VA vs. IPS vs. TN Which Monitor Panel is Best for Gaming?

The availability of different panel types may confuse you when shopping for a gaming monitor. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each variety.You want a new gaming monitor and have already settled on all the essentials. Screen size, resolution, and of course price range. But just when you think it’s OK to click “buy” you remember monitors have different panel types, and you recall the various manufacturing processes supposedly make a big difference.

Which do you need? TN, VA, or IPS? All modern monitors use TFT LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) as their core technology. OLED is another option, and uses a completely different technology, organic light emitting diodes. TFT LCDs have been around since the 1950s and have improved dramatically over time. There are three main types of panel: the oldest one, twisted nematic (TN), vertical alignment (VA) and in-plane switching (IPS).

Each manufacturing process tends to be best suited to particular gaming habits and genres. If you happen to care especially about a certain variety of games, or just want to enjoy every kind, then you could benefit greatly from going with one type of panel over another, so let’s get started.

In-plane switching monitors have garnered a lot of acclaim for their color performance. They’re the only variety that regularly provides 95% or even 100% of DCI-P3, the widest color gamut currently formalized and the one used in digital cinema. Even basic IPS panels offer 20%-30% more color space than the fanciest TNs. So for color, IPS monitors rate first, although casual viewers may not notice a big difference compared to other types, especially VAs. Conversely, IPS panels tend to “crush” black levels to their most extreme, which can diminish dark details. VAs and especially TNs offer more accurate black levels, a common weakness of IPS.

IPS panels offer wide 178/178 viewing angles. This means clear views from almost any angle. IPS provides the best experience for shared viewing. So, if you have people over and you’re all looking at the same screen from different angles, an IPS will serve you best.

Response and refresh rates have improved markedly on IPS-type monitors in recent years. They now match VA and even TN speeds, although for the very fastest, TN still leads the pack. For contrast, IPS panels sit somewhere between TN and VA, meaning they do HDR content much better justice than TN. Combined with their wide color gamut, IPS displays arguably offer better HDR than VA, but the debate rages on. 

Who they’re for: minor issues with black levels aside, IPS monitors cater best to gamers who enjoy taking in the sights and soaking in the atmosphere. If you’re big on graphics and want to experience visuals as intended by the artists who created them, choose IPS. That means gamers keen on role playing, open world, third person exploration, and first person narrative adventure genres should go with IPS. None of those game varieties requires pixel perfect, millisecond-level reaction, and all benefit greatly from color fidelity. For local co-op or just shared viewing of content there’s no beating IPS. If you have friends over and you want to share a gaming experience, IPS panels leave TN far behind and maintain more consistent wide angle performance compared to VA. 

Having discussed TN, VA, and IPS in simple terms that cover the most important aspects of each technology, you should now feel better about making that choice. The three refer to the way the transistors that control pixels are produced, arranged, and controlled. But all remain TFT LCD at heart and, with refinement over many years, the simple truth is that the differences between them no longer seem like night and day and all can serve you very well in a gaming monitor.

Remember that thanks to their shared ancestry and ever-better manufacturing, the actual observable differences between the three are not as dramatic as many articles, including this one, may imply. Having said that, while the differences now are much smaller than they were in the past, they still exist. At this point in time there’s no “wrong” panel type. You won’t ruin your experience totally by picking one over the other. But you may very well make your gaming just a little bit better, so why not do it?