and the fact it supports DisplayHDR1000 is a massive bonus.

This is an expensive monitor that’s really designed for those wanting a truly endgame panel to go with their already tricked out PC and wider setup, but if that’s you and you need an incredible centrepiece, this is a prime choice.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ review

The Samsung Odyssey Ark is a whopping big gaming monitor at 55 inches. This makes it a great option to replace your TV in the living room. It also flaunts an incredible amount of adjustability, allowing you to spin it vertically for a stacked view that curves above your head.

It’s the gaming specs that really wowed us though, with the Ark featuring Mini LED backlighting, a 4K resolution and a speedy 165Hz refresh rate. We were really impressed with the display during testing, recording an incredible black point of 0.02 which results in a superb punchy contrast ratio of 4500:1.

We were also in awe of the audio quality, with 4 speakers and 2 woofers combining for thumping bass, detailed mid-range tones and a crisp high-end. There’s no need for a gaming headset when using this beauty.

There are a couple of caveats, with the response time not quite speedy enough to satisfy serious eSports gamers and the omission of OLED a little disappointing. But if you’re prepared to pay the high price, this is one of the absolute best gaming monitor options available, especially if you want your display to be the size of a high-end TV.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Ark review

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is a superb option if you want the powers of a curved, widescreen monitor with a rather large screen to boot.

Much like the new G8, the Neo G9 features a 240Hz refresh rate which we found to offer some marvellously smooth gameplay. There’s also 1ms response to ensure no real input lag, which we found to be immensely responsive. To take full advantage of the Neo G9’s capabilities, you will need a powerful GPU though, given the beefy spec sheet on offer.

It also offers truly stellar image quality, as we experienced with both a colorimeter in hand and also with real-world usage, too. With Mini LED backlighting, this is one of the most vibrant panels we’ve tested, sporting a measured brightness of over 2300 nits with Dynamic HDR enabled. This also provides some vast colour space coverage with 99.5% sRGB and 91.5% DCI-P3 meaning it not only provides accurate colours for gaming but also for any colour-sensitive work.

The Neo G9 is also a good-looking monitor, with a sleek outer frame, complete with slim bezels and a glossy white plastic back. As a large ultrawide panel though, this isn’t really a monitor for those with smaller desks. But if you want to multitask with multiple windows at once, or crave an ultra-immersive gaming setup, this monitor is well worth considering.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Review

The MSI MPG Artymis 273CQRX-QD is one the best gaming monitor options for those who crave superb picture quality and a high refresh rate without spending an astronomical fee.

Thanks to the Quantum Dot LEDs, the MSI monitor achieved a mighty contrast ratio of 3100:1 during our tests. This means your monitor is capable of producing a vibrant picture and incredible depth. We were also really impressed with the 240Hz refresh rate which is usually reserved for pro-grade monitors, although we did notice significant ghosting which may put off the eSports crowd.

We also found the HDR performance to be lacklustre, so you can certainly get a superior performance by spending more. Nevertheless, we still think the performance of the MSI MPG Artymis 273CQRX-QD is brilliant for the price.

Other great mid-range gaming monitors include the Samsung Odyssey G7 and Alienware AW2721D, but the MSI just about edges it out in our books due to the more affordable price.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full Review: MSI MPG Artymis 273CQRX-QD review

The ASUS ROG Swift PG259QNR is an incredible option for those eSports players or competitive gamers who need absolutely blistering performance.

With a 360Hz refresh rate, we found it to offer top-level performance that worked brilliantly in fast paced titles such as FPS games including Fortnite and CS:GO. While there isn’t much of a jump between 240Hz and 360Hz for most mere mortals, if you are a pro-grade player, then you’ll want to take advantage of the higher refresh rate.

Its 24.5-inch panel is a little bit on the smaller side, but this actually works in favour of those wanting to use it for high-intensity gaming as you won’t have to waste time with neck movements to look in every corner of the screen. We found the actual image quality on offer here to be pretty good with some decent brightness too – we measured it to be 413 nits which offered solid depth and vibrancy for an IPS panel. 

In addition, its colours are consistent with 99.3% sRGB coverage meaning it performs well in mainstream environments within games, although with only 73% DCI-P3 coverage, this isn’t a monitor to be used in more colour-sensitive tasks.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full Review: Asus ROG Swift PG259QNR review