Size

One of the most important factors in buying a monitor is size. You want to choose a size that works for you, based on how much room you have on your desk and how close to your monitor you plan to sit. Bigger isn’t always better. When you sit close to a large monitor, the edges of the screen could be outside your peripheral vision. Between 20" and 25" seems to be an ideal range for people who play games at a desk, but this will increase if you sit farther away from your monitor.

Resolution

Using a screen with a high resolution will give you a larger field of vision. Essentially, the higher your resolution, the more of a game’s world you’ll be able to see — vertically and horizontally — at any given time. Additionally, in games that support higher resolution textures, you will get smoother visuals with higher screen resolutions. However, running games at higher resolutions will take up more system resources.

You can typically adjust the display resolution in the options menu of most games, but every monitor has a maximum resolution that can be displayed. If you want to game at a very high resolution, make sure you purchase a monitor that can support it.

4K UHD

While 5K monitors are beginning to enter the market, the highest monitor resolution readily available is 4K, which displays at 4x the resolution of Full HD. To put it another way, a 4K monitor will contain 4x as many pixels as a similarly sized Full HD monitor. Those extra pixels allow you to widen your field of vision tremendously and get a far smoother look in the games you play.

Curved displays

To get an extremely wide field of vision, gamers may place two monitors side by side, which is a feature that is supported by most high-end graphics cards. One advantage a dual-monitor setup has over a single display is that you can bend your field of vision around you, putting more screen real estate into your peripheral range. One disadvantage to this is you’ll have a split right in the center of your display where the two monitors come together.

The best of both worlds can still be had with a curved monitor. The gentle bend allows for a wider field of vision, enveloping you and immersing you deeper into your game worlds.