Unless you’ve been chained to a radiator with only an IPS monitor to play the best PC games on for the past half decade, you should know OLED is the display tech to beat for 2026 and far beyond.
Coming in standard widescreen, ultrawide, super ultrawide and blistering 240Hz models, OLED monitors are ideal for hardcore PC gamers. Why? Mainly due to their perfect black levels, coupled with super-speedy response times.
Like anything you cherish in life, OLED screens demand care and attention. Thankfully, the tech is far less demanding in terms of TLC than it used to be. Yet there’s no denying you need to know some crucial tips to get the best out of your OLED panel.
OLED is no longer the future: it’s the here and now for both PC gamers and fans of the best Disney Plus movies. Below, we’ll guide you through five essential tips to get the very most out of the greatest display technology there’s ever been.
Tip #1: Regularly run pixel-cleaning cycles
This is the biggie when it comes to protecting your OLED display. Is OLED burn-in less of an issue than it was a few years ago? Absolutely. Still, not doing your best to protect your screen from dreaded image retention is about as sensible as covering yourself in baby seal pheromones before going for a paddle in shark-invested waters.
Thankfully, all the major OLED players now have built-in safety features to ward off the threat of burn in. Up until a year or so ago, LG Display was the only manufacturer to actually produce OLED panels — the subdivision of the South Korean AV experts has subsequently outsourced its display tech to the likes of Samsung, Sony and Philips.
Now all the major OLED brands have a version of ‘pixel-cleaning’: essentially an automated cycle that rejigs your TV’s onscreen pixels around when your set is in stand-by to help prevent burn-in.
Should you happen to have one of the best gaming PCs hooked up to an LG OLED TV, this feature can be found in the settings menu under ‘OLED Care > OLED Panel Care > Pixel Cleaning’. Other TV/monitor manufacturers will have a similar feature in their menus.
The process takes around 10 minutes to complete if you set it up manually. Yet it will also often engage overnight once your TV has been switched off for several hours — at least with LG OLEDs. The latter wee hours mode applies to most OLED brands now, meaning you no longer have to be so diligent/obsessive about manually pixel-cleaning your OLED panel.
Tip #2: Turn off energy saving
For years the only real Achilles heel of OLED as a tech — aside from the potential threat of burn-in — was a perceived lack of screen brightness next to the best LED TVs. That’s no longer the case.
The astounding LG G5 OLED can reach an eye-rubbing 2,296 nits of HDR brightness in a 10% white window; meaning ‘dim’ OLED screens are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Crucially, though, you won’t get the full benefit of such pupil-scorching vividness unless you tweak your OLED’s settings after unboxing your panel for the first time.
This doesn’t just apply to LG OLEDs: pretty much every major manufacturer of ‘OLED Light-Emitting Diode’ displays have brightness-nixing, energy-saving features enabled by default.
If your energy bills are of real concern, by all means keep this electricity-friendly feature enabled. Yet if you want to experience the true wonder of what the best OLED TVs and OLED gaming monitors can serve up in terms of contrast, turn off energy-saving and let your corneas be beautifully singed by the screen tech's unreal contrast performance.
Tip #3: Own an OLED monitor and a Windows PC? Autohide the taskbar
Most of the best gaming monitors are now OLED, and they have been for years at this point. Unlike watching the best Netflix shows on an OLED display, gaming on the premium display technology when it comes to PC-friendly displays requires a bit more care.
By default, owning an OLED monitor inevitably raises the risk of burn-in. If you use an OLED monitor for primarily gaming purposes, you shouldn’t have much to worry about — after all, most on-screen HUD elements can be switched off should you desire.
The real area you need to worry about with OLED PC monitors is if you regularly use one as your go-to work panel. If you’re clocking a 35-40 hour week on an OLED, you really need to take measures to avoid burn-in.
Because static on-screen icons/elements are the number one cause of screen-burn, eliminating constant static images on your OLED panel needs to be a priority. Your best line of defence on a Windows 11 PC or laptop? Right click the taskbar, click on ‘taskbar settings’, go to ‘taskbar behaviors’, then enable ‘automatically hide the taskbar’. This will protect your display from the most potentially harmful on-screen element of regular desktop usage.
Tip #4: Bump up pixel brightness and contrast
OLEDs have come a long way over the past half decade when it comes to limited screen brightness. High-end OLED panels can now reach over 2,000 nits of brightness. That's pretty exceptional when you consider they absolutely dunk on LED sets when it comes to true black levels.
That said, most OLEDs don’t put their brightest foot forward out of the box. With burn-in becoming less of an issue with each passing year, it’s absolutely okay to be bold when it comes to pumping up contrast and brightness settings.
In the case of LG OLEDs — still very much the market leader — you should absolutely throw caution to the wind with your desired picture preset. By all means ramp up ‘OLED pixel brightness’ and contrast settings to 100. Thanks to automated pixel-cleaning cycles, your beloved display is under minimal threat of burn-in, and cranking up these settings will simply make the best Netflix movies and best Steam games pop in lush style.
Just don’t have a static on-screen image on your OLED panel for hours on end because you’ve fallen asleep on a Saturday night after one too many alcoholic beverages.
Tip #5: Use a microfiber cloth to clean your screen
This tip isn’t necessarily limited to OLED screens, but it’s still a crucial piece of advice if you value looking after your monitor/TV that’s hooked up to your gaming rig.
Regular screen maintenance is vital if you own one of the finest gaming monitors, be it OLED or LED. To ensure your panel doesn’t develop unsightly smears or other screen defects, it’s paramount you know the best method of taking care of your beloved panel.
To ensure your OLED display gets all the love it deserves, make sure you clean it a couple of times a month with the combination of alcohol cleaning solution and microfiber cloths. But be careful. Never apply the solution directly to the screen. Instead, rub a small amount to the microfiber cloth then run it gently in circular motions to keep your OLED screen looking its best.
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