Gaming Monitors

Xenoronin

The Dell is pretty good according to one review I've read. The Amazon reviews are majority positive too.
The review did suggest this as a better alternative (the Dell has some barely noticeable smearing when colours transition fast), however it does break your budget. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BenQ-GL2580HM-Gaming-Monitor-Speaker/dp/B073NTHQND/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1542966760&sr=8-1&keywords=GL2580HM

There are definitely 24" 1080p screens on adverts, I just don't know where you are based so I can't recommend much. You really do want to be seeing these things working and check for major/minor defects before buying.

frustrated1

Xenoronin wrote: »

The Dell is pretty good according to one review I've read. The Amazon reviews are majority positive too.
The review did suggest this as a better alternative (the Dell has some barely noticeable smearing when colours transition fast), however it does break your budget. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BenQ-GL2580HM-Gaming-Monitor-Speaker/dp/B073NTHQND/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1542966760&sr=8-1&keywords=GL2580HM

There are definitely 24" 1080p screens on adverts, I just don't know where you are based so I can't recommend much. You really do want to be seeing these things working and check for major/minor defects before buying.

Thanks, yes saw the suggestion for the alternative.
Having looked at the BenQ - am really tempted to squeeze the extra few quid.

Xenoronin

To address your concern of upgrades. It doesn't look like 1080p is going anywhere at the moment, it's been the staple resolution for the last decade. Higher resolutions require more expensive GPUs to run.
Different panel technologies such as IPS, VA and Quantum Dot offer better colour reproduction, contrast (blacker blacks, whiter whites) and viewing angles. Not really deal breakers if you are sitting in front of the screen not doing colour accurate work. Newer panels support HDR, basically upping the screen brightness to increase the colour range. OLED and MicroLED technologies are still a few years out from mainstream.
Higher refresh rates are the most appealing for gaming, 144Hz is pretty popular right now, but again, you need a graphics card with enough grunt to reach these frames or it isn't worth it. High refresh rates make everything appear less blurry. Excellent for fast paced games, but are still a luxury item. You can get by fine at 60Hz.
FreeSync (AMD and free) and GSync (NVidia and costly) are interesting technologies, they allow the monitor to use a variable refresh rate, this means that as you play a game the screen will try to match the framerate from the GPU so that "tearing" doesn't occur, i.e. the top half of the screen refreshes with a different image to the bottom half of the screen. This explains it better https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

Interesting little tidbit on the BenQ, it can reach 75Hz apparently.

By creating a custom display resolution we discovered that this screen could also happily run at 75Hz in 1080p, even if it isn’t a mode that BenQ supports by default in their driver.

Activate this option, place the monitor into AMA ‘Premium’ mode through the onscreen menus, and the GL2580HM becomes a true gaming option for those running a system with an Nvidia 960 GTX graphics card, or an AMD card with similar GPU performance capabilities.

frustrated1

Xenoronin wrote: »

To address your concern of upgrades. It doesn't look like 1080p is going anywhere at the moment, it's been the staple resolution for the last decade. Higher resolutions require more expensive GPUs to run.
Different panel technologies such as IPS, VA and Quantum Dot offer better colour reproduction, contrast (blacker blacks, whiter whites) and viewing angles. Not really deal breakers if you are sitting in front of the screen not doing colour accurate work. Newer panels support HDR, basically upping the screen brightness to increase the colour range. OLED and MicroLED technologies are still a few years out from mainstream.
Higher refresh rates are the most appealing for gaming, 144Hz is pretty popular right now, but again, you need a graphics card with enough grunt to reach these frames or it isn't worth it. High refresh rates make everything appear less blurry. Excellent for fast paced games, but are still a luxury item. You can get by fine at 60Hz.
FreeSync (AMD and free) and GSync (NVidia and costly) are interesting technologies, they allow the monitor to use a variable refresh rate, this means that as you play a game the screen will try to match the framerate from the GPU so that "tearing" doesn't occur, i.e. the top half of the screen refreshes with a different image to the bottom half of the screen. This explains it better https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_tearing

Interesting little tidbit on the BenQ, it can reach 75Hz apparently.

Thanks, couldnt help myself, went for the BenQ in the end !
Ordered now, should arrive in 7-8 days. Thanks for the advise and information above, helped a lot.

Venom

I've been thinking about picking up a new monitor and was curious if anyone had any experience with the Asus ROG Strix Curved XG32VQ?


It's a 32 Inch 1800R curved 1440p VA panel monitor @144Hz with Freesync.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-90LM03S0-B01170-Percent-FreeSync-AuraSync/dp/B077831TBZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1546282848&sr=1-1&keywords=rog%2Bstrix%2Bxg32vqr&th=1

BArra

Limscave on YouTube gives in-depth advice on monitors

From what I have looked at VA suffers badly with blur/ghosting, and ofc VA glow or backlight bleed will differ from unit to unit

VA will do deeper contrast so better blacks but an IPS will trump it with colour accuracy, but again the risk of IPS glow and or backlight bleed could be an issue

Gaming monitors are a minefield and they all have issues, we both could have the same one and have issues or not

Amazon is your only man and be prepared to return some to get a decent panel

A few I was looking at, the Samsung might interest you, stand is huge on it though

Samsung 27 chg70 freesync 144hz va quantum dot and sudo/fake hdr
Predator x34p gsync 120hz ips
Asus pg279q gsync 165hz ips
Asus pg278qr gsync 165hz tn

Headshot

Some sites I used in the past for advice on buying monitors

https://pcmonitors.info/

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

K.O.Kiki

I'm on my second VA gaming monitor and tbh I haven't been able to notice many issues with either one.
Not sure if lucky or just uninformed :pac:

Venom

BArra wrote: »

Limscave on YouTube gives in-depth advice on monitors

From what I have looked at VA suffers badly with blur/ghosting, and ofc VA glow or backlight bleed will differ from unit to unit

VA will do deeper contrast so better blacks but an IPS will trump it with colour accuracy, but again the risk of IPS glow and or backlight bleed could be an issue

Gaming monitors are a minefield and they all have issues, we both could have the same one and have issues or not

Amazon is your only man and be prepared to return some to get a decent panel

A few I was looking at, the Samsung might interest you, stand is huge on it though

Samsung 27 chg70 freesync 144hz va quantum dot and sudo/fake hdr
Predator x34p gsync 120hz ips
Asus pg279q gsync 165hz ips
Asus pg278qr gsync 165hz tn

From looking into the whole TN vs VA vs IPS deal, I feel IPS while the best looking is just too much of a crap shoot on getting a good panel not to mention the added cost, VA seems to have better colours over TN and less input lag than IPS so a good blending of both.


I seriously looked into all the monitors you listed and found them wanting in some element over the XG32VQ. The Samsung suffers from brightness issues and is kinda pricey as are the X34p and pg279q. The pg278q is still kinda being considered but I just don't feel like the G-sync premium is worth it.

Headshot wrote: »

Some sites I used in the past for advice on buying monitors

https://pcmonitors.info/

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

Cheers man.

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I'm on my second VA gaming monitor and tbh I haven't been able to notice many issues with either one.
Not sure if lucky or just uninformed

It seems VA panel quality has really improved going by the reviews unlike IPS which is still a crap shoot.

BArra

Absolutely, but it will still come down to the one you get and what you are willing to put up with. These monitors are very expensive and it's a lottery with any of them.

I researched a lot of them, was going to pull the trigger on x34p but it's gone back up in price on Amazon.

CES starts this coming weekend where there should be new announcements, when they come to market and if they drive previous models down is the question, though.

For IPS there is also the 27" acer predator xb271hu which is said to be the current front runner of IPS with less lottery.

I'd look at some YouTube reviews for the xg32vq and just go for it if you think it ticks the boxes most for you

Edit: check out this guy, might interest you as it's discounted a bit, only one left in stock, however it's also ips

Acer Predator Z321QUbmiphzx 31.5 Inch WQHD Curved 1800R Gaming Monitor, Black (VA Panel, G-Sync, 144 Hz, 4 ms, HDR Ready, ZeroFrame, DP, HDMI, USB Hub, Height Adjustable Stand) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0732WSYSM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_uSYkCbF9VK706

Venom

BArra wrote: »

Absolutely, but it will still come down to the one you get and what you are willing to put up with. These monitors are very expensive and it's a lottery with any of them.

I researched a lot of them, was going to pull the trigger on x34p but it's gone back up in price on Amazon.

CES starts this coming weekend where there should be new announcements, when they come to market and if they drive previous models down is the question, though.

For IPS there is also the 27" acer predator xb271hu which is said to be the current front runner of IPS with less lottery.

I'd look at some YouTube reviews for the xg32vq and just go for it if you think it ticks the boxes most for you

Edit: check out this guy, might interest you as it's discounted a bit, only one left in stock, however it's also ips

Acer Predator Z321QUbmiphzx 31.5 Inch WQHD Curved 1800R Gaming Monitor, Black (VA Panel, G-Sync, 144 Hz, 4 ms, HDR Ready, ZeroFrame, DP, HDMI, USB Hub, Height Adjustable Stand) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0732WSYSM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_uSYkCbF9VK706

Cheers for the heads-up on the Acer Predator Z321, totally missed that one so something else to factor in. My only concern with the Z321 is the price seems to good to be true considering its got G-sync on top of everything else.


I won't be doing anything before CES but when it comes to monitors there never seems to be a drop in price when newer models come out unlike most other types of PC hardware.

BArra

Prices have gone up dramatically on many monitors I've been tracking on Amazon, the wait continues.

Missed the boat on black friday unfortunately