Eric writes, "I'm on a tight budget and looking to build the best gaming computer I can for the money, but I'm having a hard time finding a monitor in my price range. Can you recommend a good, cheap gaming computer monitor?"

If you're looking for a cheap monitor, chances are you're going to have to live with a few problems that higher-end monitors don't have, specifically: small size, low resolution, and tearing.

There's not much you can do about the physical size and low resolution of cheap monitors - they simply go hand in hand, but you can minimize the effect of tearing by making sure the refresh rate is pretty low - at or below 8ms.

The HP W17e 17" Widescreen LCD Monitor fits the bill here. While it only has a 1440x900 resolution, it comes with a pair of speakers, and has a low refresh rate of 8ms. While you'll see some tearing in your gaming. it'll keep your budget in tact.

Have a question? Send it to lordkat@gmail.com

Be safe,
Jason