How we research and rank monitors

What “research-based” means

We read manufacturer specifications, manuals, firmware release notes, and warranty pages, then compare them with credible independent testing from outlets that publish their methods, such as TFTCentral, Tom's Hardware, TechSpot, and PC Monitors. We combine that evidence with our own analysis of who each monitor suits.

We do not run a lab, own a pursuit camera, or measure monitors ourselves. You will never see “we measured” or “in our testing” on this site. When a number appears, it comes from a named source with its test conditions.

The owner's own monitor

The only first-hand experience on the site is the owner's own monitor, the LG UltraGear 32GS95UE-B, used for over a year. Those notes appear in a labeled “Owner's notes” section on its review and on the homepage. They are one person's long-term use, not measurements. The review itself, its test figures, and its ranking follow the same research rules as every other page.

Evidence rules

Specifications from manufacturers support advertised features, such as ports, refresh rates, and certifications.
Performance conclusions need independent measurements. Without them, we say the assessment is specification-based.
Measurements keep their conditions: window size, picture mode, refresh rate, overdrive mode, firmware, and source. Different outlets use different methods, so we compare numbers only within the same source.
Unknown means unknown. If we cannot verify a value, the page says “Unknown,” never zero.
Response time, input lag, and motion clarity are different things. A “0.03 ms” spec is a pixel response claim, not total latency. NVIDIA's “effective motion clarity” figures describe perceived blur, not refresh rate. Frame-duration tables are arithmetic, not measured blur.
Shared panels are not assumed identical. Two monitors with the same panel can differ in firmware, overdrive, and coating.

Firmware

Firmware can change a monitor's behavior after launch. We note the firmware used in cited testing when the source states it, and we do not treat an old measurement as proof of a newer firmware's behavior. When a known issue has no verified fix, we say so.

OLED warranty terms

Burn-in coverage is stated only when a manufacturer page, official policy, or a review quoting the terms says so, with the source and the date we checked. A generic warranty length is not treated as burn-in coverage.

Amazon listings

Buy buttons appear only when we have matched an Amazon listing to the exact model, size, and variant. We record the listing and the date we matched it. We do not show prices, stock levels, ratings, or customer reviews, and a monitor can be reviewed and ranked without a buy button. Announced or discontinued models are never ranked as purchases.

The owner's section also has one Amazon search button, labeled “Search MSI OLED monitors on Amazon,” because the MSI model the owner is waiting for is not on sale yet. A search link never stands in for an exact-model buy button.

How rankings work

Each homepage category (OLED, IPS, G-SYNC Pulsar, and TN) has its own ranked list and its own criteria, shown on the category page. Labels such as “Best for competitive play” describe the scope of each recommendation. We do not use rating bars or invented overall scores.

G-SYNC Pulsar is a motion technology, not a panel type. Pulsar monitors are IPS panels, so they appear under IPS in the catalog, but they are ranked in their own group and excluded from the IPS top three so the same monitor is not recommended twice.

Updates

We update pages when facts, availability, firmware, warranty terms, or rankings change, and we log substantive changes on the updates page. We do not change dates or rankings just because time has passed.

Images

We do not use product photos unless we have a documented right to use them. We have none at launch, so pages are designed without product images rather than using scraped or AI-generated pictures.