You could quite literally have the best of everything; mouse, keyboard, monitor, and even a high-performance PC. Even with all of that, if one thing is off, you could be holding yourself back from doing well and even from having fun.
Something as small as having your monitor set at the incorrect height can throw you off your game. So, what is the best height for a gaming monitor?
The best height for your gaming monitor is to have the top bezel in line with, or 8 cm above, your eyes. When you look towards the center of the monitor, you should not have to move your head and it should not take too much effort. Glancing only slightly down should be all you need to look at the center of your monitor.
In this article, we will start by talking about the best viewing angle for a gaming monitor. We are then going to discuss everything that you need to know about viewing angles and monitor height. If you want to know the best way of finding the right height for your monitor, I recommend that you read this article.
The Best Viewing Angle for Gaming Monitors
When you are playing games, especially first-person shooter games, the viewing angle of your monitor can be crucial for success. This is especially true if you have a TN or VA panel. With these panels, the minute you are at a slight angle to your monitor, you might struggle to see the images correctly. So, if you come up against a Rose skin in COD Warzone, you pretty much won’t be able to see them.
The best angle for your monitor is for it to be straight ahead of your eye-line. You do not want to view your monitor from the side at all. As we have already discussed, the top of your monitor should be at a level so that you look down towards the center of the monitor. Making sure you’re sitting straight in front of the monitor is just as important as the height.
When it comes to IPS panels, you have a little more freedom as they have the best viewing angles which means you can sit slightly to the side of your monitor and still get almost perfect image quality. At some point, though, you will lose visibility, and that Rose skin is going to jump out at you and have the upper hand.
I used COD Warzone as an example because the Rose skin is starting to frustrate me a little bit, there I said it. It is like this in most first-person shooter games, and in fact, in most games.
The Best Way to Raise Your Monitor
For this question, I will assume that you cannot get your monitor to the correct height by changing the height of your desk or any adjustable settings that the monitor might have. So, how could you raise your monitor in these instances?
Well, you could go old school, or you could spend a little bit of money.
- The best method: a monitor mount with an adjustable arm is the absolute best way of raising, lowering, or maneuvering the angle or height of your monitor. It allows you to adjust your monitor “on the fly” depending on what game you’re playing and what viewing angle you want to use.
- Old school: for this option hopefully you have a bookshelf and can find books that are the same size and also not too tall. Stack books underneath your monitor until it reaches the correct height for your eye-line. I will say that this is not your best or most stable long-term option.
- Buy a wall mount: I understand that this is not possible for everyone, perhaps because of budget reasons or for logistical reasons regarding your setup (or the wall behind it). However, if you can get a wall-mount, it is the next best option behind an arm mount.
The Best Way to Lower Your Monitor
Even if you use a mount with an arm, it will still be hard to lower your monitor lower than the height of your desk. It is almost impossible. Your best option here will be to get a new desk if the desk you are using is too high for your eye-line and you cannot just adjust your desk chair to sit higher.
If your monitor stand is too high and the desk is not a problem, then again, the best thing for you to do would be to mount a monitor on a wall or to use a mount that has an adjustable arm instead of the monitor stand.
What If Your Desk is Too High?
If you have exhausted all of your options and getting an adjustable arm is not an option for you, then there is one thing that you can do; however, it should be avoided at all costs. If the desk is too high, you want to angle your monitor slightly down.
You usually want to avoid doing this because you never want to look up at your monitor. Not only is it bad for your eyes, but it creates a bad viewing angle. With that being said, if it is your only option, then it is something that you should do as opposed to continuing to look at the monitor at the wrong angle.
If you angle the monitor just right, it may not seem like you are even looking up at the monitor, but instead, it will seem like you are looking at it in its center. So, don’t be afraid to play around and find the angle that suits you the best.
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Don’t Sit with Your Gaming Monitor too Far Away from You
The perfect distance for any monitor to be, away from your face, is around 23 to 27 inches. This can be measured just by using your arm without any fancy rulers or measuring tape. When sitting at your desk, you want to stretch out your arm. You can do this while leaning slightly forward.
The monitor should be about an arm’s length away. It is almost impossible not to lean forward when playing games, especially during intense moments, which is why I say you should lean in a little bit when measuring your monitor’s distance.
Look, it doesn’t matter whether you are sitting far from your monitor or close to it. The fact is, monitors can cause eye damage regardless. So, I’m not going to talk about how sitting too close to a monitor might cause eye damage, but rather let’s talk about image visibility and quality when you sit too close to your monitor.
The closer you are to your monitor, the more pixelated the image becomes. This pixelation might make it harder for you to see certain things that are happening in the game.
If your monitor is too far from you, you might struggle to see what’s going on in games that have a high field of view, such as Battlefield, Call of Duty and, depending on your settings, Rocket League. Games like CS Go and Rainbow Six Siege also have this problem.
Conclusion
Even if you are a casual gamer, little things like your monitor’s height can make a world of difference. When we talk about making a difference, I don’t want you to think that you should be super concerned or worried if your monitor height is not perfect right away.
The main objective for 99% of gamers is to have fun.
However, if you are constantly losing games because of your setup, it isn’t fun and it certainly isn’t a situation that will allow you to take your play to the next level.