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Quote: This display uses the NT57860 driver IC. I"m using the TC358860 eDP-to-MIPIDSI bridge chip, but I"m not sure whether it can drive this display panel. Is it possible to share the datasheet of this NT57860 driver IC? That way I"m able to verify that. Thanks in advance, With kind regards

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Visualize your victory with MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD eSports gaming monitor. Equipped with a 165hz Refresh rate, 1ms GTG response time panel, Optix MAG274QRF-QD will give you the competitive edge you need to take down your opponents. The WQHD (2560x1440) high resolution and the Quantum Dot technology will let you experience the mesmerizing images. Enjoy extremely smooth, tear-free gameplay with built-in NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible technology when paired with a compatible NVIDIA graphics card.

Optix series gaming monitor is equipped with an IPS panel that produces no image distortion and minimum color shifts when viewed from different angles. Additionally, the IPS panel will offer clear images and instantly optimize screen color and brightness to ensure that you enjoy every scene at its best.

The Optix series eSports gaming monitor feature a WQHD panel that supports resolution up to 2560x1440. This 16:9 panel allows gamers to examine bigger game scenes compared to other traditional FHD panels, and put them ahead of other competitors.

Optix monitors are equipped with a 165hz refresh rate and 1ms GTG response time panel which has the most benefit in fast moving game genres such as first person shooters, fighters, racing sims, real-time strategy, and sports. These type of games require very fast and precise movements, which an ultra-high refresh rate and fast response time monitor will put you ahead of your competition.

WUXGA resolution + IPS: the choice of professionals. WUXGA resolution (1920x1200) has 11% more vertical workspace than 1080p monitors (1920x1080). The 16:10 aspect ratio (instead of 16:9) lets you see more at a glance without scrolling. Meanwhile, IPS technology reduces color shift at oblique angles, crtical for a multi-screen array.

To get the most for your money, you want to match your monitor choice with your PC specs. A 4K monitor with a high refresh rate would be overkill if your rig is only packing a GTX 1060. If you"ve had the cash to drop on an Nvidia RTX 4090(opens in new tab) or a high-end AMD RX 6000(opens in new tab) series GPU, you can take your pick of 4K panels. Those sitting somewhere in the mid-range of things—with, say, an RTX 2070 Super—are better off looking at 1440p displays. Even high-end PC owners might consider skipping 4K, though: 1440p is the sweet spot right now.

For the competitive gamer who values speed above all else, check out our list of high refresh rate monitors(opens in new tab) , which run at 240Hz and even 360Hz. I"ve been constantly testing gaming monitors through my career and have made sure that only the best for each budget have crept onto this guide. It"s extensive, but there are a whole lotta gaming monitors out there, and plenty deserve your attention. This list is updated frequently as newer models pass the rigorous PC Gamer testing ringer.

OLED has truly arrived on PC, and in ultrawide format no less. Alienware"s 34 QD-OLED is one of very few gaming monitors to receive such a stellar score from us, and it"s no surprise. Dell has nailed the OLED panel in this screen and it"s absolutely gorgeous for PC gaming. Although this monitor isn’t perfect, it is dramatically better than any LCD-based monitor by several gaming-critical metrics. And it’s a genuine thrill to use.

What that 34-inch, 21:9 panel can deliver in either of its HDR modes—HDR 400 True Black or HDR Peak 1000—is nothing short of exceptional. The 3440 x 1440 native resolution image it produces across that gentle 1800R curve is punchy and vibrant. With 99.3% coverage of the demanding DCI-P3 color space and fully 1,000 nits brightness, it makes a good go, though that brightness level can only be achieved on a small portion of the panel.

Still, there’s so much depth, saturation, and clarity to the in-game image thanks to that per-pixel lighting, but this OLED screen needs to be in HDR mode to do its thing. And that applies to SDR content, too. HDR Peak 1000 mode enables that maximum 1,000 nit performance in small areas of the panel but actually looks less vibrant and punchy most of the time.

HDR 400 True Black mode generally gives the best results, after you jump into the Windows Display Settings menu and crank the SDR brightness up, it looks much more zingy.If you"re going to hook your PC up to a high-end gaming monitor, we recommend it be this one.

Burn-in is the great fear and that leads to a few quirks. For starters, you’ll occasionally notice the entire image shifting by a pixel or two. The panel is actually overprovisioned with pixels by about 20 in both axes, providing plenty of leeway. It’s a little like the overprovisioning of memory cells in an SSD and it allows Alienware to prevent static elements from “burning” into the display over time.

There"s no HDMI 2.1 on this panel, however. So it"s probably not the best fit for console gaming as a result. But this is PC Gamer, and if you"re going to hook your PC up to a high-end gaming monitor, we recommend it be this one.

4K gaming is a premium endeavor. You need a colossal amount of rendering power to hit decent frame rates at such a high resolution. But if you"re rocking a top-shelf graphics card, like an RTX 3080(opens in new tab) or RX 6800 XT(opens in new tab) then this dream can be a reality.

While it does suffer from a little characteristic IPS glow, it appears mostly at the screen extremities when you’re spying darker game scenes. This isn"t an issue most of the time, but the HDR is a little disappointing as, frankly, 16 edge-lit local dimming zones do not a true HDR panel make.The color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding.

What is most impressive, however, is the Nano IPS tech that offers a wider color gamut and stellar viewing angles. And the color fidelity of the NanoIPS panel is outstanding.

The LG UltraGear 27GN950-B bags you a terrific panel with exquisite IPS image quality. Despite the lesser HDR capabilities, it also nets beautiful colors and contrast for your games too. G-Sync offers stable pictures and smoothness, and the speedy refresh rate and response times back this up too.

The G27Q proves that you don"t need to spend a fortune for a decent IPS 1440p display. At around $330, Gigabyte"s 27-incher packs in plenty of sought-after features, but more importantly, it provides rich color and smooth gameplay.

As a flat, 27-inch display with a design that wouldn"t stand out in an office environment, it looks pretty pedestrian. But it"s actually one of the best gaming monitors I"ve had the pleasure of using. Not only does it have a gorgeous, vibrant IPS panel, with 8-bit color with 92% DCI-P3 coverage, it"s also HDR capable.

As someone who loves visual fidelity, I appreciate this resolution for clarity and performance. Even the humble GTX 1660 Super in my desktop is comfortably driving games at 60FPS at high settings. If you spend all your time playing CS:GO or Valorant, then the 144Hz refresh could hold you back a bit, but that 1ms response time sure helps.

The classic 27-inch Dell S2722DGM marries that screen real estate with a 2560 x 1440 native resolution, which gives you a great pixel pitch for fine detail. At 1440p it"s also a decent resolution for getting high frame rates without the GPU demands of a 4K display. It"s also capable of delivering that resolution at 165Hz, which is appreciated.

At 2ms GtG response, it"s just a hair behind the 1ms and 0.5ms ratings of the best IPS panels, so you"re covered when it comes to speed. That said, you can find quicker panels if you really want to chase speed. This VA panel does have a high contrast ratio, at least, given the technology"s inherent strong contrast.This Dell monitor is most importantly available at a great price.

As for picture quality, the Dell S2722DGM is a reasonably punchy and vibrant monitor considering it"s a pure SDR panel. The strong inherent contrast certainly helps with that, ensuring you don"t feel short-changed running games like Cyberpunk 2077, which support HDR, in SDR mode.

We"d steer clear of MPRT mode, which hammers the panel"s brightness and vibrancy. "Extreme" mode, which is rated at 2ms, does suffer from a whiff of overshoot, but that"s only just visible in-game, while "Super fast" resolves the overshoot but allows just a little smearing of darker tones.

This Dell monitor is most importantly available at a great price. Dell delivers high-quality gaming panels, with all the features you need and a few extraneous ones to bump up the price. And that makes it one of the best gaming monitors for most PC gamers today.

Refresh rate, resolution, black levels, panel size: pick two. That"s been the PC monitor buyer"s dilemma for several years now, since we collectively realised that yes, playing at a higher refresh rate does actually make you better at Counter-Strike. MSI"s latest panel, bearing the catchy moniker Oculux NXG253R, aims to at least address the most common tradeoff in modern gaming panels: refresh rate for colour quality.

Whereas the majority of high refresh rate panels are VA or TN screens with limited viewing angle and shallow colours, MSI"s latest is built around an IPS panel, with all the inky blacks and rich colours that technology brings with it. Traditionally IPS has been slower to the party since it"s costlier to manufacture high refresh rate panels, but evidently enough of us are sold on 120Hz and beyond.360Hz does look and feel smoother than 120Hz.

This being an IPS panel with typically darker blacks, it definitely looks more vivid in-game than even a good TN screen, and the colours hold up at any viewing angle. You"ve got a few preset brightness and color balance modes to cycle between on the OSD, arranged by genre. FPS is super-bright and saturated, racing is a bit more subdued by contrast. Out of the box, the default colour and brightness settings are easy on the eye and really sell the IPS benefit.

The Oculux NXG253R"s mandate is sound, then, but there are still compromises made in this pricey 1080p monitor in order to optimise esports performance. The most obvious are the screen size and resolution, 24.5-inch and 1080p respectively. You could certainly argue that nobody"s getting 360 fps at 4K in… well, anything outside of CS:GO or MOBAs, and quite rightly so. But spending this much on a monitor that won"t even give you 1440p feels like a serious tradeoff, and that resolution dictates a smaller panel size. Nobody wants to see the individual pixels at 1080p on a 32-inch screen.

It"s a 32-inch beast with a VA panel running at up to 165Hz and delivering 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. Yup, the tried and tested 1440p resolution, the sweet spot for real-world gaming according to many, the perfect balance between performance and visual detail. The catch is all that normally applies to 27-inch models. 32 inches? That makes for a pretty big panel for 1440p in terms of pixel density.

This is a gaming-centric monitor without any HDR support but based on VA panel technology. So, the peak brightness is 350 nits, static contrast is about as good as it gets at 3,000:1, and there"s official AMD FreeSync Premium certification.Rounding out the basics is a gentle 1800R panel curve.

Rounding out the basics is a gentle 1800R panel curve. It"s a slightly odd, though not actually unique, feature for this class of display. Curvature is a more obvious and natural fit for ultrawide displays. On a conventional 16:9 panel? We still need a little convincing.

But add in the 165Hz refresh and you have a pretty convincing monitor for response-critical online shooters. To be sure, if that is your number one priority, you’d be better off with a higher-refresh 1080p IPS monitor with faster response. If you want a larger panel like this, 4K isn’t an all-around win. It comes with a huge additional GPU load and that in turn requires mega-investment levels in a good graphics card

It"s worth remembering that pricing for this class of display—a 32-inch 165Hz 1440p panel—extends all the way up to $800 in the Corsair Xeneon 32QHD165(opens in new tab). So, while the Dell S3222DGM isn"t all that exciting from a technical point of view, for the money, it"s pretty convincing.

Here, this 27-inch panel provides frames at a stable 165Hz refresh rate, not the speediest but certainly workable for competitive gaming. The 1ms grey-to-grey response time doesn"t hurt for gaming either. As a FreeSync certified monitor, AMD users can be sure of a tear-free gaming experience.

At 1440p you get a good pixel density for the size of the monitor, and the image is pretty sharp to boot. The screen itself is advertised as anti-glare and we"re seen that it holds its own in most brightly lit environments, though doesn"t do so well in dim spaces.A great entry-level option for those looking for a larger screen.

The biggest selling point of the PX277 Prime, though, is its low price point. A great entry-level option for those looking for a larger screen with a high refresh rate and don"t want to be left totally broke.

While the build quality isn"t as robust as a higher-spec screen, the Pixio panel is perfect for the budget gamer who doesn"t mind missing out on some of the bells and whistles of a higher-end monitor but is keen on top performance.

We"re finally in an era of gaming where an affordable 4K monitor and a fast 4K monitor are one and the same. You could still buy a lower resolution panel for a whole lot less, but as the Gigabyte M32UC proves you can get a whole lot of screen for what feels like a fair price.

The M32UC runs at a perfectly reasonable 144Hz out of the box—and you"ll need a powerful graphics card to make the most of that at 4K. However, if you hook this monitor up via DisplayPort 1.4 you can also overclock the panel via the OSD. That bumps the refresh rate up to 160Hz, and while that"s probably excessive for most, if you"re going big with the rest of your rig (or plan to pick up a powerful next-gen GPU sometime in the future) then it"s a decent option to have at the ready.Fine details are well preserved and this panel doesn"t struggle with saturation.

But something to consider with the M32UC"s blend of resolution and refresh rate is that even a high-end GPU won"t always make the most of it. That"s what makes the M32UC"s FreeSync capabilities so crucially important. Keeping this panel in sync with your graphics card when it"s underthe max refresh rate of the screen, as it is likely going to be at times, prevents a whole lot of screen tearing.

It should come as no surprise that the 32-inch panel running at 4K results in a stunningly crisp image while gaming. I"ve been playing arguably too much Destiny 2 right now and the M32UC is a stunning way to experience the game. Fine details are well preserved and this panel doesn"t struggle with saturation, which makes for a luscious and vibrant image.

The M32U also offers a DisplayHDR 400 rating on the box, though I wouldn"t consider it for its HDR capabilities. It"s lacking much of what"s required of a true HDR monitor, such as a higher brightness and local dimming. You also have to look past what is otherwise a fairly bland outer shell on the Gigabyte.

In terms of value for money, Gigabyte has hit the nail on the head with the M32UC. If you look around for competition with similar specs at around the same price, you"ll often only find other Gigabyte models coming close, including a handful of often discounted Aorus models. That makes the M32UC a great choice if you"re planning ahead for a next-gen 4K-capable gaming PC or if you already have a high-end GPU but are not yet making the most of it.

If your mantra for displays is "go big or go home," Acer hears you, and its Predator X38 is a massive 38-inch curved screen that looks stunning. It features a not-quite-4K QHD ultrawide panel with a 3840x1600 resolution. With an aspect ratio of 24:9, the IPS panel looks great, and the size means you have a lot of screen real estate for gaming.

The display also features G-Sync technology with up to 175Hz variable refresh rates. That"s a huge boost over lower refresh rate curved gaming monitors, and Acer has overcome the big IPS downside of typically high response times, too. This beast has a 1ms GtG response, which is truly IPS coming of age and doing it all without the compromises of old.

Pushing the overclock to 175Hz yielded a perfect result with no ghosting visible. Small details like text were rock solid, too, with no shimmering. At such a huge resolution your graphics card will obviously be taxed in many games, and for me while testing this I generally left it at 144Hz, though for several days I used it on 175Hz for everything – including boring work, and it was rock solid and crisp all the time.

It"s taller than the 27-inch 16:9 displays and nearly half again as wide, but the higher resolution means the dot pitch is slightly lower than, the lesser panels. And for games that properly support ultrawide resolutions, the surround effect of the XR382CQK is incredibly immersive—sitting at your desk, the 38-inch panel will fill your field of view.

Out of the box, it looks identical to the old G9. Deep inside, however, the original G9’s single most obvious shortcoming has been addressed. And then some. The Neo G9 still has a fantastic VA panel. But its new backlight is what counts here—it offers far more than just edge-lit dimming.

Still, that 1000R curve, huge 49-inch proportions, and relatively high resolution combine to deliver an experience that few, if any, screens can match. Graphics-heavy titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher III are what the G9 does best. In that context, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 delivers arguably the best visual experience on the PC today.

Best gaming monitor FAQShould I go for an IPS, TN or VA panel?We would always recommend an IPS panel over TN(opens in new tab). The clarity of image, viewing angle, and color reproduction are far superior to the cheaper technology, but you"ll often find a faster TN for cheaper. The other alternative, less expensive than IPS and better than TN, is VA tech. The colors aren"t quite so hot, but the contrast performance is impressive.Should I go for a FreeSync or G-Sync monitor?In general, FreeSync monitors will be cheaper. It used to be the case that they would only work in combination with an AMD GPU. The same went for G-Sync monitors and Nvidia GPUs. Nowadays, though, it is possible to find G-Sync compatible FreeSync monitors(opens in new tab) if you"re intent on spending less.Should I buy a HDR monitor?With a High Dynamic Range monitor, you can take advantage of the ever-growing list of games and apps that feature HDR support. It offers more vibrant colors and greater contrast but is going to drive up the price a little. Windows" native HDR function also leaves a lot to be desired, and you may find you have to fiddle in the settings to get HDR looking like it should.What aspect ratio should I go for?Today"s movies and games are best enjoyed in a widescreen format at a 16:9 aspect ratio or above. In 4:3, those cinematic moments will look stunted with black strips along the top and bottom. There are a host of minute variations on each ratio, but at the end of the day choosing between these depends entirely on your personal preference.

The speed at which the screen refreshes. For example, 144Hz means the display refreshes 144 times a second. The higher the number, the smoother the screen will appear when you play games.

TN PanelsTwisted-nematic is the most common (and cheapest) gaming panel. TN panels tend to have poorer viewing angles and color reproduction but have higher refresh rates and response times.

IPSIn-plane switching, panels offer the best contrast and color despite having weaker blacks. IPS panels tend to be more expensive and have higher response times.

VAVertical Alignment panels provide good viewing angles and have better contrast than even IPS but are still slower than TN panels. They are often a compromise between a TN and IPS panel.

HDRHigh Dynamic Range. HDR provides a wider color range than normal SDR panels and offers increased brightness. The result is more vivid colors, deeper blacks, and a brighter picture.

ResolutionThe number of pixels that make up a monitor"s display, measured by height and width. For example: 1920 x 1080 (aka 1080p), 2560 x 1440 (2K), and 3840 x 2160 (4K).Round up of today"s best deals

Until about 2003, most computer monitors used an aspect ratio of 4:3, and in some cases 5:4. For cathode ray tubes (CRT)s 4:3 was most common even in resolutions where this meant the pixels would not be square (e.g. 320×200 or 1280×1024 on a 4:3 display). Between 2003 and 2006, monitors with 16:10 aspect ratio became commonly available, first in laptops and later also in standalone computer monitors. Reasons for this transition was productive uses for such monitors, i.e. besides widescreen movie viewing and computer game play, are the word processor display of two standard A4 or letter pages side by side, as well as CAD displays of large-size drawings and CAD application menus at the same time.

In 2008, the computer industry started to move from 4:3 and 16:10 to 16:9 as the standard aspect ratio for monitors and laptops. A 2008 report by DisplaySearch cited a number of reasons for this shift, including the ability for PC and monitor manufacturers to expand their product ranges by offering products with wider screens and higher resolutions, helping consumers to more easily adopt such products and "stimulating the growth of the notebook PC and LCD monitor market".

By 2010, virtually all computer monitor and laptop manufacturers had also moved to the 16:9 aspect ratio, and the availability of 16:10 aspect ratio in mass market had become very limited. In 2011, non-widescreen displays with 4:3 aspect ratios still were being manufactured, but in small quantities. The reasons for this according to Bennie Budler, product manager of IT products at Samsung South Africa was that the "demand for the old "Square monitors" has decreased rapidly over the last couple of years". He also predicted that "by the end of 2011, production on all 4:3 or similar panels will be halted due to a lack of demand."

In 2012, 1920×1080 was the most commonly used resolution among Steam users.2K resolution of 1920×1080 was used by two third of the Steam users for the primary display with 1366×768 and 2560×1440 both at about eight percent taking the majority of the remaining resolutions.

Since 2014, a number of high-end desktop monitors have been released that use ultrawide displays with aspect ratios that roughly match the various anamorphic formats used in film, but are commonly marketed as 21:9.

Since 2011, several monitors complying with the Digital Cinema Initiatives 4K standard have been produced; this standard specifies a resolution of 4096×2160, giving an aspect ratio of ≈1.896:1.

Quad high definition (QHD) is the standard resolution for certain high-end devices like laptops, televisions, and phones. It has a display resolution 2560 x 1440 pixels — or four times that of 720p, hence the name — in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

You may also see WQHD when searching for devices (that stands for "wide quad high definition.") QHD and WQHD are actually the same thing. The "W" is usually meant to signal that it has a 16:9 aspect ratio, since that can be a selling point for manufacturers, despite that the aspect ratio is already a feature of QHD. QHD is also sometimes labeled as 2K or 1440p for marketing reasons. An ultrawide QHD screen expands the horizontal pixels to 3440 and has a 21:9 aspect ratio.

4K, on the other hand, is going to provide a more detailed screen than QHD. The official cinema resolution for 4K screens is 4096 x 2160p, but on a monitor, you will usually see the specs list 3840 x 2160p resolution. So for the average user, it has double the pixels you get with HD.

Again, the higher-resolution option will drain your battery life faster, so you should check out battery life estimates to make sure it works for you. 4K displays are also generally going to cost more than lower-resolution options, so that"s another thing to consider before buying.Devon Delfino is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist specializing in personal finance, culture, politics, and identity. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, and CNBC. Follow her on Twitter at@devondelfino.

Resolution is a key feature of any monitor. It measures the width and height of the screen in terms of pixels, or “picture elements”, the tiny points of illumination that compose an image. A 2,560 × 1,440 screen, for example, has a total of 3,686,400 pixels.

Common resolutions include 1,920 × 1,080 (sometimes called “Full HD” or FHD), 2,560 × 1,440 (“Quad HD”, QHD, or “Widescreen Quad HD”, WQHD), or 3840 × 2160 (UHD, or “4K Ultra HD”). Ultrawide monitors are also available with resolutions such as 2560 x 1080 (UW-FHD) and 3440 x 1440 (UW-QHD), 3840x1080 (DFHD), and 5120x1440 (DQHD).

Sometimes manufacturers only reference one measurement for standard resolutions: 1080p and 1440p refer to height, while 4K refers to width. Any resolution higher than 1,280 × 720 is high definition (HD).

As you increase your display resolution, it gets harder to pick out individual pixels with the naked eye, and the clarity of the picture increases in turn.

Beyond increasing the detail onscreen in games or movies, there"s another benefit to higher resolutions. They give you more desktop real estate to work with. That means you get a larger workspace on which to arrange windows and applications.

You might already know that a screen with 4K display resolution doesn"t magically make everything it displays look 4K. If you play a 1080p video stream on it, that content usually won"t look as good a 4K Blu-ray. However, it may still look closer to 4K than it used to, thanks to a process called upscaling.

Upscaling is a way to scale lower-resolution content to a higher resolution. When you play a 1080p video on a 4K monitor, the monitor needs to “fill in” all of the missing pixels that it expects to display (as a 4K monitor has four times as many pixels as 1080p). A built-in scaler interpolates new pixels by examining the values of surrounding pixels. HDTVs often feature more complex upscaling than PC monitors (with line-sharpening and other improvements), as the latter often simply turn one pixel into a larger block of the same pixels. The scaler is likely to cause some blurring and ghosting (double images), especially if you look closely.

Monitors can also change resolution. Modern screens have a fixed number of pixels, which defines their "native resolution" but can also be set to approximate lower resolutions. As you scale down, onscreen objects will look larger and fuzzier, screen real estate will shrink, and visible jaggedness may result from interpolation. (Note that it wasn’t always this way: older analog CRT monitors can actually switch between resolutions without interpolation, as they do not have a set number of pixels.)

Screens with 4K resolution and higher introduce another scaling concern: at ultra-high definition, text and interface elements like buttons can start to look small. This is especially true on smaller 4K screens when using programs that don’t automatically resize their text and UI.

Windows’ screen scaling settings can increase the size of text and layout elements, but at the cost of reducing screen real estate. There’s still a benefit of increased resolution, even when this scaling is used — onscreen content, like an image in an editing program, will appear at 4K resolution even if the menus around it have been rescaled.

Manufacturers measure screen size diagonally, from corner to corner. A larger screen size, in tandem with a higher resolution, means more usable screen space and more immersive gaming experiences.

Players sit or stand close to their monitors, often within 20”-24”. This means that the screen itself fills much more of your vision than an HDTV (when seated at the couch) or a smartphone/tablet. (Monitors boast the best ratio of diagonal screen size to viewing distance among common displays, with the exception of virtual reality headsets). The benefits of 1440p or 4K resolution are more immediately perceptible in this close-range situation.

It"s also worth considering your own eyesight and desktop setup. If you have 20/20 vision and your eyes are around 20” from your screen, a 27” 4K panel will provide an immediate visual upgrade. However, if you know your eyesight is worse than 20/20, or you prefer to sit more than 24” away, a 1440p panel may look just as good to you.

UltrawidesWhy opt for an ultrawide screen over regular widescreen? They offer a few advantages: They fill more of your vision, they can provide a movie-watching experience closer to the theater (as 21:9 screens eliminate “letterboxing” black bars for widescreen films), and they let you expand field of view (FOV) in games without creating a “fisheye” effect. Some players of first-person games prefer a wider FOV to help them spot enemies or immerse themselves in the game environment. (But note that some popular FPS games do not support high FOV settings, as they can give players an advantage).

When it comes to contrast ratios, higher numbers are better. A high contrast ratio, like 4,000:1, means bright highlights, inky blacks, and dark areas where details are still perceptible. A contrast ratio of 200:1, on the other hand, means that the blacks look more like grays, and the colors look faded and indistinct from each other.

Use caution when LCDs advertise very high “dynamic contrast ratios”, which are achieved by changing the behavior of the backlight. For gaming or everyday use, the standard “static” contrast ratio discussed above is a better marker of the monitor"s quality.

Black LevelIn all LCD screens, light from the backlight inevitably leaks through the liquid crystal. This provides the basis for the contrast ratio: For example, if the screen leaks 0.1% of the illumination from the backlight in an area that"s supposed to be black, this establishes a contrast ratio of 1,000:1. An LCD screen with zero light leakage would have an infinite contrast ratio. However, this isn"t possible with current LCD technology.

“Glow” is a particular issue in dark viewing environments, which means that achieving low black levels is a major selling point for LCD monitors. However, an LCD screen can’t reach a black level of 0 nits unless it’s completely turned off.

Some inexpensive LCD panels use 6-bit color along with “dithering” to approximate 8-bit color. In this context, dithering means the insertion of similar, alternating colors next to one another to fool the eye into seeing a different in-between color that the monitor cannot accurately display.

Monitors sometimes feature a Look-Up Table (LUT) corresponding to a higher color depth, such as 10-bit color. This helps speed up color correction calculations that take place within the monitor as it converts color input to a color output appropriate for your screen. This intermediate step can help create smoother color transitions and more accurate output. These are usually reserved for more professional grade monitors than general consumer and gaming displays.

In LCD screens, the backlight and color filters determine the color space. All of the light created by the backlight passes through a color filter with red, green, and blue spots. Narrowing the “band-pass” of this filter restricts the wavelengths of light that can pass through, increasing the purity of the final colors produced. Although this lessens the screen"s efficiency (as the filter now blocks more of the backlight"s output), it creates a wider color gamut.

Quantum Dot Coating (QD): A blue LED backlight shines on green and red nanoparticles, which are manufactured to a tight tolerance. These emit a narrow frequency of green and red light. The nanoparticles don"t actually filter out light, which makes the process highly efficient. Instead, they convert and re-emit light on a narrow frequency range, which yields a wide color gamut.

For LCD displays, a high-end backlight feature called local dimming is critical to HDR quality. Dimming zones for the backlight behind the screen control the brightness of groups of LEDs; more dimming zones means more precise control, less “blooming” (where light areas of the image brighten dark ones), and generally improved contrast.

Full Array Local Dimming (FALD), a more high-end option, uses far more dimming zones (typically hundreds) directly behind the panel rather than just at the edges of the screen. It can give more finite control of the HDR content and dimming of the screen as a result.

On the higher end, a DisplayHDR 600 screen needs a brightness of 600 nits, 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (providing a wider color space), 10-bit color depth, and some form of local dimming.

Refresh rate is the frequency at which your entire screen refreshes the image. Higher refresh rates make onscreen motion look smoother, because the screen updates the position of each object more rapidly. This can make it easier for competitive players to track moving enemies in a first-person shooter, or just make a screen feel more responsive as you scroll down a webpage or open an app on your phone.

Response rates are measured in hertz: A response rate of 120Hz, for example, means that the monitor refreshes every pixel 120 times per second. While 60Hz was once the standard for both PC monitors and smartphones, manufacturers are increasingly adopting higher refresh rates.

The benefits of jumping from 60Hz to 120Hz or 144Hz are clear to most players, especially in fast-paced first-person games. (However, you"ll only see benefits if you also have a GPU powerful enough to render frames faster than 60fps at the resolution and quality settings you"ve chosen).

A higher refresh rate makes it easier to track moving objects with your eye, makes sharp camera movements feel smoother, and reduces perceived motion blur. Online communities are divided about the improvement provided by monitors over 120Hz. If interested, it"s worth checking one out in person to see how much of a difference it might make for you.

Frame rate, measured in frames per second (FPS), tracks the number of images your graphics hardware draws. This online motion test demonstrates the improvements players will see when tracking moving objects at higher frame rates and refresh rates.

However, you"ll only actually see those extra frames onscreen if you have a refresh rate that matches or exceeds them; similarly, you only benefit from a high refresh rate screen if you have a CPU and graphics card capable of high frame rates. Plan your build accordingly to get the full benefit from your hardware.

Both LCDs and OLEDs "sample and hold", displaying moving objects as a series of static images that are rapidly refreshed. Each sample remains onscreen until it"s replaced with the next refresh. This "persistence" causes motion blur, as the human eye expects to track objects smoothly rather than see them jump to a new position. Even at high refresh rates, which update the image more often, the underlying sample-and-hold technology causes motion blur.

This mimics the operation of older CRT monitors, which worked differently than current LCD technology. CRT screens were illuminated by phosphors that rapidly decayed, providing brief impulses of illumination. This meant that the screen was actually dark for most of the refresh cycle. These quick impulses actually created a smoother impression of motion than sample-and-hold, and motion blur reduction features work to replicate this effect.

Because the backlight is being rapidly turned off and on, these features also lessen the brightness of the display. If you"re planning to use motion blur reduction backlight strobing, ensure that the screen you"re buying has high peak brightness.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)In TFT LCDs (thin-film-transistor liquid crystal displays), a backlight shines light through a layer of liquid crystals that can twist, turn, or block it. The liquid crystals do not emit light themselves, which is a key difference between LCDs and OLEDs.

Older LCDs used Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) as backlights. These large, energy-inefficient tubes were incapable of controlling the brightness of smaller zones of the screen, and were eventually phased out in favor of smaller, energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

LCD panels are available in a range of technologies and can vary widely in color reproduction, response time, and input lag, especially among high-end options. However, the following generalizations about panels usually hold true:

Oldest and most affordable LCD panel type. High refresh rates and response times for high-speed gaming such as first-person shooters or fighting games.

Vertically aligned liquid crystals line up with two polarizers, rather than twisting, as in a TN panel. When in a resting state, the crystals can more effectively block illumination than TN panels.

Often slow response times, particularly on black-to-gray color transitions, often resulting in “black smearing” in motion. Wider viewing angles than TN panels, but often less than IPS panels. Some VA panels suffer significant color shift when viewed off-axis.

Widest viewing angles. Most stable image quality. Deeper blacks and better contrast ratios than TN panels. Most are 6-bit+2, but 8-bit and 8+2 panels exist. Often highly rated premium panels.

Pale glow, known as “IPS glow” visible when viewing screens in dark rooms from off-center angles. Response times usually worse than TN panels, but better than VA panels. Lower contrast ratio than VA panels.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED)OLED screens are emissive, meaning they create their own light, rather than transmissive screens that require a separate light source (like LCDs). Here, the application of electric current causes a layer of organic molecules to light up on the front of the screen.

Backlights may be imperfectly blocked by the liquid crystals in an LCD, causing black areas of an image to appear gray. Because OLEDs have no backlight, they can achieve “true black” by simply turning off a pixel (or at least 0.0005 nits, the lowest measurable brightness).

OLEDs therefore boast very high contrast ratios and vibrant color. The elimination of the backlight also makes them slimmer than LCDs. Much as LCDs were a thinner, more energy-efficient evolution of CRTs, OLEDs may prove a thinner evolution of LCDs. (They can also be more energy-efficient when displaying dark content, like movies, but less energy-efficient with white screens, such as word processing programs).

VGA (Video Graphics Array): Older monitors may feature this legacy port, a 15-pin analog connection introduced in 1987. It transmits only video, at resolutions up to 3840 × 2400.

Single-Link DVI (Digital Visual Interface): The oldest display interface found on many modern monitors, this 24-pin digital connection dates back to 1999. It transmits only video and can connect to VGA or HDMI with an adapter. It supports resolutions up to 1920 × 1200.

Dual-Link DVI: This revision doubles the bandwidth of single-link DVI. It displays up to 2560 × 1600 resolution and supports refresh rates up to 144Hz (at 1080p).

HDMI: This ubiquitous interface transmits video and audio, and will also connect to game consoles. Cables labeled “High-Speed HDMI” should work with every revision of HDMI before HDMI 2.1.

DisplayPort: High-bandwidth ports that transmit video and audio. All DisplayPort cables work with all DisplayPort versions up to 2.0, which requires active cables (cables that include an electronic circuit) for full bandwidth. Revisions 1.2 and later allow you to link multiple monitors together via “daisy chaining” (though this also requires compatible monitors).

Figuring out what to look for in a gaming monitor depends heavily on the choices you"ve made about the rest of your computer. Modern monitors can generally help you avoid the dropped frames, input lag, and visual artifacts common in older technologies, but the value of increased resolution, color depth, and motion smoothing features will vary from player to player. It"s down to you to separate the must-haves from the nice-to-haves.

LCD stands for “Liquid Crystal Display” and TFT stands for “Thin Film Transistor”. These two terms are used commonly in the industry but refer to the same technology and are really interchangeable when talking about certain technology screens. The TFT terminology is often used more when describing desktop displays, whereas LCD is more commonly used when describing TV sets. Don’t be confused by the different names as ultimately they are one and the same. You may also see reference to “LED displays” but the term is used incorrectly in many cases. The LED name refers only to the backlight technology used, which ultimately still sits behind an liquid crystal panel (LCD/TFT).

As TFT screens are measured differently to older CRT monitors, the quoted screen size is actually the full viewable size of the screen. This is measured diagonally from corner to corner. TFT displays are available in a wide range of sizes and aspect ratios now. More information about the common sizes of TFT screens available can be seen in our section about resolution.

The aspect ratio of a TFT describes the ratio of the image in terms of its size. The aspect ratio can be determined by considering the ratio between horizontal and vertical resolution.

16:9 = wide screen formats such as 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440. 16:9 is commonly used for multimedia displays and TV’s and is increasingly becoming the standard

Ultra-high resolution panels will offer varying aspect ratios including Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 = 16:9), 4K (4096 x 2160 = an odd 1:9:1 aspect ratio) and 5K (5120 x 2880 = 16:9)

The resolution of a TFT is an important thing to consider. All TFT’s have a certain number of pixels making up their liquid crystal matrix, and so each TFT has a “native resolution” which matches this number. It is always advisable to run the TFT at its native resolution as this is what it is designed to run at and the image does not need to be stretched or interpolated across the pixels. This helps keep the image at its most clear and at optimum sharpness. Some screens are better than others at running below the native resolution and interpolating the image which can sometimes be useful in games.

You generally cannot run a TFT at a resolution of above its native resolution although some screens have started to offer “Virtual” resolutions, for example “virtual 4k” where the screen will accept a 3840 x 2160 input from your graphics card but scale it back to match the native resolution of the panel which is often 2560 x 1440 in these examples. This whole process is rather pointless though as you lose a massive amount of image quality in doing so.

Make sure your graphics card can support the desired resolution of the screen you are choosing, and based on your uses. If you are a gamer, you may want to consider whether your graphics card can support the resolution and refresh rate you will want to use to power your screen. Also keep in mind whether you are planning to connect external devices and the resolution they are designed to run at. For instance if you have a 16:10 format screen and plan to use an external device which runs at 16:9, you will need to ensure the screen is able to scale the image properly and add black borders, instead of distorting the aspect ratio of the image.

Ultra-high resolutions must be thought of in a slightly different way. Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) and 4K (4096 x 2160) resolutions are being provided nowadays on standard screen sizes like 24 – 27” for instance. Traditionally as you increased the resolution of panels it was about providing more desktop real estate to work with. However, with those resolutions being so high, and the screen size being relatively small still, the image and text becomes incredibly small if you run the screen at normal scaling at those native resolutions. For instance imagine a 3840 x 2160 resolution on a 24” screen compared with 1920 x 1080. The latter would probably be considered a comfortable font size for most users. These ultra-high resolutions nowadays are about improving image clarity and sharpness, and providing a higher pixel density (measured as pixels per inch = PPI). In doing so, you can improve the sharpness and clarity of an image much like Apple have famously done with their “Retina” displays on iPads and iPhones. To avoid complications with tiny images and fonts, you will then need to enable scaling in your operating system to make everything easier to see. For instance if you enabled scaling at 150% on a 3840 x 2160 resolution, you would end up with a screen real estate equivalent to a 2560 x 1440 panel (3840 / 1.5 = 2560 and 2160 / 1.5 = 1440). This makes text much easier to read and the whole image a more comfortable size, but you then get additional benefits from the higher pixel density instead, which results in a sharper and crisper image.

Generally you will need to take scaling in to consideration when purchasing any ultra-high resolution screen, unless it’s of a very large size. The scaling ability does vary however between different operating systems so be careful. Apple OS and modern Windows (8 and 10) are generally very good at handling scaling for ultra-high res displays. Older operating systems are less capable and may sometimes be complicated. You will also find varying support from different applications and games, and often end up with weird sized fonts or sections that are not scaled up and remain extremely small. A “standard” resolution where you don’t need to worry about scaling might be simpler for most users.

More and more you will see resolutions referred to by their common HD equivalents, particularly when it comes to TV’s. HD content is based purely on the resolution of the source and is commonly defined by the number of pixels vertically in the resolution. i.e. a 720 HD source has 720 vertical pixels in it’s resolution and a 1080 will have 1080. On top of this, there are two ways of showing this content, either using a progressive scan (e.g. 1080p) or an interlaced scan (1080i).

To display this content of this type, your screen needs to be able to 1) handle the full resolution naturally within its native resolution, and 2) be able to handle either the progressive scan or interlaced signal over whatever video interface you are using. If the screen cannot support the full resolution, the image can still be shown but it will be scaled down by the hardware and you won’t be take full advantage of the high resolution content. So for a monitor, if you want to watch 1080 HD content you will need a monitor which can support at least a vertical resolution of 1080 pixels, e.g. a 1920 x 1080 monitor.

In today’s monitor market resolutions are being pushed even higher and we need to start thinking about them in a different way. See the subsequent sections on pixel pitch and PPI for more information on how we should think about resolution now.

This has given rise to modern Ultra HD standards and terms like 4K and 5K. Ultra HD is a term for monitors with a 3840 x 2160 resolution, that being four times the resolution of Full HD 1920 x 1080. Screens with this Ultra HD resolution are often referred to as “4K” as well, although strictly that should only be used for screens with 4092 x 2160 resolution (4K representing the vertical resolution here). There are also some 5K capable monitors produced which offer 5120 x 2880 resolution (5K here representing the vertical resolution). Please see the following sections which talk about Pixel Pitch and PPI and will help you understand these higher resolutions in more detail.

Unlike on CRT’s where the dot pitch is related to the sharpness of the image, the pixel pitch of a TFT is related to the distance between pixels. This value is fixed and is determined by the size of the screen and the native resolution (number of pixels) offered by the panel. Pixel pitch is normally listed in the manufacturers specification. Generally you need to consider that the ‘tighter’ the pixel pitch, the smaller the text will be, and potentially the sharper the image will be. To be honest, monitors are normally produced with a sensible resolution for their size and so even the largest pixel pitches return a sharp images and a reasonable text size. Some people do still prefer the larger-resolution-crammed-into-smaller-screen option though, giving a smaller pixel pitch and smaller text. It’s down to choice and ultimately eye-sight.

For instance you might see a 35″ ultra-wide screen with only a 2560 x 1080 resolution which would have a 0.3200 mm pixel pitch. Compare this to a 25″ screen with 2560 x 1400 resolution and 0.2162 mm pixel pitch and you can see there will be a significant different in font size and image sharpness. There are further considerations when it comes to the pixel pitch of ultra-high resolution displays like Ultra HD and 4K. See the section on PPI for more information.

Resolution is typically thought as a factor which determines the screen area or screen “real estate” you will have available. In years gone by as panel sizes increased, resolutions were increased as well and so bigger screens could offer you more desktop space to work with. Split-screen working and high resolution image work become more and more possible. This is fine up to a point, but pushing resolution for the purposes of delivering more desktop real-estate reaches a point where it becomes somewhat impractical for desktop monitors. For instance, a 40″ 3840 x 2160 resolution delivers a comfortable pixel pitch and font size natively (very similar to a 27″ at 2560 x 1440), so if you wanted a higher resolution than this you would have to increase the screen size again probably. You start to reach the point where sitting close to a screen so large becomes impractical.

Instead manufacturers are now focusing on delivering higher resolutions in to existing panel sizes, not for the purpose of providing more desktop real-estate, but for the purpose of improving image sharpness and picture quality. Apple started this trend with their “Retina Displays” used in iPads and iPhones, improving image sharpness and clarity massively. It is common now to see smaller screens such as 24″ and 27″ for instance, but with high resolutions like 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD) or even 5120 x 2880 (5K). By packing more pixels in to the same screen size which would typically offer a 2560 x 1440 resolution, panel manufacturers are able to provide much smaller pixel pitches and improve picture sharpness and clarity. To measure this new way of looking at resolution you will commonly see the spec of ‘Pixels Per Inch’ (PPI) being used.

Of course the problem with this is that if you run a screen as small as 27″ with a 5K resolution, the font size is absolutely tiny by default. You get a massive boost of desktop real-estate, just like when moving from 1920 x 1080 to 2560 x 1440, but that’s not the purpose of these higher resolutions now. To overcome this you need to use the scaling options in your Operating System software to scale the image and make it more usable. Windows provides for instance scaling options like 125% and 150% within the control panel. On a 3840 x 2160 Ultra HD resolution if you use a 150% scaling option for example you will in effect reduce the desktop area by a third, resulting in the same desktop area as a 2560 x 1440 display (i.e. 2560 x 150% = 3840). The OS scaling makes font sizes more comfortable and reasonable, but you maintain the sharp picture quality and small pixel pitch of the higher resolution panel. A 3840 x 2160 res panel scaled at 150% in Windows will look sharper and crisper than a 2560 x 1440 native panel without scaling, despite the fact both would have the same effective desktop area available.

Scaling via your OS is not the same as scaling from your monitor. If you just simply ran the screen at a lower resolution like 2560 x 1440 within the resolution section of your graphics card, the image gets interpolated by the monitor scaler instead. You get the same end result of a 2560 x 1440 sized desktop area size, but the image clarity is lost and you lose a lot of sharpness. The monitor is doing the interpolation for you here. Instead you run the screen at the full 3840 x 2160 resolution in the graphics card settings and allow the OS scaling control to increase font size and make the image useable.

How well the scaling is done really depends on your Operating System and software you are using. Some modern OS like Mac OS and Windows 7 / 8 / 10 handle scaling very well as they are designed to accommodate super high resolutions well. Older OS might struggle and you may find some odd sizing issues in some cases. Some software packages, programs and games also handle scaling in different ways, so it’s something to watch out for. Super high resolutions which require OS scaling might not be for everyone at the moment, but expect to see them become more and more the norm in the future.

While this aspect is not always discussed by display manufacturers it is a very important area to consider when selecting a TFT monitor. The LCD panels producing the image are manufactured by many different panel vendors and most importantly, the technology of those panels varies. Different panel technologies will offer different performance characteristics which you need to be aware of. Their implementation is dependent on the panel size mostly as they vary in production costs and in target markets. The four main types of panel technology used in the desktop monitor market are:

TN Film was the first panel technology to be widely used in the desktop monitor market and is still regularly implemented in screens of all sizes thanks to its comparatively low production costs. TN Film is generally characterized by good pixel responsiveness making it a popular choice for gamer-orientated screens. Where overdrive technologies are also applied the responsiveness is improved further. TN Film panels are also available supporting 120Hz+ refresh rates making them a popular choice for stereoscopic 3D compatible screens. While older TN Film panels were criticized for their poor black depth and contrast ratios, modern panels are actually very good in this regard, often producing a static contrast ratio of up to 1000:1. Perhaps the main limitation with TN Film technology is its restrictive viewing angles, particularly in the vertical field. While specs on paper might look promising, in reality the viewing angles are restrictive and there are noticeable contrast and gamma shifts as you change your line of sight. TN Film panels are normally based around a 6-bit colour depth as well, with a Frame Rate Control (FRC) stage added to boost the colour palette. They are often excluded from higher end screens or by colour enthusiasts due to this lower colour depth and for their viewing angle limitations. TN Film panels are regularly used in general lower end and office screens due to cost, and are very popular in gaming screens thanks to their low response times and high refresh rate support. Pretty much all of the main panel manufacturers produce TN Film panels and all are widely used (and often interchanged) by the screen manufacturers.

IPS was originally introduced to try and improve on some of the drawbacks of TN Film. While initially viewing angles were improved, the panel technology was traditionally fairly poor when it came to response times and contrast ratios. Production costs were eventually reduced and the main investor in this technology has been LG.Display (formerly LG.Philips). The original IPS panels were developed into the so-called Super IPS (S-IPS) generation and started to be more widely used in mainstream displays. These were characterized by their good colour reproduction qualities, 8-bit colour depth (without the need for Frame Rate Control) and very wide viewing angles. These panels were traditionally still quite slow when it came to pixel response times however and contrast ratios were mediocre. In more recent years a change was made to the pixel alignment in these IPS panels (see our detailed panel technology article for more information) which gave rise to the so-called Horizontal-IPS (H-IPS) classification. With the introduction of overdrive technologies, response times were improved significantly, finally making IPS a viable choice for gaming. This has resulted more recently in IPS panels being often regarded as the best all-round technology and a popular choice for display manufacturers in today’s market. Improvements in energy consumption and reduced production costs lead to the generation of so-called e-IPS panels. Unlike normal 8-bit S-IPS and H-IPS classification panels, the e-IPS generation worked with a 6-bit + FRC colour depth. Developments and improvements with colour depths also gave rise to a generation of “10-bit” panels with some manufacturers inventing new names for the panels they were using, including the co-called Performance-IPS (p-IPS). It is important to understand that these different variants are ultimately very similar and the names are often interchanged by different display vendors. For more information, see our detailed panel technologies guide.

Nowadays IPS panels are produced and developed by several leading panel manufacturers. LG.Display technically own the IPS name and continue to invest in this popular technology. Samsung began production of their very similar PLS (Plane to Line Switching) technology, as did AU Optronics with their AHVA (Advanced Hyper Viewing Angle). These are all so similar in performance and features that they can be simply referred to now as “IPS-type”. Indeed monitor manufacturers will normally stick to the common IPS name but the underlying panel may be produced by any number of different manufacturers investing in this type of panel tech. AU Optronics have done a good job with finally increasing the refresh rate of their IPS panels, and making them a more viable option for gamers. Native 144Hz IPS-type panels are now available and response times continue to be reduced as well. Modern IPS panels are characterized by decent response times, if not quite as fast as TN Film they are certainly more fluid than older panels. Contrast ratios are typically around 1000:1 and viewing angles continue to be the widest and most stable of any panel technology. You will find varying colour depths including 6-bit+FRC and 8-bit commonly being used, although this makes little difference in practice. One of the remaining limitations with IPS-type technologies are the so-called “IPS glow”, where darker content introduces a pale glow when viewed from an angle. It’s a characteristic of the panel technology and pretty hard to avoid without additional filters being added to the panels. On larger and wider screens some people find this glow distracting and problematic.

The original early VA panels were quickly scrapped due to their poor viewing angles, and in their place came the two main types of VA matrix. Multi-Domain Vertical Alignment (MVA) and Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA) panels. These VA variants were characterized by their reasonably wide viewing angles, being better than TN Film but not as wide as IPS. They were originally poor when it came to pixel response times but offered 8-bit colour depths and the best static contrast ratios of all the technologies discussed here. Traditionally VA panels were capable of static contrast ratios of around 1000 – 1200:1 but this has even been improved now to 3000:1 and above. Until very recently VA panels remained very slow and so were not really suitable for gaming. However during 2012 we saw advancements with the latest generation of VA panels and through the use of overdrive technologies this has been significantly improved. Perhaps the main limitation with VA panels is still their viewing angles when compared with popular IPS panel options. Gamma and contrast shifts can be an issue and the technology also suffers from an inherent off-centre contrast shift issue which can be distracting to some users. Through the years we have seen several different generations of VA panels. AU Optronics are the main manufacturer of MVA matrices, and we have seen the so-called Premium-MVA (P-MVA) and Advanced-MVA (AMVA) generations emerge. Chi Mei Innolux (previously Chi Mei Optoelectronics / CMO) also make their own variant of MVA which they call Super-MVA (S-MVA).The only manufacturer of PVA panels is Samsung as it is their own version of VA technology. We have seen several generations from them including Super-PVA (S-PVA) and cPVAandSVA. For more information, see our detailed panel technologies guide.

This technology was developed by Sharp for use in some of their TFT displays. It consists of several improvements that Sharp claim to have made, mainly to counter the drawbacks of the popular TN Film technology. They have introduced an Anti-Glare / Anti-Reflection (AGAR) screen coating which forms a quarter-wavelength filter. Incident light is reflected back from front and rear surfaces 180° out of phase, thus canceling reflection rather diffusing it as others do. As well as reducing glare and reflection from the screen, this is marketed as being able to offer deeper black levels. Sharp also claim to offer better contrast ratios than any competing technology (VA and IPS); but with more emphasis on improving these other technologies, this is probably not the case with more modern panels. There are very few ASV monitors around really, with the majority of the market being dominated by TN, VA and IPS panels.

This technology was developed by BOE Hydis, and is not really very widely used in the desktop TFT market, more in the mobile and tablet sectors. It is worth mentioning however in case you come across displays using this technology. It was developed by BOE Hydis to offer improved brightness and viewing angles to their display panels