Best Gaming Projectors For 2024

Are you still playing video games on a tiny tv or monitor? Below are a few major benefits of gaming on a projector, along with our list of the best gaming projectors for 2024. Video games have such stunning advances in rendering abilities that the size of the display, 4k resolution, and speed really does make or break a great game.

Playing on a projector screen 100" or larger is the only option to be fully immersed in a game. Whether you are playing in first-person shooter mode, third-person RPG (role-player games), or any other gaming style, there’s nothing like having your screen extend to the edge of your peripheral vision. Gaming on a projector is the best way to reach your gaming potential.

Looking for other projectors? View our list of the best projectors we have reviewed this year, broken out by category.

What Makes a Projector Good For Gaming?

There are three main factors that make gaming on a projector a great option: input lag, High Dynamic Range, and the projector's audio capabilities.

Input Lag

The most important factor to consider when purchasing a gaming projector is input lag. Input lag is an important term in the world of projector gaming. It is a word that relates to the gaming speed performance on projectors – the time between when the gaming system sends out its signal, to the time it is received by the projector, and is measured in milliseconds. The range of acceptable input lag speeds are as high as 50ms to as low as 16ms and there are three categories these speeds fall into: Acceptable, Good, and Optimal.

Acceptable input lag the category of the casual gamer. These are the gamers who do it for fun, and do not compete. They’ll typically stay offline, and play games with their friends and family in person, or by themselves. These are your Nintendo Switch gamers, RPG players, and first-person shooter types who don’t spend much time playing against other gamers online.

Good input lag is in the 33ms to 40ms range. Any projector that is within these speeds will be suitable for all but the most competitive gamers.

Good input lag at 33ms to 40ms, will put you behind just over 1 frame per second on a 30fps game, and 2 frames behind on a 60fps game. This isn’t enough to make a difference for most people – again, unless highly competitive, such as a career gamer type, or those who play a lot of online maps.

Anything below that 33ms mark can be considered “really good” or “great,” but truly excellent input lag is 16ms to 20ms, with 16ms being the aim for manufacturers who are positioning their model as a gaming projector.

Even though it doesn’t have a built-in battery, the GP100A can be hooked up to USB battery banks, making it truly portable. Its LED light source lasts up to 30,000 hours, which is great for both sustainability and saving money over time.

Whether you're watching movies, TV shows, sports, or gaming, the GP100A can turn any space into a stunning viewing area. It's a fantastic choice for anyone with an active lifestyle or limited living space.

Resolution and 4K Gaming with HDR

HDR is a feature that appears on many 4K UHD projectors on the market. The acronym stands for “High Dynamic Range,” and refers to a type of image processing in 4K capable projectors and TVs that saturates the colors to become more vibrant, with more “pop and wow” factor. It does so by expanding the contrast and color, often significantly. On most projectors, HDR will considerably reduce the brightness of whatever color mode it is being used on.

The list of projectors that have the ability to handle 4K games with HDR gets significantly shorter than the list of projectors that have HDR. This has to do with the type of HDMI port that is used on projectors that can handle 4K gaming with HDR, and those that cannot. To project a game in 4K HDR at 60 fps, the projector requires an HDMI port that is 18 Ghz.

Audio Performance

Projectors aren’t necessarily considered the pinnacle of audio performance, and for good reason, they don’t match the power an AV sound system or a soundbar can offer in a small box, but that’s not to say that they can’t offer compelling audio performance.

For many projectors, the different gaming modes manipulate how audio is delivered from the projector. A great example of this in action is with role playing mode, which better amplifies deep bass from the projector, making monster roars and 50 caliber sniper rounds more guttural and impactful. Areas like voice are enhanced when using sports mode so the player can better understand what the announcer is saying in the game. Whereas surround effects are more accurately placed when users access first-person shooter mode, which helps you better locate where other players are in relation to you in the game, making you a more effective player.

The size of the screen certainly helps a lot, but so does the ability to intelligently adjust the projector’s video and audio output to best match each game’s performance. Previously there were many obstacles that made projectors not as ideally suited to gaming as monitors or TVs, we’re pleased to see many—dare we say all—of these barriers adequately removed.

Our Picks for the Best Gaming Projectors In 2024

Below is the list of projectors we at Projector Reviews would work best for gaming. We will continue to add to this list as more projectors become available that we think would enhance your gaming experience.

Best Gaming Projectors:

See All

BenQ X3100i

ViewSonic X2-4K

NOMMVDIC P1000

NOMVDIC_P1000_MfrProdShot#3 - Projector Reviews Images

BenQ TK700STi

BENQ GP100A

OPTOMA UHZ55

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Best 4K Projectors

Best Gaming Projectors

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Best Short Throw Projectors

Best Home Theater Projectors

Best Outdoor Projection Screens

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BenQ X3100i Flagship Gaming Projector

The flagship game projector from BenQ, the X3100i, is a 0.65" DLP short-throw, 4LED, 4K UHD (3,840 x 2,160p) projector. The X3100i boasts a brightness rating of 3,300 ANSI lumens, a color gamut coverage of 95% of Rec.709, 100% DCI-P3, and exceptionally low latency gaming at speeds as low as 4.2 ms (1080p 240Hz). At $2,399, the X3000i offers full support for HDR gaming, HDR10, and HLG content.

BenQ's X3100i game projector takes the top rank among its X series, right above the X3000i, which has won numerous awards. BenQ has boosted contrast by increasing the brightness of the X3000i, maintaining the high performance 0.65-inch DMD, and introducing a vertical lens shift to an X Series gaming projector for the first time.

BenQ X3100i

Price	$2199
Technology	DLP w/ XPR (Single-Chip DMD)
Displayed Resolution	3840x2160
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim)	3300
Contrast	600,000:1 (Dynamic)
Zoom Lens Ratio	1.3x
Lens Shift	No
Lamp Life	20,000 hours (Normal) 30,000 hours (ECO)
Weight	15 lbs
Warranty	3 Year Limited Warranty

With its numerous powerful features, the X3100i is a home entertainment projector designed with gaming in mind. BenQ has incorporated Cinematic Sound in addition to its treVolo-tuned audio and preset settings for video and audio. With the aid of cinematic sound, you can block out outside noise and immerse yourself in the action.

The most remarkable feature of this powerful projector is that BenQ has improved gaming performance by maintaining the X3000i's existing modes and adding brand-new custom game settings.

For console players who want to make every game, from expansive open-world titles to first-person shooters and even fast-paced racing games, extremely immersive, this is the ideal option. In 4K resolution, the BenQ X3100i produces realistic, lifelike landscapes. With the help of the two integrated 5-watt chamber speakers that are driven by Bongiovi DPS technology, users may immerse themselves in breathtaking simulated 3D surround sound that complements the graphics of play.