EPTToday we are happy to announce our new monitor partner, AOC. The monitor is one of the most important tools in the arsenal of every gamer, and it has become a subject of increasing scrutiny as esports has grown over the years. I remember the good old days of huge, hulking CRTs and how the gaming industry transitioned to LCDs. The refresh rate is an important factor in both your game responsiveness and your own performance, and LCD refresh rates were fixed at 60 Hz for a long time, which for pro players was really insufficient. Some players even preferred CRTs over LCDs.
In recent years however, high refresh rate gaming monitors have become available, and at 144 Hz, the difference between the CRT and LCD response time is all but gone. 144 Hz has become the gold standard for gaming LCDs—every major tournament is played at this refresh rate and any professional player must have a 144 Hz monitor. The superior response time offered by 144 Hz monitors helps showcase the true skill of players when they are not being held back by technical limits.
Fortunately, tournaments have been upgrading their hardware in order to support the best possible environment for competition. Our players need to be practicing with up-to-date equipment, and we have always prioritized that. For this reason, we conducted a comprehensive review of our potential monitor partner. From the first conversations, both sides were on the same page that a quality monitor is a crucial part of any gaming setup. AOC emphasized that this standard of quality was just as important to them as it was for us. We were sent monitors to test and set some of them up in our bootcamp apartment, and they were tested by our CS:GO team as they prepared for the Major in Cologne.
As CS:GO is the most reaction intense esport out of them all, we felt this would be a great test. Needless to say, AOC's monitors passed with flying colors. Liquid and AOC both value player performance and conditions, and we are proud to add a partner who sees eye to eye with us regarding esports.
- Victor "Nazgul" Goossens
"I had the opportunity to play on an AOC monitor during the bootcamp. It felt really good, and during a scrim on de_train where I played well, I really ran it through its paces. You can often tell the difference between monitors when playing CS:GO, and I was really pleased with how AOC's monitor performed. The monitor's colors were excellent, and it felt really precise. I can't play on anything but 144 Hz monitors after using them because of the responsiveness and lack of input lag. I am looking forward to using AOC's monitors from now on."
-Nick "nitr0" Cannella
"It's 144hz. I tested it. It works."
-Richard "R1CH" Stanway
