Pc Gamer Hardware Awards: The Best Gaming Monitor Of 2025

Two 4K and one 1440p monitor take the nominations this year, with one being a potential dark horse.

Check out more of the year's best tech in our PC Gamer Hardware Awards 2025 coverage.

In 2025, as graphics cards, memory, and storage have become harder to find at reasonable prices, monitors have only become better value. So, should you have the rig to run it, there has never been a better time to upgrade to a 4K screen.

Philips remains in good form, with its Evnia 27M2N3800A being arguably the best-priced 4K panel we've seen (and with a neat dual resolution mode). MSI just barely missed out on a nomination for its 271QR OLED monitor, which is a bright and super snappy panel.

Acer, Asus, LG, and AOC all had strong showings this year, too, but in such a packed year, you need to pick just a handful and the Alienware and KTC below just managed to beat them out. Our Alienware pick is super quick, with a gorgeous HDR QD-OLED panel.

The KTC monitor is a bit of an underdog without the recognisable name of Philips or Alienware, yet it's still a punchy, quick and affordable 1440p panel.

If you're in the market for a new monitor, we have picked out three that deserve a nomination for the best monitor of the year. Come back on New Year's Eve to discover which one will take the gold.

Philips Evnia 27M2N3800AThis reasonably priced beauty can swap between 4K (at 160 Hz) and 1080p (at 320 Hz) quickly, which makes it a dynamic choice for almost any rig. At just 27 inches, this monitor is a bit on the small side, but it's hard to argue that it doesn't fight for every single penny it costs. At MSRP, it's already beating out tonnes of other 4K choices, and it tops this off with an IPS panel with a 0.5 ms response time. Impressive. That price has to come with some compromises, and those come in the form of limited HDR capability, a cheap-feeling chassis, and the lack of USB Type-C. This means you can't use your monitor as a hub, but it's a worthwhile tradeoff for such a lovely screen. Perhaps the biggest downside to this Philips panel is that it signifies the pricing mismatch between 4K monitors and the rigs needed to run them. Something tells me this gulf will only widen over the coming years. Still, it's remarkable to think of how little a great panel costs you nowadays.

Alienware 27 AW2725Q QD-OLEDI know, putting Alienware and 'reasonably priced' together feels like a typo, but this QD-OLED panel undercuts its competition by hundreds of dollars, whilst giving great

Source: PC Gamer