First up on this list is the surprisingly affordable gaming monitor, Gigabyte's M32UC. And I say surprisingly because, in my mind, it's worth more than its price tag, and here is why. It’s a curved 32-inch 4K monitor that is specifically designed to cater to both console and PC gamers. There are two specs you can’t skimp on when it comes to gaming: refresh rate and response time, and this monitor absolutely delivers. It features a one-millisecond response time and a 144Hz refresh rate right out of the box. And get this, you’ll be able to overclock the panel via DisplayPort 1.4 to 160Hz refresh rate, which is incredible and probably overkill for most people, but it is there if you have the PC system to support a 160Hz refresh rate.

The monitor also has an HDMI 2.1 port, cranking out 4K at 120Hz for console gamers. While the in-built KVM switch lets me instantly switch back and forth between keyboard, mouse, and joystick controller, there's even a USB-C port which can also upstream and deliver power up to 18 watts. At the modest 32-inch size, pixel density is really high, and it’s also well-lit, which is perfect for my darker desk setup in this particular room. It’s been a stunning panel to experience high-end games on, like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Metro Exodus, with great color reproduction, brightness, and performance. You can almost definitely feel the rapid response time and smoothness in faster-paced games like Counter-Strike GO. I think a game like this suits a 32-inch screen far better than it did with my 38-inch ultrawide.

It was pretty tough to fault this monitor other than the subpar speakers and stand. But considering you can now find this monitor for $600 brand new, I’ll leave a link to it below – this is the budget 4K gaming monitor to beat this year. Make sure you add it into your gaming setup.