Are 1080p monitors still worth buying for gaming? You'd be surprised

Digital Trends

3 days ago

These days, many of the best gaming monitors fall in the 1440p to 4K category — but does that make 1080p displays obsolete? Many users and manufacturers alike might want you to believe that, but fortunately, there's still a lot to be said about the humble (or not-so-humble, as expensive options exist) 1080p monitor.
While 1080p monitors have their charms, gamers tend to go for top-shelf hardware instead, which is why their popularity in those circles is slowly waning. Personally, I think there's a lot to love about 1080p, but it's not all sunshine and rainbows. I'll walk you through whether 1080p is still worth buying in 2025, and how to pick the right monitor for your needs.
Why 1080p refuses to die
Check any tech outlet or electronics store, and it's all jaw-dropping 4K OLEDs as far as the eye can see. But, for many gamers and casual users alike, the reality is quite different. 1080p monitors are still far from being buried in the tech graveyard alongside CRTs and VGA cables, and with good reason.
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For a lot of gamers, 1080p still does exactly what they need it to do, and it does so without setting their bank accounts on fire. You can play just about every game in 1080p and make the most of it, and while many will tell you 1440p looks and feels better, it's not going to make or break your whole setup.
It's true that higher resolutions tend to offer better immersion, and more importantly, more screen real estate. But, speaking as someone who only made the 1080p to 1440p switch in the last couple of years, I didn't suddenly become a better player just by switching my monitor. However, I can't deny that I enjoy the extra pixels.
However, those extra pixels come at a staggering cost: a hit to raw performance. Rendering fewer pixels means your graphics card doesn't have to work as hard, freeing up frames for smoother gameplay. That's why competitive esports pros still swear by 1080p — you're more likely to get those ultra-high refresh rates on a 1080p monitor.
Take this 500Hz Alienware monitor, for example. In our review, we were impressed by how fast it was, and that kind of refresh rate would be infinitely harder to achieve on a 1440p display. And because the technology is so mature, you can get those blistering refresh rates, solid color accuracy, and low input lag for a fraction of the price of a high-refresh 1440p or 4K display.
Scaling up to 1440p or 4K is really taxing on the GPU, so you'll often need one of the best graphics cards to comfortably hit 60 frames per second (fps) and more in every title at 1440p and more. That explains why a whopping 54% of all Steam Hardware Survey participants are still using 1080p, although 1440p is at 20% and rising every month.
Some trade-offs are hard to ignore
It's impossible to fully ignore the benefits of 1440p, though. I currently run a dual-monitor setup consisting of two identical 1440p screens (although I'm considering switching to an ultrawide). The extra screen real estate is nothing to turn your nose up at.
Switching to 1440p gives you roughly 78% more pixels on your screen. This feels great, both when you just look at your desktop and when you play games, and having used 1440p and 4K, scaling back to 1080p feels jarring. However, that's also 78% more pixels that your GPU needs to render, making it work extra hard.
The benefit of 1440p also lies in the fact that you can easily upgrade to a bigger display while keeping the image perfectly sharp. 1080p monitors do just fine at 24 inches or less, but if you want a display that's 27 inches or bigger, you might notice jagged edges or softer text. Textures don't look anywhere near as nice as they do on a higher resolution display.
If you've ever gone from playing a visually rich single-player game on a 4K panel to the same title at 1080p, the downgrade is immediately obvious: less fine detail, more aliasing, and a general sense that the world you're looking at is just a bit blurrier.
There's also the question of future-proofing. You might want to buy a budget GPU right now (and who can blame you, considering the current GPU prices), and for that, a 1080p monitor will do just fine. But if you one day upgrade to a high-end model, all that extra firepower will be slightly wasted on a worse display. Conversely, if your GPU can't handle it, buying a 1440p monitor will just result in lower frame rates and a lot of frustration.
It's certainly a balancing act, but the fact remains that 1440p and 4K have their benefits — but so do 1080p displays.
When 1080p makes perfect sense
While there are some downsides, if you're still using 1080p, don't let the FOMO (fear of missing out) get to you. There are still a lot of situations in which 1080p makes perfect sense.
As things stand now, pretty much every GPU under $300 is made for 1080p gameplay — meaning that a lot of budget-oriented gamers are better off with a 1080p monitor. There are GPUs like the Intel Arc B580 that are cheap but also equipped with plenty of VRAM, giving them more merit at higher resolutions. Even then, you'll enjoy smoother gameplay at 1080p than if you brute-force your GPU to go up to 1440p or 4K.
No one's stopping you from upgrading, of course. A friend of mine uses a 4K 34-inch monitor with an Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU. It works, and he claims he's happy with it even in games like Red Dead Redemption 2, but this is achieved through dialing it back as far as settings go. If you like to play at max settings, you'll need a GPU that can handle higher resolutions and modern AAA gaming.
Then, there are the times when you might have the hardware, but may not actually need a bigger display. Gamers who like esports titles are often better off with a snappy 1080p monitor than with a bigger display. After all, you need your monitor to be fast, and pixel density plays a smaller role in winning matches. At 1080p, even a modest GPU can push 200 fps in games like League of Legends.
And then there's the price-to-performance sweet spot. High-refresh 1080p monitors are significantly cheaper than their 1440p or 4K counterparts, which means you can invest more of your budget into other parts of your setup. You can get a 240Hz 1080p monitor for $150 or less — this AOC model is a good one. Standard 60 to 75Hz displays can be bought for well under $80. 1440p and 4K monitors are cheaper now than ever before, but you'll still spend extra, especially if you want to invest in a good IPS (or OLED) panel.
The bottom line is: Yes, 1080p monitors are still relevant for gamers, and they're still worth buying. If you're a mainstream gamer on a budget and your hardware might struggle with higher resolutions, stick to 1080p. If there's one thing that might force you to upgrade, it's trying out a higher resolution and then going back down. Personally, I know that I'm forever stuck with 1440p or more, because once you try it out, it's hard to go back.