Best Monitor for Rainbow Six Siege

Based on 87 Pro Players

The most used monitors by Rainbow Six Siege players

The most popular monitors are calculated based on 87 professional players.

Introduction


Getting your gear up to scratch should be a priority for anyone who wants to play games at any competitive level, and this perhaps goes double for a monitor. Getting a higher refresh rate monitor for competitive FPS gaming is a necessity.

These high refresh rate gaming panels can cost a pretty penny though, so it’s important that you get yourself something that suits your setup and budget. To help you decide on your next purchase, we’ve been taking a look at what the pros are using and we’ve distilled that knowledge into this list that you see right here. We’ll go over the most used displays in the Rainbow Six Siege pro scene and give you a brief rundown of each individual product so that you can make an informed decision after reading this article.

Our Guide

The Pro Usage Top 5 gets updated continuously and instantly so that you can always get an accurate overview of what the pros are using at any given time. In the body of the article itself, we go over the five most popular pro products in no particular order and, when relevant, we also give you some extra options in the form of products that fall just outside of the top 5 or are otherwise relevant.

What makes a monitor good for Rainbow Six Siege?


It’s no secret that a high refresh rate monitor offers you a myriad of advantages over a regular 60 Hz panel, so it’s absolutely unsurprising to see that pretty much no professional player is using a 60Hz panel, with 240Hz being the most used refresh rate. Rainbow Six Siege pros were a bit slower to adopt the 240Hz panels but these days we see the same as with our other analyzed games: 240 frames per second is the way to go, and 144Hz is the minimum competitive standard.

Over 99% of pros are using a monitor that’s capable of displaying at least 144 frames per second. This number is more or less the same in every game that we analyze, so there’s no doubt that making the jump to a high refresh rate panel is worth it.

Seeing as you want to prioritize smoothness (i.e. framerate) over graphical fidelity we also see that the vast majority (around 92%) of pros are using the standard 1920×1080 resolution, meaning that a high resolution or ultrawide monitor isn’t necessary for competitive gaming. In fact, pros often use a lower resolution in order to gain frames. With computers becoming more and more powerful, we might see a switch towards 1440p displays in the (not so distant) future, but for now 1920×1080 still very much is the going resolution in the professional scene.

In short: you’ll want a fast monitor. Curved or ultrawide displays look great for productivity, media consumption, and single player experiences but they’re wholly unnecessary for competitive gaming (and the required extra processing power might even have a negative impact on your performance, depending on the power of your PC) so if you want to get the best and smoothest experience possible we recommend a refresh rate of at least 144 frames per second.

ZOWIE XL2546


It’s Zowie’s philosphy to put most of their time and budget into developing a competitive gamer-focused product instead of marketing or crazy RGB lights that don’t really serve a purpose for pro gamers and we love the company for that. The XL2546 comes packed with features that can help you improve your game: from DyAc to Black eQualizer and the ability to tweak the color vibrance on your monitor itself: the XL2546 is a great gaming monitor and it’s no surprise that it’s so well represented across pretty much all of our analyzed games.

The monitor doesn’t only come equipped with a variety of handy internal features: Zowie have also thought about your comfort and ease of use. Included in the package, you get two privacy shields that can be used to minimize distractions or glare when gaming, for example. Granted, not a lot of people will actually use those shields but it is a nice reminder of how Zowie tries to think of everything.

More proof of that statement can be found on the stand: the monitor is of course fully adjustable but the stand features markings everywhere so that you can always set up your monitor at the perfect height and angle regardless of who has been messing with it.

The S-Switch is also fantastic. This little puck isn’t only there to (greatly) enhance your experience navigating the OSD but it also stores your settings so that you just need to bring your personal S-Switch, plug it in, and get to gaming on your personal display settings should you ever go to a tournament or a friend’s house to play.

If you decide to go for this monitor it can be a good idea to check out Zowie’s recommended Rainbow Six monitor settings here.

ZOWIE XL2546

Used by 23 Rainbow Six Siege players ()
  • Lagonis
    Lagonis
  • FoxA
    FoxA
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    supr
  • BiBooAF
    BiBooAF
Staff’s Choice
Pro’s Choice

The BenQ Zowie XL2546 is, without a doubt, one of the best gaming monitors money can buy right now. From the careful attention to detail (the monitor position markings, the headphone holder, …) aimed at esports enthusiasts to the absolutely superb performance in games; the XL2546 is a complete package for anyone who wants to up their game with a rockstar monitor.

Read review (06/2018)

Pros

  • Very fast response times
  • 240Hz is a noticeable improvement over 144Hz, though the jump is smaller than when going from 60Hz to 144Hz
  • Subtle design
  • S-Switch makes controlling the OSD extremely easy
  • DyAc works as advertised

Cons

  • TN panel doesn’t make for the best picture quality
  • Viewing angles aren’t good

Specs

Size24.5″
Resolution1920×1080
Aspect Ratio16:9
Refresh Rate240
G-SyncNo
FreeSyncNo
Panel TechTN

ZOWIE XL2540


The XL2540 is the exact same monitor as the XL2546, but it comes without DyAc. If you’re absolutely sure that you can live without this technology you can definitely go for the XL2540, but otherwise we would strongly recommend an XL2546 model. Even if you don’t end up using DyAc, it’s always handier to turn it off than to have to buy an entirely new monitor in case you do want to start using it.

ZOWIE XL2540

Used by 8 Rainbow Six Siege players ()
Pro’s Choice

The XL2540 is the DyAc-less sibling of the ZOWIE XL2546. Aside from that, there are no differences between the two monitors.

Pros

  • Subtle design
  • S-Switch is amazing to navigate the OSD and change settings
  • Very fast response times

Cons

  • Viewing angles aren’t great
  • Picture quality could be better
  • Lack of DyAc (see towards the XL2546 for that)

Specs

Size24.5″
Resolution1920×1080
Aspect Ratio16:9
Refresh Rate240
G-SyncNo
FreeSyncNo
Panel TechTN

AOC AG251FZ


AOC isn’t the most well known brand out there but their products have been making some waves. We first saw them pop up in the CS:GO scene and now they’ve also made their way to the pro Rainbow Six: Siege world so there must be something great about the AG251FZ.

The 251FZ has the usual 240Hz refresh rate combined with a 1ms response time but this monitor also supports FreeSync for that smooth gaming experience.

Like most respectable top of the line gaming monitors, AOC has packed theirs with a bunch of features meant to make your life as a gamer easier. With their Shadow Control you can make darker areas in the game a bit lighter without overexposing bright areas, for example. That’s great to help you weed out those corner campers.

With a fully adjustable stand, audio ports, USB ports, and a headphone hanger this is definitely made to be considered as the ultimate battlestation monitor, and there are without a doubt plenty of arguments that support the AG251FZ’s spot in this article.

AOC AG251FZ

Used by 6 Rainbow Six Siege players ()
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    Alem4o
Pro’s Choice

The AOC AG251FZ is a fantastic 1080p 240Hz option. It is highly adjustable, performs good in games, and needs little to no tweaking in order to get the best out of it.

Pros

  • Great gaming performance
  • Picture quality is nice out of the box
  • Highly adjustable

Cons

  • Stand has a rather large footprint
  • TN panel doesn’t make for the best picture quality

Specs

Size25″
Resolution1920×1080
Aspect Ratio16:9
Refresh Rate240
G-SyncNo
FreeSyncYes
Panel TechTN

ZOWIE XL2546K


As the successor to the very loved and lauded XL2546, the XL2546K introduces a number of improvements over its predecessor. The stand has been made smaller, and the actual panel itself is thinner too, making this a monitor with a smaller footprint than its predecessor. Aside from this, there have also been improvements made to the panel, giving you a better picture quality, and the K line also comes with BenQ’s Setting to Share, which means that you can import and export monitor settings profiles online.

All in all, this is a worthy successor to the XL2546, so if you’re choosing between these two options and money isn’t an issue we would definitely recommend the XL2546K over the older version.

ZOWIE XL2546K

Used by 6 Rainbow Six Siege players ()
  • Benjamaster
    Benjamaster
Staff’s Choice
Pro’s Choice

If you’re looking for a competitive gaming monitor this is a fantastic option, and it’s without a doubt one of the best monitors you can buy right now.

Read review (12/2020)

Pros

  • Stand has a small footprint
  • Subtle design
  • Markings on all adjustable points to help with achieving the perfect panel position
  • S-Switch and joystick make navigating the OSD a breeze
  • Lightning fast response times
  • Myriad of gaming-focused options to configure and use

Cons

  • Viewing angles aren’t great
  • Picture quality isn’t the best due to the usage of a TN panel

Specs

Size24.5″
Resolution1920×1080
Aspect Ratio16:9
Refresh Rate240
G-SyncNo
FreeSyncNo
Panel TechTN

ASUS VG248QE


The ASUS VG248QE is a monitor that always gets mentioned when you’re looking for entry level 144Hz monitors, and that’s for a reason.

Just like Zowie’s XL2411 (which is the other ‘standard entry level monitor’) it’s a simple and straight to the point monitor that doesn’t mess around with fancy features that can drive the price up. The VG248QE does show its age a bit, though. You only need to look at the ‘3D’ logo on the stand to know that this monitor was designed years ago when people still cared about 3D gaming.

That doesn’t mean that it’s somehow not worth considering: it has a 1ms response time, fully adjustable stand, and it comes with ASUS’ GamePlus functionality. This allows you to draw extras such as a crosshair directly on your screen so that you always know where you’re aiming even if you’re noscoping. This won’t be as handy for everyone, but it’s a cool inclusion nonetheless.

The VG248QE is a bit of an older model at this point in time, so if you’re in the market for an entry level monitor it can be quite possible to snipe this one at a very favorable price. We get a lot of questions on the differences between the VG248QE and the Zowie XL2411 line but between older 2411 models and this ASUS entry level panel, the difference is very minimal, so we recommend you to look at the ports and features first but also consider the price in your region.

Alienware AW2518H

Used by 3 Rainbow Six Siege players ()
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    Paluh
Pro’s Choice

The AW2518H appeared on various professional gaming desks almost immediately after its release thanks to the high amount of extra features and its extremely fast response times.

Pros

  • Very fast response times
  • G-Sync compatible, FreeSycn version is also available at a lower price
  • Thin bezels

Cons

  • Viewing angles aren’t the best
  • Stand has a large footprint on your desk

Specs

Size24.5″
Resolution1920×1080
Aspect Ratio16:9
Refresh Rate240
G-SyncYes
FreeSyncNo
Panel TechTN

Best Monitor for Rainbow Six Siege – Conclusion


Best Monitor for Rainbow Six Siege product lineup

It’s obvious: you need a refresh rate of at least 144 Hertz. This isn’t just a ‘quality of life’ improvement either; these higher refresh rates can and will help you hit your shots with more accuracy. Aside from that you’ve got a lot of options, though, and with PCs becoming more and more powerful, we might even see 1440p monitors becoming more commonplace in the future. For now, though, the standard is 240Hz 1080p, so if you’re looking for a dedicated Rainbow Six Siege monitor we would recommend looking in that direction if your PC and budget can handle it.

If you have any questions you can reach out to us on Twitter, Discord, or in the comments. We try to reply to all comments!

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