Best Budget Gaming Monitor

How We Choose

Unless you’re clued up on the latest in PC gaming tech, knowing which brand or model is right for you for any given bit of PC hardware can be a daunting task. Monitors are no exception to this, indeed there are many aspects to consider when trying to find the right screen for your needs.Thankfully, WePC is here to make your life that bit easier. We put the time in so you don’t have to!

For every product category we put in hours of research: comparing and contrasting specifications of different models and brands, using our in house experts with knowledge of each category to pick out the most important details and judge the quality of each product. We combine this with PC benchmarking, in house testing, and reviewing online user feedback to put together the right recommendation, depending on your needs.

How We Test

Individually testing the products we recommend is an important part of our best of guides. We want to make sure that what the manufacturer is claiming is correct as, more often than not, certain specifications need to be taken with a pinch of salt (monitor response times, for example). Where possible we like to push each product to its limit to see how it performs under stress to make sure it deserves its place in our top spot.

In order for us to consider a product “the best” in its category, it must show top level overall performance in our tests compared to its peers within the same price bracket. Often even “the best” monitors do have weaknesses in certain areas, which may make them unsuitable for certain consumers if they don’t meet their specific requirements, however we will always mention these aspects in a review.

For each product we try to consider price vs performance, functionality, compatibility with other hardware and software, build quality, and, last but not least, aesthetics. We will always try and keep in mind the target audience of the item during testing to see if it meets its goals.

Things To Consider When Shopping For A Budget Gaming Monitor

There can be a bewildering array of specifications one needs to consider when deciding which monitor to buy, particularly in the case of gaming monitors. See our guide for What To Consider When Buying A Gaming Monitor for a detailed look at all of these parameters. For the purposes of this guide however, we will be discussing what to think about through the lens of shopping on a budget specifically. So see below for a list of things to consider when shopping for budget gaming monitors.

What Classes As A “Budget” Gaming Monitor?

The price range for a budget monitor is not set in stone. Different retailers and reviewers may define the partitions between ‘Budget’, ‘Mid-range’ and ‘High-End’ slightly differently. These prince ranges are likely to fluctuate slightly over time depending on market movements (greater demand for gaming tech plus inflation often leads to higher prices!).

Typically the minimum you will spend on a budget screen is $100, though there are options available below $100, they will be unlikely to make it onto this Best Of list. We put the ceiling price range up to around $250 for budget screens, but again this is not a hard boundary. If we see a monitor slightly above this price that we think is worth it we may include it. As new tech comes available, screens which were once mid-range often drop in price to the point we would consider them contenders for this budget category.

What You Will Get With A Budget Gaming Monitor: Realistic Expectations

Resolution: A 2K (1440p) resolution screen is the maximum you are likely to get at this price range, and most you will find will be 1080p. 4K screens are reserved primarily for high-end monitors. For online competitive gaming purposes, 1080p is the standard anyway, so for most people whose interest lies in this area this will be sufficiently high.

Screen Size: 24” or 27” is typical for a budget screen, although you will find the occasional 32” monitor in this price range. For 1080p resolution (usually the maximum you will be getting for a budget gaming screen) we generally think the sweet spot is 27” – anything above this and the loss of pixel density starts to become noticeable in a lower quality of image, though for some this is an acceptable trade off for more screen real estate.

Refresh rate: 144Hz is typically what you can expect in this price range, though you might find the occasional 165Hz display. Anything above 165Hz is beyond the realms of what would be classed a budget monitor. See our guide on The Best 244Hz Gaming Monitors if you are interested in these displays.

Response time: Response time essentially indicates the speed at which a monitor’s pixels can change to keep up with the information the GPU is feeding them. Lower response times usually lead to image ‘ghosting’, and the reality is that for a budget display you are always going to get a bit of this. Whilst most manufacturers will advertise their product as having low response times (1ms for instance), this is almost always a best-case scenario, particularly on budget screens. Our product reviews will always let you know what response time to realistically expect from a screen.

Variable Refresh Rate: There are two types of variable refresh rate technology: one is AMD’s FreeSync and the other Nvidia’s G-Sync (read more about them here). There are different standards of this technology however, and for budget screens you will typically see them labelled as “G-Sync Compatible”, which is the lowest standard available for Nvidia. Compared to full G-Sync, G-Sync Compatible doesn’t do HDR and has not been tested and validated to the same level as a full G-sync monitor through. This is something to think about if you have an Nvidia graphics card and are looking for a budget gaming screen.

Build Quality: Manufacturers have to make compromises when designing cheaper gaming monitors for the consumer market. For budget monitors cheaper materials are often used, so don’t expect metal stands: plastic will be the norm, and the panel coating itself will be of lower quality than a premium monitor.

Brightness and Contrast ratios: Whilst you can get budget screens with respectable specs in both these areas, things like HDR tend to be of a more limited form than with higher-end screens. As with any monitor, if you are gaming/working in bright conditions then a high peak brightness is more important, in lower light conditions detailed blacks are more so.

Color Accuracy: Don’t expect to get anything more than SRGB in the budget price range, and it would be rare to see above 100% SRGB. If you do color accurate work alongside your gaming, then you’re going to need to spend more money: take a look at our guide on The Best Monitor For Video Editing for something more suitable.

Adjustability and ergonomics: Adjustability and ergonomics are often poor for budget screens. Given that this is generally low on a consumer’s priority list, it’s an area the manufacturer tends to skimp on.