With its sleek frame and minimal bezels, this monitor is visually arresting before it’s even powered on. It delivers 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time for speedy performance.
It also features Freesync and proprietary eye-care technology for a gaming experience that’s easy on the eyes during long play sessions. It’s VESA wall mount ready and has HDMI, VGA, and DVI ports.
How to Choose the Best Gaming Monitor Under $200
Choosing the best gaming monitor under $200 is no easy task. There are many factors to consider that will influence the final decision. This article will help you sift through the options and find a great gaming monitor for your budget!
Gaming PCs can be expensive, especially when you’re building one from scratch. Fortunately, you can enjoy the same gaming experience for much less with a budget-friendly monitor!
Resolution
When looking for a gaming monitor, the resolution plays a big role in how your games will look. Higher resolutions will provide sharper images, while lower resolutions will produce blurrier images. The resolution of a monitor also has an effect on how fast the screen can refresh and how responsive it is. This can be important to consider if you are a gamer who enjoys high frame rates and smooth transitions.
If you are on a budget, you will likely want to stick with a 1080p resolution for your gaming monitor. This resolution will give you a crisp and clear image without going over your budget limit. You will also need to keep in mind that higher resolutions will require more processing power from your system, which can lead to slower performance.
Another consideration when choosing a gaming monitor is the size of the screen. While a smaller monitor can be a good choice for some gamers, most prefer a larger screen to better view the game’s environments and on-screen events in detail. A smaller screen will also be difficult to read in brighter lighting conditions.
One of the best budget gaming monitors is the ASUS XFA240, which is available on Amazon for under $200. This monitor is designed for FPS and RTS gaming with a low blue light filter, flicker-free technology, and GAMEPLUS features that allow you to optimize your in-game experience. The monitor also has a 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time.
The ASUS XFA240 also comes with a stand that allows you to tilt, pivot, and swivel the display. The monitor has a simple design and minimal bezels, making it visually appealing before you even turn on the device. It also has a number of ports, including HDMI, VGA, and a 3.5mm audio jack.
The Sceptre LC24WB1 is another great budget gaming monitor that offers excellent performance at an affordable price. This monitor has a 24” screen with a 1080p resolution, a VA panel, and a 144Hz refresh rate. This monitor is also HDR compatible, which provides stunning colors and deeper blacks. The LC24WB1 is also easy on the eyes with a built-in low blue light filter and flicker-free technology, which reduces eye strain and fatigue during long gaming sessions.
Response Time
While resolution and refresh rate are important considerations when choosing a monitor for gaming, response time is also critical. This measure of how quickly the screen reacts to inputs is especially important in fast-paced games, as it can dramatically reduce lag and make the game play more smoothly. A good response time for gaming monitors is around 1ms, but it can vary slightly depending on the panel type and other factors.
One of the best budget gaming monitors under $200 is the Samsung Odyssey AG320, which offers a sharp image quality and a range of connectivity options for an excellent value. The 24-inch screen is the perfect size for 1080p gaming, and the display supports a wide color gamut for excellent visuals. The monitor is also VESA wall mountable and has HDMI and DisplayPort ports, along with a VGA port for those who still use older equipment.
Another great choice is the AOC Gaming Q27G2E, which offers a 1440p resolution and excellent performance for an even better price. While most monitors in this price range are limited to 1080p, the 1440p resolution on this model is a significant upgrade for gamers who want a better experience. The monitor has a quick 1ms response time, and it features AMD FreeSync technology for a smooth gaming experience.
This model has a curved screen, which wraps around the player for an immersive gaming experience. It also has a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, which is ideal for high-speed games. It has an IPS panel, which provides great colors and contrast. It also has a wide viewing angle and proprietary eye-care technology that makes it easy on the eyes during long gaming sessions. It is VESA wall mountable and has HDMI, DisplayPort, and DVI inputs. It also has built-in speakers for audio support.
Refresh Rate
A gaming monitor’s refresh rate can make or break your game experience. It determines how smooth your gameplay is, ensuring that you don’t get any lag or screen tearing. The higher the refresh rate, the better your experience will be. However, a monitor with a high refresh rate can be expensive. If you are on a budget, then you can opt for a monitor with a lower refresh rate. This will still give you a good gaming experience.
While the refresh rate and response time of a monitor are important, you also need to consider the display panel type. There are three different types of display panels: Twisted Nematic (TN), Vertical Alignment (VA), and In-Plane Switching (IPS). The best choice for gamers on a budget is a VA panel. These offer better color balance than TN panels while being more affordable than IPS panels.
There are several good gaming monitors with a 60Hz refresh rate under $200. These are ideal for casual gamers or those who play at home. However, if you are a competitive gamer then you will want to look for a monitor with a higher refresh rate. The reason for this is that a higher refresh rate can reduce input lag. Input lag is the amount of time between you making an input and the game recognizing that input. A higher refresh rate can reduce this lag, giving you an edge in competitive games.
Another option is the Sceptre X341. This monitor has a 144Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time. It has a slim and sleek design with minimal bezels. It also comes with a stand that allows you to tilt, pivot, and swivel the display. The only downside is that it only has a 1080p resolution.
The Acer XFA240 is another good gaming monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and
Ports
For gamers looking to get the most out of their gaming setup, a high refresh rate and low input lag are essential. These features affect the visual clarity of a game, allowing players to see more detail in environments and characters. They also help reduce the amount of tearing and artifacting that can occur during a game, improving the overall experience.
Input lag is the delay between pressing a key on your keyboard and seeing that action take place on-screen. It is important to consider this when shopping for a monitor, as it can make or break the performance of your gaming setup. Competitive gamers in particular require a low input lag to gain the edge over their opponents, so look for a monitor with a 1ms response time or lower.
The BenQ G2723HN offers a high-quality performance at a great price point, making it one of the best gaming monitors under $200. The display uses an IPS panel that delivers accurate colors and wide viewing angles. It has a slim design that makes it easy to fit into your home gaming setup, and the screen is even compatible with FreeSync technology.
Another great choice for gamers on a budget is the Acer XV271U M3. This monitor has an impressive 165Hz refresh rate and sub-1ms response time, making it ideal for fast-paced games. This is an excellent choice for anyone who enjoys playing first-person shooters or arena games, and the IPS panel provides excellent colour accuracy and wide viewing angles.
If you’re in the market for a more immersive gaming experience, the 1440p resolution on the Cooler Master GM27-FFS is an excellent option. This monitor has a high refresh rate and a low response time, which makes it ideal for competitive gaming. It also has a number of ports, including HDMI and VGA, so you can connect it to almost any gaming setup.
Those on a tight budget should check out the ASUS EDU VS278QB, which offers a good balance of price and quality. This monitor has a sleek design with minimal bezels, and it’s also VESA wall mount ready, so you can easily mount it to your desk. It also has a built-in pair of speakers, which will give you an immersive audio experience when gaming. It also has a range of eye-care features, including a low blue light filter and flicker-free technology. This helps to reduce eye strain and fatigue during long gaming sessions.
Our Selection for the Best Gaming Monitor Under $200
1. Acer XFA240
The Acer XFA240 is a budget gaming monitor that offers the latest technology for gamers. It features a 1920 x 1080 resolution, high refresh rates and fast response times, which allow you to play games at their full potential without any lag. It also uses TN panel technology, which tends to have limited viewing angles and less accurate color reproduction than other types of panels. Despite these limitations, the XFA240 is an excellent choice for gamers looking to upgrade their current display.
The XFA240 has a very good native color depth of 8 bits, which supports up to 16.7 million colors. It has a low out-of-box error rate and hits all of the sRGB targets for both saturation and hue. It has a relatively cool color temperature of 6500K and a gamma level below 2.2, which helps to increase color accuracy. Moreover, it has great contrast and brightness levels and has the ability to save three different profiles.
Reviewers have noticed that the XFA240 has decent black levels for a TN panel monitor, and they were satisfied with their performance in dark scenes. They also noted that the screen was flicker-free, reducing eye strain and headaches. Moreover, the monitor is capable of supporting G-Sync and Freesync, which makes it an even better choice for gamers who want to experience smoother gameplay and higher frame rates.
This monitor has several ports that make it easy to connect to your computer or console. It has an HDMI port, a DisplayPort port, a DVI port, and two 3.5 audio ports for headphones or microphones. It also has a VESA mounting hole to attach it to your monitor stand. However, the lack of USB ports and a headphone jack might be a problem for some users. Nevertheless, the XFA240 is a great budget gaming monitor under $200. Its 144 Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time make it an ideal monitor for gaming. It also has a nice design with an adjustable stand that allows you to tilt, pivot and swivel the monitor. However, the screen is not as sharp as some other higher-end models.
2. ASUS G-SYNC
The G-SYNC is one of the most affordable gaming monitors around that offers all the necessary features and speed that a gamer would ask for. It has a fast 1ms response time and 144Hz refresh rate, which eliminates screen stuttering, ghosting, and tearing that can happen during high-paced action in games. It also has built-in eye-care and gaming features such as a crosshair overlay (for hardcore games that don’t have a built-in crosshair), and a gamer mode that adjusts the display settings to optimize performance for gameplay.
Another key feature is the inclusion of G-SYNC technology, which synchronizes the refresh rate to the framerate of your GPU. This eliminates the screen tearing and judder that can be experienced when playing at higher resolutions and refresh rates, and makes for a much smoother gaming experience. If you’re not a fan of this technology, you can disable it via the OSD menu. This monitor also has an IPS panel that provides wide 178-degree viewing angles and peak brightness of 250 nits, which is pretty impressive for a budget-friendly gaming monitor.
One of the biggest draws for this monitor is its support for HDR, which can make a huge difference in how vibrant and colorful games look. It has a 99% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, a true 10-bit color depth, and factory calibration for a Delta E of less than 2. In addition to this, the G-SYNC supports AMD FreeSync 2 with a variable refresh rate for a buttery smooth gaming experience.
The design of the G-SYNC isn’t too shabby either, with a slim bezel that looks pretty sleek and modern for a budget gaming monitor. It’s VESA-ready so you can mount it to your wall, and it comes with a built-in sensor that will automatically change the brightness of the display depending on the lighting in the room. It’s a great way to save energy and it’s even included in the OSD menu so you can customize it if you want.
Like many gaming monitors, this one has a red light that lights up on the bottom edge of the display to indicate when it’s in game mode. It’s a nice touch that shows that ASUS is really trying to target gamers with this product, but it may not appeal to everyone.
3. ASUS TUF
The 2021 TUF Gaming F15 update is a major upgrade over last year’s model, both in terms of performance and available features. Asus improved its external design to make it more rugged and light, while adding updated inputs and screen options. The result is a competitive mid-range gaming laptop that can run new games at up to 60 FPS.
In our tests, the TUF Gaming F15 paired an Intel Core i7-12700H CPU with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU and 16GB of RAM. It was able to crush intensive workloads like opening 30 Chrome tabs, playing four YouTube videos, editing a multi-layered Photoshop document and running Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in the background without breaking a sweat.
Asus added the ability to customize the EVGA OC BIOS with its new Gaming Engine software, which adds a variety of overclocking and tuning settings. You can even tweak the UEFI and BIOS to improve game performance, as well as adjust display settings to reduce flicker and blur. The TUF Gaming F15 also comes with a 144Hz monitor that offers fast response times and smooth motion, but you can opt for the 280Hz option to get more bang for your buck.
We tested the VG259QM with an IPS panel and it produced bright, colorful images. It also has wide viewing angles so you can see the image from more angles. It also has an HDR mode that can display games in a more vibrant, lifelike way. The only problem with this monitor is its high input lag.
This monitor has a backlight strobing feature that increases motion clarity. Known as Black Frame Insertion, it pulses the backlight with each frame to reduce motion artifacts. This is useful for gaming in the dark because it reduces eye strain by reducing the number of frames that are visible when the backlight is dimmed.
The Asus VG259QM is better than the LG 27GN650-B because it has a higher refresh rate of 280Hz compared to the LG’s 144Hz. It also has a lower 60Hz input lag than the LG and a better stand with more ergonomics. The Asus also has a better IPS panel, a more versatile Black Frame Insertion feature, and supports HDR.
4. AOC G-SYNC
The AOC G-SYNC is a great budget gaming monitor that brings smooth performance and plenty of useful features to the table. It features AMD FreeSync, 1ms MPRT and a fully ergonomic design at an appealing price. This is the gaming monitor that gamers on a budget have been waiting for!
The G-SYNC technology helps to eliminate screen tearing and delivers buttery smooth performance in games. However, in order to get the most out of G-SYNC, you will need a GPU that supports it and a monitor panel that supports it as well. Unfortunately, most G-SYNC monitors tend to come at a premium in terms of pricing, making them out of reach for budget rig builders.
Thankfully, AOC has released the AG352UCG6 version of its popular Agon gaming monitor, which is now equipped with G-SYNC and comes at an affordable price! This monitor has a slightly higher refresh rate than its predecessor (165Hz) and features improved response times, which means that it can handle high-FPS gaming without any issues.
Another key feature of the AOC AG352UCG6 is its built-in RGB lighting, which is located on the back of the monitor and along the bottom edge. The lighting can be customised via the OSD to create your own unique colour scheme and patterns. However, we would have liked to see it a little brighter to combat the effects of glare.
This monitor also features a wide range of gaming-related features, including a Game Mode preset that automatically adjusts the display settings for optimal gameplay. It also features HDMI 2.1, which makes it ready for the latest PS5 and Xbox Series X games consoles. Additionally, the monitor offers KVM support and Picture by Picture and Picture in Picture functionality.
Lastly, the AG352UCG6 comes with a range of standard accessories, including a power cable and an HDMI cable. The monitor can be tilted back 22 degrees and forwards 4 degrees, and it can also be swiveled around 20 degrees left and right. The AG352UCG6 can support variable refresh rates with both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA’s G-sync systems via adaptive-sync (although it does not appear to have received any official ‘G-sync compatible’ certification yet). The AOC G-SYNC is an excellent budget gaming monitor that delivers smooth performance, great image quality and plenty of features at a very appealing price point.
