Games – Page 2 – Never Press Pause

Epic Games launched its megahit game, Fortnite Battle Royale, on September 26, 2017. The game took off like a rocket and made people who are usually casual gamers more competitive. Because of the competitive nature of the game, people want the best setup possible. This begs the question, is a TV or monitor better for Fortnite? A monitor can have a better response time and refresh rate than most TV’s. Because of these features, Monitors are better than TVs for playing Fortnite. This is especially true for players who are more competitive. A monitor does give you a slight advantage over players who use a TV. It isn’t just Fortnite that has benefits from a monitor. There are other games that you should consider when thinking of purchasing a display for your gaming. It isn’t just PC players that use monitors, more and more console players are leaving behind the concept of “couch gaming” for a dedicated gaming desk. You should find all the information you need in this article. Is TV or monitor better for PS4? I personally made the switch from using a TV for my PS4 to using a monitor. The difference was immediately noticeable. Gaming felt a lot more responsive; the graphics felt sharper and better. In terms of refresh rate (FPS), we need to think about something first. The PS4 and Xbox one are locked in terms of refresh rate. Most games only run at 30 FPS, and sometimes developers can push out 60 FPS. Most modern TV’s have a refresh rate of 60hz. Does this mean that using anything over 60Hz for a console is too much? Using a monitor that has a high refresh rate above 60 FPS, won’t make a difference. Your game will not run at 144hz just because your monitor can. You are always locked to the lowest common denominator. In this case, the console is the lowest common denominator. That being said, a monitor still offers better response rates, which makes a big difference to your game. Also, the image quality is sharper, which I appreciate. Gaming on a monitor vs TV In this section, I will mainly talk about why most games are better on a monitor. I would say that any multiplayer game running on a monitor will give you an advantage. When it comes to single-player games like God Of War, things like latency don’t really play a huge factor. Refresh rate always plays a factor, though. I will talk about TV refresh rates on a console later in the article. Playing Fortnite on a monitor Think about it, when you watch good players playing Fortnite, everything they do is incredibly fast. This is especially true when it comes to building and editing. Having a 1 to 5ms latency could be the difference in a fight. The faster it takes for your gun to shoot from when your press the shoot button, the more likely you are to win. Also, having a faster refresh rate will add to your advantage. Best monitor for Fortnite The best monitor is one that can give you the maximum amount of framerates that your PC will allow, while also having low latency—all while being well priced. Fortnite on the current-gen consoles are locked to 60 FPS, so if you are on console, you don’t need anything higher than that. With the launch of next-gen consoles, that can change. A great monitor for all of this is the AOC C24G1 24 inch. It has a 1ms response time, has 144Hz with FreeSync enabled. The monitor is 1080p and retails on Amazon for $179. You can find out more about this monitor here. If your PC is capable of running Fortnite at high framerates while playing at 1440p, then I have a great monitor suggestion. The ASUS ROG Strix XG279Q 27 inch, 1440p, IPS, 1m, 170Hz, G-SYNC gaming monitor sells for $599 on Amazon. This monitor is for anyone who wants to pursue a career in gaming, it has a ton of great features. The quality is also superb. You can find out more about this monitor here. Multiplayer gaming on a monitor It is not just Fortnite that benefits from playing on a monitor. Other games like any first or third-person shooter, Rocket League, MMO games, and many more are best enjoyed on monitor vs. TV. Gaming on a TV In this article, I think that I have shown my bias towards a monitor. It does not mean that gaming on a TV is bad. TV offers versatility and convenience. A lot of people prefer playing games in the comfort of their lounge, and they enjoy doing it on a console. Most single-player console games are locked from 30 up to 60 FPS and look great on a TV. The only disadvantage is the latency, but it is extremely difficult to notice that latency in a single-player game. Note: In this article, when we talk about latency, we are talking about input latency. Input latency is the time it takes for a signal to be sent from your controller, keyboard, or mouse through your console or PC to your display. The higher the latency, the longer it takes the signal to travel. Can a TV be used as a computer monitor? The thought of using a TV as a monitor sounds good on paper. A TV is bigger, has built-in speakers, and is cheaper for what you get. Is a TV good as a monitor though? In my experience, TV’s are not good when used as monitors. Even when not gaming, I can feel the latency in responsiveness when using my mouse and typing on my keyboard. Only recently have companies been releasing TVs that can double as a monitor, but they are expensive. The TV’s that I am speaking about have lower latency, high refresh rates, and has support for G-Sync. The lowest latency found on a gaming TV was still 11ms, which is still a lot slower than a monitor. A monitor can have as little as 1ms latency. Using a TV as a second monitor This, in my opinion, is more viable than using a TV as a primary display for your PC. The best use case I can see for this is to use the TV as a media consumption screen. Watching movies, series, and youtube on the TV is great and then use a monitor for everything else. Still, I’m not too fond of the idea, though. You still have the problem of higher latency with lower refresh rates. For gaming, this is a deal-breaker for me. Not only does it give me a slight disadvantage in competitive games, but it also makes games run not as smooth. Conclusion I know, I have shown my bias towards monitors in this article. The truth is, this is all through my experience. I use a monitor for console and PC gaming. I like the way it feels, and I appreciate having fast response times as it makes games feel a lot smoother. Whatever you choose to play on, the most important thing is to have fun. You don't always have to be competitive, especially if gaming is a hobby. If you do want to pursue a career as a gamer, then I recommend using the best setup possible to give you a competitive edge. Remember to check out some of our other articles regarding monitor setups, controller mods, and much, much more.