TV vs monitor – which one is better for gaming?

The age old question - a dedicated display or just one repurposed from all those hours watching Netflix?

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If you want a new display for your gaming setup, then you might be having the ‘TV vs monitor’ debate. 

Now, there’s a large variety of gaming monitors available on the market. If you have a quick look online, you will find monitors of varying sizes at varying price levels. The gaming monitors also offer high refresh rates, good picture quality, and adaptive sync for smoother gameplay. 

On the other hand, TVs are also abundantly available online, but only some of them cater to gaming. TVs can be more versatile – you can use the TV for streaming, double it up as a monitor, and also use it for gaming. 

Based on this surface-level comparison, you can say that the monitors have a dedicated use and TVs are versatile. But of course, there’s more to it than just a use case. This is why our team of experts at WePC has done the research and compiled this brief TV vs monitor guide.

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TV vs monitor for gaming – what’s the difference?

Before we dive into a detailed explanation, let’s take a quick look at the differences between monitors and TVs –

Feature	TV	Monitor
Screen size	Generally larger, like 43 inches	Smaller, usually starts from 24 inches
Resolution	4K TVs are quite common	Can 1080p, 1440p, and 4K
Refresh rate	60Hz, gaming TVs can offer more	Gaming monitors usually offer 144Hz and can offer more
Adaptive sync	Available, but can add up the cost	Available in gaming monitors
Additional features	Built-in speakers, smart TV OS, etc.	Higher refresh rates, dedicated game features, etc.

Screen Size

When comparing the size of a TV vs a monitor for your gaming needs, much of this comes down to preference or use. For console gaming, we recommend using a 4K TV, which generally starts around 42″ for the smaller models. While this is pretty large for a desktop environment, you can still make it work if you have enough desk space for use with your gaming PC.

For reference, you can check out these TVs, which are quite bigger than average monitors –

Gaming monitors are much better suited for lower resolutions, though, such as smaller 24-inch 1080p or 27-inch 1440p displays – especially if you want to use a dual monitor or 3 monitor setup. The option for 4K is always there, though, as well as ultrawide for the best immersion possible. See our full best monitor size for gaming guide for more details.

Resolution

In terms of resolution, modern TVs usually offer 1080p or 4K – with the recent addition of 8K. Monitors, on the other hand, are a little more versatile – offering 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.

Generally speaking, TVs tend to focus more heavily on raw viewing experience and picture quality. Alternatively, gaming monitors try to balance specifications as and where they can – sometimes compromising on one area for budgetary reasons. With the recent influx of IPS monitors, however, compromising color accuracy for responsiveness is becoming much less common.

HDR

If you take HDR into account, it’s practically no competition. Whilst HDR (high dynamic range) has become much more popular within the gaming monitor sphere, TVs still offer this feature much more readily. Additionally, if you’re playing on PC, most of your content doesn’t have HDR support yet, while PS4 Pro, Xbox One S, and Xbox One X do.

Thanks to increasing HDR support and IPS panels bringing better color reproduction and viewing angles, it’s no surprise seeing so many gamers make the switch from TV to monitor.

Refresh rate

As mentioned earlier, both display types can have high refresh rates but tend to handle them differently. If you buy a 120Hz monitor, it will display that refresh rate natively and be capable of displaying extra frames rendered by your PC when you’re gaming.

For instance, these gaming monitors have a high refresh rate –

If you buy a 120Hz TV, you might end up with a soap opera effect, and you’re unlikely to see 120Hz benefits in gaming. This is because most TVs with a high refresh rate use a technology called “interpolation,” which is focused on reducing ghosting and making motion look smoother. In some cases, this results in what’s called the “soap opera effect,” where a TV show or movie looks too smooth to be natural, though this isn’t a concern with gaming.

That being said, there are high-end TVs that actually do support these higher refresh rates and are tailored for gaming purposes. Just expect to spend more on it.

Adaptive sync

Let’s explore another important feature – adaptive sync – Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync. These two technologies, from Nvidia and AMD, respectively, are focused on removing screen tearing by dynamically matching refresh rate to frame rate – increasing perceived smoothness by doing so. These two technologies do essentially the same thing, and both are widely supported in the higher end of gaming monitors.

With TVs, preventing screen tearing is less straightforward. Some very high-end TVs support G-Sync and FreeSync, but only a few. You’ll be spending a lot more to get these features on a TV than you would on a monitor.

Viewing distance

A TV’s larger size makes gaming from your couch or your bed much more viable, and this benefit only increases the larger your display becomes. With monitors and their smaller size, you need to stay much closer to your display. Unless you have hundreds of dollars to spend on a high-end gaming chair, the fact is you simply aren’t going to be as comfortable sitting at a desk as you would be slouched on a couch or lying in bed.

Of course, sitting at a desk is no problem for PC gamers, and the added benefits of responsiveness outweigh this issue entirely. Check our complete curved TV vs flat guide here.

Budget

While gaming TVs exist, getting one with the desired features often comes with a price penalty. This is because TVs are ultimately larger, more complex, and more expensive to produce as a result. Both display technologies have high-end solutions that bust the wallet, but even low-to-midrange monitors provide less latency and input lag than TVs at comparable prices. If we’re talking sheer value for pure gaming, then monitors are the clear winner.

The answer to this question does, however, depend on the individual prices of the monitor and TV. TVs can be quite expensive, but they are not always built with gaming specifically in mind – which is where budget TVs shine. When comparing the price of 4K monitors and TVs, the TVs will typically be less expensive because the PC monitors are higher margin products since many gamers still stick to lower resolutions such as 1440p or 1080p.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are big TVs bad for gaming?

When it comes to choosing the size of a TV to use for gaming, you may assume that the larger the TV, the easier it is to game on. However, this is not actually the case. Typically, the larger the TV is, the slower the performance will be. If you are playing a game that is not particularly fast-paced, you are unlikely to notice this. However, if you are playing fast shooter games, for example, you will likely notice that a larger TV is slower.

While the difference is not huge, larger TVs are around 1/10th of a second slower than a monitor. This lag will be noticeable in some instances. So, while TVs are not bad for gaming, they may not be the best option to choose.

Can I use a TV as a monitor for gaming?

While a PC monitor is the preferred choice over a TV, this does not mean that you cannot use a TV for gaming. You can absolutely still use a monitor for gaming on a PC.

The only things that you will need to take into consideration, as mentioned above, are the input lag, refresh rates, and response times. The majority of TVs do have slower specifications in comparison to using a monitor.

However, in the vast majority of cases, you will be unlikely to notice this difference, especially if you are using a newer model of TV. If you are looking for a more inexpensive option, a TV is a great idea as it can be cheaper to purchase.

In addition to this, it is useful to use a TV as a monitor if you already own one and want to save money instead of buying a monitor.

Is it better to play Xbox or PS5 on a TV or monitor?

Whether you use a TV or monitor to play your PS5/Xbox is entirely your choice. However, as we have already discussed in this article, a monitor will be the better option for you, especially if you are using the Xbox or PlayStation solely for gaming. The response time, refresh rate and FPS for the monitor screen is far better than a TV. Given this, it is the better option. However, the majority of console users will use their console for a number of different purposes, such as watching TV or movies.

If this is the case, often it is easier to use a TV if you are looking for a larger screen that can have multi purposes. Before choosing between the two, it is useful to weigh up what you will be using your PS5/Xbox for and choose from there. When it comes to using a console, you may often play split screen multiplayer games. In this instance, a TV may be the better option as it is slightly larger and easier for multiple players to use. In addition to this, TV is great to watch TV shows and movies too.

Final word

Monitors seem to be the better choice for pure gaming performance and latency, and they win more of our categories, so we have a clear winner. That being said, there are still going to be scenarios where you might want to use a TV instead if you’re playing casual single-player games; for instance, a TV and a couch offer much more than a desk and monitor setup.

Moreover, if you’re using an Xbox Series X or PS5, a TV with HDR might be a more viable option, although there are certainly great monitors for console gaming. If you aren’t serious about playing competitively and don’t have the technology to drive high refresh rate displays, the ability to sit back, relax, and play a game on your widescreen TV is going to be superior to hunching over your desk and wildly tapping keys and buttons.

Ultimately, gaming is about choice, especially PC gaming. The winner here really depends on what you want out of your gaming experience. If you’re a competitive gamer who wants to top the leaderboards, get into esports, and push yourself as far as you can go, get a gaming monitor. But for the social gamers out there, a TV might just offer a better gaming experience for you.