[PLUS] Buy gaming monitors correctly: What pixel density do I need?

Monitor pixel density: where is the pain threshold?

Our 2017 PCGHX forum community poll found that 45.2 percent of participants still play on Full HD monitors. Only a quarter of gamers used a WQHD display at the time. In 2020, a full three years later, the situation has changed: almost 45 percent of our community uses monitors with a higher WQHD resolution and the proportion of Full HD displays used has fallen below 24 percent. In 2022, the development will continue: 34 percent can be found in WQHD, 22 percent in UHD and only 12 percent in Full HD. A gamer chooses the resolution to suit his system or purpose. Full HD is not only widespread in the entry-level sector, but also in e-sports, where the maximum refresh rate is the most important monitor property and the resolution is deliberately chosen to be low in favor of the high frame rate. The golden mean is still the monitor with a 27 inch screen diagonal, WQHD resolution and 144(+) Hz. Affordable and equally good quality models have been around for a long time. The pixel density of approx. 109 ppi (rounded) offers a sufficiently crisp picture for most users. Now the pixel density is suitable for comparing other combinations of image diagonals and resolutions and is therefore an indicator for your own requirements.

Resolution / screen diagonal = pixel density

The pixel density is usually given in pixels per inch in the unit ppi. In printers, it is often called dpi (dots per inch), but it is basically the same. The value describes how many pixels are in a rectangle with a diagonal of one inch. In order to calculate the pixel density of your own device, you either unpack the folding rule and the Pythagoras yourself or simply use one of the millions of pixel density calculators online.

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