IPS vs. VA vs. TN vs. OLED: Which gaming monitor to buy?

The good news is that while you have more options to whittle down to your eventual choice, it's difficult to find a bad monitor these days. LCD-based technologies like IPS, VA, and Mini-LED have all matured to a level where color accuracy and brightness levels are consistently good, and high refresh rate panels are affordable even at higher screen sizes. QD-OLED and OLED might be more expensive, but the panel tech is superb for gaming and should be your first point of call if your budget allows.

Image quality: Which panel type looks the best?

All about brightness, contrast, and colors

The most important thing to narrow down is the panel's quality. After all, image quality is what you'll experience every time you look at your display, whether you're gaming or not. Five major specifications together decide how good your display will look: color reproduction, brightness, contrast ratio, HDR experience, and viewing angles.

There's also one other thing to consider: whether the panel is glossy, semi-glossy, or matte.

• Glossy: Higher contrast, but runs the risk of distracting screen reflections depending on where your desk is situated.
• Semi-glossy: Good contrast levels with a slight coating to cut down on reflected light.
• Matte: Reduced screen reflections, lighter blacks, and reduced contrast.

Color reproduction

Color reproduction refers to the accuracy and range of colors a panel can reproduce. It's actually determined by the color gamut (the range of colors a display can show) and color accuracy (how well those colors are distinguished from each other). The better and more calibrated these parameters are, the better the image quality will be on the monitor.

Essentially, IPS and OLED monitors are the best when it comes to color reproduction.

TN panels are among the oldest and traditionally the cheapest to manufacture. However, they have the worst color reproduction. VA shows slight improvements, followed by IPS and OLED panels, which easily lead the pack.

IPS panels were initially targeted toward professionals who required incredibly accurate displays for color grading, but with advancements in other areas, they quickly became ideal for gamers as well. IPS does have some drawbacks, though, with difficulty showing pure white images, which tend to look more yellow and also have grayish blacks.

It's also worth noting that while early VA panels had lower color accuracy, advances in panel tech have reduced this, and the addition of quantum dot film to VA to create QLED panels has made them one of the best for color reproduction.

OLED panels, thanks to the absence of any backlight (unlike the other three technologies), feature superb color reproduction and near-infinite contrast, but generally, the high-end IPS panels actually fare better.

Anything between 90-100% coverage indicates a great display for delivering accurate and lifelike colors.

You can measure color reproduction for a particular model by referring to its sRGB or DCI-P3 coverage. These are professional standards for measuring how much of a particular color space a monitor panel can cover. Anything between 90% and 100% coverage indicates a great display for delivering accurate and lifelike colors. Essentially, IPS and OLED monitors are the best when it comes to color reproduction.

Brightness, contrast ratio, and HDR

Some of the biggest contributors to an excellent visual experience are the brightness and contrast ratio of a monitor, which also determine whether you can expect a decent HDR experience from your display. While brightness in TN, VA, and IPS monitors is not dependent on the panel itself, but rather the backlight used, you'll not find many super-bright monitors using TN panels. This is due to the TN technology falling out of favor in recent years, now limited to super-high-refresh-rate displays alone, where brightness isn't a big factor.

OLED panels feature significantly higher peak brightness, at around 1000 nits, but they also cost much more than other models.

Mainstream IPS and VA panels usually have peak brightness levels between 250 and 400 nits. This is more than enough for playing games or watching movies when you're sitting quite close to the screen. OLED panels feature significantly higher peak brightness at around 1000 nits, but they also cost a lot more than other models. Mini-LED monitors also rival OLED for peak brightness while having overall better SDR brightness at the cost of a slight reduction in color accuracy.

It's hard to beat OLED options when it comes to the best HDR monitors.

Contrast ratio and black levels play a huge part in how good the image looks on screen, especially in dark scenes and dim room lighting. This is where OLED and QD-OLED monitors shine, as the self-lit pixels can shut completely off during dark scenes to deliver a near-infinite contrast ratio and inky blacks, essentially creating millions of local dimming zones. QD-OLED monitors offer the excellent contrast of OLED monitors with higher brightness levels, as they use the brightest OLED pixel color, blue, as the entire panel, then layer on quantum dots to reproduce the green and red needed to create the range of colors needed.

IPS monitors cannot block the backlight enough to produce decent blacks and suffer from mediocre contrast ratios of around 1000:1. Quality VA panels perform much better in this department, becoming an ideal option for gaming and media consumption. Lastly, TN panels generally perform the worst here. In summary, it's hard to beat OLED options when it comes to the best HDR monitors.

Viewing angles and backlight bleeding

The viewing angle refers to the horizontal and vertical angles within which you can view the image on screen without any degradation or color shifting. IPS monitors are known for their excellent viewing angles of around 178°, which means you can view the image perfectly well, even from the sides. Compared to TN and VA panels, where you need to sit directly in front of the screen to get the best experience, IPS panels are far better. Coming to OLEDs, this isn't an issue for them at all, as you mostly get anywhere from 165° to 180° viewing angles, which is similar to or sometimes even better than IPS models.

If backlight bleeding is a big issue for you, you should only consider OLED or VA panels.

Despite IPS panels' excellent viewing angles, backlight bleeding is a very real problem. It is the dirty gray screen effect called IPS glow that you see on IPS panels in dark scenes, more pronounced in dim lighting conditions. VA and TN panels don't suffer from this to a great extent, and OLED panels don't exhibit this phenomenon at all. So, if backlight bleeding is a big issue for you, you should only consider OLED or VA panels.

Gaming performance: Which trade-offs to make?

Can it keep up with your games?

Now that we've covered the more fundamental aspects of monitor panel types, it's time to delve into the features that differentiate them in terms of good or bad gaming monitors. A decent gaming experience requires superior motion handling, fluid image reproduction, and excellent image quality. Gaming performance is determined mostly by three factors: response time, input lag, and refresh rate.

Response time

Response time or pixel response time is the time it takes the monitor's pixels to change colors, usually measured from gray to gray (G2G). TN panels have a big advantage here, as they can easily reach response times of as low as 1ms or lower. This is the reason TN is the tech of choice for affordable ultra-fast gaming monitors for esports gamers, such as the 500Hz Alienware AW3524HF monitor.

However, for the average gamer, all the other disadvantages of TN panels take center stage. As a result, the slightly higher response times of VA and IPS panels are perfectly acceptable for the majority of gamers.

OLED panels are in the lead again, featuring response times of less than 0.1ms.

IPS panels have improved drastically over the years, with response times of around 1ms, finally possible on some high-end models. OLED panels, however, are in the lead again here, featuring response times of less than 0.1ms, much faster than even the fastest TN panels. This is again due to the fact that OLEDs use self-lit pixels and can be switched on or off instantly.

Response time across different panel types has generally been reduced to the point where you won't get a bad experience even with a budget gaming monitor, though, provided it's a relatively modern model.

Input lag

Another important factor usually ignored is input lag, or the delay between the user making an input and the monitor registering the same. This is different from the response time, as it doesn't relate to the pixels but rather the monitor itself. Input lag for mainstream gaming monitors is usually seen to be less than 10ms at different refresh rates.

Your system's overall input lag is also dependent on other hardware, such as your mouse and keyboard.

Some OLED monitors have higher than 10ms input lag at certain refresh rates, which makes them unsuitable for competitive gaming. But, outside such situations, it's rare that you'll get a panel with a bad input lag in today's market. The overall input lag of your system is dependent on other hardware as well, such as your mouse and keyboard.

Refresh rate

The refresh rate is perhaps one of the most recognizable factors among gamers when choosing a monitor. Moving from 60Hz to a 144Hz or higher refresh rate is a big jump that makes a night-and-day difference in your gaming experience. The buttery-smooth motion and the added latency improvements contribute to a superior experience, and it's impossible to go back to a 60Hz monitor.

You can choose anything from VA to IPS to OLED, keeping other considerations in mind.

Most gamers should be fine with 144Hz or 165Hz and don't really need a 240Hz monitor or anything higher than that. While TN panels are highly suitable for ultra-high refresh rates, IPS and VA panels are still the most popular for most gamers. You can find great models featuring both technologies from reputed manufacturers, ranging from 144Hz to 240Hz. Even relatively affordable 1440p OLED monitors are available with refresh rates up to 240Hz.

As long as your graphics card is powerful enough to deliver the desired FPS at a resolution you like, you can choose anything from VA to IPS to OLED monitors, keeping other considerations in mind.

Which is the best panel tech for you?

As a gamer, you're probably targeting a decently high refresh rate, 1440p or 4K resolution, 27-inch or higher screen size, and a panel with great image quality. Thankfully, all of these things are easily available at affordable prices in today's market. Whether you want the greatest 4K monitors or the best curved monitors, you often don't need to spend more than $350-$400 for a well-rounded model.

Between IPS and VA, the two most popular options, choose IPS if you prefer great image quality, responsiveness, and viewing angles.

As for the best panel type, it's fairly easy to pick once you're aware of the pros and cons of the various technologies. Outside of professional competitive players, no one should really consider TN models today. Between IPS and VA, the two most popular options, choose IPS if you prefer great image quality, responsiveness, and viewing angles. That is, unless you frequently play in dark or dim lighting — in that case, choose one of the better VA models for their superior contrast ratio and image quality.

Consider OLED, QD-OLED, and Mini-LED models only if you have around $700-$1000 to spend on a monitor.

Do note that VA panels are known to exhibit ghosting, causing a blurred image in some fast-paced scenarios. But at least you won't be riddled with the horrible backlight bleeding seen on many IPS monitors. Consider OLED, QD-OLED, and Mini-LED models only if you have around $700-$1000 to spend on a monitor and want the absolute best picture quality and fastest response time on the market.

A big concern among gamers when buying OLED is the possibility of burn-in, where some parts of an image can become permanently seared into the pixels. Many manufacturers try to solve this by keeping certain elements on the screen moving or by putting the display to sleep during inactivity. Many also offer a burn-in warranty of two to three years after purchase, so you can rest assured. Mini-LED panels can suffer from the halo effect, where some parts of an image can bleed into the surrounding zones.

Upgrading to a high-end gaming monitor

A high-end gaming monitor comes with a premium price tag, so make sure you're making the right choice after assessing your individual needs. Most gamers don't need cutting-edge monitors to enjoy their favorite games, so don't get affected by FOMO. Today's market offers plenty of affordable options for every use case, and quality assurance has certainly improved as well. You don't need to spend big bucks to get a great gaming display anymore.