Gaming monitors and large gaming chairs are designed for all the gamers who either have a gaming room at home or love to play games for hours. We all know that we are surrounded by hectic work schedules that keep us busy all day, and when we reach home after a long tiring day, we need to relax our mind and body. Here games work as the best stress buster for many people, and if you are one of those, then you will get the most out the gaming monitor as these gadgets are designed to provide all the benefits that a gamer need. When you are up for buying a gaming monitor, you need to understand that there are a few panel types. You must be wondering which monitor panel type is best for gaming. Right?

Gaming monitors come with different resolutions and you can pick the one you need. Just like you look at the resolution when buying a monitor, you should also decide what monitor panel type you need for gaming. You can not only play games but can also watch videos or movies on your gaming monitor. So, it’s really important to check the panel type of the gaming monitor before putting it into the cart.

Let’s take a look at the popular panel types designed for gaming

Types of Monitor Panel for Gaming

To evaluate which monitor panel type is best for gaming, you should check how many panel types are there. There are three monitor panel types – IPS & TN, and VA panel.

IPS Panel

IPS stands for (In-Plane Switching) that is capable of displaying a detailed and crisp image with sharp colors. It is ideal for image edition, content creation, and video editing. This panel type is really popular among the gamers as it is known to deliver the best graphics with best colors.  The better color reproduction and contrast ratio compel people to look for IPS monitors. Plus, the viewing angle is also good, which is needed when you are playing games. The IPS panel type offers a limited refresh rate and response time. The higher refresh rate can go up to 144 Hz, while the response time can go as low as 4 ms.  You can simply find many gaming monitors with IPS panel.

TN Panel

The other popular panel type is TN panel (twisted-nematic). It is known as the best panel type in terms of performance as it supports the lowest response time and highest refresh rates. All gamers know that response time is really important, and the TN panel is the only type that offers the response time as low as 1 ms. Moreover, the TN monitors with 144 Hz are much cheaper than the IPS type. The refresh rate of the TN panels can go as high as 240 Hertz.  

It is also true that TN panels do not proffer the best visuals. The view angle of TN panels is not as good as IPS panels. It is also noted that TN panels do not support HDR.

VA Panel

Vertical alignment, VA panel, is something lies in the middle ground between TN and IPS panels, having the aspects of both panel types. The view angle and color reproduction of the VA panels are comparable to the IPS panels. The contrast ratios of the VA panels are better. The pricier VA panels are capable of delivering the response time as low as 1 ms and the refresh rate as high as 144 Hertz. Ghosting is common in VA panels, which can be a problem when you are playing fast-paced games. The black uniformity is a bit poor in VA panels.

Which Monitor Panel Type Is Best For Gaming?

All the three panel types have their own advantages and disadvantages.  If performance really matters for you, then TN panels can be a good choice as they are fast as well as cheap. Gamers who want to have a detailed image should go for IPS panels as they deliver the best visual performance. VA panels are a good option but they can’t match up the visual performance of IPS nor will it be as responsive as TN panels. So, the choice is completely yours as what you prefer – visual performance or better response.