The 5 best gaming TVs of 2023

My choice for the best gaming TV is the Samsung QN90C. It has a dedicated gaming hub that gives you access to cloud gaming services like GeForce NOW and Xbox Game Pass. The Neo QLED panel has also been Pantone-verified for color accuracy. The QN90C supports both Dolby Atmos and Samsung’s Object Tracking Sound+ technology for virtual surround sound as well as audio that follows the on-screen action.

*MSRP at time of writing. Please note that actual prices may vary depending on the retailer as well as available discounts, sales, and coupons.

If you’re in the market for a new TV just for gaming, or that will be primarily used for gaming, you’ll want to make sure that it has some sort of adaptive sync feature to match different consoles and game programming, enough connection options for all of your consoles, and a screen that is both big enough for you to see what’s going on but not so big that it overwhelms your space.

While testing and researching each gaming TV on this list, I and other ZDNET experts kept these criteria in mind:

• Price: Whether you’re looking for a budget-friendly second screen just for console gaming or are willing to pay top-dollar for the best OLED screen for your gaming space, finding the right budget can be a task in and of itself. I’ve done my best to ensure that this list features gaming TVs at multiple price points in order to accommodate a variety of budgets.
• Picture and audio quality: Just like with movies and shows, console gamers want a new TV that is going to make their new, last-gen, and retro titles look and sound their best. Each TV on this list has been vetted and ensured to support at least basic HDR10 codecs as well as enhanced audio like Dolby Digital or Dolby Atmos.
• Refresh rates: Your TVs refresh rate determines how smoothly video is played back on your screen. While most new TVs offer at least 60Hz, gamers will want to opt for something that has a 120Hz refresh rate for more consistent video playback quality. Some TVs also work with gaming-specific VRR technology like Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync for even better refresh rates while playing.

While it’s tempting to get that 85 or 97-inch TV, chances are, it won’t even fit in your space. The best way to find your ideal TV size is to measure, in inches, from where your TV will be placed on a stand or wall mounted to where you will be sitting, and then divide that distance in half. So if your couch is 120 inches (10 feet) from the TV, your ideal TV size would be about 60 inches. You can go a bit bigger or smaller depending on what is available from the brand and what your budget allows, but a screen that is too big will overwhelm your space and might even cause motion sickness. While a TV that is entirely too small will make your room feel like a huge cavern and be difficult to see from your preferred gaming perch.

Short answer: Absolutely, though your results may vary. 

Long answer: It’s tempting to opt for a TV over a monitor when upgrading or building your gaming PC since they offer more screen sizes as well as better value for your money. However, it’s important to do your research when looking at using a TV as a monitor, as support for VRR codecs like G-Sync or FreeSync may not be available. And refresh rates may not be as flexible or as high as you need them to be for intense action games or fast-paced sports titles. 

The Samsung M8 smart monitor is a great bridge between smart TVs and traditional gaming monitors, offering a built-in webcam as well as support for popular streaming apps for when you’re not gaming. This dual-purpose monitor is also great for apartments and dorms where space for two dedicated screens is limited.

Playing video games on a console connected to a TV is a bit more forgiving with refresh rates than a PC game on a dedicated monitor. Most new televisions are capable of a native 120Hz refresh rate, which means the TV can produce up to 120 frames per second for smoother motion and animations. Some budget-friendly models are only capable of 60Hz, but this is still plenty good enough for most console gamers.

There are a few TV models out there that are capable of 144Hz, which is on par with a lot of popular gaming monitors, but they can be expensive and often require additional setup to achieve.

While the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have been built with future 8K support in mind, native 8K content for gaming is still a long way off; as is native 8K content for streaming and broadcast. 

If you want to truly future-proof your gaming space, and have lots of cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can invest in a decent 8K TV model so you’ll be at-the-ready when the first 8K games are available. However, with how expensive an 8K TV can be, as well as the lack of ultra HD content elsewhere, you could be throwing money away and waiting years to take full advantage of your new TV.

VRR is an acronym for “variable refresh rate,” which means that your TV or monitor is capable of automatically adjusting the refresh rate to match your game console or playback device’s refresh rate. This means that you won’t have to manually adjust frame rates and refresh rates every time you switch devices, and you’ll experience less screen tearing and stuttering while watching movies and shows or playing video games.

There are a lot of options out there for console gamers looking for a TV to elevate their setup. Here’s a short list of other gaming TVs I thought were great choices: