Best High Refresh Rate Monitors

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Editor’s Rating: 4.5/5.0

Considered one of the best G-Sync monitors, the Asus ROG Swift PG279Q is an excellent monitor, not only for hardcore gaming but also for productivity and general use. It’s an IPS display with a 27-inch screen and a 1440p resolution, boasting good picture quality, wide viewing angles, good ergonomics, and outstanding gaming performance. You can get it for about $800-900 on a normal day, but during a big sale, you can get your hands on it for just around $700.

The PG279Q is a well-designed monitor with good build quality. It’s got thin bezels on all sides and comes with a fully adjustable stand. It has a thick frame, so it will stick out more than usual when in a wall-mounted setup, though not as much as curved monitors. You’ll find all the connection ports at the back, positioned downward; the ports include one HDMI port, one DisplayPort, one audio port, and a couple of USB 3.0 down ports.

Asus did a great job with the stand, equipping the PG279Q with a sturdy stand that easily supports the screen regardless of its orientation. The stand has cable management and offers good ranges for height, tilt, and swivel adjustments, with a 60-degree left/right swivel range. The ring and the Republic of Gamers logo on the stand light up, which is pretty cool, though it can be distracting sometimes.

The on-screen display is also well designed, with an organized structure and a good selection of calibration options and gaming-related enhancements. Going through the on-screen display is fast and easy, with the PG279Q featuring a joystick control. Along with four clickable buttons, the small joystick is located on the back panel, instead of under the bottom bezel, as seen on many LG monitors.

The PG279Q is an outstanding all-around monitor that works well for gaming, web development, media consumption, photo editing, and office work, among other things. It’s got good picture quality, with wide viewing angles and good coverage for the sRGB color space. Out of the box, color accuracy is great, which sets it apart from the Acer Predator XB271HU, its chief rival. Moreover, this high-end display has better brightness and reflection handling than Acer’s offering.

When it comes to gaming performance, the PG279Q won’t disappoint. It has a fast response time and a very low input lag, with superb motion handling overall, which is especially great for fast-paced first-person shooters and racing games. With G-Sync enabled, the picture stays smooth even when the frame rate is erratic, with minimal screen tearing and stuttering.

While its pros make it seem like a dream gaming monitor, the PG279Q is not perfect, as it has a few issues that might put off some people. It has a subpar contrast ratio – though it’s better than a lot of IPS displays in that department – and a mediocre black uniformity, which is easily noticeable when viewing dark content in a dark room. In addition, the built-in speakers are terrible, which might disappoint those who are expecting at least decent sound quality from a high-end product.

Overall, the PG279Q is a highly recommended product if you are in the market for the best high refresh rate monitors. It has good color accuracy, wide viewing angles, good ergonomics, a fast response time, a low input lag, and G-Sync support. If you want a cheaper alternative, check out the Acer Predator XB271HU, which usually sells for around $150-200 less. It offers similar specs and gaming performance, but in some areas, it’s inferior to the PG279Q.

2. ViewSonic XG2402 (Best Budget)

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Editor’s Rating: 3.9/5.0

If you want a monitor with a high refresh rate but can’t spend more than $300 for one, your best option is the ViewSonic XG2402, a 24-inch TN display with a 144 Hz native refresh rate. You can get it for less than $250, which makes it significantly more affordable than our top pick. It offers good value for the money, featuring better picture quality than most other TN monitors in the same price range.

The XG2402 is a 1080p monitor with thick bezels on all sides, a sturdy stand, and a stylish back panel with a lighting system. While the unit is made almost entirely of plastic, the build quality is good, with the stand easily supporting the monitor. It has a good number of connection ports, featuring two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, one audio port, and two USB 3.0 down ports, all of which are down-facing on the back panel.

The stand is well-built and comes with a small ring for cable management and a headphones hook. It has good ergonomics, which is important for a TN display due to limited viewing angles. You can easily adjust the height and tilt and swivel the screen, with good adjustment ranges. You can also rotate the screen to portrait mode if needed.

Although this gaming monitor includes built-in speakers, you shouldn’t expect too much regarding sound quality. The speakers are awful, producing a weak bass and a muddy sound at high volumes. If you want a much better audio experience, use good-sounding external speakers or headphones instead, especially for gaming.

Concerning the on-screen display, the XG2402 is a mixed bag. On one hand, it offers a good selection of options. But on the other hand, the menu structure is not well organized and can be confusing to go through sometimes. The good news is that the control buttons are responsive; the buttons are located on the bottom-right corner and produce a satisfying click when pressed.

The XG2402 is an outstanding monitor for pure gaming. It boasts outstanding motion handling, featuring an extremely fast response time. It has a very low input lag and supports AMD FreeSync, with an effective FreeSync range of 48-144 Hz, which is a good range. This ViewSonic display is great for both PC and console gaming: the 1080p resolution is perfect for regular PS4 gaming while the FreeSync support is great for PC and Xbox One gaming.

For productivity and general use, the XG2402 is decent enough, but don’t expect it to be as versatile as our top pick. It has a decent picture quality for a TN monitor, with good out-of-box color accuracy and decent brightness. On the other hand, the contrast ratio is low while the viewing angles are very narrow, which isn’t surprising considering the panel tech. You can use this monitor for general office work and internet surfing, but for photo editing and graphics design, it’s not recommended.

While not as versatile as our top pick, the XG2402 is still a good monitor overall. It has decent picture quality and is an exceptional monitor for gaming, featuring an extremely fast response time, a very low input lag, and FreeSync support for reduced screen tearing. If you have a tight budget and can only spend around $250 for a high refresh rate monitor, go for the XG2402.

3. Samsung C27HG70 (Best Value)

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Editor’s Rating: 4.3/5.0

One of two curved displays on this list, the Samsung C27HG70 is a great monitor for gaming and media consumption, featuring good picture quality with excellent contrast, HDR support, and wide color gamut support. You can get it for around $500, which puts it in between our two other top picks in terms of pricing.

Of the monitors in this guide, the C27HG70 easily stands out due to its eye-catching design. It’s a 27-inch curved display with a VA panel, featuring an arm-like stand with an unconventional height adjustment system. It has a large footprint and can’t be positioned close to the wall due to the stand’s design. If you want to save desk space, you can mount it on the wall; the C27HG70 is fairly thin for a curved monitor when the stand is removed, so it looks good in a wall-mounted setup.

The stand, which has a wide Y-shaped base, offers decent ergonomics, with options to adjust the height, tilt, and swivel the screen, though the tilt and swivel adjustment ranges are not as good as with our top pick, most especially regarding swivel range. There are no notable quality issues with the stand’s design: it supports the monitor well and is easy to adjust.

The C27HG70 has narrow bezels on all sides and a clean back panel. All connection ports are well secured at the rear and are easy enough to access. The ports include two HDMI ports, one DisplayPort, one audio out, one mic in, and two USB 3.0 down ports, one of which supports fast charging. The ring around the stand mount lights up, which is cool.

You will also find a joystick on the back panel, which is used for navigating the OSD. The small joystick is easy to use and makes going through the OSD much faster than when using the usual set of buttons. Samsung also gets points for doing a good job with the OSD itself, with the control panel featuring an organized structure with a good selection of options.

The C27HG70 is an excellent monitor for gaming, whether you game on PC or consoles. It has a fast response time and a very low input lag, which should please competitive gamers. It has AMD FreeSync support over DisplayPort and HDMI, with a FreeSync range of 48-144 Hz for the former and 48-100 Hz for the latter. With FreeSync enabled, screen tearing is significantly reduced when the frame rate is erratic, with the monitor dynamically adapting its refresh rate to the graphics card’s output.

Concerning overall picture quality, the C27HG70 is much better than our budget pick. It has good picture quality, with excellent native contrast, HDR support, good out-of-box color accuracy, wide color gamut support, and good brightness range. It has a high resolution as well, which makes for sharper texts and more detailed images. On the other hand, this Samsung monitor has more limited viewing angles compared to IPS displays, so the picture quality is not great when viewing the screen from sharp angles.

All in all, the C27HG70 offers great value for the money. It has good picture quality, with good coverage for the sRGB color space and decent HDR performance. It’s excellent for gaming, featuring a fast response time, a very low input lag, and FreeSync support – but don’t expect its curved screen to add more immersion, as curved screens are most effective on ultrawide monitors larger than 30 inches.

If you want a G-Sync alternative, check out the Dell S2716DG, which sells for a similar price. Like the C27HG70, the S2716DG is also great for gaming, featuring a 144 Hz refresh rate, an extremely fast response time, and a very low input lag, but it’s more limited overall, mainly due to its TN panel.

4. Acer Predator XB252Q

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Editor’s Rating: 4.0/5.0

If you want a monitor with an extremely high refresh rate of 240 Hz, the Acer Predator XB252Q is the best option. It has a good build quality and is an excellent display for gaming, boasting a very fast response time and G-Sync support. You can get it for around $500, which puts it in the same price range as some of the best IPS monitors on the market, such as the Dell U2718Q.

The XB252Q is a TN monitor with a 1920 x 1080 resolution, featuring thin bezels on the top and sides. Compared to the similarly priced Samsung C27HG70, it has a more understated design, not to mention a smaller overall footprint, which makes it easier to fit on a regular desk. The unit comes with a well-built stand with basic cable management and good ergonomics. You can easily adjust the height and tilt and swivel the screen.

Like many LG monitors, the XB252Q features a small joystick for menu navigation. But unlike with LG monitors, the joystick is located on the back panel, instead of under the screen. While the joystick makes going through the OSD much faster, it can be awkward to use at first. The OSD is also well designed, with an organized structure and a nice selection of options.

In terms of connectivity, the XB252Q is not that different from other G-Sync monitors, featuring just one HDMI port and one DisplayPort for video input, with not a single legacy port in sight. In addition, it has an audio out and four USB 3.0 down ports. All ports are down-facing at the rear, with the only exception being the pair of USB ports conveniently placed on the monitor’s left side for quick access.

As with our budget pick from ViewSonic, this Acer gaming monitor is best used for gaming. It’s got an extremely fast response time and a very low input lag, both of which will please competitive gamers. If you have a Nvidia graphics card under the hood, you can also use the monitor’s G-Sync feature, which synchronizes the monitor refresh rate to the GPU output.

Keep in mind that 240 Hz monitors are not for everyone. Some will find them beneficial for their gaming while others won’t be able to tell the difference when upgrading from a 144 Hz monitor. The XB252Q is most suitable for high-level competitive gaming, but only if you also own a graphics card that can actually produce 200+ frames per second on a consistent basis.

For non-gaming use, the XB252Q is pretty limited, mainly due to its TN panel. It has subpar picture quality, with a low contrast ratio and narrow viewing angles. Out-of-box color accuracy is good, though, which can’t be said for some of Acer’s more expensive gaming monitors. The XB252Q is decent enough for internet surfing and office work, but for graphics design and video editing, it’s not a good option.

Overall, the XB252Q is a recommended product for hardcore gaming, especially if you typically play first-person shooter games and not much else. It has an exceptional response time and input lag and offers good ergonomics. There are other options if you want a more budget-friendly 240 Hz monitor, but if you want the best, go for the XB252Q.

5. Dell Alienware AW3418DW

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Editor’s Rating: 4.4/5.0

The Dell Alienware AW3418DW is another great option if you can afford to spend about $800-900 on a high refresh rate monitor. It’s a 34-inch curved ultrawide display with a native refresh rate of 100 Hz, which can be easily overclocked to 120 Hz. It offers good long-term value for both gaming and non-gaming use.

Of the products in this guide, the AW3418DW has the best aesthetics, with its futuristic design and customizable lighting system easily making it stand out. It has good build quality, featuring thin bezels on all sides and a curved screen with anti-glare coating, and comes with a cool-looking stand. It’s got a relatively thick frame overall, which makes it stick out more than a flat monitor when wall-mounted.

The stand is sturdy and stable, easily supporting the large screen, with no major wobbling issues. It has a hole at the bottom for cable management and offers decent ergonomics. You can adjust the height and tilt and swivel the screen, with decent adjustment ranges. In a regular desk setup, the AW3418DW takes up a lot of space due to its design, so if you want to save space, you can mount it on the wall.

As with most other Dell monitors, the AW3418DW has a well-organized OSD that’s easy to go through and offers a good selection of calibration options and features. The OSD buttons are located on the bottom-right corner, on the underside. There are more buttons than usual on this unit, with a total of seven buttons, and that includes the power button.

While not as generous as the Dell U2518D, the AW3418DW is good regarding connectivity options, offering one DisplayPort, one HDMI port, four USB 3.0 down ports, and two audio ports. Of the two audio ports, one supports direct volume adjustment; the other has a fixed volume. The ports are divided into two groups: one group is down-facing at the rear while the other is at the bottom of the monitor for quick access.

Like our top pick, the AW3418DW is an excellent monitor for all-around use, although it’s marketed specifically for gaming use. It has an IPS panel, which automatically translates to wide viewing angles, which is important for a curved ultrawide display. It’s an ideal screen for multitasking with multiple windows open at the same time, thanks to its large screen and high resolution.

The AW3418DW has decent out-of-box color accuracy. Once properly calibrated, it boasts near-perfect coverage for the sRGB color space, which makes it a good monitor for photo editing. It has a decent contrast ratio for an IPS display, but on the other hand, it has a mediocre black uniformity and a subpar brightness range.

For gaming, the AW3418DW is an outstanding monitor overall. It has a fast response time, a low input lag, and a high native refresh rate that can be easily overclocked. Moreover, it has G-Sync support, which significantly reduces screen tearing when the frame rate is fluctuating, leading to smoother gaming. Unlike with the Samsung C27HG70, the AW3418DW’s curved screen is actually beneficial when gaming, giving you a wider field of view and more immersion.

If you want a curved ultrawide monitor with a high refresh rate, the AW3418DW is the best option on the market. It has good picture quality, decent ergonomics, and excellent gaming performance. It’s a great monitor not only for gaming but also for productivity and general use. If you want a cheaper FreeSync alternative, check out the LG 34UC79G-B instead. LG’s ultrawide display has a higher native refresh rate (144 Hz) and sells for around $300-400 less, but it has lower resolution and worse ergonomics.