Consensous on best gaming monitor tech

[Madpacket]

A recent thread sparked a bunch of debate over the need for 4K so I'm curious what others' think is the best gaming monitor solution available today. Please chime in as to why you chose a specific option.

Original thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2437824

Mods, please feel free to move to the Displays forum if required. I left it in this sub forum as the video card plays a major part in which display is chosen.

 

[jackstar7]

Other: 34" 21:9 3440x1440 w/ adaptive sync will eventually get my money

If they can get it to 120Hz+ via DP 1.3 eventually, I'll be in for that, too.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

High refresh ips with g/f sync for now. There are VA panels coming though, if they're fast enough to avoid ghosting they'll probably be the best.

 

[Gryz]

You made your poll too fast. There isn't even an option for "other".

I had a Acer XB270HU monitor for a few days.
Didn't like it.
Terrible colors.

I'm done with IPS. IPS is supposed to give the best colors ? I'm sure that is true for others. But not for me. I play a lot of dark games. And I mostly play during the evenings and nights. The XB270HU had huge areas of pure yellow when it was supposed to be pitch black. No thanks.
I saw a picture of Asus's new monitor, using the exact same panel. It had *exactly* the same yellow corners. See here: http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/asus-rog-swift-pg279q-wqhd-144hz-ips-panel-and-g-sync.html
Look at the corners in that picture. They are yellow.

I have my hopes on VA now. Just 2-3 more months until the Acer Predator Z35. If that one disappoints too, I'm going to buy a 144Hz TN G-Sync monitor. Don't care about the resolution. Maybe a 1440p one, maybe a 1080p one.

My requirements are:
at least 27", (or 34" when 21:9)
144Hz
G-Sync
8-bit colors
good dark colors (and contrast)

Don't care:
resolution
precise color accuracy
viewing-angles
input lag
16:9 or 21:9
brightness
price
curved or not
inputs

 

[ShintaiDK]

27" 1440P 60Hz IPS non sync.

Future:
30-32" 4K 60Hz IPS(or similar) and most likely non sync.

 

[Headfoot]

IPS v TN isn't really sufficient to describe...

Many times the TN panels hit 144hz refresh rate and only a few IPS panels hit that at 1440p.

The question isnt would you take a TN panel 1440p over an IPS panel. The question is, would you take a 144hz TN Panel thats cheaper than a comparative 144hz IPS Panel.

 

[Headfoot]

I'm done with IPS. IPS is supposed to give the best colors ? I'm sure that is true for others. But not for me. I play a lot of dark games. And I mostly play during the evenings and nights. The XB270HU had huge areas of pure yellow when it was supposed to be pitch black. No thanks.

Yeah agreed. I have a 3x1080p IPS@60hz set up. I only picked the monitors because the bezel was insanely small. The colors are pretty nice looking but anything dark is really pretty terrible. I play some survival games where darkness is an actual gameplay feature, and I cant see well at all because of the light bleed. I get a literal gaming disadvantage.

I would have preferred a VA panel if they made them with small enough bezels.

 

[vissarix]

Yeah agreed. I have a 3x1080p IPS@60hz set up. I only picked the monitors because the bezel was insanely small. The colors are pretty nice looking but anything dark is really pretty terrible. I play some survival games where darkness is an actual gameplay feature, and I cant see well at all because of the light bleed. I get a literal gaming disadvantage.

I would have preferred a VA panel if they made them with small enough bezels.

4k with ips panel would be the best for games like gtaV the witcher3 etc...personally i prefer a 144hz monitor with low response time because i love fps shooters..

 

[lehtv]

My preferred setup is 1080p 144hz non sync. It's cost effective and doesn't require a massive GPU setup to run demanding games at smooth framerates. Allows me to keep it simple but still enjoy games to the fullest.

4K will become my preferred resolution when I can buy the monitor and graphics card for <$700 combined and run new AAA titles at >60 fps. But it'll have to be at least as smooth as 144 hz non sync.

 

[Madpacket]

Apologies for not including "other" as an option however it's nice you guys are listing your ideal setups.

I agree IPS doesn't have the best blacks but I didn't think they are any worse than what TN panels offer?

In fact if you look at what I consider the best TN panel on the market today (144Hz 1440P Asus ROG Swift) and compare it to the newly released but less expensive ASUS MG279Q IPS 144hz panel you will see the Swift has worse blacks and contrast ratio once calibrated.

Source: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asus_mg279q.htm

Like TN panels, there are good and bad IPS panels.

As for that upcoming VA panel. I doubt it'll handle 144Hz without ghosting but I hope I'm wrong. Contrast ratios on VA are the best we're going to get until OLED.

Speaking of OLED it's too bad we don't have OLED as an option. Why does my smart phone have a 5.7" 1440P OLED screen which looks gorgeous and large flat panel OLED screens are available but we can't get gaming monitors with this tech?

 

[lehtv]

Afaik, Samsung owns OLED so they decide what the tech gets used for. Not sure if there are any additional disadvantages or manufacture challanges to OLED for pc monitors.

 

[n0x1ous]

the gsync/freesync is a real pain because like others have said, I don't want to be confined to 1 gpu vendor and I tend to keep monitors for a long time. 1440p @ 120hz is still my preference for now.....right now the new MG279Q is probably my 1 choice.

 

[MongGrel]

no 32" IPS 2560X1080p in there, can't vote.

 

[Vesku]

You made your poll too fast. There isn't even an option for "other".

I had a Acer XB270HU monitor for a few days.
Didn't like it.
Terrible colors.

I'm done with IPS. IPS is supposed to give the best colors ? I'm sure that is true for others. But not for me. I play a lot of dark games. And I mostly play during the evenings and nights. The XB270HU had huge areas of pure yellow when it was supposed to be pitch black. No thanks.

You might want to try out a VA panel, a good version should provide best blacks and better than TN colors.

 

[soccerballtux]

I answered #2 but I want larger than 27"; ideally 32"

 

[Piklar]

Have no idea what panel this Sony 70" 4K has but that's my preferred setup for gaming.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

There's no 4k IPS option......

 

[Madpacket]

Yeah I missed a few key ones, perhaps next poll.

Anyway it's pretty clear to see the trend that mimics what I consider the best option at this time. The poll is open for a while longer so this could still change.

27" 1440P IPS with G/F Sync seems to be the best combination.

I Agree it sucks that you need to make a choice between G or F sync but considering how long G-Sync has been around and how short F sync, and you look at the available monitors on the market, I think we can predict how this will end up turning out in a year or two.

I was in that position to make a tough choice (Own both Geforce 970 and a 290X). I opted for the Freesync solution as it's essentially the same monitor for less money with more options for connectivity. G-Sync may be a bit better with wider frequency ranges and slightly lower input lag but I determined that didn't justify the $200 price difference.

Hopefully Nvidia will come around and adopt F-Sync sooner rather than later.

 

[hawtdawg]

Some sort of VA panel, as IPS and TN have garbage contrast

 

[Headfoot]

Some sort of VA panel, as IPS and TN have garbage contrast

Yep. I wish there were more VA panels out there. Selection is too limited. Either that or OLED. Something with really dark blacks but good viewing angles still

 

[Lalilulelo]

My option is not even there 24" 4k IPS.

 

[2is]

Afaik, Samsung owns OLED so they decide what the tech gets used for. Not sure if there are any additional disadvantages or manufacture challanges to OLED for pc monitors.

OLED is a type of panel technology, it's not owned by Samsung. LG for example has their own OLED panel and as the last time I checked were the only manufacturer offering an OLED TV set. Samsung has certain trademarks like "Super AMOLED" which is basically their enhanced version.

Point being, you aren't forced to wait for Samsung in particular to bring OLED to the market.

 

[kasakka]

All panel techs have drawbacks. At the moment the best TN panels still don't have as good viewing angles as other tech but on the other hand they have the lowest response times so they'd be best for gaming. For desktop use a IPS or VA 4K display with scaling would be ideal as text becomes far more detailed.

Just for gaming performance 1440p resolution at 144 Hz is the best there is right now. I could see myself upgrading to 4K when they are available with 120+ Hz panels with G-Sync and there's graphics cards that can handle it. So maybe in a few years.

 

[Madpacket]

Indeed. I'm sure I'll be happy with my ASUS MG279Q for the next 2-3 years. Next upgrade will be a 30"+ 4K IPS 120+Hz unless someone releases an OLED display before then.

 

[wand3r3r]

Missing 4k with adaptive sync.

Missing 4k IPS.

My personal preference is 4k anyway. 120 Hz is nice too, I guess I need both depending on the game.