TOP 4: Best Budget Gaming Monitors 2020

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June 20, 2020



A gaming monitor is basically the second most important thing you need to buy when PC gaming next to your desktop computer. Your display dictates how you'll see your games rendered whether that's resolution, wide screen or ultra-wide screen, or HDR color support. Of course, not all of us can afford the most banging 4K gaming monitors around with high-refresh rates, super high peak brightness, and local dimming technology built in. The good news is a ton of recent improvements in display technology have trickled their way into budget gaming monitors.
While you might think sticking to a budget would leave you with very few options, there's actually plenty of sub $500 monitors. The options available to you even include a variety of QHD displays, curved screens, and ultra-wide monitors too. The bar for gaming monitors has never been higher, so this is a great time to pick up a cheap gaming monitor. Instead of having to think about setting the right balance between cost, features, and image quality, we've found all of the best budget gaming monitors for you.

These are the Best Budget Gaming Monitors:

1. AOC 27G2 Gaming Monitor

Best Budget Gaming Monitor

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OUR PICK
AOC 27G2
On Amazon


The AOC 27G2 gaming monitor is as flashy as it is affordable, and it rounds that out by also being perfectly suited for gaming. It delivers a 27-inch display at Full HD, so you'll see plenty. And, it runs that display at 144Hz with support for FreeSync to keep your frames tear-free. The IPS Panel also keeps colors accurate and viewing angles wide, so you can enjoy all sorts of content or use the display for work when you're not gaming.

2. Asus TUF Gaming VG259Q

Best Budget 1080p Gaming Monitor

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Asus TUF Gaming VG259Q
On Amazon


The Asus TUF Gaming VG259Q pushes the envelope for a budget gaming monitor. It's still in a similar ballpark with its 24.5-inch, Full HD display running at 144Hz. But, it goes above and beyond by offering FreeSync and G-Sync compatibility on its responsive IPS panel. That means you'll get clear images with wide viewing angles. Better still, the montior offers brightness levels up to 400 nits, making it one of the brighter monitors you can find at a budget price point. It even has small, stereo speakers if you need a little audio in a pinch.

3. Dell 27 Gaming Monitor

Best Budget 1440p Gaming Monitor

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Dell 27 Gaming Monitor
On Dell


Heavily discounted at Dell, the Dell 27 Gaming Monitor lets you step up from a 24-inch 1080p panel to a 27-inch 1440p panel and still stay well within a budget price range. It’s a fast TN panel with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms response time, along with AMD FreeSync. This 27-inch Dell S-series display (S2719DGF) offers an attractive screen coating that’s an effective blend of matte and glossy, and the display is so flexible it could enroll in a yoga class. With tilt, height, swivel and pivot adjustments, you can set up the display to your exact preferences.

4. Acer Nitro XV273K

Best Budget HDR Gaming Monitor

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Acer Nitro XV273K
On Amazon


We're going to break my own rule about picking only gaming monitors that cost less than $500 temporarily, because the Acer Nitro XV273K offers such a fantastic value. For $900, this gaming monitor offers up a 4K HDR and 144Hz experience that would typically be reserved for displays would normally cost $1,700 to $1,300.

The Acer Nitro XV273K isn't just meeting these specs on paper either. The screen looks magnificent with enough sharpness to let you see the individual grains of sand. Meanwhile, turning on HDR adds a significant amount of depth to the shadows. It's not a perfect gaming monitor, as grays can look a little dull and colors are oversaturated in SDR mode, but overall this is a fantastic gaming monitor for its price and picture quality.

What to look for in a Cheap Gaming Monitor

Below I've sketched out what features are essential and what features can be cut to save a little money on a gaming monitor—something especially relevant if you're running an older rig that can't do 1440p or 2160p anyway.

Start your quest by selecting the right resolution for your platform and components, and your GPU's horsepower will guide this area of your decision making. Sure, 4K resolution (3,840 x 2,160) is the current high end, but you'll need an RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti for 4K gaming at high frame rates. If you don't already have a baller GPU you'll save a lot of money by going with a 1080p display. It isn't cutting edge, but it'll get the job done.

Once you've settled on a display resolution that's appropriate for your GPU, refresh rate and response time are critically important for gaming monitors. Refresh rate tells you how many frames per second a monitor can refresh the display while response time is how quickly it can react to your input (i.e. moving forward, throwing a punch, etc). Manufacturers' specs are usually representative of what to expect under ideal conditions so keep in mind that your mileage may vary depending on your hardware. Finally, make sure that you’re getting the right type and number of input ports for your GPU. These days you usually can't go wrong with DisplayPort, but not all monitors offer that, particularly on the low-end so be sure to do your research.
Start your quest by selecting the right resolution for your platform and components...
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When it comes to the type of display to consider, the two most common panel types for gaming monitors are TN (twisted nematic) and IPS (in-plane switching). TN is the most common because they are the cheapest panels to produce and offer very low response times and high refresh rates. The only drawback to this type of panel is they typically have restricted viewing angles and don’t exhibit the greatest color accuracy.

In contrast (display related pun intended), the more expensive IPS panels provide more accurate colors at the expense of somewhat higher response times. The choice is yours and it boils down to price, response time, and color accuracy. If you're just going to be gaming, TN is fine, but you wouldn't want to do professional photo or video editing on them; that's purely an IPS panel activity.

You’ll also want to check out VA (vertical alignment) panels, which reside between TN and IPS panels. While some have 1ms response times, VA panels typically can't hit as high refresh rates to push extremely fast frame rates as TN panels. However, they offer better colors, higher contrast ratios, and deeper blacks than a TN that are more akin to an IPS. And all curved gaming monitors use VA panels.


If you’re like most gamers, you’ll want the largest monitor that will fit both your desk and your price range
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There's also adaptive refresh technology to consider, which is either Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync. These technologies sync the refresh rate between the monitor and graphics card to eliminate frame tearing when the two are out of sync. Another option to look for is High Dynamic Range (HDR), which is coming to more and more PC monitors to provide better brightness and color that pop when connected to equivalently equipped graphics cards and/or the most recent consoles.

One more consideration is monitor size, and for the sub-$500 range, you’ll be looking at 40 inches and smaller. If you’re like most gamers, you’ll want the largest monitor that will fit both your desk and your price range. For this buyer’s guide, we only considered monitors that are 24-inches or larger. You might want to look at smaller monitors to save money, although we would recommend this only as a drastic last resort.

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