Picking the right monitor is as important as picking the right parts for your PC. If you have a mighty powerhouse card such as the RTX 4080, and you’re using a basic monitor, then you’ve got it all wrong. For serious gamers, mind-blowing graphics for various games are a big deal for them and to be able to present this, you need a monitor that can keep up with the high resolutions and framerates. A good monitor can also provide super high refresh rates which allow fluid and smooth gameplay.
Therefore, to pick the right monitor for your graphics card, you need to take into consideration multiple factors and there’s much more to it than just resolution and refresh rates. It can involve many factors such as support for Nvidia G-SYNC or AMD FreeSync, HDR mode, overdrive modes, motion blur reduction technologies, and various panel technologies. Different panel types offer their own set of strengths and weaknesses. By the time you’ve done reading this guide, you’ll have a fairly good idea of what factors you need to take into consideration when purchasing your monitor. By getting the right monitor, you can unlock the full potential of your gaming rig and give yourself a smooth and immersive gaming experience.
Whether you’re a hardcore gamer who needs simply the best performance to get the competitive edge in games or you’re a content creator who needs the most vivid and color-accurate display, our guide has them all. Not only that, we’ve covered each monitor’s strengths and weaknesses and by the end of the guide you’ll have a greater insight and knowledge regarding various monitors.
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Alienware AW2521HF Read More | See On Amazon |
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ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ Read More | See On Amazon |
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Samsung Odyssey G7 Read More | See On Amazon |
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LG UltraGear 34GN850-B Read More | See On Amazon |
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Gigabyte Aorus FI32U Read More | See On Amazon |
Table of ContentsShow
Best Monitors for RTX 4080 Reviews
For high-paced competitive games, gamers want ultra-high refresh rates for the most speed they can get out of the monitor. The Dell Alienware AW2521HF is among some of the super high refresh rate monitor categories. This monitor boasts a millisecond input lag at a peak refresh rate at an attractive price point that won’t break the bank.
Like every Alienware product, it comes with a unique futuristic design that looks very attractive. The monitor barely has any bezels and has a decent screen size of 25 inches. However, this monitor is only 1080p resolution but usually people who’re looking to buy very high refresh rate monitors only care about its raw performance rather than focus too much on visuals so it’s still good enough.
It sports a white and black theme or a fully black theme with thin black bands along its three edges. The chin of the monitor features the usual Alienware logo. The back of the monitor, it’s white and offers a striking smooth look. For connectivity, you will find an input USB port for PC connection along with two additional downstream USB ports. It also features the usual two HDMI ports, a Displayport input, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. You can find another two downstream USB ports at the bottom edge of the monitor right in front of the stand if you need them next to the 3.5mm jack.
The stand looks quite good, it has a V-shaped foot and is quite ergonomic, providing multiple adjustments such as tilt, swivel, rotate, and height adjustment. The stand is also built with RGB lighting with an AlienFX lighting system.
The Alienware AW2521HF also supports variable refresh rates and is AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-SYNC certified. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support HDR signals but true HDR in monitors around this price range is not possible anyway so it’s not really a big issue. However, it does have a peak refresh rate of 240 Hz. Although it can’t compete with 360 Hz panels in the market, the difference becomes less noticeable at higher refresh rates. Therefore, 240 Hz is a sweet spot for a PC with a graphics card such as the RTX 4070 as it’ll easily handle 1080p with frames over 240 fps.
Coming to the colors, the contrast ratio is quite the usual, it was around 1000:1 which is standard for an IPS panel. The blacks also look quite gray in dark room settings but look fine in a well-lit room. Despite this, IPS panels are still quite superior when it comes to viewing angles and excellent gamma consistency. Furthermore, the color accuracy and gamut is just over the sRGB and are quite saturated and vivid. Overall, it has great responsiveness and low input lag and there was no overshoot that could be noticed. Given its performance and exceptional build quality, it’s quite reasonable and is a great monitor pick.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is one of the best monitors out there that offers great dynamic contrast at a reasonable price point. This monitor features a popular monitor setup, being a 27-inch, 1440p screen. This is the most balanced configuration which is why it’s so popular since you can achieve high frame rates without needing to get the most expensive graphics card out there. The ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQ is one of the most well-rounded monitors we’ve seen lately and supports many features such as 170 Hz refresh rate, HDR support all while keeping a reasonable price point.
It supports both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-SYNC without any issues with HDR turned on at 170 Hz via the Displayport. HDMI is however limited to 144 Hz. It also includes ELMB sync which stands for extreme low motion blur sync. This can be used in tandem with adaptive sync and it’s very rare to see any monitors support both at the same time without turning either of them off.
The image quality is also superb due to its extended gamut of over 91% DCI-P3. In HDR mode, it was able to reach a peak brightness of 400 nits and achieve a dynamic contrast ratio of over 22000:1. Being an ASUS ROG monitor, it comes with the usual ASUS gaming features such as crosshairs, timers, frame counters, etc. For the price point, there’s no better monitor than this.
Design-wise, it is kept simple with a small ROG logo at the thin chin strip bezel at the bottom. The other three sides of the bezels are quite thin, being only 7mm thick. At the back of the monitor, you can find OSD controls that are quite responsive and easy to use. The stand is also very sturdy and well-built with tons of ergonomic adjustments such as height adjustment, swivel, and rotation, and overall doesn’t wobble at all. There’s also some RGB flair at the back on its large ROG logo which can be customized according to your preferences.
For connectivity, it has the usual two HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort1.2, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also includes two inbuilt 2-watt speakers that have decent sound quality. As for color accuracy, it’s quite decent out of the box but after slight calibration, it looks much better. It also has a decent contrast ratio for an IPS panel but nothing out of the ordinary. It does include a dynamic contrast dimming feature which is very effective at increasing the contrast ratio in games and videos.
Performance-wise, it performs exceptionally well and there aren’t many problems. So overall, its rich feature set with G-SYNC, HDR, and dynamic contrast, helps deliver the balance between features and performance of a premium monitor all while being reasonably priced.
The Samsung Odyssey G7 is the monitor that boasts about being the best of the best. It packs a set of all the best features you can dream of. This 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 packs a high refresh rate of 240 Hz, supports Adaptive Sync, and offers great DisplayHDR600 and extended color due to its VA panel. It also has a 1440p resolution with a very tight 1000R curvature, more than any monitor currently.
Being a tightly curved display for this size with an aspect ratio of 16:9, it’s quite immersive and is recommended for those who don’t want a curved ultrawide monitor. The colors are beautiful and very impressive in this display as expected from a VA panel, with deep rich blacks. The extended color also pushes the DCI-P3 coverage to 85%. Out of the box, it has very accurate and beautiful colors. Being a VA panel, it has a high contrast ratio of 2500:1. As for HDR, if the monitor can’t have a local full array local dimming backlight, it can be compensated by using a VA panel with dynamic contrast capability.
Coming to the ports, it has two DisplayPort1.4 ports and a single HDMI 2.0 port along with a 3.5mm headphone audio output. It also has an upstream USB port along with two downstream USB ports. As for the build construction, it’s very well built and is exceptionally sturdy. It also has a very premium and attractive design with some LEDs that can be customized. The stand is quite good with a tiny bit of wobble due to its huge size and offers a lot of ergonomic adjustment options such as a height adjustment of 4.7 inches, swivel to either side, tilt as well, and the ability to rotate it to make it vertical. However, it doesn’t have any in-built speakers for those of you who are wondering.
The OSD is also quite good with a large set of features. In SDR mode, the image quality is superb with a high contrast ratio more than any IPS monitor, and looks brilliant in every game. In gaming performance, there were no issues at all. Adaptive sync worked flawlessly at 240 Hz with HDR via the DisplayPort. HDR looks especially good on this monitor mainly due to its effective selective dimming feature which makes blacks deep and highlights pop. The screen is also quite bright reaching a peak brightness of 600 nits. In the HDR test, it was able to achieve a 17000:1 contrast, making it one of the best HDR gaming monitors out there.
Overall, the Samsung Odyssey G7 is a premium gaming monitor that bundles the best of every category into one monitor that doesn’t require any calibration and is a monitor you can just unbox and start gaming on. This is why, it’s one of the best monitors you can buy if you have an RTX 4070 build.
If you fancy good ultrawide monitors but don’t want to spend a fortune? Then the LG UltraGear 34GN850-B is for you. It is made for gamers but it is also a splendid choice for productivity and media consumption due to its wide 21:9 aspect ratio. This wide aspect ratio makes it suitable for multitasking. Not to mention, it also has splendid Adobe RGB color space making it ideal for content creators.
Overall, it has a very attractive set of features such as having a 160 Hz refresh rate on its ultrawide nano-IPS panel, a whopping 98% DCI-P3 coverage, and an incredible 1ms response time. Furthermore, it also supports Adaptive Sync and HDR400 to further improve the gaming experience. However being an IPS panel, it has a low contrast ratio which can look bad in dark room environments. It also lacks local dimming so the blacks look gray in darker rooms.
Coming to the design, the design is quite simple and much of the cost solely goes into the panel and its performance. The plastic on the body is smooth and nothing too spectacular, but it does sport a gaming monitor theme with some red accents and a sleek-looking stand. From the front, it looks super sleek with no gaps between the panel and bezel which gives it a premium feel. The 34GN850-B has a slight but consistent 1900R curve and looks quite uniform making it look expensive and premium.
When it comes to the included stand, it’s finicky. Although it’s quite large, it also leans a bit forward which can be uncomfortable even if it is more immersive that way. So we recommend you get a neat monitor stand for this ultrawide monitor. Ergonomics is also quite poor on this monitor stand as it does not provide any swivel and only comes with some minor height and tilt adjustment.
The OSD controls in the LG 34GN850-B are spectacular. It can be controlled using a single joystick toggle found at the bottom of the monitor which is extremely easy to use. For connectivity, it features an IO behind the monitor that is horizontal rather than downwards-facing which makes it super easy to access. Coming to the ports, you get two HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort, two USB 3.0 ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
As for performance, to get the overclocked 160Hz and 10-bit colors, you need to use the single DisplayPort 1.4a connector. But we usually recommend you stick to 144 Hz with 10-bit colors for the best experience.
To sum it up, the LG UltraGear 34GN850-B offers excellent colors despite the low contrast ratio, an issue that all IPS panels possess. But for the price point, it’s an impressive ultrawide monitor that provides the best of both worlds between performance and image quality.
The Gigabyte AORUS FI32U is a 32-inch 4K monitor made for those who want 4K resolution with high refresh rates. It features a panel called Fast IPS and is marketed with a 1 ms response time, making it one of the lowest input lag scores of any 4K displays out there. It also supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro natively and similarly the same way for G-SYNC, although it is not officially certified by NVIDIA.
Being an IPS panel, the contrast suffers. So to enhance the contrast, it utilizes a local dimming technology but not quite like the full-array zone dimming (FALD) that utilizes selective edge dimming in other premium monitors. However, it significantly does improve SDR and HDR contrast significantly. It is also DisplayHDR 400 certified and ensures a peak brightness of 400 nits.
The IO of the monitor is quite rich, with two HDMI 2.1 ports, DisplayPort 1.4 with DSC. a USB-C port along with a few more upstream and downstream USB ports. The OSD controls are also quite handy and easy to use, featuring a single mini joystick that is quite responsive to use. There is also significant RGB flair on the monitor with many RGB strips and AORUS branding and logos. The RGB can be customized using the OSD or via Gigabyte’s proprietary RGB Fusion App.
Audio is another department where the AORUS FI32U shines. Although it doesn’t have any in-built speakers, it does feature an ESS Sabre DAC chip which can ensure accurate and noise-free processing of audio from the HDMI and DisplayPort connections. It is also quite ergonomic with the ability to swivel, adjust height, tilt, and also put in portrait mode.
The USB-C can be quite handy as it can carry video signals as well as enable a KVM switch so that you can switch between two systems without replugging the peripherals. This makes it a perfect combination especially if you own both a gaming PC and console. You also get two 3.5mm jack audio outputs and a single 3.5mm input.
Coming to color accuracy, the stock settings are satisfactory but nothing too spectacular. After calibrating, there is quite a significant improvement which helped increase the depth of the shadows and made the highlights pop more. The FI32U also utilizes an extended color gamut i.e., DCI-P3 to make the photos and videos much more saturated. However, the contrast is quite mediocre but the enhanced color compensates for it.HDR mode was also quite good and offered significant improvement by making the colors pop out more and look more vibrant.
Overall, the Gigabyte Aorus FI32U does not disappoint as it offers solid image production and pops quite nicely with HDR despite having average contrast.
Conclusion
In conclusion, selecting the right monitor for your RTX 4080 is indeed a daunting yet crucial task that can significantly impact your overall gaming experience. We’ve presented you with various monitor options in this guide, each with its unique strengths tailored to different user preferences and needs.
It’s important to remember that the perfect monitor choice will ultimately depend on your individual needs and preferences. For example, you might prioritize higher frame rates for competitive gaming and not care about color accuracy and whatnot while others may prefer a more balanced monitor that is great for both content consumption and gaming.
As technology continues to advance rapidly, it’s good to keep an eye on emerging trends and innovations in monitor technology. New developments in monitor technology may soon bring even more exciting options to the market that may exactly be what you need.
Overall, the RTX 4090 is indeed a formidable graphics card, and matching it with a compatible monitor is essential to fully unlock its capabilities. Whether you opt for one of the recommended models in this guide or explore other options, our aim has been to provide you with the necessary insights and knowledge about various monitors to help you make an informed decision.
