Best HDMI 2.1 Monitors for PC Gaming, Consoles, and Professionals

Which HDMI 2.1 monitor is best for you? 4K 120Hz is now an option for many gamers, ready for your next-gen GeForce or Radeon GPU.

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Introduction

It's a new year and there are a plethora of new monitors that are either out, just about to be released, or coming soon that are all packing the very latest HDMI 2.1 display connectivity.

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HDMI 2.1 can handle virtually everything right up to 4K 60FPS, the super-high-end 4K 120FPS and 8K 60FPS. A single HDMI 2.1 cable is good for 8K60 connections, versus the DisplayPort 1.4 standard requiring dual cables to get 8K60 working.

The new HDMI 2.1 standard is also on the next-gen consoles with the Sony PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles all having HDMI 2.1 connectivity which can drive right up to 8K resolution and up to 120FPS frame rate (but not at the same time, come on now).

VRR is also supported with HDMI 2.1 delivering Variable Rate Refresh technology to TVs and gaming monitors with HDMI 2.1 connectivity, as well as quick frame transport - or QFT technology. QFT will reduce latency between your TV or monitor and your graphics card.

Starting at the cheapest end of the range you'll find HDMI 2.1 monitors and TVs with VA and TN panels, while the quality and colors drastically improve with an IPS panel so too does the price. You can get Quantum Dot displays and TVs as well as QLED, but then there is OLED -- and with that, comes an entire new price bracket.

The size of your new monitor is going to depend on your needs.

  • Is it going on your desk?
  • Is it going in your lounge room?
  • Will it be for work?
  • Will it be for gaming?
  • Do you spend most of your day in front of it?
  • What size/resolution/refresh rate is your current monitor?

If it were up to me personally, and professionally I might add -- I'd aim for a 120Hz monitor at a minimum. I understand not everyone can afford it, but a 120Hz monitor is absolutely transformative. Once you switch up to a 120Hz monitor you can't go back -- and that's not just for gaming.

Using your traditional software and desktop OS at 120Hz is fluid like nothing else, especially when you mix it in with a high resolution like 1440p or 4K or even an UltraWide monitor with a native 3440 x 1440 resolution -- mix that with 120Hz or above and you're golden.

Here we'll be looking at HDMI 2.1 monitors above 27-inch and also HDMI 2.1-capable TVs including huge 77-inch 4K 120Hz OLEDs.

HDMI 2.1: Workstation Monitors

Buying a new monitor for your workstation is pretty important, especially in this new pandemic-driven work-from-home life that hundreds of millions more people are doing right now. Sitting in front of a monitor for 8+ hours a day is pretty straining on your eyes, so I have some recommendations on some new HDMI 2.1 monitors.

As I said above, I recommend 120Hz+ monitors if you're going to be sitting in front of them all day and that huge refresh rate isn't just useful for games but rather overall OS smoothness. Let's start with the first recommendation, which is one of the best displays you can buy.

1. LG CX 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED TV

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  • Screen size: 48 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K)
  • Panel technology: OLED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: Up to 120Hz
  • Price: $1500

LG offers a 48-inch CX series OLED TV with native 4K resolution and super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate over HDMI 2.1 for $1500, which is pretty damn good. The OLED panel provides the ultimate in color reproduction, sharpness, super-deep blacks, and oh-so-much more.

If you have the room to place the LG CX 48-inch OLED TV further away from your desk, and thus your eyes, then this would be my ultimate HDMI 2.1 workstation display recommendation. 48 inches of 4K 120Hz OLED goodness -- or maybe 2 or 3 of them if you're a real multi-tasker.

2. ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQ

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  • Screen size: 32 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160
  • Panel technology: IPS
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 144Hz
  • Price: TBD

ASUS announced the ROG Swift PG32UQ at CES 2021 virtually this year, with the new 32-inch monitor rocking a native 4K refresh and 144Hz refresh rate. It is more geared towards gamers, but I despise the term "gaming monitor" when it's slapped on everything.

The ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQ would be a great workstation monitor outside of its gaming focus on the ROG branding, as it rocks a super-sharp IPS panel (versus most high-res, high-refresh gaming monitors having a TN or VA panel) and that super-smooth 144Hz refresh rate.

3. ASUS ROG Strix PG32UQX

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  • Screen size: 32 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160
  • Panel technology: Mini LED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 144Hz
  • Price: TBD

Another ASUS ROG monitor, but this time for a different reason -- where the ROG Swift (Swift, not Strix as it is here) had a great IPS panel -- the ROG Strix PG32UQX (the X is important) is using next-gen Mini LED display technology.

Mini LED technology makes the ASUS ROG Strix PG32UQX another great workstation monitor choice, as it would offer some incredible picture quality that would be closer to an OLED panel, but cheaper.

HDMI 2.1: Gaming Monitors

This is where the fun begins: HDMI 2.1 gaming monitors. It starts off with the same recommendations on the LG CX 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED TV because it offers some actual fantastic price/performance when you consider it's a huge 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED... damn.

For gaming, a 48-inch TV is perfect while I have some recommendations on new and upcoming HDMI 2.1 gaming monitors but I really want to see some new HDMI 2.1-based UltraWide gaming monitors with high refresh rates coming out this year.

1. LG CX 48-inch 4K 120Hz OLED TV

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  • Screen size: 48 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K)
  • Panel technology: OLED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: Up to 120Hz
  • Price: $1500

LG offers a 48-inch CX series OLED TV with native 4K resolution and super-smooth 120Hz refresh rate over HDMI 2.1 for $1500, which is pretty damn good. The OLED panel provides the ultimate in color reproduction, sharpness, super-deep blacks, and oh-so-much more.

If you have the room to place the LG CX 48-inch OLED TV further away from your desk, and thus your eyes, then this would be my ultimate HDMI 2.1 gaming display recommendation. 48 inches of 4K 120Hz OLED goodness. You can go bigger, as there are also 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch OLED TVs as well.

2. ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQ

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  • Screen size: 32 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160
  • Panel technology: IPS
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 144Hz
  • Price: TBD

ASUS announced the ROG Swift PG32UQ at CES 2021 virtually this year, with the new 32-inch monitor rocking a native 4K refresh and 144Hz refresh rate. While I recommend this for professional and workstation use, it's a gaming monitor first and foremost.

The 32-inch size is much better than the 27-inch 4K monitors that I think is too small for 4K, but 32 inches with 4K is much, much better. The high-quality IPS panel mixed with the super-smooth 144Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 connectivity makes the ROG Swift PG32UQ a great monitor to keep an eye on.

3. LG 27GP950 UltraGear

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  • Screen size: 27 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K)
  • Panel technology: Nano IPS
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: Up to 144Hz
  • Price: TBD

There are some people who don't want the larger 32-inch or 48-inch monitors and TVs, respectively, so I've got a 27-inch monitor here from LG with HDMI 2.1 connectivity for the list. The LG 27GP950 UltraGear gaming monitor was announced at the all-virtual CES 2021 and boasts some great specs.

LG is using a Nano IPS panel on the 27GP950 UltraGear, with the 27-inch 4K monitor having a 144Hz refresh rate. Perfect for gamers who want 4K 144Hz with a nice Nano IPS panel, but with a 27-inch display size.

4. Acer Predator XB323QK NV

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  • Screen size: 31.5 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K)
  • Panel technology: IPS
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: Up to 144Hz
  • Price: $1200

Another monitor that is worth considering when it comes to new HDMI 2.1 gaming panels is the Acer Predator XB323QK NV which is a 31.5-inch 4K 144Hz gaming monitor for $1200. It's a larger 31.5-inch monitor, up from the usual 27-inch 4K monitors that started hitting the market when 4K monitors were first appearing.

HDMI 2.1: Huge TVs

I've included a page with high-end large gaming-worthy TVs thanks to the introduction of HDMI 2.1 which is what this article is all about -- we have 8K 60Hz and 4K 120Hz TVs that are gigantic, beautiful, and expensive.

But more people are at home right now, so some of you will want to spoil yourself -- right? You're sitting in front of the screen all day or night long, or trading cryptocurrency or are into other trading and data -- then a huge TV isn't a bad idea. Especially as it can be re-used versus a computer monitor being used only as a computer monitor, versus a large TV being used for some awesome 4K video content through Netflix and the like.

1. LG Z1 8K OLED TV

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  • Screen size: 88 inches
  • Resolution: 7680 x 4320 (8K)
  • Panel technology: OLED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 8K 60Hz + 4K 120Hz
  • Price: $60000

If you've got the money to burn then the LG Z1 8K OLED TV is for you: 88 inches of 8K insanity at 60Hz with the option of 4K 120Hz and all that OLED glory. I'd love to see Cyberpunk 2077 or Crysis powered up and running on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 at 8K and as close to 60FPS as you can on this thing.

Oh boy, but $60K is a bit rich -- but hey, you might have just made a bunch of money from Dogecoin so why the hell not, right?

2. LG G1 4K 120Hz OLED TV

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  • Screen size: 55, 65, 77, 83 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160 (4K)
  • Panel technology: OLED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 4K 120Hz
  • Price: TBD

LG has refreshed its 2021 OLED with the new G1 series from the precious CX series, with improvements all-round when it comes to LG's already strong dominance in the OLED market. We have a new a9 Gen 4 AI processor inside as well, with glorious 4K 120Hz gaming at all sizes with 55, 65, and the massive 77-inch beast LG G1 OLED TV.

3. Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV

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  • Screen size: 65, 75, 85 inches
  • Resolution: 7680 x 4320 (8K)
  • Panel technology: Quantum Mini LED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 8K 60Hz
  • Price: $3500, $4800, $6500

Samsung has a new 2021 Neo QLED range of TVs that are available in both 8K and 4K variants with the 8K offering 60Hz through HDMI 2.1 of course, with the TVs coming in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch sizes that are perfect for those who didn't want to go OLED and wanted to stick with Samsung and their new Quantum Mini LED technology.

Inside, the new Samsung Neo QLED TVs are "precisely controlled" by Quantum Matrix Technology and a Neo Quantum Processor, which Samsung says is a "powerful picture processor optimized for NEO QLED". There's some great AI upscaling here that I'd love to see in person.

4. Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV

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  • Screen size: 55, 65, 75, 85 inches
  • Resolution: 3840 x 2160
  • Panel technology: Quantum Mini LED
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Refresh rate: 4K 120Hz
  • Price: $1800, $2600, $3500, $5000

If you don't want to go 8K and wanted a cheaper, but still equally awesome 4K 120Hz TV then the Samsung Neo QLED 4K TV is another option. The 55-inch model is $1800 and provides 4K 120Hz with Samsung's own Quantum Mini LED technology.

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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