Choosing a TV for PC Gaming
TVs come in various types, each offering different trade-offs. Some are less expensive but don't look as good, while others deliver amazing visuals at a higher cost.
In this article, I explain which factors to consider when choosing a TV for PC gaming and break down the key qualities that matter most for your gaming experience.
Best TV Type for PC
The best type of TV for playing PC games is an OLED TV.
OLED TVs deliver excellent refresh rates and response times, along with superior color reproduction and black levels, making OLED TVs the best display type for PC gaming. Below, I explain why these features are important for gaming.
Find the best OLED TVs: My Recommended OLED TVs for PC Gaming
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Best Value TV Type for PC
While OLED TVs are the best option for PC gaming, you may want a more affordable alternative.
QLED TVs are an excellent choice since they handle motion well at a lower cost. However, QLED TVs have trade-offs compared to OLEDs, including lower contrast, slower response times, light bleed, and narrower viewing angles.
Find the best QLED TVs: My Recommended QLED TVs for PC Gaming.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a TV for PC
Motion Handling
When buying a TV for PC gaming, the most important considerations are refresh rate and response time. These determine how well a TV handles motion. The higher the refresh rate and lower the response time, the better.
High refresh rates reduce motion blur and make animations smoother, while low response times prevent ghosting during quick movements.
Refresh Rate
Refresh rate is the number of times a display redraws the screen per second. It's measured in hertz (Hz), defined as one cycle per second. For example, 60 Hz refreshes the screen 60 times per second. A good refresh rate for gaming ranges from 144 Hz to 240 Hz and above.
QLED and OLED displays typically offer 120 Hz refresh rates but can go higher in newer models, which is sufficient for most gaming and sports viewing.
|
LED
|
Good
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Good
|
|
OLED
|
Excellent
|
| Mini-LED | Very Good |
| MicroLED | Excellent |
Response Time
Response time is how long it takes a display to change from one color to another, typically measured by transitions between white and black. It's measured in milliseconds, with lower being better.
OLED TVs have a response time of around 0.2 ms for 80% of color transitions and 2-3 ms for the remaining transitions. The ideal response time is 6 ms or less, and OLED TVs far exceed this standard, making them among the best displays for response time.
By comparison, Samsung QLED TVs have response times of around 3-6 ms for 80% of color transitions and 9-17 ms for the remaining transitions.
Brightness
If you plan to game in daylight or bright rooms, choose a TV with higher brightness levels. Brightness matters most in well-lit conditions since the TV must compete with ambient light. For example, in a bright living room, you'll want a TV with strong brightness capabilities.
QLED and MicroLED TVs offer the best brightness levels. Most QLED TVs produce 1,000 to 2,000 nits of brightness and can reach 4,000 nits. By comparison, most other TVs rarely exceed 1,000 nits.
A nit is a measurement of the amount of light a TV produces per unit area. The higher the nit count, the brighter your TV can get.
|
LED
|
Good
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Excellent
|
|
OLED
|
Moderate
|
| Mini-LED | Excellent |
| MicroLED | Excellent |
Light Bleed
The downside of high peak brightness is potential light bleed. Light bleed, or backlight bleed, is most noticeable during nighttime viewing or in rooms with low ambient light. If you're placing your TV in a dark room, choose a TV with minimal light bleed.
You can learn more about backlight bleed in LED TVs.
|
LED
|
Yes
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Yes
|
|
OLED
|
No
|
| Mini-LED | Minimal |
| MicroLED | No |
Black Levels
True black levels are essential for an immersive gaming experience. True blacks make images more accurate, rendering dark areas as black rather than gray. Good black levels indicate how well a TV handles contrast between bright and dark elements in a scene.
Poor black levels result in grays instead of true blacks in outer space scenes, dark indoor shots, and end credits. Poor contrast creates a washed-out appearance in scenes with both bright and dark elements.
The benefits of good black levels are most noticeable in low-lit environments like dark family rooms, bedrooms, or home theaters. In brightly lit rooms, the difference is less apparent.
OLED displays have perfect black levels. This is because OLED displays don't use an LCD backlight like QLED and LED TVs. QLED and LED TVs produce gray blacks instead of true pitch blacks.
|
LED
|
Limited
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Limited
|
|
OLED
|
Excellent
|
| Mini-LED | Very Good |
| MicroLED | Excellent |
Viewing Angle
Viewing angle is less important if you'll be gaming directly in front of the TV. However, if you plan to view from the side or have multiple people watching from various positions, wider viewing angles become more valuable.
Wider viewing angles maintain optimal brightness, colors, and contrast even when viewing the TV from indirect positions. If you're always viewing straight-on, viewing angles won't matter as much.
OLED TVs have the best viewing angles with an average of around 70 degrees from center. You won't notice any difference in colors or brightness at most viewing angles with an OLED TV.
LCD TVs like QLEDs have an average viewing angle of around 20-40 degrees from center. You'll notice washed-out blacks and colors along with brightness loss starting at lesser angles (10-20 degrees), increasing as you move farther from center.
The narrow viewing angle is due to the backlight projecting through the LCD panel. Like viewing a bedroom light from outside a house, the light is most visible from certain angles.
If you want flexibility in viewing position, choose an OLED TV, which doesn't use a backlight.
|
LED
|
Good
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Good
|
|
OLED
|
Excellent
|
| Mini-LED | Good |
| MicroLED | Excellent |
Color Accuracy
Excellent color accuracy ensures you get the most naturally vivid images on your screen. Gaming on a TV with great color accuracy enhances immersion.
OLED and QLED displays are known for excellent color accuracy and vibrancy even at wider viewing angles.
Samsung QLED TVs have an average of 73-90% color volume and 84-94% color gamut.
OLED TVs have an average of 80-85% color volume and 95-99% color gamut.
Standard LED TVs have widely varying color volume and color gamut but are moderately lower on average compared to QLED and OLED displays.
Color Volume: How many colors a TV can display at different brightness levels.
Color Gamut: How many colors the display is capable of showing.
TVs are sometimes advertised as having 100% color volume despite not reaching those levels. However, you won't notice a difference with OLED TVs or higher-end QLED TVs since both can have excellent color accuracy when properly calibrated and of high quality.
|
LED
|
Good
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
Excellent
|
|
OLED
|
Excellent
|
| Mini-LED | Excellent |
| MicroLED | Excellent |
HDR
High Dynamic Range (HDR) enhances picture quality by expanding contrast ratio and color range to create more realistic, natural images. However, your games must support HDR for the best experience; otherwise, HDR isn't worthwhile.
Playing HDR-supported games results in brighter highlights, darker shadows, more accurate and natural colors, and a sharper overall image.
|
LED
|
3K-6K:1
|
|---|---|
|
QLED
|
4K-8K:1
|
|
OLED
|
Infinite
|
| Mini-LED | 10K-100K:1 |
| MicroLED | Infinite |
OLED displays have high color volume/
Samsung QLED displays have high color volume, good contrast ratio, and 1,000+ nits of brightness, all recommended for HDR. However, OLED TVs are still superior due to their true black levels.
Standard LED TVs are typically not recommended for HDR content but can still display it, just not as effectively as OLED or QLED TVs.
Resolution
For the best PC gaming experience, choose a 4K TV. Higher resolution delivers crisper images, provided the content you're displaying matches that resolution. Remember that you'll need a powerful graphics card to handle 4K gaming. Many 4K TVs include upscaling features that can enhance lower resolution content.
4K resolution is currently the most popular. While 8K offers the highest resolution, most content doesn't support it yet, making 4K more than sufficient for now.
Most TVs offer 4K resolution, with only select models using other resolutions.
You can learn more about TV resolution.
| Resolution | |
|---|---|
| 8K UHD (Ultra HD) | 7680 x 4320 |
| 4K UHD (Ultra HD) | 3840 x 2160 |
| 1440p / QHD (Quad HD) | 2560 x 1440 |
| 1080p / FHD (Full HD) | 1920 x 1080 |
| 720p / HD (High Definition) | 1280 x 720 |
Comparison Between TV Types
In the table below, you can compare the different qualities of each display type.
|
LED
|
QLED
|
OLED
| Mini-LED | MicroLED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewing Angle |
Good
|
Good
|
Excellent
| Good | Excellent |
| Black Levels |
Limited
|
Limited
|
Excellent
| Very Good | Excellent |
| Color Accuracy |
Good
|
Excellent
|
Excellent
| Excellent | Excellent |
| Burn-in Risk |
No
|
No
|
Yes
| No | Minimal |
| Peak Brightness |
Good
|
Excellent
|
Moderate
| Excellent | Excellent |
| Lifespan |
60K+ Hours
|
60K+ Hours
|
100K+ Hours
| 60K+ Hours | 100K+ Hours |
| Contrast Ratio |
3K-6K:1
|
4K-8K:1
|
Infinite
| 10K-100K:1 | Infinite |
| Response Time |
Good
|
Good
|
Excellent
| Very Good | Excellent |
| Backlight Bleed |
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
| Minimal | No |
| Price Range | $ | $$ | $$$ | $$$$ | $$$$$ |
My Recommended OLED TVs for PC Gaming
LG C5 OLED TV
- This is an exceptional TV for any use, whether for movies, games, sports, or as a PC monitor.
- Fast refresh rates reduce motion blur and make animations smoother.
- This TV has wide viewing angles, perfect for many people watching TV together (like most OLED TVs).
- It has an extreme contrast ratio capable of producing pitch-black scenes without suffering from blooming.
- This TV offers improved brightness compared to previous generations, making it suitable for most room lighting conditions.
- This has the fastest response time for smooth fast-moving content, great for games or sports.
- The LG C5 OLED TV also supports very low input lag and variable refresh rate, both of which are also needed for gaming.
- It's superb for HDR content due to its extreme contrast ratio and wide color gamut.
- Check the latest price of the LG C5 OLED TV on Amazon
Sony BRAVIA 8 II TV
- This TV has superb picture quality with an extreme contrast ratio, perfect for your home theater room.
- The Sony BRAVIA 8 II TV has excellent color out of the box, so there's no need for color calibration.
- This TV offers improved brightness performance, making it suitable for various room lighting conditions.
- This TV has Google TV built-in, allowing you to watch from most of your streaming services quickly and smoothly.
- The Sony BRAVIA 8 II TV has very low input lag and quick response time, both of which are excellent for sports and gaming.
- Check the latest price of the Sony BRAVIA 8 II TV on Amazon
My Recommended QLED TVs for PC Gaming
Samsung QN90B Neo QLED (Best)
- This is an exceptional TV for any use, whether for movies, games, sports or as a PC monitor.
- It's the "Neo" QLED variant, which has an excellent contrast ratio and deep blacks.
- This will also work great in a bright room.
- The Samsung QN90B Neo QLED also supports low input lag, variable refresh rate, and fast response time, all of which are needed for gaming.
- Check the latest price of the Samsung QN90B Neo QLED on Amazon
Samsung QN85B QLED
- This is an excellent Neo QLED TV variant for use in bright rooms while having fantastic response time, low input lag, and vivid natural colors.
- The Samsung QN85B QLED has wide viewing angles and high brightness to overcome screen glare.
- It's superb for HDR content due to its high brightness and wide color gamut.
- A negative to this TV is that it has lower contrast compared to the QN90B.
- Check the latest price of the Samsung QN85B QLED on Amazon
Samsung Q80B QLED
- Great for watching sports or TV shows together with family and friends due to the wide viewing angles while keeping accurate colors.
- It's also quick enough for gaming and great for using as a PC monitor.
- A negative to this TV is that it has lower contrast compared to the QN90B and lower local dimming compared to both TVs mentioned above.
- This TV also has high brightness for HDR along with wide viewing angles.
- Check the latest price of the Samsung Q80B QLED on Amazon
Learn About OLED TVs
Want to learn more about OLED TVs? Check out the articles in my OLED TV series:
- Ultimate Guide to OLED TVs.
- Are OLED TVs Good for Gaming?
- Do OLED TVs Have Good Viewing Angles?
- What Is the Response Time of an OLED TV?
- Do OLED TVs Have True Black Levels?
- How Bright Are OLED TVs Compared to Other TVs?
- What Is the Refresh Rate of an OLED TV?
Learn More About TVs
Want to learn more about TVs? Check out the articles in my TV series:
- Best TV Display Types
- TV Resolution Explained - 8K UHD vs. 4K vs. QHD vs. FHD
- Choosing the Best TV for Your Room
- Best TV for Playing PlayStation 5 Games
- What Type of TV Is Best for Gaming?
- Ultimate Guide to Samsung QLED TVs
- Best Type of TV for Bright Rooms
- What Type of TV Has the Best Refresh Rate & Response Time?
- What Type of TV Has the Best Viewing Angle?
- Do LED TVs Have Backlight Bleed?
- How to choose the best soundbar for your TV