The 5 Best Gaming Monitors Under $300 - Winter 2025

The best gaming monitor you can get for under $300 is the AOC Q27G3XMN. It's a unique monitor with more features and better performance than similarly priced displays. It has Mini LED local dimming, which is something mainly more expensive monitors have. This helps the monitor improve its already excellent native contrast ratio by further deepening blacks, which is great if you want to use it in a dark room. It also displays bright highlights that pop in HDR, and colors are vivid.

In terms of gaming, it has a high 180Hz refresh rate and supports FreeSync VRR and G-SYNC compatibility to reduce screen tearing. It also has a quick response time, but there's smearing with fast-moving objects. It's good for console gaming as it supports 1440p signals up to 120Hz or 4k signals up to 60Hz. Though, without HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, it can't take full advantage of them, but that's the case with most budget gaming monitors. If you can't find it available in your region, consider the Acer Nitro XV275U P3biipx, too. It's a similar low-cost monitor with Mini LED backlighting but has worse motion handling than the AOC.

Should you be on a more limited budget, then check out a cheap option like the Dell Alienware AW2724DM. If you can't find it for a low cost through retailers, you can often find it on sale directly from Dell's website. It's a 27-inch, 1440p gaming monitor like the AOC Q27G3XMN, but without Mini LED backlighting, it has much worse picture quality. It also has a low native contrast ratio and terrible local dimming feature, so blacks look gray, and it fails to make highlights pop for an impactful HDR experience. That said, it's still a good choice if you want to use it in a well-lit room as it gets bright enough to fight glare.

While it has a native 165Hz refresh rate, it has an overclock setting to boost it up to 180Hz and supports all common VRR formats to reduce screen tearing with any source. This includes supporting VRR with the PS5, which not all budget monitors can do, and it also downscales 4k signals up to 60Hz. Although its total response time isn't as fast as on the AOC, it has less smearing, and motion looks sharp.

If you find the 27-inch screens of the Dell Alienware AW2724DM or the AOC Q27G3XMN too big and prefer something smaller, the market for 24-inch and 25-inch monitors tends to be different than that for bigger displays. These usually have higher refresh rates and lower resolutions, which make them ideal for competitive esports gaming. If you're interested in that, check out the ViewSonic XG2431, which is a good gaming monitor with a 1080p resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. You don't get the same detailed images as you do with the Dell or AOC, but it still has a fast response time for fairly crisp motion handling.

It has typical features you'd expect to find in a gaming monitor, like FreeSync VRR and G-SYNC compatibility, and it even has backlight strobing to reduce persistence blur. You can customize the flicker of it to your liking, which is a nice touch for an entry-level monitor. However, if you want an even higher refresh rate, the 360Hz Dell Alienware AW2523HF is another great option. That said, it costs more and has slightly worse motion handling.

If you're on a really tight budget and need a cheap and simple entry-level monitor, look into the Dell G2524H. It's very similar in specs to the ViewSonic XG2431 as it's also a 1080p gaming monitor with a native 240Hz refresh rate, and it has an overclock setting to boost it up to 280Hz with a DisplayPort connection. That said, there are some trade-offs in performance for getting this over the ViewSonic. For example, it has worse motion handling with most refresh rates, but it's still good enough for gaming. Also, it doesn't have a customizable backlight strobing feature to reduce persistence blur like on the ViewSonic.

It's pretty basic in terms of features, as it doesn't support HDR and even lacks an audio jack, which is disappointing if you want to use a wired connection for audio and your source doesn't have an audio jack either. That said, it has typical gaming perks, like crosshairs and vision modes, and a dark stabilizer that makes it easier to see opponents in dark games.

While the monitors recommended above have a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is common in this price range, there's also a class of displays known as ultrawide. These offer more horizontal screen space without any extra vertical height, and they're great for playing immersive games as you can see more of your game at once. Although there's a limited selection of ultrawide gaming monitors you can get for under $300, the Dell S3422DWG is a good low-cost option that's worth getting when you can find it on sale. It has a higher resolution than the Dell G2524H, so it delivers more detailed images. It also has a different panel type than the other Dell, as it has a high contrast ratio with good black levels, and it supports HDR, too.

One downside versus the G2524H is that it has a lower 144Hz refresh rate and has more smearing with fast-moving objects, but it's still decent enough for most gamers. Another thing to know is that consoles don't support ultrawide signals, so you'll see black bars on the sides if you want to play console games on this monitor.