The Best 24-inch Gaming Monitors of 2021

Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk

How We Tested 24-inch Gaming Monitors

Credit: Reviewed / Lee Neikirk

The Tests

Image quality is our top priority when evaluating a gaming monitor. Modern games are crammed with outstanding visuals that can easily be spoiled by a bad display. We look for great color accuracy, a solid color gamut and a decent contrast ratio. Good HDR performance is a plus, but even the best 24-inch monitors remain weak in this area.

Gaming monitors must do more than deliver great visuals, however. Fast-paced games should also look good in motion. While this doesn’t matter to every gamer, those who play esports or other fast-paced titles will benefit from a high refresh rate, great motion clarity, and low input lag.

Our testing was conducted with Datacolor’s SpyderX Elite. This calibration tool offers detailed tests that gauge how a monitor’s color gamut, color accuracy, gamma curve, luminance uniformity, and color temperature compare to industry standards. If this all sounds a bit technical to you, don’t worry about it. There’s no need to sweat the details. Just know our judgement is based on objective testing that’s as free of bias as we can make it.

We also use each monitor to play our favorite games for at least several days. This subjective evaluation lets us identify small problems and inconsistencies that don’t show up in objective, instrumented tests. Our latest round of testing revealed no major surprises—all the monitors performed as our objective tests hinted they would.

What Resolution Should I Buy?

Most 24-inch gaming monitors stick to 1080p resolution. This might not sound impressive in today’s work of 4K displays, and it does lead to some problems. You may notice fine edges and small fonts look fuzzy or pixelated. However, this is a sacrifice you’ll have to live with when purchasing a 24-inch gaming monitor. Few 24-inch monitors exceed 1080p resolution, and those that do lack features that appeal to gamers.

What is Refresh Rate, and Why Does it Matter?

A gaming monitor’s refresh rate is the number of times it can refresh the on-screen image in one second. Most monitors refresh at 60Hz, or 60 times each second, but gaming monitors can refresh at up to 360Hz, or 360 times each second. Most monitors on this list have a refresh rate of at least 144Hz.

Higher refresh rates lead to lower input lag and better motion clarity. The monitor will feel more responsive and appear sharper in motion. You’ll clearly pick out details that look smeared or blurred on a monitor with a normal 60Hz refresh rate. But while a high refresh rate can improve clarity, there is a catch. Your computer must be powerful enough to play a game at a framerate close to the monitor’s refresh rate.

That means a game will need to render at up 360 frames per second to make proper use of a 360Hz gaming monitor. It will still look fine and feel smooth at a lesser framerate, but you won’t be using the monitor to its full potential. The most expensive 24-inch monitors are best when paired with the most expensive video cards.

However, there’s also nothing wrong with a 60Hz monitor. Gamers who play titles with minimal motion, like Civilization VI or Crusader Kings 3, will see less benefit from higher refresh rates. This is worth remembering, as high refresh monitors carry a serious price premium. Several monitors on this list have a low refresh rate but great image quality, making them a solid pick for strategy, puzzle, and adventure games.

What is AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync?

AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync are adaptive sync standards that let a monitor’s refresh rate match the framerate of the game you’re playing. This eliminates stuttering or tearing artifacts that can occur when the timing of a game’s framerate aligns poorly with a monitor’s refresh rate. It’s an important feature for most gamers, and fortunately it’s widely available.

As the naming implies, AMD FreeSync is designed to work with AMD graphics cards, while Nvidia G-Sync is designed to work with Nvidia video cards. The standards are actually more fluid than this: monitors that handle one standard can often handle the other. This is not guaranteed, however, so we recommend you buy a monitor that supports the adaptive sync standard that matches your PC’s graphics card.

While AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync are important, they’re not essential. Players who lean heavily towards genres with a slower pace of gameplay, like strategy or adventure, might not need this feature. The improvement is less noticeable in games that focus on static menus or slow-moving objects.

The Three LCD Panel Types: IPS, VA, and TN

A monitor creates a picture by pairing an LCD display panel with LED backlights that sit behind it. The type of LCD panel a monitor uses will impact the monitor’s quality. Three distinct types of panel technology can be found in gaming monitors.

• IPS: IPS stands for “in-plane switching.” They lean towards a bright, vibrant image with minimal ghosting and excellent motion clarity when combined with a high refresh rate. However, they tend to have a low contrast ratio and poor performance in dark, shadowy scenes. IPS panels can suffer “IPS glow,” a hazy look to dark areas that is most noticeable at a wide viewing angle. Despite this, most high-end gaming monitors choose an IPS panel for its superior motion performance.

• VA: VA stands for “vertical alignment.” This panel type can serve up a great contrast ratio and better performance in dark, shadowy scenes. Though often a bit dimmer than IPS panels, the best VA panels look vivid and offer a wide, accurate color gamut. Viewing angles are not good compared to IPS, so you’ll want to sit directly in front of the display. VA panels can also struggle with motion clarity, so they’re rare in monitors with a refresh rate above 144 Hz.

• TN: TN stands for “twisted nematic.” This is an older panel type that generally lacks the color accuracy, gamut, contrast, and viewing angles of ISP and VA panels. It’s inexpensive to produce and can support a high refresh rate, so gamers on a tight budget might want to consider a TN panel.

Want more general help in buying the right kind of monitor? Check out our guide to buying a monitor.

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Other 24-inch Gaming Monitors We Tested

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