What Is The Best Monitor Size For Gaming?

While Consumer Reports recently indicated that a 24-inch monitor is the best size for a home office, the same reasoning doesn't necessarily apply to gamers. Gaming calls for a range of different options and specs than productivity work, which tends to focus on static images and prioritize monitor real estate so you can balance multiple windows/tabs/applications. A gamer's needs tend to be more diverse.

Twitchy shooters demand high refresh rates and low latency, while immersive RPGs are best showcased in HDR on a gorgeous OLED panel (especially now that major OLED brands are offering burn-in protection). Size is more subjective, however. While a number of expert sources like RTINGs suggest that the best size monitor for most gamers is around 27 inches, the sweet spot for you will depend on a number of variables in both personal taste and your gaming setup. The most important factors are how far away from the screen you sit, the types of games you primarily play, and whether or not your setup also doubles as a productivity terminal.

First, let's talk about viewing distance. According to science, you'll want a display to take up about a 30-degree field of view for mixed use, including gaming and general media (regardless of whether you're playing on PC or looking for a perfect monitor for your PlayStation 5). 30 degrees is also the bare minimum field of view a display should take up, according to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (via RTINGS).

That means you'll want about 7.5 inches of screen size for every foot away from the screen you're sitting. If you sit three feet away from your monitor, that means a 22-inch screen will be ideal; at five feet, you'd want something between 37 and 40 inches. However, RTINGS recommends a 40-degree field of view if you're looking for a more immersive or cinematic experience, perfect for story-rich games or games that lean into art design and the visual experience. To hit that mark, you'll want around 10 inches of monitor real estate for every foot you sit away from the screen.

The type of games you play is important. For instance, for eSports or other competitive gaming, a smaller screen in the 25-inch range will allow you to quickly track and react to the action on screen. For immersive gaming or a machine you're also going to do a lot of work on, a larger or ultrawide screen is a better fit (unless you've already invested in one of the best second monitors for work and gaming).

Resolution is another important part of the sitting distance conversation, and it also influences pixel density, how detailed and sharply defined objects appear on screen. First, figure out roughly how far from your screen you'll be seated, and then figure out the ideal size of a monitor based on the 30-degree or 40-degree calculations above. Then, when you have a size in mind, you can think about what resolution will work best.

1080p (often called Full HD or FHD) is suitable for monitors up to 27 inches, meaning a pixel density of around 82 pixels per inch (PPI). Get much larger and things begin to get muddy. For a 1440p (Quad HD) monitor, you won't want to stretch too far beyond 32 inches (around 91 PPI), while 4K gives you leeway to expand to 42 inches at the same pixel density. Underpinning all of these calculations is your other hardware. To drive a big, 4K screen, especially in the latest and most demanding triple-A titles, you'll need a beefy rig, with a focus on GPU horsepower.

On the other hand, if you're mostly going to be playing "Minecraft" or "Roblox" with your friends, you won't need cutting-edge hardware to hit reasonable frame rates even at a higher resolution. That said, the genre of game matters too. Some competitive FPS gamers run titles at lower resolutions than their hardware can handle to ensure that the action is silky smooth and the game is as responsive as possible.