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Most ultrawide monitors have a 34-inch panel with a 21:9 aspect ratio, which is the best option for most gamers. Some ultrawide monitors are available in larger sizes, but these typically aren’t the best choice for gamers. Many do not support high refresh rates. Those that do are expensive and often use the same 3440x1440 resolution found on smaller ultrawide monitors, which means they appear less sharp than a 34-inch display.

A refresh rate of 144Hz to 165Hz is ideal for most ultrawide gaming monitors. Very few ultrawide monitors exceed this refresh rate, and those that do are too expensive to make it a good value. Also, gamers shopping for an ultrawide gaming monitor are likely to prefer immersive and graphically demanding games that make it difficult to see the full benefit of a refresh rate above 144Hz. You’ll need a high-end video card, like an RTX 3080 or AMD Radeon 6800, to drive most ultrawide gaming monitors at frame rates above 144 frames per second.

HDR isn’t a must-have for an ultrawide gaming monitor, but it’s a nice addition. Gaming is a great use case for HDR—arguably the best, in fact—and it can deliver improved image quality. We recommend buying an ultrawide gaming monitor with HDR support if your budget is $500 or more. 

The best ultrawide monitor for most people is the Alienware AW3423DWF. It costs less than $1,000, but this 34-inch OLED has incredible contrast, depth, and vibrancy. This makes for an amazingly immersive experience in movies and games, the latter of which is helped by the display's 165Hz refresh rate and support for adaptive sync.