The Best Budget Gaming Monitor For Under $150 Plus 5 More

In this article, I’ll share with you what I believe is the best budget gaming monitor for the $150 mark plus some other really good ones. For me, this is the perfect time to be writing an article about this because I finally have enough saved for a gaming PC. Below you’ll be able to read my review on the current one my brother has as well as the ones I’m seriously considering buying in the coming months.

With that being said, I can assure you this isn’t a randomly compiled list, but rather my personal experience as well as the best ones I’ve researched. These are the ones that continue to pop up over and over across a variety of articles and reviews.

Table of Contents

AOC review
Acer R240HY
ASUS VS239H
BenQ GW2265HM
HP Pavilion
Sceptre C248W
Related Questions

I believe the best budget gaming monitor for under $150 is the AOC I2267FW. This is a classic IPS panel type with a completely borderless frame. The last time I checked the price (today) it was actually around the $150 mark. I really do believe this is the best 1080p monitor you can buy. It directly gives you what you want: maximum screen size, no back light bleeding, and long lasting durability / performance. Take a look at the video review or read the translation to it below.

AOC I2367FH

First Reaction: I didn’t realize how good of a quality this monitor was until I tried out some of the other ones first and realized this one was infinitely better in a number of ways

It’s simple in design and properly built. So many monitors are more expensive just because they try to come with fancy speakers, flash RGB lighting, or make a clunky attempt to have elite emblems all over it. I don’t like how some companies claim their 1080p monitors have 1ms response time, that’s simply not possible at this resolution (1440p and 4k can do 1ms, it just makes your image look a little bit more smooth, but most won’t notice a profound difference).

It’s awesome for dual monitor setups. I’ve never tried this for gaming, but for work purposes I also get a ton of use out of it. It automatically knows how to calibrate to your screen settings. If you want more gaming space, this would also be the best one you can get in order to expand from one gaming screen.

The display has exceptional contrast and runs extremely smooth. I’ve never once felt that I was gaming on a budget monitor with this thing. I wouldn’t even call it a budget monitor because it easily competes with other 1080p monitors in higher price ranges. You feel like every dollar of this is spent on a meaningful component that goes towards giving you a gaming experience you won’t have to think twice about. I honestly see myself just getting a second one of these for my PC build.

How to Tell If A Monitor Is Actually Good

It’s response time is under 10ms and pairs well with the resolution (1400 and 4k should have closer to 1ms and 1080p around 5ms). A 1080p monitor that claims it can do 1ms response time is inaccurate.

The monitor is labeled as an IPS Panel Type (in plane switching- this offers you the most contrast in colors and sharpness).

Refresh rate is around 60hz or above. If you’re not a pro gamer, I wouldn’t recommend getting anything around 165hz. This again just makes your game run smoother, but pro gamers want that 1 millisecond advantage over other people. The higher the refresh rate, the higher the price of the monitor will be.

Aspect ratio is 16:9. Most monitors will already be in this range. If you always go with 16:9, resizing your image to fit a PC or dual monitor set up will always be an easy endeavor and will look the most appropriate.

The only complaint with it is that the speakers suck. The monitors I was looking at that I knew were good were also the ones where the only “con” was that it has bad speakers. It’s good if you monitor speakers suck. That means it will be cheaper and you can invest that saved money into actual speakers that will always sound better than the ones they come with.

5 More Quality Gaming Monitors for Under a $150 Budget

Acer R24OHY

This one came up on multiple articles that I was searching for. If I had to rank the five I put in this article, I would place this one at number one. Compared to the AOC above, I would say they’re literally on the same par as one another.

You can get this one in multiple sizes but the standard is 23.8 inches. This is a classic IPS panel type, that provides 1080p resolution. It’s refresh rate is labeled as 60hz which is a good spec for any 1080p monitor. You won’t have to worry about motion blur. *Make sure to disable overdrive / OD in the settings to make your image run even smoother.* People also love how there is no backlight bleeding!

The other good thing about this one is that it’s also borderless, which means your screen will feel a lot bigger compared to ones with a thicker border. This is also great for dual monitor gaming setups. Ergonomic tilt is built into it so you can set it up and angle it with flexibility depending on your desk height.

ASUS VS239H

A slim design with a solid structure. Another 1080p display with IPS and standard 5ms response time with standard refresh rate. What I like about this one is that there is zero glare. Monitors that have glare aren’t fun to game with during dark cutscenes or environments and sometimes the sun gets in the way when it’s hitting your house at a certain angle. This monitor takes care of all that.

My friend used to have this one and before I got the AOC this was the one I was planning on getting because I liked how sharp the images looked. I felt that his monitor was able to capitalize on the fine details of modern games. ASUS, in general, is a good company to buy monitors from and most gamers would agree.

Brightness settings are something to be tinkered with if you don’t like the matte look that initially becomes apparent. Most people agree that this monitor delivers exceptionally sharp images and really makes the colors “pop” from the screen. This one is more ideal if you only plan to have one monitor as part of your rig.

This monitor is perfect for the price and ASUS could easily beef up their current asking value. I think the reason it remains so popular is that they purposely made it more affordable in order to beat out monitors within the same price range.

If you are new to gaming or looking to buy your first gaming monitor, I would definitely recommend this one. This monitor offers flexible brightness and contrast settings and already comes with good defaults. You’ll easily be able to appreciate its quality if this is your first one.

BenQ GW2280

This is BenQ’s 21.5 inch, 1080p LED Low Blue Light Mode monitor. They actually have a setting you can flip it on if you want less strain on your eyes. Eye strain can easily be reduced using this monitor also because it’s LED backlight. I wouldn’t have put this one on this list if I felt that it compromised on it’s resolution and quality. The product image doesn’t do it justice, give Ben a chance!

This is one of the lower prices ones I picked ($99). At first, it didn’t appeal to me that this would be in my top 5, but I’ll share why I decided to put it in. A lot of reviewers were saying that this one is priced much lower than it should be. It’s received tons and tons of five star reviews from people saying that they weren’t expecting it to be as high a quality as imagined.

For people that get migraines from gaming too long or already spend long amounts of hours in front of a screen, this is the monitor for you. YouTube reviews of this one agree that it’s great for gaming and in general it feels easier on your eyes. This would also be a good first monitor or if you’re not trying to break the bank right away.

HP Pavilion

This is a 21.5 IPS LED HDMI monitor that is considered a great entry level monitor for gaming. If you don’t play games that are heavily demanding on graphics then this would be the monitor I recommend. That being said, it is still good for gaming of all calibers since it is a standard 1080p monitor. Anytime you see a monitor that has LED backlighting as a feature (like this one), you be assured that it will display a nice, clean image.

The response time is a little bit higher than (7ms). If you’re not into competitive gaming and want a good monitor now, you really won’t notice this two millisecond difference. I’ve gamed on what many would call crappy monitors without even realizing it. This one is also great for portability if you move around from place to place (especially with a console)

I would probably say this monitor is best for college students about to live in the dorms. I had a 1080p monitor that was far worse than this one that I still found a way to get enjoyment on. I even found one review of this where the person was in the same situation and said that this monitor was great for gaming.

A lot of reviews also said that the shortened response time is nothing to worry about noticing. If you’re not trying to break the bank, this is the right one for you. If you like the brand and want to spend more, they have other sizes available but I didn’t check to see how those measure up in terms of quality.

Sceptre C248W

Okay, I admit this one is over $150 by about $20 but I put it in here for those who are looking for one of the highest end 1080p monitors. And this one is curved! It measures 27 inches and has 75hz response time! This will have an extremely smooth display with minimal ghosting to where you won’t even notice it. It still comes with the standard 5ms response time.

This would be a great first curved monitor to get or if you want the best of high end 1080p gaming. I would also recommend considering this if you don’t have a graphics card that can fully support 1440p on ultra settings. This monitor gives you a way to almost cheat the system and game on a sharper looking resolution because of the quality of the monitor.

If money is still tight on your gaming budget, this one will give you the biggest bang for the buck. It is so easy to blow hundreds of dollars on a curved screen just to get a slightly better look to your resolution. I think this would be a great, but not over the top investment if you don’t think your gaming rig is ready to take on 1440 and 4k.

One more thing that’s worth mentioning is how the default settings are ready to go for gaming. It’s basically plug and play and you don’t have to tamper with settings to get the best looking image. In short, this thing comes perfectly optimized unlike the ASUS and ACER monitors listed above.

What a Poor Quality Monitor Looks Like

VIOTEK H250

I think it’s important to point out what poor qualities to look for when deciding which monitor is right for you. What I dislike about this one is that the description on Amazon claims that it can do a 2ms response time. The YouTubers who are sponsored to review this video even fall for it too which only says one thing about them: they don’t understand that 1080p monitors aren’t a high enough resolution to display anything faster than 5ms response time.

A 2ms response time monitor has business only if it’s 1440p (minimum) or in the 4k realm. My pet peeve is false advertising. Reviews of this one claim that it’s good on your eyes, but bad on your games. Keep in mind this article is specifically for gaming monitors. If a monitor has a bad word of mouth about how it’s not good for gaming but it is for everything else, continue the search.

This monitor is not renowned for standing the test of time either. Most of the positive reviews I found were from people who had just purchased them. There is such thing as monitors that don’t have good durability and develop dead pixels easily. This is something I definitely would look out for in reviews. Make sure to look at good reviews from people who have had them for a year or two and are still satisfied with what they have.

Verdict

If you can’t tell by now, I’m really more of a fan of looking at what other people have to say about monitor reviews rather than what the company or brand claims it can do. It’s really easy to get completely lost in all the details and promises that each monitor claims it can have. After a certain point, it can feel like they are all the same.

I am also in the process of looking for a gaming monitor for my new PC setup. I’ll definitely be basing my decision off of everything I have shared in this article and I hope you found some use out of it. Whether your an avid gamer, a budget college student like me, or don’t take gaming as seriously as some other people, then I hope at least one of these monitors is able to fit your needs.

One thing I forgot to mention but should be factored as a component is portability. If you like gaming at your friend’s house or moving your setup around, you’ll find these monitors to be convenient too (with the exception of the curved one).

If I missed anything or if you have anything further questions, either about how I’m liking the AOC, feel free to reach out at entertainmentden.ns@gmail.com or leave a comment below. Thanks for reading! See the related questions below if you’re curious about any more insight as you continue to search for gaming monitors.