AOC is no stranger to blazing-fast gaming monitors, but its latest addition cranks the speeds up a notch. The AOC Agon Pro AG246FK clocks in at a 540Hz refresh rate, bringing the sort of speed that’s beyond even the latest OLED gaming monitors.
We first got wind of this AOC 540Hz gaming monitor back in April, but it’s only now that we’re on the verge of the new display being available. Crucially, while we’ve seen 540Hz refresh rate displays from Asus and BenQ before, they demand a very high price, but AOC‘s new model is set to be much more affordable, making it a true best gaming monitor contender.
As we reported when it was first announced, the big deal with this display is that, while the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP is available for $850, and the BenQ Zowie XL2586X is $1,000, AOC is set to charge just £599 for this display in the UK, which works out at just $620 before tax. As with AOC’s original announcement (which talked about a price in Euros), we still don’t have an official US MSRP, but if this conversion holds up, it will make for a bargain relative to those other panels.
Of course, $600 is still a lot for a 24.1-inch, 1080p gaming monitor, so you’ll have to be sure you need the absolute this level of speed for the games you play. The most obvious candidates are CS2 and Valorant players, as these games rely so much on twitch reactions and have unrestricted frame rates. Games such as Apex Legends can also benefit, but with them capped at a 300fps frame rate limit, the returns will be considerably diminished on a 540Hz monitor.
This display uses a TN LCD panel, so again the focus here is purely on gaming speed rather than factors such as viewing angles and overall image quality. TN LCDs can still look decent, but they definitely aren’t the go-to option if you’re after a balance of performance and stunning visuals.
To that end, you might instead be interested in the other display that AOC is discussing today, which is the AOC Agon Pro AG256FS. This is a 24.5-inch display as well, but it uses an IPS LCD panel, which should provide better viewing angles and image quality than the AG246FK. It tops out at 390Hz, so it’s markedly slower than the AG246FK, but that’s still a mightily speedy panel.
You can find the full details about both displays on AOC’s website, with the AG246FK specs listed here and the AG256FS specs here. Both displays are set to arrive in August 2024, which is a delay of a month over their originally suggested release dates.
Meanwhile, if you want to learn just what we’re talking about when we say TN or IPS, you can find out everything you need to know about the topic in our IPS vs TN vs VA guide, which explains the difference between these types of LCD tech.
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