How to Setup a Gaming Monitor

Learning how to set up a modern gaming monitor will help you get the most out of your gaming experience. Today, gaming setups mainly constitute two monitors. The reason for shifting from one to two monitors is that dual monitors increase your productivity and gaming skills. coupled with FreeSync technology, it could enhance your overall gaming performance. Although, if your monitor keeps going to sleep while you game, that can pose a major problem. Another issue is if your monitor bottlenecks your PC while gaming, which means it slows down your gaming abilities. But what we are going to focus on is how to set up a single monitor for your gaming needs.

Although two or three screens provide you with larger real estate, it is essential to know how to set up a single monitor for a start. You see, although your monitor is on and ready for a game, some of the critical features in a monitor are usually “OFF” by default; you have to configure the settings by yourself. So, to help you set the correct configurations, we will guide you through the process. But if dual monitor gaming is your thing, then learn about how to set a primary monitor for gaming.

The Process of Setting up your Gaming Monitor

STEP 1 CHOOSE YOUR REFRESH RATE AND RESOLUTION

NVIDIA Users

Ensure that you have the latest driver running on your PC. 

Process of adjusting the native Resolution

1. Right-click the desktop.
2. Select Nvidia Control Panel. Under “Display,” click the “+” and choose “Change Resolution.”
3. Choose the maximum resolution. 

Process of Adjusting Refresh Rate Settings

On the panel’s right side, pick the highest refresh rates you see for your selected resolution.

Note: The refresh rate will change when adjusting the color settings for HDR.

AMD Users

Process of Adjusting Resolution.

1. Right-click desktop and choose “Display Settings.”
2. Scroll and select the highest resolution settings from the drop-down menu.

Process of Adjusting Refresh Rate Settings

1. Choose “Advanced Display Settings” located at the bottom of the page.
2. Select Display adapter properties for Display 1 – if you have multiple screens, the number will change.
3. Pick the highest refresh rate.

STEP 2 CONFIGURE THE COLOR DEPTH

For you to display HDR content, you have to configure the color depth of your monitor. Find the process below.

NVIDIA Users

1. Head to the screen where you configured the refresh rate and resolution.
2. At the bottom of the page, under “Apply the following settings,” select “Use NVIDIA Color settings.”
3. Adjust the settings on the drop-downs in that section to the highest value. For example, choose “RGB” for Output Color Format and “Full” for Output Dynamic Range.
4. Apply and save.

If you have a 4K monitor with 144Hz, the Output Color Depth may reduce. Set it back to the highest value and then use the YCbCr444 as the new Output Color Format. This way, your Output Dynamic Range will be set to “Limited.” In case the color depth changes again, use the lower Output Color Format of YCbCr422.

When you get to this point, your images or texts may have that ugly off-color around them. So, only use these settings for video and gaming. As a last resort, if all fails, drop to an 8-bit Output Color Depth, or lower the refresh rate. This procedure also applies when setting up dual monitors for gaming.

AMD Users

1. Right-click on desktop
2. Choose AMD Radeon Settings/
3. Select Display
4. Set the highest settings for both Color Depth and Pixel format

STEP 3 ENABLE HDR

Once you configure the PC to display HDR color, you also have to turn it on in Windows 10. 

The process is below.

1. Start menu
2. Settings
3. Display
4. Windows HD Color Settings

STEP 4 ENABLE FREESYNC/G-SYNC

These technologies assist in delivering the dynamic frame rate that eliminates screen tearing for a smooth gaming experience.

Nvidia G-SYNC/ AMD FreeSync process

1. Right-click on the desktop
2. Nvidia Control Panel/ AMD Radeon settings
3. Display
4. Setup G-Sync/ AMD FreeSync

STEP 5 CALIBRATE CONTRAST, BRIGHTNESS, AND COLOR SETTINGS

Process of calibrating light and color settings

1. Control Panel
2. Click on the Color Management icon
3. Advanced tab
4. “Display Calibration,”
5. Choose “Calibrate display.”

Windows will then ask you to start the ClearType Tuner to ensure that your text is clear. This process is optional, but it lasts for only 30 seconds.

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