All guides

Each guide answers one buying question and shows the figures behind the answer.

3 guides

Two silver-bezelled monitors on a dark desk with a mechanical keyboard and mouse under green lighting

How to choose

Choosing a gaming monitor: the four numbers on the box that matter

Refresh rate, resolution, the DisplayHDR tier and the VESA certification logo decide a gaming monitor. Here is what each number is measured against.

Updated 11/3/2026 · 10 min

Photo: Shixart1985 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Home desk with monitor, full-size gaming keyboard, mouse, speakers, controller and a windowed tower PC

Budget and prices

What a gaming setup costs per year, not per receipt

Spread the tower, panel, keyboard, mouse and headset over the years you keep them, add the electricity and the sales tax, and read the real annual figure.

Updated 11/3/2026 · 9 min

Photo: Brian Wong · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Full-size black mechanical keyboard with braided cable lying on a pale fabric surface

Performance

Polling rate and refresh rate: which milliseconds you can feel

Mouse polling, monitor refresh and frame time are three separate delays in one chain. Here is how to convert each to milliseconds and find the one worth paying for.

Updated 11/3/2026 · 8 min

Photo: Hedelmätiski · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons