The highest rated mid-range monitors

If you’re looking for a large gaming monitor that you can’t possibly miss, the AOC Agon AG405UXC offers plenty of real-estate at a reasonable price. This 40-inch 1440p monitor is ideal for a spacious desk and is cheaper than most monitors its size at just £570. 

When it comes to image quality, the monitor isn’t the sharpest around with its 3440 x 1440 resolution resulting in a pixel density of just 93dp – though this shouldn’t be an issue when gaming or watching Netflix. Otherwise, the Agon AG405UXC has all of the bases covered when it comes to core metrics. The display can hit 361 nits of brightness in SDR or 486 nits in HDR mode, while the SDR contrast ratio is a solid 1361:1. HDR performance is surprisingly good despite the lack of a Mini LED backlight, and can be finetuned with a total of four HDR modes available. The colour gamuts are very acceptable for a gaming monitor at this price point, as is motion handling, though we’ve of course seen better on higher-end monitors. 

Despite its large display, the monitor boasts a simple and compact design and, at 11.88kg, is not too heavy to keep on a standard desk. 2kg of this is down to the metal stand which allows for 150mm of height adjustment, 30-degrees of swivel left and right and between -5-degrees and 23-degrees of tilt. The bezels are slim but make space for five forward-facing control buttons, though the monitor also comes with a remote control for interacting with the menu system. 

Around the back of the monitor is a selection of ports, including two HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4, USB Type-C , USB Type B 3.2 Gen 1 and four USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports. There’s also full KVM support, meaning you can use the same keyboard and mouse with two connected PCs and have enough USB-A ports for all of your peripherals. 

Finally, there are two 5W speakers built-in to the Agon AG405UXC that we found to be tuneful with solid bass and plenty of detail in the upper ranges.

You can get even better picture quality, as well as higher resolutions, with other massive monitors such as the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG48UQ and Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 (2023). But if you’re adamant about sticking to a 1440p display to keep costs down as low as possible, then the AOC Agon AG405UXC is the pick of the bunch.

Reviewer: Alun Taylor
Full Review: AOC Agon AG405UXC review