The best ultrawide gaming monitors: Immerse yourself

Want to game on a huge, immersive monitor? An ultrawide monitor should be your next display. Ultrawide offers a larger viewing area than a widescreen alternative and a broader perspective that literally displays more in-game content. Today’s best ultrawide gaming monitors also deliver top-tier motion performance and support for the latest adaptive sync standards.

These are the best ultrawide gaming monitors right now.

For recommendations on a variety of monitor sizes at a range of prices, see our roundup of the best gaming monitors.

What to look for in an ultrawide gaming monitor

Ultrawide gaming monitors are an awesome choice for PC gaming, yet remain a tiny niche compared to far more popular 27-inch and 32-inch widescreen gaming monitors. According to the latest Steam Hardware Survey results, less than 2 percent of all PC gamers on Steam have an ultrawide monitor.

That’s a shame, and limits choice when buying an ultrawide monitor. Still, gamers should key an eye on these features when making a purchase.

Panel type is a big deal

Ultrawide monitors offer IPS, VA, and OLED panels. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

IPS panels are the most common, and for good reason. They display a wide range of color, have great color accuracy, can reach high levels of brightness, and look sharp at any given resolution. However, their low contrast ratio can be a problem for darker games, which can appear hazy and lack detail. IPS panels are best for mixed use in brightly lit rooms.

VA panels are often found in budget ultrawide monitors, though some companies (most notably Samsung) also use them in high-end displays. They have better contrast than IPS panels and deliver similar color performance. VA panels can struggle with motion performance and budget VA panels tend to fall behind IPS in brightness.

OLED is the leader in overall image quality. It provides the best results in color gamut, color accuracy, contrast, and motion performance. Sharpness is often reduced compared to IPS and VA, but most people will find it a minor downgrade. OLED tends to lead in HDR as well: Mini-LED can exceed it in some cases, but few ultrawide monitors use Mini-LED technology.

In general, OLED is better than IPS, and IPS is better than VA. Some gamers might prefer VA over IPS, however, especially when gaming in a dark room.

Refresh rate and pixel response times

All the ultrawide gaming monitors we recommend share a similar refresh rate (between 144Hz and 165Hz). That implies they have similar motion performance, but there’s more to it.

OLED monitors, such as the Alienware W3423DW, have the best motion performance overall. They offer not only a high refresh rate but the lowest pixel response times (often quoted at .03 to .05 milliseconds), which means pixels transition between colors quickly. This reduces motion blur at both high and low refresh rates, giving OLED an edge.

IPS monitors tend to have the second-best pixel response times, with models like the LG Ultragear 34GN850-B quoting response times of one millisecond. VA panels can also achieve one millisecond response times, though some panels may lag this standard.

In summary: look at refresh rate first, then look at pixel response time to compare monitors with the same refresh rate.

Be wary of large ultrawide displays

The only ultrawide gaming monitors we currently recommend are 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitors with 3440×1440 resolution.

A variety of larger ultrawide gaming monitors are available. This includes 45-inch ultrawide monitors like the Corsair Xeneon Flex 45WQHD240 and LG Ultragear 45GR95QE, as well as super-ultrawide monitors like the Samsung Odyssey G9 series.

However, these larger monitors carry high price tags and tend to have issues in overall usability. The larger 45-inch ultrawide options don’t increase resolution compared to 34-inch models, so they can appear a bit soft and pixelated. The 49-inch super-ultrawide models can be a match for hardcore simulation gamers but aren’t widely supported in more mainstream game genres.

Extremely large and super-ultrawide gaming monitors are a niche within a niche. They might be a go-to pick in the future, but for now it’s best to stick with more widely supported 34-inch, 3440×1440 monitors.

Don’t buy an ultrawide for console gaming

Looking to buy a monitor for console gaming? Don’t buy an ultrawide monitor.

None of the current game consoles support ultrawide resolutions. This is true even in games that have a PC release with ultrawide support.  

A game console connected to an ultrawide monitor will still display an image, but it will be restricted to the usual widescreen display space, leaving black bars on either side of the screen.

How we test monitors

PC World’s staff and freelance reviewers spend hundreds of hours conducting in-depth testing that compares monitors across a broad range of price points and capabilities, from $100 budget monitors to legendary top-tier displays priced beyond $3,000. We personally test dozens of monitors every year to find the best pick for every category and price point.

We use a SpyderXElite color calibration tool. It delivers objective measurements for a range of metrics including brightness, contrast, color gamut, color accuracy, color temperature, and gamma. These results are logged, which makes it easy for PC World reviewers to compare different monitors. It also eliminates subjective bias—an important point, as differences in room lighting, time of day, and the type of content viewed can easily change a reviewer’s experience.