Top 5 Budget 144hz Gaming Monitors Under $200

so today i'll be going over five of some of the most popular gaming monitors under 200 based on the amazon ratings uh some of these are 144 hertz while others are 165 hertz and there's even a monitor in here that supports 120 hertz with the new xbox series x and ps5 so if you guys have been shopping around for a budget monitor you came to the right place let's begin right after this message still gaming in 720p on your grandmother's monitor don't you think it's time for an upgrade the corsair xenion is the ultimate gaining monitor that packs a ton of features like an insane 32 inch quad hd ips display and 165hz refresh rate with a one millisecond response time if you're a gamer and content creator you'll also enjoy the stunning accurate panel with 100 srgb coverage it also offers a nice amount of adjustability points including height swivel and tilt with built-in cable management clips in the back you already know it's tech source approved and with the built-in multi-mount in the back you have the flexibility of adding anything you want from lights to mics and even dslr cameras you know you want to learn more so click the link below so i like to start my reviews from the bottom of the barrel well at least in terms of price and make my way up to the more expensive monitors so with that said we are starting with the msi optics g241 this mono usually goes for 170 dollars and please do keep in mind that prices do tend to fluctuate especially if you're watching during the holidays the price shown is the current price that i purchased it for at the time of the video this is a 24 inch 1080p monitor with a 144s refresh rate any one millisecond response time as advertised but we'll confirm that later in the video so let's start with the build quality and aesthetics it's a pretty decent looking monitor with an all-black color scheme which is something i much prefer compared to the cringy and gamery red accents that a lot of companies still shove down our throats it has really thin bezels which is nice if you plan on using it for a multi-monitor setup and the build quality is great there is very slight play horizontally which isn't a big deal and the stand itself is built very well with little to no play however teaching the stand altogether is an option since the monitor is vasa compatible that would ultimately be the best option here as the stand only gives you tilt adjustment the panel type was not listed anywhere in the description but this monitor has a v8 panel va panels tend to have much better viewing angles compared to tn and better color reproduction overall which leads me to the next series of tests that i'll conduct on each of the monitors to determine the level of quality on these panels starting with the white saturation test the white levels appear to be perfectly balanced on the monitor without any over saturation which is common on most va panels so i'm not surprised here and please do keep in mind that these tests are done with factory settings only and they might not appear to be 100 accurate on camera so the results you are seeing in the video are not what i'm seeing in person moving on to the black level test which helps me judge the contrast ratio all the gray squares on the screen must be distinguishable between each other and it was for me do keep in mind adjusting the brightness of the monitor will also affect the contrast ratio but the option is there if you ever need to bring up the levels as i mentioned before va panels tend to have much better viewing angles compared to tn and that holds true with the optics there is very slight color shifting both in vertical and horizontal but overall very satisfactory for a va panel and finally we do have our color accuracy test using the spyder x utility this will determine the accuracy of the panel along with its max brightness in nits to my surprise the msi optics actually has a fairly accurate panel covering 100 of the srgb space which isn't common in va panels let me tell you i've tested dozens of va panels before and only a very small fraction of them would get 100 score at least for srgb so that's really good for content creation or color sensitive work that utilizes that color space another test i like to conduct on these reviews is the ghosting test ghosting is a trailing motion artifact basically it's caused by an lcd panel being unable to update the physical pixels on the screen as fast as the image is being rendered leaving a visible trail behind the image this is mostly due to having a slow refresh rate unfortunately i won't be able to show you what i'm seeing here as i don't have the exact equipment to capture ghosting but from what i can see the monitor has virtually little to no ghosting present which is a pretty good indicator that the one millisecond response time they are advertising isn't just for marketing another test i'm not able to capture perfectly on camera is the backlight bleed and i was pretty disappointed to find a lot of small bleeding in the edges and corners with most of it being near the top right navigating to the menu is super easy thanks to the simple joystick located in the back and in terms of ports you do get a headphone jack with two hdmi and one displayport sadly the hdmi ports are only 1.4 which means you won't be able to use it with a ps5 or xbox series x as those require a minimum of hdmi 2.0 to take advantage of the 120 hertz refresh rate one small thing to mention here being a cable management connoisseur i do love how the ports are higher up in the back which allows you to easily hide the cables from the front so i'm actually surprised that the msi monitor checked pretty much all the boxes from my testing and i say surprise because msi typically doesn't do well in the monitor department based on my experience so for 170 you actually get a pretty solid gaming monitor the only downsides i found were the excessive backlight bleed and no 120 hertz support for current gen consoles up next is samsung who was no stranger in the monitor department in fact they've been killing it recently with their new g9 series monitors so their budget monitor should be just as good right let's find out so this is the cr g5 it costs 180 dollars sometimes 170 if you can snag it on a discount and it is the only curved monitor in this video it's also 144 inch panel with a slightly slower 4 millisecond response time of course being a curved monitor means that it has a v8 panel in terms of aesthetics it's not the best looking monitor with those bulky bezels but the stand looks pretty nice i guess as far as the build quality i'm not a big fan as there is quite a lot of play both horizontally and vertically and the worst part is that you are pretty much stuck with it as it's not even vasa compatible i think samsung shot itself right in the crotch with this design choice if i'm being honest the white saturation levels are spot on for this display nothing is overexposed and all the gray squares are distinguishable from each other the same can be said with a black levels test exceptional levels of contrast out of the box for the crg5 the viewing angles as expected show slight color shifting both vertically and horizontally but they are pretty much in line with most va panels around this price point and comparable to the msi optics we just checked out so nothing unusual here when it comes to color accuracy the monitor flunked pretty bad barely covering 95 percent of the srgb color space and not even 80 of adobe rgb so if you're serious about content creation or doing any color sensitive work i would already cross this monitor off your list one thing the monitor does fairly well in is the backlight bleed test i did notice some bleeding near the bottom and top but they aren't as prominent compared to the optics monitor i would say it's passable so if you're watching movies in the dark or playing very dark themed games it's not something that will ruin your experience i do have to give samsung some credit for being upfront and honest about the response time most of the companies would just lie to your face and advertise a one millisecond response time when that is not the case with the crg5 there was noticeable ghosting present which makes sense with the four millisecond response time so good job samsung for at least being honest here while i do appreciate the joystick for easy navigation to the settings i can't say i'm a huge fan of their ui it looks like something straight out of a game boy advanced menu although i do like the location of the ports in the back they are high up in the center which means easy routing for cables of course but sadly you don't get any hdmi 2.0 so once again you won't be able to take advantage of the 120 hertz refresh rate from current gen consoles like the ps5 and xbox series x i gotta be honest with you guys i was a little underwhelmed with the crg5 for 180 dollars i was expecting a better monitor compared to the optics after all this was ten dollars more but it did fall short which kind of goes to show you that money doesn't always equal quality i do like the curved feature of this display so if you're planning on doing like a triple infinity display i think that'll be really cool but other than that there's really nothing else going for this monitor no vasa compatibility slow response time with thick boy bezels is enough for me to pass on this monitor moving on at the ladder we got the acer xfa240 a very popular monitor which i also featured in a previous roundup video this currently goes for 192. so it's up there near the budget amount let's start with aesthetics i'm usually never a fan of acer monitors because of their notorious bulky design much like this one it has really thick bezels which is a turn off for me but it does have a nice sturdy stand aside from the red accent or on the base you do have a lot of functionality you get the usual tilt in addition to swivel and even height adjustability which is really nice however you can dish the stand altogether since it is vasocompatible and i do like the opening in the center of the neck for cable routing that's nice the white saturation levels on this monitor are atrocious absolutely disgusting which i should have expected from a tn panel although i cannot even see any of the gray squares on the entire bottom row in fact it's so bad i want you guys to see the color difference between this and the msi optics the black levels aren't as terrible as the white saturation test but i still wasn't able to see any of the squares from one to three so not the best contrast ratio either having a tn panel means that you get the worst viewing angles tons of noticeable color shifting both vertically and horizontally so if you do plan on using this monitor it has to be directly in front of you the only good thing about tn panels is the faster response times compared to va and it does appear to have a 1 millisecond response time as the panel didn't experience any ghosting however i did notice some motion blur tn panels also don't have the most accurate colors but i was surprised to find out it did slightly better than the samsung monitor which was a va paddle one percent more coverage on the srgb color space which isn't anything exciting to be honest when i was looking for a backlight blade i was almost impressed there was no bleeding anywhere in the corners or the sides which is very common in tn panels however i didn't notice this weird white smudge near the top right it almost appears to be a set of dead pixels or something i can't really figure out what it is and how it got there i tried to clean it off using a microfiber cloth thinking it was just a little dirty but turns out it's actually a defect it's definitely my first time seeing that on this monitor so i know it's not a common issue at least for this particular model but it's worth noting acer's quality check either way one of the things i hate with a passion is buttons for the menu it makes things so difficult and tedious to navigate especially when nothing is labeled you don't get a good selection of ports either only a single hdmi and a display along with audio jacks so if you plan on connecting multiple pcs or consoles you would have to make use of both hdmi and displayport sadly you don't get hdmi 2.0 here either so you won't be able to game with 120hz on the ps5 or xbox series x this monitor was a pile of crap before and it's still a pile of crap today and the fact that it has almost 5 000 reviews with four and a half stars is enough to make me cry this is somehow still a highly rated and very popular gaming monitor okay and the reason why i'm still including this in my roundup videos is to potentially raise awareness and maybe help some of you guys avoid spending your hard-earned money on this the only reason i would buy this monitor is if it costs less than 150 bucks and even then it's kind of pushing it there's really nothing attractive about this monitor in terms of aesthetics features and even price i would strongly advise against buying it like i wouldn't even watch porn on this thing that's how bad it is finally a brand that actually knows what the hell they are doing not just in the modern department but really everything else pc related but is the asus tough vg2490 worth 109 price tag let's find out first off you're getting some really nice gaming specs it features 165 refresh rate with a 0.5 millisecond response time and that is not a typo they are claiming to have a 0.5 millisecond g2g response time so already i'm a bit fascinated the build quality just doesn't compete with asus if i'm being honest the stand is built like a tank no extra play and it comes with tons of adjustability you get really nice tilt angles you also get 100 degree swivel which i haven't seen before on a budget monitor but on top of that you also get a 180 degree rotate as well for both sides making this the perfect monitor for a discord or coating setup it's also vasa compatible you just need to remove the neck piece to get access to the mounting points in the back as far as looks it's not the worst looking monitor in the list that's for sure i would love to see some thinner bezels for the price though white saturation levels aren't the best i did find out this is a tn panel sadly so it is to be expected however the contrast ratio is spot on for a tn panel while tn panels in general don't have the best viewing angles the asus tuff did experience slightly less color shifting compared to the other tn panels on the list i'm pretty sure that's because they are using a higher grade tn panel because it has a better color accuracy as well covering 97 of the srgb color space making it viable for casual color sensitive work asus wasn't kidding about the 0.5 millisecond response time there is literally zero ghosting in fact i haven't seen anything this crisp and sharp from a budget monitor before good quality tn panels also don't experience any bleeding which is the case with the vg24 while it might not have hdmi 2.0 support for current gen consoles it does offer a dvid port in addition to an hdmi and display i also like the little cutout in the center to help pass through cables accessing the menu is extremely easy using the joystick up top but you do have additional quick access to settings like adding a crosshair timer or even an fps counter with one of the buttons the other button will give you the option of quickly changing the color mode overall i was pleasantly surprised with the asus marner as it did check out most of the boxes from my testing while it may be one of the most expensive monitors on this list the price is justified because of its performance and quality it's also worth noting this is the fastest monitor in this video 165hz refresh rate and a staggering 0.5 millisecond response time damn really the only thing i didn't like about it was the fact that it's a tn panel so not the best white saturation and viewing angles but everything else was spot on last but not least we are finishing up with the benq zoe which is the most expensive monitor in the video coming in at 199 dollars even it's also the only monitor in the video that supports 120 hertz via ps5 or xbox series x the other hdmi in displayport will get you up to 144s refresh rate and a one millisecond advertised response time one thing that benq does really good is making ugly monitors it's practically in their dna i don't know why they always insist on going with these bulky bezels and a bulky stand but the upside is that it's built really well with virtually no play i do want to point out that i really like their stealthy no logo approach and if that's the new direction they are headed with their monitors i approve just please work on thinner bezels the stand while pretty bulky offers a lot of functionality you get a nice tilt angle and a full 90 degree rotate option but only on one side in addition to that the mount also offers a good range of swivel with an indicator on the base for easy tracking and the same tracking method can be seen on the neck piece for height adjustability i'm not sure how useful these can be in the real world but i guess it doesn't hurt to have them there is a hole in the stand for cable management and a handle up top for easy handling however it is completely detachable giving you the option to mount it if you like unfortunately the monitor has a tn panel which is disappointing considering the price i was expecting at least a va panel because of this the white saturation levels aren't the best making text a bit harder to read you can really see the difference between a tn panel and a va panel images and text are a lot sharper and easier to see on a v8 panel the contrast ratio on the other hand is pretty good i was able to distinguish all the gray squares against the black background lots of color shifting was present both horizontally and vertically which is to be expected however it is worth noting that the asus monitor did in fact use a higher quality tn panel as it experienced less color shifting it also had a much higher color accuracy two percent more coverage from the srgb color space compared to this benq monitor while the monitor does in fact have an advertised one millisecond response time i did notice some motion blur with no option in the settings to turn it off i didn't experience any backlight bleed however i mean if i did then this would literally be the worst tn panel i've reviewed considering tn panels don't have this problem one thing i do like about the monitor however is the amount of ports it offers you get one display port and three hdmi one of which is hdmi 2.0 meaning it does support 120 hertz gaming on the ps5 and xbox series x accessing the menu is done by using the joystick conveniently located in the back along with two other shortcut buttons that lets you switch the input and the color mode of the monitor overall i was expecting a little bit more from benq given the price but sadly it did fall short in terms of performance and quality compared to some of the other monitors in this video really the only reason you should even consider buying this is if you're planning on using it mostly with your ps5 or xbox series x as it's the only compatible monitor from this list otherwise it's really hard for me to recommend when there are other better monitors to choose from so out of all the five monitors on the list i have to say the best bang for the buck monitors hands down the msi there's just no competition really for 170 dollars you get a solid va panel with excellent color reproduction true 1ms response time vases support and a very accurate color panel for color sensitive work to put it simply this is a great all-arounder monitor for both gaming and productivity if you can get the smarter for 170 i would snag it my personal favorite monitor from the list has to be the asus i was pleasantly surprised with the build quality and the functionality of the stand not to mention the amazing gaming specs 165 refresh rate and a 0.5 millisecond response time is unheard of for this price even though it's a tn panel asus did not cheap out on it as it proved to be a much nicer tn panel compared to the other monitors on the list so if you're looking for the best spec monitor for primarily gaming the asus vg248 is hands down the easiest choice in my book the worst monitor from this list is no surprise the acer xfa-240 the fact that people are still spending their money on such a cheaply made monitor with horrible color reproduction is upsetting this monitor needs to be priced at 150 dollars for me to even consider recommending and even then it's going to be a very hard sell so these are some of the most popular game monitors out in the market currently sadly i was only able to fit five in this video but if you guys think there's another monitor that deserves to be in this video let me know in the comment section because i will grab it for the next round of video early 2022 if you guys enjoyed the video and thought this was helpful maybe consider tossing a like before you head out as it did take me a full week to complete a lot of testing was involved as you guys probably can tell also drop a link to all the monitors i featured in the video below if you guys want to check it out thank you so much for watching as always and i'll see you very soon in the next one

Channel: TechSource

Views: 953,929

Keywords: top 5, best budget gaming monitors, best gaming monitors, 144hz monitors, 165hz monitors, under $200, cheap gaming monitors, top 5 gaming monitors, top 5 144hz monitors, top 5 165h monitors, top 5 ps5 monitors, top 5 xbox series x monitors, best monitor for ps5, ps5, xbox, xbox series x, best monitor for xbox, best monitor for xbox series x, best 144hz monitors, best gaming mointors, best 165hz monitors

Id: frgr-zmGhKk

Length: 19min 57sec (1197 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 13 2021