If you are a competitive gamer or play a lot of first-person shooters, then you value the response time, know what gaming monitor is, and thus it is an important part in your gaming PC. However, that is not the case for the majority of the players out there.
What is gaming a monitor, and how to chose one? According to GamingBuff, the are a lot of important characteristics, such as Refresh Rate, Panel Technology, Lag Time and so on, that you have to account for while searching for the right model, and that make your monitor a gaming monitor. Also, it very important to define for yourself what is more valuable – a realistic image or fast response time.
For me, image quality was always more valuable, until I started playing Overwatch.
Having been having a somewhat artistic perception for my whole life, I always cared about color palette, vibrance, balance, and other properties resulting in a monitor displaying a rather realistic image. So transitioning from CRT to LCD monitors was a shocking experience for me. Viewing angles, black levels, color balance, contrast, and a dozen of other settings, as well as the image they displayed, felt completely off. If you aren't aware what CRT and LCD are, and what are the differences, let's just say those are two different technology standards, both having their own ups and downs when it comes to the end result. CRT monitors were mainstream before mid-2000s.
So out of three different LCD panel types, IPS standard came in as a natural solution for me since the image it displayed was the most realistic one. And with time, the technology got better (modern mainstream IPS panels display a rather colorful and realistic image, but some problems, such as black levels, are still there), and Blizzard created Overwatch. And that is how I noticed that there's something wrong with my monitor in terms of response time.
The situation resulted into a dozen of articles read on the matter, and me giving up on Overwatch because image quality matters. But that is a story for another time. What is more important for you? Is it response time or image quality? Tell us in the comments below, and if you are going to buy a new monitor, guys at GamingBuff have an awesome guide that will have you covered.
