Should I choose the 240Hz IPS or 300Hz VA monitor for competitive gaming?

IPS is still the safer all-around option. Modern IPS panels have improved, while VA’s main advantage remains much stronger contrast and darker blacks. VA can look great in a dark room, but it has narrower viewing angles and can suffer from slow dark transitions or inverse ghosting.

Neither monitor will consistently deliver the full benefit of its advertised refresh rate if its real response times are around 4–5ms, so I wouldn’t pick the VA solely because it says 300Hz. IPS also tends to look better for general use, though it may show IPS glow and weaker blacks.

One other thing to keep in mind is that both choices are 27-inch 1080p displays. That resolution is fairly low for a screen this size, so check whether your old Alienware was actually 1080p or 1440p before buying. If it was 1440p, a 27-inch 1080p replacement may look noticeably less sharp.

I’d choose the IPS model. VA panels can still have noticeable black smearing and ghosting during fast movement, which is especially distracting in games like Overwatch and Valorant. The extra 60Hz is less important than consistent pixel response, and the IPS should generally look cleaner in motion.

Unless you can confirm that the VA model has excellent real-world response times without black smear, I’d go with the 240Hz IPS. The difference between 240Hz and 300Hz is fairly small, while ghosting in dark scenes can be much more noticeable. The VA makes more sense if deep blacks and high contrast matter more to you than clean competitive-game motion.