Monitors.......

[n0x1ous]

Wish we had a dedicated monitor subforum.....

Looking for a new monitor that will be a mix of Photo Editing and Gaming. Will probably spend more time gaming but the photo part is increasingly important to me so im giving up my 120hz TN and going with a good IPS.

Looking at the U2713H and U2713HM. The H is the better panel with premiercolor and BG-LED backlight and is usually $150 more than the HM but Newegg has the H on sale for cheaper than the HM at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260125

Looking for thoughts on if this is a good way to go or wait for affordable 4k IPS?

 

[KingFatty]

Have you considered the BenQ 32" display? It's 2560x1440 resolution, but a larger physical size than a 27", to get really immersive in gaming.

Notably, the larger physical size (compared to typical 27" 1440p displays) gives it the same pixel size/dot pitch/ppi as a typical 24" 1920x1200 display. I'm currently using it along with two 24" displays, and it's great in gaming (especially when I turn on eyefinity and use the full 80 inches of total wrap-around display surface), but also nice because when I move a window between screens, it all stays the same size. So if you already have a 24" 1200p display(s), this just goes well with it.

You may want to check out the "Peripherals" subforum for some threads on monitors.

The nice thing about the BenQ BL3200PT is it's somewhat professional, and marketed toward CAD/CAM use and is very nicely made/constructed with a fancy stand (full rotation support to support portrait orientation) and this remote puck thing for accessing the controls. So not only does it excel at gaming, but it's great for stuff like photo editing (full sRGB support).

Also, unlike IPS panels that suffer from IPS glow (distracting for photo editing), it's based on VA technology, so the blacks are deeper and it's like the best of both worlds - faster than IPS for gaming, and deeper blacks for gaming and photo editing etc..

Check out what AdamK47 and Guskline say over on this other thread, I really agree with their assessments:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2395008

I mean 32" it's just fantastic, and you can actually READ all the text because of the larger size and appropriate pixel size.

 

[Grooveriding]

I would hold out before dropping a decent chunk on a new monitor right now. We had the announcement of that AHVA 144hz 1440p screen. Of course nothing concrete on a product launching with it, but it's sure to come. Otherwise if buying today I would take a good look at the $999 32" IPS 4K from Benq.

I plan to jump on the 4K Benq once some new GPUs launch. I had a brief affair with the rog swift for a week and the 144hz and gsync was incredible - the dead pixels, backlight bleed and TN panel were not though. Probably would of RMAed it for the pixels and BLB and stuck with it if not for it having been beside my U3011 making the swift's pretty decent TN panel look not decent.

If you're waiting for an affordable 4K IPS as you said, I think $999 is pretty good and it's available now.

 

[hawtdawg]

http://overlordcomputer.com/collections/27-monitors/products/tempest-x270oc-glossy

I may have gotten a little lucky with mine, but this thing is the most uniform display I've ever seen. And that's coming from a Panasonic plasma owner. It has no OSD, but if you have a colorimeter (and you should if you do photo work) it will look fantastic after you make a profile for it. It looks great before calibration, but its a tad on the cool side. Mine overclocks to 120 hz with no artifacts.

 

[n0x1ous]

I would hold out before dropping a decent chunk on a new monitor right now. We had the announcement of that AHVA 144hz 1440p screen. Of course nothing concrete on a product launching with it, but it's sure to come. Otherwise if buying today I would take a good look at the $999 32" IPS 4K from Benq.

I plan to jump on the 4K Benq once some new GPUs launch. I had a brief affair with the rog swift for a week and the 144hz and gsync was incredible - the dead pixels, backlight bleed and TN panel were not though. Probably would of RMAed it for the pixels and BLB and stuck with it if not for it having been beside my U3011 making the swift's pretty decent TN panel look not decent.

If you're waiting for an affordable 4K IPS as you said, I think $999 is pretty good and it's available now.

Thanks Groove - I know you are a long time high end IPS user so your opinion carries some extra weight with me. I will have a look at this Benq

 

[n0x1ous]

King and Hawt thanks for the suggestions as well. Will consider them too.

 

[n0x1ous]

The more I think about it, the more it seems silly to get 1440 when 4K revolution is on the cusp.....would be nice if we had more gsync and some freesync options to mix in here too......

 

[Black Octagon]

I would also like to see a dedicated subforum on AT for monitors....

 

[birthdaymonkey]

Wish we had a dedicated monitor subforum.....

Looking for a new monitor that will be a mix of Photo Editing and Gaming. Will probably spend more time gaming but the photo part is increasingly important to me so im giving up my 120hz TN and going with a good IPS.

Looking at the U2713H and U2713HM. The H is the better panel with premiercolor and BG-LED backlight and is usually $150 more than the HM but Newegg has the H on sale for cheaper than the HM at the moment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260125

Looking for thoughts on if this is a good way to go or wait for affordable 4k IPS?

If you're thinking to buy now, you can always get a Korean 1440p monitor for $300ish. QNIX and XStar DVI-D displays are almost guaranteed to OC to 90Hz and many will do 120Hz. Then, when 4K is more affordable and the scaling and connectivity bugs have been worked out you can move up to one of those.

Of course, there's some risk in buying a Korean display, but "brand name" 1440p monitors are also prone to issues. I tried and returned 8 Dell, Asus, and Viewsonic IPS/PLS 1440 monitors last year because they all had dead pixels and other flaws. Eventually settled on an X-Star DP2710 and it was (and has been) perfect. That BenQ 32" 1440 AMVA monitor mentioned earlier also looks very attractive.

Don't even consider the Dell U2713H. It's a wide gamut panel, which isn't going to be accurate unless you're dealing exclusively with full RGB content. It also has terrible RTC overshoot problems and (I think) input lag. The sRGB U2713HM is a better display for the average, non-photo-professional user, but it suffers (at least in my experience in 2013) from quality control issues. At least Dell support is good (I went through 4 exchanges with them over a period of several months and they were always very nice).

 

[amenx]

A list of the better 27" 1440p displays you can get:

http://wecravegamestoo.com/forums/m...-27-monitors-2014-2560x1440-ahva-ips-pls.html

Have both a Qnix and Catleap which do 120hz and 96hz respectively, and believe are among the best 27" units out there. Still think 4k has not fully matured yet but do see it as a more viable option in another year or so. Tbh though, I find 21:9 displays (3440x1440) as far more appealing than 4k at the moment.

 

[KingFatty]

The more I think about it, the more it seems silly to get 1440 when 4K revolution is on the cusp.....would be nice if we had more gsync and some freesync options to mix in here too......

What turned me away from 4K is gaming. You'd probably just end up running it 1080p or something (depending on how old the game is, of course). Also, I tried the Dell 4K 32" display inside of a Microcenter and found the pixels were a bit small for my liking (but you can use scaling etc. to fix that). I bet for photography work, 4K is the best choice.

 

[n0x1ous]

If you're thinking to buy now, you can always get a Korean 1440p monitor for $300ish. QNIX and XStar DVI-D displays are almost guaranteed to OC to 90Hz and many will do 120Hz. Then, when 4K is more affordable and the scaling and connectivity bugs have been worked out you can move up to one of those.

Of course, there's some risk in buying a Korean display, but "brand name" 1440p monitors are also prone to issues. I tried and returned 8 Dell, Asus, and Viewsonic IPS/PLS 1440 monitors last year because they all had dead pixels and other flaws. Eventually settled on an X-Star DP2710 and it was (and has been) perfect. That BenQ 32" 1440 AMVA monitor mentioned earlier also looks very attractive.

Don't even consider the Dell U2713H. It's a wide gamut panel, which isn't going to be accurate unless you're dealing exclusively with full RGB content. It also has terrible RTC overshoot problems and (I think) input lag. The sRGB U2713HM is a better display for the average, non-photo-professional user, but it suffers (at least in my experience in 2013) from quality control issues. At least Dell support is good (I went through 4 exchanges with them over a period of several months and they were always very nice).

This is an option too because I fee like I will regret not having variable refresh on whatever my final choice is too.....whats the concencus on the best Korean 27"?

 

[n0x1ous]

If you're thinking to buy now, you can always get a Korean 1440p monitor for $300ish. QNIX and XStar DVI-D displays are almost guaranteed to OC to 90Hz and many will do 120Hz. Then, when 4K is more affordable and the scaling and connectivity bugs have been worked out you can move up to one of those.

Of course, there's some risk in buying a Korean display, but "brand name" 1440p monitors are also prone to issues. I tried and returned 8 Dell, Asus, and Viewsonic IPS/PLS 1440 monitors last year because they all had dead pixels and other flaws. Eventually settled on an X-Star DP2710 and it was (and has been) perfect. That BenQ 32" 1440 AMVA monitor mentioned earlier also looks very attractive.

Don't even consider the Dell U2713H. It's a wide gamut panel, which isn't going to be accurate unless you're dealing exclusively with full RGB content. It also has terrible RTC overshoot problems and (I think) input lag. The sRGB U2713HM is a better display for the average, non-photo-professional user, but it suffers (at least in my experience in 2013) from quality control issues. At least Dell support is good (I went through 4 exchanges with them over a period of several months and they were always very nice).

Does the XStar really have DVI and displayport? I would really need at least 2 inputs.... Seems like all of these Koreans are dvi only so that surprised me.

 

[amenx]

Does the XStar really have DVI and displayport? I would really need at least 2 inputs.... Seems like all of these Koreans are dvi only so that surprised me.

The multi-input korean units dont OC well (frame dropping) if at all, only the single input DVI ones do. Plus the multi-input koreans have sucky PCBs and introduce lag. If you need a multi-input display it may be better to avoid the korean units.

 

[guskline]

n0x1ous: I just took delivery yesterday of the BenQ BL3200PT. Bought it from Newegg (they have a 10% promotional discount until 11/13). It's not cheap (around $685 delivered after discount) but what a terrific monitor and BIG.
It has a ton of options built in, one of the best monitor stands I've ever seen and it exudes quality. It has so many input options, it boggles the mind. PLUS 2560 x1440 resolution with a screen big enough so you don't get eye strain reading printed text. I just can't say enough about how good it is. If the 4k monitor is only $999 at this size it would probably a good deal also.

I have already played COD AW and game play is VERY good. I replaced an Achieva Shimiam 27" 25600 x 1440 monitor which is still excellent. However, the BenQ is in a class of it's own.

You can send me a PM with more specific questions. I'll be glad to respond.

Here's a link to the BL3200PT on Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=24-014-372

 

[Qwertilot]

Looks like that more or less affordable 32" BenQ 4k IPS thing above is going to have friends - a 27" version from them, which will presumably be cheaper, the Asus PB279Q etc.

From looking at TFT central it looks like the semi affordable ones might be mostly going to be the same panels for the moment, so hope they work out well

 

[n0x1ous]

The multi-input korean units dont OC well (frame dropping) if at all, only the single input DVI ones do. Plus the multi-input koreans have sucky PCBs and introduce lag. If you need a multi-input display it may be better to avoid the korean units.

thanks - ill have to pass on the Koreans then.

 

[frowertr]

What turned me away from 4K is gaming. You'd probably just end up running it 1080p or something (depending on how old the game is, of course). Also, I tried the Dell 4K 32" display inside of a Microcenter and found the pixels were a bit small for my liking (but you can use scaling etc. to fix that). I bet for photography work, 4K is the best choice.

+1

Even SLI'ing 290Xs will not get great results (depending on the games of course) at that res. The GPU hardware just isn't up-to-par yet for 4k. 1440p is a huge leap from 1080p especially if you can overclock a monitor to 100Hz+.

 

[guskline]

What turned me away from 4K is gaming. You'd probably just end up running it 1080p or something (depending on how old the game is, of course). Also, I tried the Dell 4K 32" display inside of a Microcenter and found the pixels were a bit small for my liking (but you can use scaling etc. to fix that). I bet for photography work, 4K is the best choice.

KingFatty: I have not used a 4k monitor (yet) so my comments will be limited to 2560 x 1440 reolution.

I have had an Achieva Shimian 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor for @ 1 yr and love it. It was until yesterday my main monitor on my rig below.

AdamK47's comments on the BenQ BL3200PT started me thinking about getting a larger monitor for 2560 x 1440 resolution. These 63 yr old eyes were sometimes straining at text on my 27" monitor when at 2560 x 1440 res.

MY OH MY is this BenQ 32" nice at 2560 x 1440!

Gaming, so far really good!

I'll keep you posted as I go along but a BIG THANK YOU to AdamK47 for starting the ball rolling by mentioning the BenQ BL3200PT.

 

[n0x1ous]

I ended up going Korean. Couldn't justify the money on the current IPS 4k without gsync/freesync so decided to go cheap Korean to hold me over. I went with the single input X-star (sammy PLS) glossy. No dead or stuck pixels, bleed isnt too bad (coming from mostly TN use all my life, this thing is a revelation)

the real-estate and uptick in PPI is definitely noticeable next to my 120hz TN. However, I found gaming on BF4 back at 60hz more jarring than i expected. Have I really gotten that used to 120 or is there some kind of setting im missing here? It says its running at 59hz and won't let me change that to 60.....anyone know anything about that? EDIT: Overclocked to 96hz without issue. This was a dramatic improvement in responsiveness and alleviates this concern

Also any Xstar owners know what the button in the bottom right is supposed to do? its front facing not downward like power, brightness, volume and doesn't appear to do anything......

 

[amenx]

I have a Qnix unit. The X-star and Qnix are the same (same panel, PCB) and made by a sister co. to Qnix. X-stars are more often glossy though vs the usual matte for Qnix. Some of the buttons on single input korean displays do nothing and were there to handle multi-input PCB controls. Easier to mass produce that way than not to include them on single input panels.

Dont worry about the 59 vs 60hz thing, thats just the display driver rounding things out, ie, 59.95 may read as 59 than 60. No difference in actual usage.

I as well notice crappy 60hz motion performance on the korean units (slightly better on catleaps). Had a 120hz TN myself but even that at 60hz handled motion lag/response much better than the koreans. So OC'ing to 96/120hz makes a big difference on the korean units, more so than on TNs.

p.s. that button you see on the front of the panel, I dont believe its a button, but some sort of insert to cover a hole perhaps.

 

[Sulaco]

I came very close to buying a U2713HM, and started watching and reading reviews for other 1440p monitors in that range. I specifically wanted one that excelled in gaming.

I ended up going with the Asus 278Q. First off it was over $100 cheaper, and the majority of reviews had it just as highly rated, or HIGHER rated than the U2713HM.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5iCuzYLN3w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdY2P1yVuv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbGhz01JL24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBmBC73rSo4

 

[tidy]

.

 

[n0x1ous]

I have a Qnix unit. The X-star and Qnix are the same (same panel, PCB) and made by a sister co. to Qnix. X-stars are more often glossy though vs the usual matte for Qnix. Some of the buttons on single input korean displays do nothing and were there to handle multi-input PCB controls. Easier to mass produce that way than not to include them on single input panels.

Dont worry about the 59 vs 60hz thing, thats just the display driver rounding things out, ie, 59.95 may read as 59 than 60. No difference in actual usage.

I as well notice crappy 60hz motion performance on the korean units (slightly better on catleaps). Had a 120hz TN myself but even that at 60hz handled motion lag/response much better than the koreans. So OC'ing to 96/120hz makes a big difference on the korean units, more so than on TNs.

p.s. that button you see on the front of the panel, I dont believe its a button, but some sort of insert to cover a hole perhaps.

Thanks for this - good info and yes mine is glossy. I think you know what button Im talking about but here it is if you could confirm please. I pushed it initially thinking it was power and it just kinda made a crack sound and went in and didnt come back out...

 

[Flapdrol1337]

What about the Eizo Foris FG2421?

It has some kind of VA panel, does well at colors, contrast and viewing angles, and does 120hz with backlight strobing for very good sharpness in motion.

not cheap, but not super expensive either.

edit: didn't see you already have something, nevermind.