The Best Gaming Monitors - Mid 2025

Great article as usual Tim. I recently upgraded my monitor and wanted an oled. It was a dificult decision for sure. I waited for the Prime day sale and bought the Dell Alienware AW3425DW. My other monitor is a LG 32 inch 180hz curved 1440p VA monitor. I decided to keep both and also bought a dual monitor arm. So far, I am very pleased with the Oled monitor and thanks to you, I was able to finally decide. Again thank you for your review. Hopefully the Alienware oled will last me quite a few years. Especially since I have the luxury of only using it for content and gaming consumption. Cheers from Canada.
 
Hey Tim, I'd like to request something about monitors I have always wanted to know, and I keep hoping this comes up on compilations like these, but it hasn't happened yet.

What I wanted to know is about VA monitors specifically. I already have a decent IPS monitor, now I'd like to get a VA one as a second monitor (so I can choose between better responsiveness/colors of IPS or better contrast of VA at will), but I would like a panel where the black smearing issue isn't too bad. So the question is, how low can I go on price with VA panels and still have a good experience with black smearing? How can I expect the black smearing issue to be at each price point? And is there a stand-out budget (say, below $250) VA monitor that is particularly good in this regard?
 
All the love for QD-OLED, despite the fact that the QD layer seriously reflects back ambient light, thus greatly lowering the contrast in even normally lit rooms. I bought one, and quickly tired of the purplish blacks, returned it and bought a W-OLED - the LG 32GS95UE. Not sure why Tim hates W-OLED.
 
Great article but I'm also interested in mixed use monitors - for gaming sure, but also office & productivity. We don't all have the real estate for dedicated monitors for particular use cases. Interested particularly in how text clarity holds up with QD OLED. Is there a generalist king amongst these monitors?
 
Please bring back recommendations for 23.8"/24.5" monitors, not everyone has room for anything larger (I don't!). It would be great if you could test some of the 24" 1440p monitors like the new AOC Q24G4RE (23.8" 180hz 1440p IPS) & AOC Q25G4SR (24.5" 300hz 1440p IPS).
 
Great article but I'm also interested in mixed use monitors - for gaming sure, but also office & productivity. We don't all have the real estate for dedicated monitors for particular use cases. Interested particularly in how text clarity holds up with QD OLED. Is there a generalist king amongst these monitors?
Many of us have asked for reviews of productivity monitors and have been summarily ignored. I can only conclude that Tim and Steve don't care about what their readers want, despite the fact that those two spend countless hours doing productivity work themselves!
 
Great article but I'm also interested in mixed use monitors - for gaming sure, but also office & productivity. We don't all have the real estate for dedicated monitors for particular use cases. Interested particularly in how text clarity holds up with QD OLED. Is there a generalist king amongst these monitors?

+1

I would like advice on a high-end 27" 1440p monitor for mixed use. Text clarity and color reproduction should be key, yet gaming characteristics (contrast/HDR, response time...) should be equally great.
 
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