Best monitors to pair with the RTX 2080 & RTX 2080 Ti

So you’ve just got a new RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti, and you want to finish off your build with a monitor that not only looks the part but performs the part – too. There’s no point of having a $1200 card that can push 144hz at 1440p, for you to only run it on a dusty-old 1080p monitor capable of only 60Hz!

In this guide, we will show you the best monitors for the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti cards, with selections for each different resolution/Hz the RTX 2080 is possible of pushing out. If you have yet to buy an RTX 2080 Ti, we have also produced guides on the top aftermarket RTX 2080 Ti cards and best PSUs to pair with the RTX 2080 Ti – I hope that these may be of use to you, too.

RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti Monitor Resolution Pairings

The best kind of monitors to pair with the RTX 2080 Ti are as follows – and all push between 500-600 million px/sec:

• 1920×1080 @ 240Hz (500m px/sec)
• 2560×1440 @ 165Hz (610m px/sec)
• 3440×1440 @ 120Hz (595m px/sec) (Our recommended resolution)
• 3840×2160 @ 60Hz (500m px/sec)

We will split this guide up based on the mentioned resolutions the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti is capable of and offer our best monitor recommendations for these resolutions.

In today’s day and age, ultrawide monitors are king and present countless advantages over the standard 16:9 ratio, thus if you are looking for a decent monitor to pair with the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti then we recommend ascending to the ultrawide league. They require beefier graphics cards to run, but lucky this article is based on the assumption you are looking to build with one of the most powerful graphics cards ever built – the RTX 2080 Ti.

In addition, with a NVIDIA based card such as the RTX 2080 Ti, it is possible to take advantage of their proprietary G-SYNC technology available on many high-end monitors – aimed at reducing screen tearing by operating a variable refresh rate – and thus producing far smoother looking gameplay. We have taken into consideration G-SYNC when recommending the following monitors. Even if the RTX 2080 Ti is comfortable of pushing 4K 60Hz it is still worthwhile as G-SYNC will then remove the need to use V-Sync and the input lag associated with that. Investing a few extra dollars to get G-SYNC on a monitor is a sound investment for futureproofing your RTX 2080 build – if you choose to upgrade the card in the future or perhaps want to run an SLI RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti build.

Interestingly, new TV’s in 2019 will begin to support HDMI 2.1 – which actually allows for 4K 144Hz – something worth to take into consideration in the future as Televisions become more viable options for gaming with RTX 2080 Ti/high-end PC builds. If you want to read more about this, here is our guide to all HDMI 2.1 supported televisions and FreeSync-enabled TVs currently available.

Our monitor recommendations for the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti

Award	Design	Monitor	Retailer
Best 1080p 240Hz monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS ROG Strix XG258Q
Best 1440p 165hz G-SYNC monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS PG289QR
Best 1440p 120hz G-SYNC ultrawide monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		Alienware AW3418DW
Best 4k 60hz G-SYNC monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS PG27AQ

Best 1080p 240Hz monitor – ASUS ROG Strix XG258Q

There are only a few 1080p 240Hz monitors on the market in 2020 that are worth considering, and the one that gets our pick for the RTX 2080 Ti is the ASUS ROG Strix XG258Q. The reason we picked this over the likes of the BenQ ZOWIE XL2546 competitive eSports monitor is that the XG258Q has G-SYNC which the RTX 2080 / Ti can take advantage of, as well as being slightly cheaper.

This monitor is very neat, with an understated design with features such as RGB to customise to anyone’s personal setup, a large height adjustment range and tilt ability the XG258Q was built to large and lengthy gaming sessions. With HDMI 2.0, this monitor is able to take advantage of V-Sync and future proofing for newer graphics cards in the future that can take advantage of this new HDMI standard.

If you’re a competitive gamer who needs the over-worldly refresh rate of 240Hz at 1080p, then the ASUS XG258Q is the best 240hz 1080p monitor for the RTX 2080 Ti, thanks to the addition of G-SYNC as well as its low price relative to other models.

Best 1440p 165hz G-SYNC monitor – ASUS PG278QR

There are actually two monitors we recommend for the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti in this section, depending on whether gaming or picture quality is your main focus. Either way, both 1440p 165Hz monitors for the RTX 2080 come from ASUS, and both feature G-SYNC for that all-important V-Sync and butter-smooth gameplay – and these are the ASUS PG278QR and the ASUS PG279QZ.

We recommend the ASUS PG279QZ over the PG278QR if you prefer having superior colours and viewing angles, and gaming isn’t your absolute number one priority. This is a beautiful IPS panel with stunning picture quality and a thin-bezel design makes this one of the best looking monitors on the market in 2020. Many users reported that the predecessor to the PG279QZ, the PG279Q suffered from backlight bleed and many users ended up returning the monitor because of this. It really because a panel lottery but the new version by Asus, the PG279QZ has reported offering better panel quality and thus gets our recommendation as the best 4K 165Hz IPS monitor for the RTX 2080.

We recommend the PG278QR over the PG279QZ for gaming with the RTX 2080 Ti since it is a TN panel (lower response times) and many ASUS IPS panels have been reported to have BLB, so unless you’re happy to play the monitor lottery and return the monitor until you find one that is perfect, then we recommend going for the PG278QR. The PG278QR TN panel offers better motion clarity too, which is better for gaming as well as simply just being cheaper. This is the top 1440p 165Hz TN monitor for the RTX 2080 Ti, hands down.

With the RTX 2080 Ti it will be able to push the 1440p past 144hz to 165hz, and this really is noticeable to the human eye, and paired with G-SYNC makes for quite the gaming experience.

Best 1440p 120hz G-SYNC ultrawide monitor – Alienware AW3418DW

One of the hottest monitors on the market right now, and possibly the absolute best monitor pairing for your RTX 2080 Ti build is the Alienware AW3418DW. This 34″ ultrawide monitor ticks all the boxes, with a 1440p IPS panel with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz – you will be able to get the most out of the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti and display it on this sleek and gaming-focused display. With the added benefit of G-SYNC, this will enhance viewing pleasure and create super-smooth gameplay with the RTX 2080.

Looking at countless reviews on reddit’s /r/monitors, we have struggled to find a bad review about the AW3418DW, its hard to fault with its premium build quality, the immersive FoV with the 21:9 aspect ratio, as well as beautiful picture quality. Not to mention the benefits ultrawides offer for productivity and getting work done – you can fit so many windows on a ultrawide monitor, it’s just like having a dual screen setup without the bezels in the middle.

With many IPS panels it is possible to get bad backlight bleed, and rightly so it should be a concern if you’re spending north of $1000 on a gaming monitor. With the AW3418DW, we have seen little instances of PC builders reporting any noticeable BLB, vignetting or inconsistency between panels.

If you want to run the monitor at 120Hz to get the full potential out of the RTX 2080 Ti, you will want to use the DisplayPort input as that supports this framerate as well as G-SYMC – the HDMI input only supports up to 50hz.

This is possibly the best reviewed monitor on the market in 2020, and thus gets our recommendation for pairing with the RTX 2080 / 2080 Ti.

Best 4k 60hz G-SYNC monitor – ASUS PG27AQ

Although we prefer gaming at 1440p @ 144/165hz, we still have to admit it’s quite the delight gaming on 4K resolution as long as it’s smooth – and this is possible with the RTX 2080 Ti. If you’re looking at a 4K 60Hz monitor for your build, we would recommend the 27″ size and with that, there are only a few options to pick from. The 27″ 4k 60Hz G-SYNC monitor we prefer over the rest is the ASUS PG27AQ, a sleek IPS panel with very impressive picture quality and doesn’t feature a gaming-gimmicky design that some G-SYNC monitors have (looking at you, Acer Predator series).

With the Asus PG27AQ being a few years old, this can be found for a decent discount off the retail price, and thus makes a suitable budget 4K monitor for the RTX 2080 we recommend (but not over 1440p 144Hz).

Summary

Award	Design	Monitor	Retailer
Best 1080p 240Hz monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS ROG Strix XG258Q
Best 1440p 165hz G-SYNC monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS PG289QR
Best 1440p 120hz G-SYNC ultrawide monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		Alienware AW3418DW
Best 4k 60hz G-SYNC monitor for RTX 2080 Ti		ASUS PG27AQ