If you’re big into gaming, you’ve probably wondered if a gaming TV or a gaming monitor is a better investment. The decision depends on your preferences and gaming style. Overall, gaming monitors are a better option for serious gamers, and that’s largely due to the fact they simply have better stats, including better refresh rates and lower input lag. Greenwald mentions super high-end gaming monitors are capable of a 360Hz refresh rate —  useful for professional gamers but not necessary for casual gamers. 

Your gaming habits can also help with the decision. If you like to game in the home office from your ergonomic desk chair, a gaming monitor is probably better. But if you’ll be in the living room playing on the Nintendo Switch 2, a TV with gaming stats and solid specs will be great. 

That box of tangled cords in your closet probably has a few HDMI cables, but not all of them are gaming-worthy. We’re not saying you need a super expensive HDMI cable, but the technology has improved over the years and it’s best to go with an HDMI 2.1 to get the best refresh rate, which made its debut in late 2017. “The 2.1 standard is mostly important for high-end gaming, due to the potential of 4K signals at frame rates higher than 60fps coming from gaming PCs and consoles,” explained Greenwald.

Since not all HDMI cables list this information on the physical cable, assume any HDMI cable that’s over about six years old needs an upgrade if you’ll be using it for gaming on a TV. You’ll also need that HDMI 2.1 cable if you’re going for 8K resolution or plan to upgrade to an 8K TV soon.