Update: Thanks to the Gigabyte G27Q selling for less than a cent under $200, there are now six, not five, 1440p gaming monitor deals that seem to be well worth it under $200. This adds another IPS monitor to the list.

Prime Day is as good a day as any here, and monitor vendors seem to be going a little ham in the under-$200 1440p department. All of these displays have refresh rates of 165 Hz or higher, so they are not the run-of-the-mill sub-100 Hz displays.

Display technology seems to be developing and advancing faster than most other PC gaming technologies. And with each new improvement, the technology that used to produce top-of-the-line gaming monitors becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous. So some of the most affordable gaming monitors today are under $200 and have high refresh rates of 1440p. Lovely.

This is also thanks to the latest large display panel improvement in the gaming PC market: OLEDs, although OLED displays have existed for some time, they were primarily used for TVs and phones. OLED gaming monitors have only recently appeared in the PC gaming market.

However, we should not forget about IPS and VA. While prices have come down, OLED monitors are still very expensive and still present significant problems for use as gaming monitors; IPS and VA panels are not yet a thing of the past, but are beginning to see significant price declines. I'm especially looking here at the 27”, 1440p, 165Hz (or higher) sweet spot.

VA panels have surprisingly deep blacks and wide contrast ratios, while IPS panels offer color accuracy and (usually) fast response times; VA panels can sometimes have slower response times, but not always; IPS panels have a much faster response time than VA panels, but this is not always the case. Samsung's Odyssey monitors, for example, tend to be quite good in this aspect, such as the Odyssey G5, which is currently offered for $200 (a $49 savings).

There are also a few IPS options if you want something that guarantees faster response times: the Acer Nitro SV271U M3bmiiprx sells for just $200 (a $90 savings) and has a 180Hz refresh rate and 0.5-1 ms gray to gray response time. This would be fast enough for competitive gaming.

There are also a few options for those on a tight budget: the Acer Nitro ED270U and ASRock Phantom PG27Q15R2A are both venerable 1440p monitors that feature FreeSync Premium refresh rates of 165 Hz or 170 Hz. 1440p monitors. The former is a $100 savings and the latter is an $86.22 savings. Personally, I'd opt for the latter, because at 550 nits, it more than doubles the peak brightness of the Nitro monitor.

Pros and cons, but there's a lot to sink your teeth into comparing all these monitors; if IPS panels aren't your preference, I'd have a hard time choosing among them myself; if VA is your preference, you may have a tough choice to make.