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Best OLED Gaming Monitor 2026 | Budget, 1440p & 4K OLED | Best OLED Gaming Monitor for PC PS5 Xbox — Transcript

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  1. 0:00OLED gaming monitor prices have crashed
  2. 0:02in 2026, delivering incredible visuals
  3. 0:04and instantaneous response times to even
  4. 0:06more gamers. Welcome back to PC Builder,
  5. 0:08I'm Jason. In 2026, buying the best OLED
  6. 0:11gaming monitor, it's more affordable
  7. 0:13than ever. But, with brand new OLED
  8. 0:15panel types, confusing terms like DP
  9. 0:172.1, and crazy high refresh rates,
  10. 0:19getting the best OLED gaming monitor in
  11. 0:202026, it's hard. So, we're going to
  12. 0:22break it all down for you, and we'll
  13. 0:24make specific product recommendations
  14. 0:26for every budget level. Whether you want
  15. 0:27the best budget OLED gaming monitor
  16. 0:29starting at a $400 or aiming for the
  17. 0:31absolute top-of-the-line best 1440p OLED
  18. 0:33gaming monitor or best 4K OLED gaming
  19. 0:35monitor, we've got the pick for you.
  20. 0:37Let's jump into it. The most confusing
  21. 0:39aspect to buying the best OLED gaming
  22. 0:40monitor in 2026, it's the panel type.
  23. 0:43We've got third-gen QD-OLED, fourth-gen
  24. 0:45QD-OLED, tandem W-OLED, tandem
  25. 0:47RGBW-OLED,
  26. 0:49and more. So, which one is right for
  27. 0:51you? Well, first, it's important to
  28. 0:52point out that LG makes all of the
  29. 0:55W-OLED panels, and Samsung makes all the
  30. 0:57QD-OLED panels. Doesn't matter which
  31. 0:59company names on the monitor itself,
  32. 1:00like Gigabyte, Asus, or Acer, the
  33. 1:03underlying panel tech, it's manufactured
  34. 1:05by one of these two companies. Now, the
  35. 1:06panel types all start to make sense if
  36. 1:08we go by budget. The cheapest OLED
  37. 1:10gaming monitors in 2026 are mostly
  38. 1:12third-gen QD-OLEDs with a handful of
  39. 1:15older third-gen W-OLEDs, though those
  40. 1:17are disappearing from the market. I
  41. 1:19typically recommend third-gen QD-OLED
  42. 1:21due to better text clarity and less
  43. 1:22fringing around the text itself. But,
  44. 1:25just to add to some confusion, some of
  45. 1:27the cheapest OLED gaming monitors in
  46. 1:282026 now using a limited brightness
  47. 1:31version of the third-gen QD-OLED panel.
  48. 1:33It's rated for 200 nits of brightness in
  49. 1:35SDR mode and 400 nits brightness in HDR.
  50. 1:38That's different from the full
  51. 1:40brightness third-gen QD-OLEDs that are
  52. 1:42rated for 250 nits in SDR and 1,000 nits
  53. 1:45in HDR. While the cheaper but dimmer
  54. 1:48third-gen QD-OLED panels are far
  55. 1:50superior to any LCD gaming monitor with
  56. 1:52infinite contrast, better color, and
  57. 1:55superior motion handling, you should
  58. 1:57note that their HDR it's good, but not
  59. 1:59as amazing as the brighter panels
  60. 2:01bearing the same third gen QD-OLED name
  61. 2:03that hit the full 1,000 nits of HDR
  62. 2:06brightness. Moving up, we got the fourth
  63. 2:07gen QD-OLEDs, recently renamed tandem
  64. 2:10QD-OLED. These panels are slightly
  65. 2:12brighter than the third gen and usually
  66. 2:14offer some kind of black coating to
  67. 2:16absorb ambient light, preventing the
  68. 2:17screen from looking purple or maybe even
  69. 2:19gray in bright rooms so it can maintain
  70. 2:22those deep blacks. Different brands call
  71. 2:23this coating different things, dark
  72. 2:25armor, black shield, obsidian shield,
  73. 2:27but it's basically all the same. Then
  74. 2:29we've got our fourth gen WOLED panels,
  75. 2:32recently renamed tandem WOLED. These
  76. 2:35panels are brighter than their QD-OLED
  77. 2:36counterparts and offer the same black
  78. 2:38coating as the tandem QD-OLEDs. Their
  79. 2:41text clarity is also on par with
  80. 2:42QD-OLEDs with reduced fringing from
  81. 2:44previous generation WOLED monitors. But,
  82. 2:47we are seeing some issues specifically
  83. 2:49with tandem WOLED technology. Some
  84. 2:52consumers purchasing tandem WOLEDs are
  85. 2:54reporting gray banding. These are faint
  86. 2:56vertical streaks, lines, or column
  87. 2:58patterns that appear most noticeably
  88. 3:00across dark or near black gray
  89. 3:02backgrounds. The folks over at TFT
  90. 3:04Central did a fantastic article on gray
  91. 3:06banding issues with tandem WOLEDs, so
  92. 3:09I'm going to link that down in the video
  93. 3:10description if you want a deeper dive.
  94. 3:12But, in a nutshell, this is a potential
  95. 3:14issue for any tandem WOLED monitor due
  96. 3:17to the electrical design. But, whether
  97. 3:19or not it's actually noticeable comes
  98. 3:20down to the luck of the draw, and nobody
  99. 3:22seems to know how often it happens. LG,
  100. 3:25who manufactures all WOLED panels, has
  101. 3:27acknowledged the issue. LG says that
  102. 3:29they're working on it and that newer
  103. 3:31production batches have improved. The
  104. 3:33issue does not affect QD-OLED panels, so
  105. 3:36out of an abundance of caution, I am
  106. 3:37putting on hold any of my
  107. 3:39recommendations for tandem WOLEDs for
  108. 3:41the rest of 2026. Finally, we have what
  109. 3:44LG calls RGB stripe on their tandem
  110. 3:46WOLEDs. Samsung calls this V-stripe on
  111. 3:49their tandem QD-OLEDs. Now, despite the
  112. 3:51different names, both these technologies
  113. 3:53basically offer a better sub-pixel
  114. 3:54layout to increase text clarity. At the
  115. 3:57time of filming, these monitors are just
  116. 3:58starting to hit the market, which means
  117. 4:00they're hard to find, and they are
  118. 4:01significantly more expensive. Whether
  119. 4:03that's worth it for slightly better text
  120. 4:04clarity in word documents, that's up to
  121. 4:07you, but my advice would be don't
  122. 4:09overpay for these as text is pretty good
  123. 4:11for most third and fourth gen QD-OLEDs
  124. 4:12already. What about glossy versus matte
  125. 4:14screen coatings for your OLED gaming
  126. 4:16monitor? Choosing between a glossy and
  127. 4:18matte OLED gaming monitor, it basically
  128. 4:20comes down to your room's lighting
  129. 4:22conditions. Glossy coatings deliver the
  130. 4:24deepest blacks and most vibrant colors,
  131. 4:27but they act like a mirror if you have
  132. 4:28bright, uncontrolled light sources in
  133. 4:30the rooms. Matte coatings excel at
  134. 4:32diffusing harsh glare and reflections,
  135. 4:34making them superior choice for brightly
  136. 4:36lit or daytime setups, despite a slight
  137. 4:39sacrifice in absolute contrast.
  138. 4:41Honestly, both are great, and I
  139. 4:42recommend don't overthink this one,
  140. 4:44especially if you find a deal. All
  141. 4:46right, let's talk about resolution,
  142. 4:47refresh rates, and dual mode monitors.
  143. 4:50OLED gaming monitors, they currently
  144. 4:51come in 1440p and 4K resolutions, and
  145. 4:54they typically start at 240 Hz refresh
  146. 4:56rates and go up. But in 2026, we are
  147. 4:58seeing some new models hit the market
  148. 4:59using the lower brightness QD-OLED
  149. 5:01panels at just 144 Hz, and they're not
  150. 5:04that much of a price discount, so just
  151. 5:06be aware of those. We also have dual
  152. 5:08mode monitors, meaning that with the
  153. 5:09push of a button, a 240 Hz 4K gaming
  154. 5:12monitor can switch to a lower
  155. 5:13resolution, like 1080p, but at a much
  156. 5:16faster refresh rate up to 480 Hz and
  157. 5:18beyond. There's also now 5K OLED gaming
  158. 5:21monitors. They deliver about 165 to 180
  159. 5:24Hz refresh rates at that resolution, and
  160. 5:26they dual mode down to 1440p at 330 Hz
  161. 5:29as well. Remember, Hz, it's just the
  162. 5:31maximum number of FPS your monitor can
  163. 5:33display. You still need a graphics card
  164. 5:35capable of outputting that FPS to get
  165. 5:37the most out of it. And if you console
  166. 5:39folks, you're locked to 120 Hz over HDMI
  167. 5:41on the Xbox Series X and S, PS5 and PS5
  168. 5:44Pro, so don't overspend for additional
  169. 5:47refresh rates like 360 or 500 Hz if your
  170. 5:50gaming hardware just isn't capable of
  171. 5:52utilizing it. All right, here's a topic
  172. 5:53that confuses everybody. HDMI 2.1,
  173. 5:56DisplayPort 1.4, DisplayPort 2.1, which
  174. 5:59one should you be using for your OLED
  175. 6:01gaming monitor in 2026? Well, console
  176. 6:04owners, you've only got the choice of
  177. 6:05HDMI. You need HDMI 2.1 to hit 4K 120
  178. 6:09Hz, so that's my recommendation for 4K
  179. 6:11OLEDs, and at least HDMI 2.0 for 1440p
  180. 6:15120 Hz at 10-bit color. Make sure your
  181. 6:17HDMI cable is capable of supporting
  182. 6:19those speeds. For PC gamers, the short
  183. 6:21answer is just use the DisplayPort
  184. 6:23cable. While you could theoretically use
  185. 6:25HDMI 2.1 for 1440p 240 Hz, because a lot
  186. 6:29of gaming monitors that advertise HDMI
  187. 6:312.1 actually use a lower bandwidth cap
  188. 6:35than the spec allows, I think it's safer
  189. 6:37just to use the display stream
  190. 6:38compression over DisplayPort 1.4 to
  191. 6:41avoid hitting the HDMI bandwidth cap. If
  192. 6:43you're wondering about DisplayPort 1.4
  193. 6:45versus 2.1, only the Nvidia RTX 50 and
  194. 6:49AMD RX 9000 and 7000 series GPUs are
  195. 6:51even capable of DisplayPort 2.1. For
  196. 6:54anyone with an RTX 40 series or RX 6000
  197. 6:57series GPU or older your GPU, you're
  198. 7:00limited to DisplayPort 1.4. Display
  199. 7:02stream compression will kick in
  200. 7:04automatically whenever you exceed 200 Hz
  201. 7:06at 10-bit color depth using DisplayPort
  202. 7:081.4, which is what you're going to be
  203. 7:10using in HDR. The good news here,
  204. 7:12Display stream compression is a visually
  205. 7:14lossless technology. There's no penalty
  206. 7:17for using it. The only bad news is that
  207. 7:19using Display stream compression
  208. 7:20specifically on an Nvidia GPU will limit
  209. 7:23you to two monitors and will disable
  210. 7:26Nvidia's super sampling. Now, super
  211. 7:28sampling is where an image is rendered
  212. 7:30at a higher resolution like 4K and then
  213. 7:32downsampled to a lower resolution like
  214. 7:341440p. That is the opposite of
  215. 7:37upscaling, which Nvidia calls DLSS and
  216. 7:40AMD calls it
  217. 7:41So, don't get those two confused. Super
  218. 7:43sampling is pretty much a niche segment
  219. 7:45limited to those with like an RTX 5090
  220. 7:47type GPU. So, for the vast majority of
  221. 7:50PC gamers using display stream
  222. 7:51compression over DisplayPort 1.4 is
  223. 7:54going to be absolutely fine. If you do
  224. 7:56own an RTX 5090 and you want to do super
  225. 7:58sampling, then grab a more expensive
  226. 8:00OLED gaming monitor with DisplayPort 2.1
  227. 8:03on it. But, beware, the cable lengths
  228. 8:05for DP 2.1, they are extremely short.
  229. 8:08For OLED gaming monitor sizes, most
  230. 8:101440p gaming monitors come in 27-in with
  231. 8:13ultra-wide at 1440p at 34-in and super
  232. 8:17ultra-wide at 49-in. 4K OLED gaming
  233. 8:20monitors come in both 27-in and 32-in
  234. 8:22sizes for the wide-screen aspect ratio,
  235. 8:2445-in 47-in ultra-wides, and an insane
  236. 8:2757-in 4K super ultra-wides like the
  237. 8:30Samsung Odyssey Neo G9. All right, let's
  238. 8:33talk about OLED burn-in, the thing that
  239. 8:34people used to be terrified of. Modern
  240. 8:36OLEDs feature an aggressive hardware
  241. 8:38level protection algorithm that
  242. 8:40automatically prevents static image
  243. 8:42retention. Various review outlets have
  244. 8:43been aggressively attempting to burn in
  245. 8:45their OLEDs for years, and even the
  246. 8:47older OLED panels seem just fine.
  247. 8:50Combine that with standard 3-year
  248. 8:51manufacturer burn-in warranties across
  249. 8:53major brands, and you can basically buy
  250. 8:55an OLED as your daily driver with total
  251. 8:57peace of mind. All right, let's jump
  252. 8:58into our recommendations for best OLED
  253. 9:00gaming monitor 2026. Now, everything is
  254. 9:03linked down in the video description by
  255. 9:04category. We're going to continue to
  256. 9:06update that list if something goes out
  257. 9:07of stock or if new deals pop with I do
  258. 9:10expect by the end of 2026, so check that
  259. 9:13list out for the best OLED gaming
  260. 9:14monitor deals right now. A fire emoji,
  261. 9:16it means a particularly good deal. Two
  262. 9:18fire emojis means it's an insane deal,
  263. 9:20you should buy it right now. All right,
  264. 9:22let's jump into the best cheap OLED
  265. 9:23gaming monitor 2026, best budget OLED
  266. 9:26gaming monitor 2026. What are these?
  267. 9:28These are 1440p panels that use the
  268. 9:30reduced brightness third gen QD-OLED
  269. 9:33panels. They crush LCD gaming monitors,
  270. 9:35absolutely crush them. But, in terms of
  271. 9:37the HDR on these, they are not going to
  272. 9:40be as good as the full brightness third
  273. 9:42gen or higher QD-OLED panels or any of
  274. 9:44the WOLED panels. And, let me tell you
  275. 9:47show you how you basically tell these.
  276. 9:49Here's a spec page for an MSI one.
  277. 9:51They're going to be on the brightness
  278. 9:53down here, they're going to say SDR 200,
  279. 9:56HDR 400. However,
  280. 9:58it's really inconsistent what specs you
  281. 10:00see either on a retailer page or even on
  282. 10:02the product pages themselves. For
  283. 10:04instance, this Acer I'm going to show
  284. 10:05you, which is phenomenal by the way, for
  285. 10:07$269 as opposed to $400 for the higher
  286. 10:10brightness panels out there,
  287. 10:12if you click into this one, you click
  288. 10:14down here on the view the full
  289. 10:15specifications, they're only going to
  290. 10:17give you the HDR brightness 400 nits.
  291. 10:19So, you're looking for that magic
  292. 10:20number, 200 nits, 400 nits, that's going
  293. 10:23to tell you that it's lower brightness
  294. 10:25panel. The higher brightness ones are
  295. 10:26250 1,000. All right, starting off with
  296. 10:29the Acer Nitro VG277UX.
  297. 10:33Now, I expect we're going to see a
  298. 10:34number of these monitors continue to be
  299. 10:36introduced, and they're basically as cut
  300. 10:37down as they can make them. They're
  301. 10:39trying to get OLED as cheap as possible
  302. 10:41right now. If that's what you're looking
  303. 10:43for, here you go. It's very plasticky
  304. 10:45and overall monitor. The monitor stand
  305. 10:47is just basically a plastic stick. It's
  306. 10:49got tilt only to it, but it does
  307. 10:51everything else pretty well. Two HDMI
  308. 10:532.1 ports, one display port 1.4 ports to
  309. 10:56it. It's overall a good package. It's
  310. 10:58got a VESA mount on the back as you most
  311. 11:00gaming monitors that way you can buy a
  312. 11:02monitor arm if you want better
  313. 11:04ergonomics to it. And, the panel itself
  314. 11:06is pretty good. For $269
  315. 11:09is an insane price to pay for basically
  316. 11:12crushing any LCD gaming monitor out
  317. 11:14there and still pretty decent HDR. I'm
  318. 11:16going to go rapid-fire through some of
  319. 11:18the other alternatives out there. It's
  320. 11:19all going to depend on pricing. My
  321. 11:21recommendation, buy the cheapest unless
  322. 11:22there's a feature that you want on one
  323. 11:24of these. This is the Acer Predator
  324. 11:27X27UW1.
  325. 11:29The W1 is the important part here,
  326. 11:31that's the lower brightness panel. There
  327. 11:32is a version of this that does have
  328. 11:34higher brightness, it's the X1. $315 has
  329. 11:37gotten down to $299. The difference
  330. 11:39between this and the panel that you just
  331. 11:41saw, slightly better construction on it.
  332. 11:43It has two HDMI 2.1 ports, two
  333. 11:46DisplayPort ports as well, and it's got
  334. 11:49a full height tilt and swivel stand to
  335. 11:51it. So, you kind of get the whole
  336. 11:52package here for about 30 or 40 dollars
  337. 11:55more. You can decide if that's worth it
  338. 11:56or not. This often does go on sale.
  339. 11:58Another good alternative here, Asrock
  340. 12:00Phantom Gaming PGO27QSA-W.
  341. 12:05The dash W stands for white, they don't
  342. 12:06sell the black one in the US for some
  343. 12:08reason. But, if you're looking for
  344. 12:09something in a white color theme to it,
  345. 12:11this is a really nice one to get. Again,
  346. 12:13good performing screen to it. It's got
  347. 12:16similar ports to the Acer that we just
  348. 12:18looked at, two HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort
  349. 12:211.4 ports to it. Great height tilt and
  350. 12:23swivel stand to it. If you're looking
  351. 12:25for something white or if this one gets
  352. 12:27cheaper than the rest, pick it up. And
  353. 12:28finally, I'm going to include probably
  354. 12:30the best of the bunch here, which is the
  355. 12:32Gigabyte GO27Q24A.
  356. 12:35Note there's one that's Q24G, that's a
  357. 12:38WOLED panel for the same price over at
  358. 12:40Amazon. This is a QD-OLED, so better
  359. 12:42text clarity to it. However, lower
  360. 12:44brightness panel. This is the one that
  361. 12:46started off the $300 craze, but since in
  362. 12:48the last month or so, it's popped up to
  363. 12:50349. At this price point, I would
  364. 12:52recommend going all the way cuz you're
  365. 12:55almost all the way to the full
  366. 12:56brightness ones. You're not really
  367. 12:57saving that much money, that's the whole
  368. 12:59allure of these cheaper panels. If it
  369. 13:01does get down to $300 again, I would
  370. 13:03probably pick this one up over the other
  371. 13:05ones I've shown you unless there's a
  372. 13:06significant price difference. All right,
  373. 13:07let's move into the best 1440p OLED
  374. 13:09gaming monitors in 2026. Now, these are
  375. 13:12going to be full brightness panels to
  376. 13:14them, and they're going to use QD-OLED
  377. 13:16technology. Remember, I'm not
  378. 13:17recommending tandem WOLED ones right now
  379. 13:20because of the gray issues, rewind on
  380. 13:23into the panel technology for more on
  381. 13:25that. So, my top picks here, I've got
  382. 13:28two that honestly identical. I would
  383. 13:30just pick up the cheaper one unless
  384. 13:33you're somebody who needs to use
  385. 13:34multiple devices with the same keyboard
  386. 13:37and mouse, then I would definitely pick
  387. 13:39up the Gigabyte M327Q-A.
  388. 13:42280 Hz, third gen QD-OLED to it. This
  389. 13:46has a glossy finish and it's got a full
  390. 13:49KVM switch USB hub. So, what does that
  391. 13:51mean? Not only do you have a USB hub to
  392. 13:54it, but if you plug in your keyboard and
  393. 13:56your mouse to it, you can use the KVM
  394. 13:58switches on it to to use multiple
  395. 14:00devices, basically. Also has USB Type-C
  396. 14:03to plug your laptop in, which is two
  397. 14:04thumbs up there. Two HDMI 2.1 ports, 1.1
  398. 14:08DisplayPort 1.4 port. Full height tilt
  399. 14:11swivel on the stand. Overall, it's an
  400. 14:13insane package at $399, and this is my
  401. 14:16top pick. Our equally top pick here,
  402. 14:18except it just doesn't have the KVM
  403. 14:20switches. So, if you have multiple
  404. 14:21devices you want to use the same
  405. 14:23keyboard and mouse, get the Gigabyte.
  406. 14:24Otherwise, get this if it's cheaper, the
  407. 14:26Alienware AW2725D.
  408. 14:30Now, there's the 2725DF,
  409. 14:32that's a 360 Hz version I am going to
  410. 14:35recommend in just a moment for a little
  411. 14:37bit more money, though. So, if you don't
  412. 14:38need the extra refresh rate, this is
  413. 14:40where I would be. Similar to the
  414. 14:41Gigabyte 27-in it's got a great package
  415. 14:44to it, really overall good build quality
  416. 14:46to it. The only fundamental differences
  417. 14:48here, it does lack the KVM switch.
  418. 14:50However, it does have a full USB hub.
  419. 14:52It's got one Type-A and one Type-C to
  420. 14:54it. Slightly fewer ports, one fewer
  421. 14:56port, but in terms of its overall
  422. 14:58connectivity, it's got two HDMI 2.1
  423. 15:02ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 port to it.
  424. 15:05The full height tilt and swivel to it.
  425. 15:07It's also a semi-gloss coating, so you
  426. 15:09get kind of the benefits of everything
  427. 15:11there. $399, honestly, I would just pick
  428. 15:13up the cheaper one. Some quick
  429. 15:14alternatives here. Now, this one is
  430. 15:16normally priced at $349, and at that
  431. 15:18price it's a steal, but of course I
  432. 15:20started recording this and for some
  433. 15:21reason it up, even though it's been that
  434. 15:23price for months. So, check this out
  435. 15:25down in the video description to see
  436. 15:26what the price is right now. The
  437. 15:27AG276QZD2.
  438. 15:31For some reason, Amazon has the older
  439. 15:33monitor stats in here, so let's just
  440. 15:35jump to the product page at AOC. This is
  441. 15:37a 280 Hz 280 Hz refresh rate third gen
  442. 15:42QD-OLED gaming monitor full brightness
  443. 15:44to it. It has the full USB hub to it.
  444. 15:47You can see it right there. It has two
  445. 15:49HDMI 2.1 ports. The Amazon thing is
  446. 15:52incorrect. And two DisplayPort 1.4 ports
  447. 15:56on it. Overall, it's a really good pick
  448. 15:58up when you can get it at $349. I just
  449. 16:00wouldn't pick it up at $468. Another
  450. 16:01good alternative here is the MSI MAG
  451. 16:03271QP.
  452. 16:05Notice the X28. Now, the X28 is
  453. 16:08important. This is the 280 Hz version
  454. 16:10that's full brightness. The X24 version,
  455. 16:13I know this is super confusing, is the
  456. 16:15lower brightness panel. If that's on
  457. 16:17super sale, you can consider it with the
  458. 16:19cheap ones, but if you're looking for
  459. 16:21full brightness panels, pick this one up
  460. 16:23instead. Now, this basically has many of
  461. 16:25the features the other ones do. It just
  462. 16:27lacks that full USB hub to it. And the
  463. 16:30display here isn't quite as good as the
  464. 16:32other ones. Let's jump into the best 360
  465. 16:34Hz 1440p OLED gaming monitors in 2026.
  466. 16:38And the good news is, prices on these
  467. 16:40have absolutely plummeted. Look at that,
  468. 16:42$399. $399. The same price almost as 240
  469. 16:46Hz ones right now. Just note, if you
  470. 16:49don't plan to game between 240 Hz and
  471. 16:51360 Hz, that extra 120 Hz refresh rate,
  472. 16:54you're not going to get any benefit.
  473. 16:56These will perform the same at 120 Hz as
  474. 16:58the old other panels I just showed you
  475. 17:00at 120 Hz. It's just if you need that
  476. 17:02extra refresh rate, maybe even in
  477. 17:04competitive e-sports. So, let me jump
  478. 17:06into my number one pick right now if
  479. 17:08you're more on the value end of things.
  480. 17:09That is the ASRock PG27QFE.
  481. 17:14ASRock is is making a hardcore push for
  482. 17:17value.
  483. 17:18299 third gen QD-OLED. Now, this lacks
  484. 17:21like a USB hub or anything to it, but it
  485. 17:23comes with a pretty nice stand, height,
  486. 17:25tilt, and swivel to it. It's got a great
  487. 17:26picture to it. Overall, if you're
  488. 17:28looking to save money and get 360 Hz
  489. 17:30gaming performance from an OLED, I would
  490. 17:32pick this up. All right, next up in
  491. 17:34terms of value is the Q27G40SDE. Now,
  492. 17:36this monitor
  493. 17:40is as cut down as you can find for 360
  494. 17:42Hz. Similar panel, this however does
  495. 17:45have a glossy finish to it if you're
  496. 17:46looking for that. It's the only glossy
  497. 17:48I'm going to show you. Most of the 360
  498. 17:49Hz are matte out there, but this one hot
  499. 17:52garbage for the stand. It's just a
  500. 17:53plastic stick. I would recommend $25
  501. 17:56monitor arm. I will link one down in the
  502. 17:58video description if you want to pick
  503. 17:59this up instead. No USB hub to it, kind
  504. 18:02of no frills to this one. Typically
  505. 18:04sells for $449. I don't know what it's
  506. 18:06doing right now at $464, but you usually
  507. 18:09will find it under $450. If you want to
  508. 18:12step up your game a little bit, you can
  509. 18:15check out the ASUS ROG Strix XG27ACDNG.
  510. 18:21Now, this is also a 360 Hz QD-OLED
  511. 18:23panel. So, in terms of the panel, you're
  512. 18:25not getting that much more. What you're
  513. 18:27getting is the kind of ASUS packaging to
  514. 18:29it, the build quality to it, nice stand
  515. 18:32to it, and it comes with a full USB hub
  516. 18:35as well.
  517. 18:36549 a little pricey I think in late
  518. 18:392026, but if you're like, "Hey, I just
  519. 18:41want to have something super premium." I
  520. 18:43would probably take a look at this one.
  521. 18:44And then here's my former top pick, the
  522. 18:47Alienware AW2725DF.
  523. 18:50The problem with this one because I
  524. 18:52would take this over the ASUS panel, too
  525. 18:54expensive. $574
  526. 18:58for what? You're getting pretty much the
  527. 19:00identical panel, 360 Hz QD-OLED. This is
  528. 19:03a matte finish as with the ASUS to it.
  529. 19:05So, it's like what am I really getting?
  530. 19:07I'm getting a USB hub, I'm getting
  531. 19:08better build quality to it, I'm getting
  532. 19:10a more recognizable, you know, brand
  533. 19:12name in Alienware, but remember they
  534. 19:14don't make the panel to it. If this
  535. 19:16comes back down in price to $499 where
  536. 19:18it's been before, then yes, to me it
  537. 19:20makes it way more competitive. So, just
  538. 19:22check those links in the video
  539. 19:23description. All right, let's jump into
  540. 19:24the best high refresh rate OLED gaming
  541. 19:26monitors at 1440p. So, we're looking 500
  542. 19:29Hz basically, and we don't want to break
  543. 19:31the bank. I'm going to give you two
  544. 19:32picks. One is glossy and one is a matte
  545. 19:35finish. You can just pick whichever one
  546. 19:36you want or go with the cheaper one. I
  547. 19:39prefer this one. This is the Acer
  548. 19:41Predator X27U
  549. 19:43F5. It's a great overall package to it.
  550. 19:46There's not a lot of frills. So, the
  551. 19:48stand is full ergonomic high tilt and
  552. 19:51swivel to it. Lacks a USB hub, however,
  553. 19:54it does have USB Type-C connectivity, so
  554. 19:56you can plug your laptop into it and get
  555. 19:58a display out there. And it has 65 W of
  556. 20:00charging to it, which is really nice.
  557. 20:02Two HDMI 2.1, two DisplayPort 1.4 to it.
  558. 20:06Overall, it's really, really nice. If
  559. 20:08you want the glossy finish instead, pick
  560. 20:10up the Mag 272QPX50. The X50 stands for
  561. 20:12the refresh rate.
  562. 20:14Basically,
  563. 20:16it's the same panel. It's the same
  564. 20:18panel. Now, this also lacks a full USB
  565. 20:20hub, however, just like the Acer has a
  566. 20:22pretty good stand to it and has a USB
  567. 20:25Type-C. USB Type-C is only a 15 W charge
  568. 20:28here. So, you know, it's not going to
  569. 20:30work for every laptop out there, but
  570. 20:31it's a kind of a minor feature. If you
  571. 20:33want 500 Hz, that's really what you're
  572. 20:35buying the monitor for. All right, let's
  573. 20:36jump into 4K OLED gaming monitors in
  574. 20:382026. And we're going to start off with
  575. 20:4032-in. We'll go through 27-in, then
  576. 20:42we'll jump back to those ultrawides out
  577. 20:44there. But, I want you to know in 2026
  578. 20:47at the end of the year here, this
  579. 20:48monitor has completely changed the game
  580. 20:50in terms of pricing. I would have told
  581. 20:51you before this one came out $700, $750
  582. 20:55up to $1,000 is what you're going to
  583. 20:57spend. Now, it's more like $600, and I'm
  584. 20:59going to strongly going to recommend
  585. 21:00this one, but I will show you some
  586. 21:02fourth generation panels that are just
  587. 21:04hitting the market. And a single fifth
  588. 21:07gen one with the RGB stripe sub pixel
  589. 21:09layout and your eyes will bleed at the
  590. 21:11price. So, this is what I would strongly
  591. 21:13recommend anybody out there if you can
  592. 21:15get one of these before they sell out,
  593. 21:17picks up. This is the ASRock PG032UFS.
  594. 21:224K 240 Hz and it dual modes to 480 Hz at
  595. 21:27full HD with the push of a button. This
  596. 21:29is a dual mode monitor. It's got a full
  597. 21:31USB hub to it. It's got a USB type-C. I
  598. 21:34believe it's 65 W charging for your
  599. 21:36laptop folks out there. So, that's
  600. 21:38absolutely amazing to it. It's basically
  601. 21:41everything you want in a gaming monitor.
  602. 21:42It's the stand is full height tilt and
  603. 21:44swivel to it. It even has an ASRock does
  604. 21:47a lot on these. It even has an antenna
  605. 21:50so you can actually plug your antenna
  606. 21:51from your PC into this and this whole
  607. 21:54stand becomes an antenna. It's way
  608. 21:56better than the antenna that that comes
  609. 21:58built in. So, just a lot of nice to
  610. 22:00haves and ASRock is getting super
  611. 22:02aggressive here with the pricing of
  612. 22:05$596.
  613. 22:07Really, really insane. Honestly, right
  614. 22:09now it's my top pick. If you're looking
  615. 22:11for a 4K 240 Hz glossy finish gaming
  616. 22:14monitor, check out the Acer Predator
  617. 22:17X32X. Yes, that's actually the name of
  618. 22:19it. X32X. It's a curved gaming monitor.
  619. 22:22Just getting out and out there. But,
  620. 22:23it's 629. This had been the cheapest 4K
  621. 22:26240 Hz OLED gaming monitor out there at
  622. 22:2832 in. And it was well worth the price.
  623. 22:31At 32 in, I kind of think a little bit
  624. 22:33of a curve is nice to it. But, you can
  625. 22:35see that stand is full height tilt and
  626. 22:37swivel to it which is super nice. Little
  627. 22:39bit of cable management to it. It has
  628. 22:41full USB hub to it including it's got a
  629. 22:43type-C with a 65 W charger on it for
  630. 22:46your laptop folks that want to plug into
  631. 22:47it. Again, the monitors I'm showing you
  632. 22:49are are all going to be DisplayPort 1.4
  633. 22:52which is what I'm going to recommend for
  634. 22:54the PC gamers out there and they're all
  635. 22:56going to have HDMI 2.1 as well for you
  636. 22:59console folks. This is a pretty good
  637. 23:01pick up at $629. Again, typically the
  638. 23:03cheapest. All right, let's jump into
  639. 23:05some upgrade panels for 4K 32-in
  640. 23:08OLED gaming monitors. We're going to
  641. 23:10start with what was previously called
  642. 23:13fourth-gen QD-OLED and now is just being
  643. 23:16called tandem QD-OLED. Remember, this is
  644. 23:18not tandem W-OLED. I'm not recommending
  645. 23:21those panels at this time due to the
  646. 23:22whole gray banding thing. But, this is a
  647. 23:25phenomenal panel. We'll go through the
  648. 23:26differences between this and what we
  649. 23:28just looked at. In terms of the, you
  650. 23:31know, the number of USB ports that like
  651. 23:33a USB hub to it, the DisplayPort on it,
  652. 23:36the HDMI ports, no real difference. Has
  653. 23:39the KVM switches. It's a great package,
  654. 23:41very similar to what I just showed you,
  655. 23:43very premium. But, the difference here
  656. 23:46is a next-generation QD-OLED technology
  657. 23:49that makes it brighter. This
  658. 23:52I'd say about a 30% brightness increase
  659. 23:54overall. Super nice to have if that's
  660. 23:56what you're looking for. And these
  661. 23:58panels also call Gigabyte calls this
  662. 24:00Obsidian Shield. Everybody's got a
  663. 24:02different name for it. It's basically a
  664. 24:03coating on the monitor, kind of a sub
  665. 24:05coating, that helps make the blacks not
  666. 24:08turn a little bit purple in certain
  667. 24:10environments in certain environments.
  668. 24:11So, that's nice as well. If you're
  669. 24:13looking to spend a little bit more money
  670. 24:15and get a little bit more of an upgrade
  671. 24:17panel for 4K, I would pick this one up
  672. 24:19because $799, it's not only the cheapest
  673. 24:22one, it's also kind of the best. But,
  674. 24:23Jason, you say, "I've got all the
  675. 24:25money's and I want one of those new
  676. 24:27fifth-gen fifth-gen QD-OLED panels with
  677. 24:30that new subpixel layout. I want dual
  678. 24:33mode. I want DisplayPort 2.1. I just
  679. 24:36want everything and I don't care how
  680. 24:38much it costs." Which is good because
  681. 24:41because these are brand new and they
  682. 24:42just hit the market, they're very
  683. 24:43expensive right now. This is the ASUS
  684. 24:46ROG Strix 32-in 4K 240 Hz. Now, they
  685. 24:50call it tandem RGB-OLED.
  686. 24:53That is the new subpixel layout that
  687. 24:55were the text will look crystal clear
  688. 24:57almost LCD like. LCD is still better,
  689. 25:00but this is as close as the LCD is
  690. 25:03possible right now. It's got a proximity
  691. 25:05sensor to it. It has DisplayPort 2.1.
  692. 25:08For those of you with an RTX 5090 out
  693. 25:11there that want to super sample your
  694. 25:13images from 4K down to 1440p for some
  695. 25:16reason, the good news is this is also a
  696. 25:18dual mode for 480 Hz at full HD. You
  697. 25:21basically get the best of all worlds
  698. 25:23here for $1,400. That's right, almost
  699. 25:27double the price that I just showed you.
  700. 25:29That's what these things cost when they
  701. 25:30first hit the market. That's the early
  702. 25:32adopter price, and I don't expect this
  703. 25:34price to really budge until probably
  704. 25:36kind of the early part of 2027. All
  705. 25:38right, let me quickly give you some 4K
  706. 25:3927-in 27-in 240 Hz OLED gaming monitor
  707. 25:43panels. And honestly, with the price
  708. 25:45changes right now 32-in, I feel like
  709. 25:47these are overpriced. Now, maybe over
  710. 25:49the holiday shopping season you'll see
  711. 25:50the prices fall. I'm going to just going
  712. 25:52to give you two picks because I would
  713. 25:54recommend 32-in right now. The Acer X27
  714. 25:57X1 is typically one of the best priced
  715. 25:58out there. It's technically glossy.
  716. 26:01However, some people consider it more of
  717. 26:02a semi-gloss coating to it just because
  718. 26:04it doesn't look like mirror finish.
  719. 26:06Pretty good package. It's got full
  720. 26:07height tilt and swivel to it. Doesn't
  721. 26:09have a USB hub to it. However, it does
  722. 26:11have a USB Type-C and it can do
  723. 26:13DisplayPort over USB Type-C for you
  724. 26:15laptop folks out there. Has a 65 W
  725. 26:18charger on it. It's a pretty good
  726. 26:19package. Again, $579 kind of hard to
  727. 26:21justify against the 32-in panels. And
  728. 26:23then the other one, if you're looking
  729. 26:24for something more of like a mirror
  730. 26:25gloss to it, the MSI MAG 272 MSI's
  731. 26:28version of this. Also very good to it.
  732. 26:31Kind of not a lot
  733. 26:35of thrills to these 27-in monitors. The
  734. 26:37whole idea was they were supposed to be
  735. 26:38cheaper versions of the 32-in
  736. 26:41monitors, but right now at $629,
  737. 26:43obviously that's not the case. But check
  738. 26:44the links down in the video description,
  739. 26:46see where pricing is when you're
  740. 26:47watching this. All right, let's jump
  741. 26:48into the best ultra-wide OLED gaming
  742. 26:51monitor 2026. Now, honestly, I'm only
  743. 26:54going to give you 1440p. I don't love
  744. 26:55any of the 4K ones. We're waiting for
  745. 26:57the 4K QD-OLED ones to hit. Right now,
  746. 27:00it's mostly W-OLED from the third gen. I
  747. 27:02would pick this up at 1440p. It's really
  748. 27:06the only game in town. Alienware just
  749. 27:08does it way better than everybody else,
  750. 27:09and they charge less than everybody
  751. 27:11else. So, I just don't even know what's
  752. 27:13going on there. It's 240 Hz, 34-in and
  753. 27:16it's basically an improvement over the
  754. 27:18previous generation that was 165 Hz.
  755. 27:20It's great build quality to it. It's got
  756. 27:22a USB hub to it. It's a real premium
  757. 27:25monitor for $699. All right, moving over
  758. 27:27to super ultra-wide 1440p, then we will
  759. 27:30do 4K OLED as well. There's only one
  760. 27:32name in this game, basically, and that
  761. 27:34is Samsung, who incidentally also makes
  762. 27:36the QD-OLED panels out there. At 1440p,
  763. 27:40the OLED G9 is the thing to get. 49-in.
  764. 27:43Now, there's a couple different
  765. 27:45sub-versions of this. You see that
  766. 27:47G93SC.
  767. 27:49There's also the G95SC.
  768. 27:51It just basically has some smart TV
  769. 27:53features and often is like double the
  770. 27:56price. I don't think it's worth it.
  771. 27:58I would get this one instead. This is
  772. 28:00especially if you're into PC gaming,
  773. 28:02which again, I wouldn't recommend these
  774. 28:04for console unless you want to dual
  775. 28:05screen these because they really don't
  776. 28:08support them quite well. PC gaming is
  777. 28:10insane on this. $899 is an insane price
  778. 28:13right now. You will typically find this
  779. 28:15around $1,100.
  780. 28:17So, if you don't see it for $899, don't
  781. 28:19despair. $1,100 is a pretty good price
  782. 28:21for it, too. Some of the best OLED
  783. 28:22gaming TV of 2026. I'm focused on gaming
  784. 28:25here. One of the features that I
  785. 28:27absolutely love with the new B6 OLED by
  786. 28:30LG is that it's got a game mode to it.
  787. 28:33What is that? It basically reduces your
  788. 28:35latency. People don't realize when they
  789. 28:37just plug in their console or even a PC
  790. 28:40into their TV that these have quite a
  791. 28:42bit more latency than you're used to
  792. 28:44with a gaming monitor cuz those game
  793. 28:46monitors are really tuned up. The good
  794. 28:47news here, it's got a game mode and it's
  795. 28:49not going to break the bank at $699 for
  796. 28:51the 48-in. Right now, I don't see a
  797. 28:5355-in available or a 42-in available. It
  798. 28:57could just be because these just hit the
  799. 28:59market. If you're looking for a game
  800. 29:01room TV for your PS5, PS5 Pro, your
  801. 29:03console with HDMI 2.1, by the way, make
  802. 29:06sure your cable's HDMI 2.1, or your PC,
  803. 29:09this is great for 120 Hz at 4K. All of
  804. 29:12our best OLED gaming monitor 2026
  805. 29:14recommendations are linked down in the
  806. 29:16video description. Check that list out
  807. 29:17for the current best deals that we're
  808. 29:19finding on OLED gaming monitors,
  809. 29:20especially as we get into the holiday
  810. 29:22shopping season. If you got value out of
  811. 29:24this video, please do give it a like. It
  812. 29:25makes a huge difference to the channel.
  813. 29:27Of course, subscribe for more cool PC
  814. 29:29content and we'll catch you
  815. 29:31on the next one.

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