Overlord Tempest X270OC mini-review

[jackstar7]

Since they are out in the world and more may be available at random times, I thought it might be worth a quick review from my novice opinion.

I received my non-PP OC last Thursday and after some harrowing and frustrating experiences*, I now have 110Hz of great PPI and I have to admit that firing up BF3 and getting to see Aftermath maps for the first time like this was awe-inspiring. I don't have everything maxed, but the game looks great at mostly all-High and avg's 90-100+fps. on my crossfired 7970s (still on 12.10 drivers at this point due to issues I think are specific to me and using ToastyX's tools to OC the monitor).

Also, I have no idea where the stuck pixels are on this thing and I'm not looking for them. Supposedly there are two (based on the QC sheet included in the box), but I've seen no indication that they exist, so I'm enjoying my ignorance on this one (which goes against every impulse in my being).

I have my stand on a stand to get a better eye-level experience and when I sit directly in front of it at about 1-1.5ft, I can't see any backlight bleed. There is a little if I get up closer, but really, why am I doing that? It's located bottom-right, but hardly a problem for me.


I hope this info is useful to folks and I encourage anyone curious to definitely check out Overlord's boards as well as 120Hz.net if considering purchasing an OC-able 2560x1440.



*To expand on the frustration, it turns out that my ASUS 7970 which was excellent for a triple DP monitor setup sucks rather hard at delivering a strong DVI signal. I made sure the bios switch was correct, and even tried both DVI ports to be sure, but the dual-link port was having issues giving me a good image at anything over 75Hz. This was even more of a problem as I was first setting it up and because the dual-link was not ennabled, I was getting nothing from the DVI to this nice big screen. Eventually I disabled Crossfire and tried the Sapphire stock 7970 and it worked great and eventually I got to the 110Hz and am now able to have two of my Samsung 120Hz's flank this beauty (using the mDP's on the Sapphire).

Here's how it looks... assuming this link works:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r8pz8e3zjing60x/IMG_1617.JPG

I'm pretty damn happy.


So for those still chasing the IPS+ >60Hz dragon, Overlord is set to have some for sale now and again over the next month or so, and Scribby has started to post some videos to both help with the OC process and demonstrate pixel defects for those interested.

 

[Black Octagon]

Hehe, nice. For anyone wondering what he's on about, the Tempest X270OC is a 2560x1440 27" IPS monitor (similar to the Catleap, Shimian, Crossover etc.) BUT:

1) It has an overclockable pcb like the famous Catleap 2B monitors, so you can have the awesome resolution and benefits of IPS plus up to 120Hz or even more, depending on hardware and luck, and

2) Unlike the Korean monitors, Overlord Computer is an American start-up providing shipping, warranty and customer service out of the US.

I myself am gnawing my nails, waiting for my own X270OC to arrive (stupid USPS).

 

[jackstar7]

Oh that's reasonable...I probably could have spelled out the obvious.

 

[3DVagabond]

This was even more of a problem as I was first setting it up and because the dual-link was not ennabled, I was getting nothing from the DVI to this nice big screen.

Do you have a DCII? I can remember early reviews where they said the DL-DVI didn't work on it. How did you finally get the DL-DVI to work on your card?

If you were running crossfire with the Sapphire and the Asus, did you try using the Sapphire as your main card to see if crossfire would work that way?

 

[jackstar7]

Do you have a DCII? I can remember early reviews where they said the DL-DVI didn't work on it. How did you finally get the DL-DVI to work on your card?

If you were running crossfire with the Sapphire and the Asus, did you try using the Sapphire as your main card to see if crossfire would work that way?

You've worked through exactly what I did. Abandoned the DCII as my main and switched to start using the Sapphire as my main and it works like a champ.

 

[3DVagabond]

Surprised in Asus not dealing with that before the cards were sold to people. The problem was reported early on.

Now I look at your sig I see the DCII. :embarrassed: Should have looked closer. Does The DCII cooler function well in the FT02 case? Just curious, not taking a survey, or anything.

 

[jackstar7]

Surprised in Asus not dealing with that before the cards were sold to people. The problem was reported early on.

Now I look at your sig I see the DCII. :embarrassed: Should have looked closer. Does The DCII cooler function well in the FT02 case? Just curious, not taking a survey, or anything.

It really does. The DCII runs anywhere from 10-20 degrees cooler than the stock 7970. Though the stock does have the disadvantage of being sandwiched in between cards, but overall, I can say that ASUS cooler works.

 

[Black Octagon]

Btw, the OP has now successfully hit the magic 120Hz. He just hasn't updated this thread

Mine also arrived this week and I hit 120Hz last night. These monitors are truly incredible

 

[jackstar7]

What the man says is true. 120Hz for "teh realz" as the kids say.

My hardware can't actually hit 120FPS in BF3 yet (I could probably turn some settings down though)... but it plays very nicely for me.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Nice. I have a Catleap 2B @ 99hz. 120hz artifacts a little bit, I'm sure I could get it to operate at like 110, but I haven't bothered.

I also ran into issues with the 12.11 betas and the ToastyX tools.

 

[Black Octagon]

I too had problems patching Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11. Rolled back to 12.10 WHQL and now all is well. Strange, because Toasty himself is apparently running the latest Beta without issue. Oh well

 

[Grooveriding]

I really want a 1440p or 1600p 120hz IPS, but am still holding off for a truly 'legitimate' model to come. One guaranteed to operate at that frequency and warranted etc.

 

[Black Octagon]

I really want a 1440p or 1600p 120hz IPS, but am still holding off for a truly 'legitimate' model to come. One guaranteed to operate at that frequency and warranted etc.

I think you'll be waiting a while. Currently we need to overclock niche monitors like the Tempest OC or Catleap Extreme 2B in order to have 120Hz at this resolution. Among other things, this requires us to use customized GPU drivers that remove the 330Mhz pixel clock limit that both AMD and NVIDIA have built into their drivers.

Until AMD and/or NVIDIA remove this silly limit, it will simply not be possible (using official drivers) to get the necessary bandwidth out of our graphics cards to drive 1440p@120Hz