I always thought about playing games on a curved monitor and wondered about the question ‘is a curved monitor worth it for gaming?’ So I went on and tried it by myself and had a very different experience. I have done some research on it and shared it here with you on how a curved monitor affects the gaming experience.
So, Is a curved monitor worth it for gaming? A curved monitor is worth it for gaming only if you have a higher budget and go for ultra-wide display which lets you fully enjoy its benefits such as better gaming immersion, less eye strain, larger field of view, and better color consistency across multiply viewing angles.
The answer to this question is subjective and you need to understand its multiple aspects before you conclude anything. I have mentioned some of the answers to the relevant questions that you should check out.
Is a curved monitor worth it for gaming? Let’s find out
I have seen some gamers using curved monitors and it shouldn’t be a surprise for someone who knows the gaming in general. Through, if you are a beginner or someone who is using flat gaming monitors and wondering about the curved monitor experience, you are at the right place to get the answer to the question ‘should I buy a curved monitor for gaming’.
To understand the overall experience that comes from the curved monitor, we should first identify what are the advantages and disadvantages, what is curved monitor, and how it is different than flat gaming monitors. The following sections will reveal everything to you to take the decision to make sure it is the right one.
What is a curved monitor?
The curved monitors are first released around 2014 and are in the market for gaming customers. Due to their unique structure the curvature, the pricing was on the higher side and it has come down since then. Flat gaming monitors are still one of the default choices for every gamer and curved monitors have rupturing that trend since.
The curved monitor’s curvature is defined by a radius “R” which is measured in millimeters. Right now you will find the radius for the curved monitor is 1800R, 2300R, 3000R, 4000R. In the future, you may get more radius options to choose from. So, how to measure this? the radius is measured in millimeters and the one with less radius will have a greater curve.
Hence, understand the curvature limit with the radius mentioned for each curved monitor. You can get curved monitors right from 24 inches to 32+ inches and with their individual radius by their manufacturers. Also, consider that the smaller size monitor will have a lesser curve than the large screen monitors while choosing the curved gaming monitors.
What are the advantages of a curved monitor for gaming?
I have checked some of the good research done around the curved monitor and its aspects which affects the overall experience to the users. Following is the list of advantages of the curved monitor for gaming that you should consider.
Immersive gaming experience
Well, curved monitors are clearly taking this factor on the top of the list in the advantage section. Because of its curved properties, the curved monitors help to create the illusion of peripheral vision and the display becomes more immersive.
You should not expect the full immersive gaming experience such as what you get from VR headsets. Though, you get a better immersive experience than the flat-screen monitors.
Larger field of view
In order to understand the field of view concept, you should consider the peripheral vision of the human eye to understand how curved display gets the larger field of view. You can see clearly in the following image which is found at the research done which shows that with the curved display you can get a larger field of view on a small screen compared to a flat-screen.
The same curved display you have probably seen in the movie theater screens and also with modern TVs. Which tells us that the curved display has a bigger field of view and also the greater immersion.
Better Awareness for Fast-Paced Gaming
You must be wondering that how curved monitor is going to play a role in gaming? so here is the thing, these curved monitors mostly come with ultra-wide screens and there are most of the latest games that support 21:9 aspect ratio.
With a 21:9 ratio, you get the wider screen where you can easily spot enemies, objects, vehicles, and possible incoming projectiles that you couldn’t have been spotted in a standard screen.
So along with the ultra-widescreen where you have a larger field of view plus the curved display will be easier for you to detect things from your peripheral view and ultimately increases your awareness for fast-paced gaming.
Creates depth without the headache of 3D gaming
Today’s technology with enhanced 3D effects in modern games has improved a lot and to process that your brain has to go through multiple functions so that you can respond to the reaction to complete the given objective.
The curved display will help you to get that perspective of the 3D and help your brain to process things easier and because of that, you tend to get less tired of the gaming usually on the curved monitor than the flat one.
Better color consistency across multiply viewing angles
When you have the monitor with a wider screen with high resolutions, great refresh rates, and with 1ms response time that one thing you don’t want to miss while gaming is to get better color consistency across multiple viewing angles while gaming.
The curved monitor will help you to get those better color consistency while your eyes are faced against the display with similar viewing angles. I have seen the image color quality that you can experience while playing graphically heavy games on your gaming desktop.
Less eye strain
As 3D objects and all images are kept equidistant from your eyes by the curved display, your eyes tend to work less when adjusting to images, processing 3D objects from the screen display helps your eyes and brain with all the work to grasp and process the given things on the screen.
With less strain on your eyes, just imagine how your gaming experience can become better and with longer sessions than usual. You will also don’t have to worry about longer sessions, whereas we gamers tend to experience that eye train sometimes.
Fewer headaches for longer screen time
The headaches after looking at a computer screen for a long time are no different for gamers like everyone else who spend more time on devices. Though we gamers do spend somewhat similar time like others, the frequency of the starring at the screen is much higher.
The curved monitor will help us with consistent viewing angles and distance from the display to process 3D objects, colors which result in less eye strain. This lesson the severity or frequency of the headaches caused by longer screen time.
What are the disadvantages of a curved monitor for gaming?
Read further to understand that some factors can affect your gaming in certain ways so that you can understand and know the right answer for the question “is a curved monitor worth it for gaming”. The following are the disadvantages that you should know about curved monitors.
Price
Like immersive gaming experience is the best advantage of the curved monitors, the pricing comes first as a disadvantage. Ever since the curved monitors have launched the price has been the biggest factor for all gamers to first think about their investment.
Though with time the price has gone down and we can expect it to come down to the level of flat monitors. But till then you have this one as a big disadvantage in order to decide with a limited budget.
Need ultra wide screen to get full advantages
I would recommend taking the complete worth of your money for a curved monitor, you should go for the wider screen curved monitor. Because the curved effect is very minimal with the smaller screen sizes and especially standard screen sizes.
With the ultra-widescreen, you will be able to take full advantage of the curve that offers and the better viewing angles, color consistency, and less eye strain respectively.
Viewing distance and screen size
Your sitting distance and screen size based on that will affect all the benefits provided by curved monitors. So, when you are not sitting in the center of the display then your viewing angle will not be correct to fit your peripheral vision to get the best of the field of view and you won’t be able to get the great color consistency and 3D effects.
Also, consider that the distance from the screen also make an important role. The farther you sit from the curved screen, the fewer benefits you get from it because of the curve properties where the radius for each curved monitor varies and to get all the benefit you will need larger screen size form the longer distance.
Watch the following video where David explains the viewing distance and screen size respectively:
Need and acquires larger space on the desk
If you have a desk and which is not enough big then it would be harder to keep other stuff alongside curved monitor as it will take a large portion of your desk. Because of its curved properties, it is also hard to keep certain things alongside or at a good viewing angle.
Especially with an ultra-wide screen, it will cover the majority of the portion on your desk. So you have to consider the desk space when you are planning to buy a curved monitor. On the other hand, flat monitors will take less space on the desk regardless of the size.
Not easy to wall mount
As we know all flat monitors are much easier to wall mount and they do not occupy the extra space around then as compared to curved monitors. It will be also harder to fix the location of the curved monitor on the wall as it also needs a proper sitting angle and distance.
Most of the curved monitors come with the stand where its screen can be tilted up-down, rotate right-left and height can be adjusted. The best gaming experience is to keep the monitor on desk unless and until you really want to mount it on the wall.
Need to work more on the screen reflections
If you have the widescreen curved monitor then you have to make sure that you want to check all the angles with the light sources coming to your monitor and make sure the sunlight also doesn’t shine directly on the screen from any weirder angle.
Gaming & other work don’t go hand-in-hand
If you are looking for a monitor for both work and gaming then you should get a flat-screen monitor. I am especially talking about the work such as designing, create images in photoshop which depend on straight lines and curved monitors make these straight lines less to be exact in many cases.
The curved monitors are for a better immersive experience with gaming and movie watching. Having said that, You can use wider screen curved monitors for multiple tasks such as video editing, web surfing, and other tasks that don’t require working out with straight lines.
Do pro gamers use curved monitors?
Yes, most of the pro gamers use curved monitors to take benefits of the extra advantages that offers such as better gaming immersion, less eye strain, larger field of view, and better color consistency across multiply viewing angles.
Pro gamers in competitive gaming will need to bring out the best from their devices and the ultra-wide curved monitor does help by showing them enemies early and at great viewing angles.
Curved vs flat monitor for gaming
I have created the following table which will help you to compare curved and flat monitor effectiveness with the factors that are explained above along with it so that you can get proper understanding while making a decision.
| Factors | Curved | Flat |
| Color consistency across multiple viewing angles | Better | Less effective |
| 3D depths without the headache | Better | Less effective |
| Eyestrain | Less | Normal |
| Fast-paced gaming awareness | Better | Less effective |
| Headaches for longer screen time | Less | Normal |
| Immersive gaming experience | Better | Less effective |
| Larger field of view | Better | Less effective |
| Price | High | Normal |
| Screen reflection chances | High | Normal |
| Space required on the desk | High | Normal |
| Wall mount | Less effective | Easy |
| Work involves straight lines | Less effective | Easy |
I hope that till now you have understood the curved monitor aspects around gaming and the question that we initially wanted to get answered “is a curved monitor worth it for gaming?”. If you do still not get to the answer to the question then do the following steps.
First, know what your requirements are, such as only gaming or gaming plus other work, if just want to have complete immersive gaming experience, better 3D depth, and color consistency and have a budget then go for a curved monitor. If you want to play games and also want to do other work that involves precise straight lines then go for flat monitors.
Is a 27-inch curved monitor worth it?
The 27 inches curved monitor worth it if only taken consideration with maximum screen resolutions of quad HD 1440p which is the last level for screen resolution to get from a 27 inches gaming monitor where you should go for 34 inches and above for 4K resolutions.
Also, consider the aspect ratio for the size of the monitor:
| Aspect Ratio | Monitor Sizes |
| Standard Widescreen (16:9) | 24″ 27″ 32″ |
| Ultra-Wide (21:9) 30% wider | 29″ 34″ 38″ |
| Super Ultra-Wide (32:9) 2x wider | 43″ 49″ |
Also read: What Is The Best Monitor Size For Gaming?
Is a 24-inch curved monitor worth it?
The 27 inches curved monitor worth it if only taken consideration with maximum screen resolutions of full HD 1080p which is the last level for screen resolution to get from a 24 inches gaming monitor where you should go for a minimum of 27 inches for 1440p and 34 inches and above for 4K resolutions respectively.
What are the best-curved monitors to choose from?
I have used some of the curved monitors one of which has given me the best gaming experience. There are many other curved monitors that are in the market that have gotten a great response from the gamers. The following are the best-curved monitors to choose from.
Also, check out our recommended gaming monitors
| Name | Free / G – Sync | Refresh Rate | Screen Type |
| Samsung CHG90 | Yes | 200Hz | Ultrawide Curved |
| Acer Predator X34 | Yes | 100-120Hz | Ultrawide Curved |
| ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Yes | 144Hz | Ultrawide Curved |
| AOC Agon AG352UCG6 | Yes | 144Hz | Widescreen Curved |
| Sceptre C305B-200UN | Yes | 120Hz | Ultrawide Curved |
I hope you have got the answer to the primary question of “is a curved monitor worth it for gaming” as well as the other answers to the question that you should have known before you take the decision to consider a curved monitor for your gaming experience. Please share your feedback with us in the below comments. Cheers!
