The way to victory – why good monitors are essential for competitive Esports players
For those who enjoy playing video games once in a blue moon, picking any monitor without even looking at the specs might do the trick. But for those who are more passionate about games, stunning graphics, solid loading times and no lag are something that cannot be absent. And for those who strive to be at the peak of the very best players in a competitive title, the perfect equipment is necessary to lead them to success. Let’s take a look at what kind of elements in monitors that could elevate your performance in esports.
The higher the better – frame rates & refresh rates
Casual gamers want the prettiest game experience, but pro players need the fastest. High frame rates and refresh rates are crucial, whereas a high resolution doesn’t win you any matches.
The refresh rate, the number of times per second a display refreshes its image, is the most important factor and needs to be as high as possible. A standard office monitor with 60Hz refreshes 60 times per second. But a 120Hz model is already twice as quick with 120fps. It may be only milliseconds, but the player sees information twice as fast and has more time to react, therefore their actions get registered faster as well. Imagine a 1-on-1 in a shooter, but one of the players sees the movement of their opponent twice as fast and is much quicker to react – you know who’s going to win.
Lower response time for lightning reactions
Second in the list of priorities is the response time. This describes the time it takes for the image to go from black to white to black again, in terms of milliseconds. The lower the response time the better, as it adds to a smoother image and limits motion blur and ghosting. When pixels can’t change their colour fast enough, the display becomes blurry and you can see remains of the previous image.
In a competitive environment, you need the newest information as quickly as possible. If you want to pinpoint your enemy in a shooter, but still see their position from a few milliseconds ago, you might miss your shot.
Powerful core for the smooth and steady – In sync with the GPU
For PC, these fast loading times require a powerful machine to even produce these images. High-quality monitors come with features such as AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. Depending on your GPU manufacturer, you need to match your monitor to either of those.
These features ensure that your GPU synchronises with your screen. The image becomes as smooth as possible and eliminates screen tearing, an issue that occurs when the GPU renders frames faster than the monitor can update the screen. So: FreeSync means even faster FPS without any lag.
The perfect size for the best overview
The right size for a monitor depends on which genre you want to compete in. Sim racers for example benefit from ultra-wide, curved screens. Many virtual racers even buy three monitors, to ensure the most immersive feeling and keep other cars behind them and the entire racetrack in their visual field.
But if you play shooters or MOBAs, your screen shouldn’t be too large. Everything needs to be within your field of view at once, so you notice every tiny movement. A larger monitor that requires you to move your head decreases your reaction time, which is a no-go.
Get the right equipment and start the grind
If you’re ready to conquer the competitive scene and are looking for the perfect set-up, take a look at the Philips E-Line 272E1GAEZ/01. The combination of a super-fast MPRT of 1ms, stunning 144 Hz refresh rate and FreeSync premium loads your games as fast as possible.
For consoles, monitors work slightly different as each PlayStation or Xbox always has the same power and specs. Players can enjoy great performance with the Philips 27” Momentum 278M1R/00. Due to a response time of only 4ms, solid contrast, an IPS-panel and high refresh rate, the image is guaranteed to be smooth and the visuals are crystal clear. With its size, you get a great overview of the gaming action while everything is centred around your eyes’ main focal point.
Now that your gear won’t handicap your performance anymore, it is all up to you to climb the leaderboards.