Looking for a new 27" Monitor for gaming. - Hardware & Software

Hey there FP. After 5 years of trusty service, im thinking of upgrading from my 21.5" monitor (HP S2231A) towards a bigger one. I've got a few specs I want included: - 27 inch screen. - At least 120Hz refresh rate. - At least 1920x1080 resolution - Fast response time (<5ms) It will be used mostly for these 3 activities (in order): 1. Gaming 2. Watching series and movies 3. Amateur designing for school assignments I live in the Netherlands, but I've got no problems importing stuff from abroad. Everything here has a stupid markup anyway. I'm looking for a price of around 300 euros. Are there any monitors that fit the requirements above? Cheers!

Eh, I think the best you'll get is BenQ XL2720T, but frankly I would stick to 24" if I were you. And I'm pretty sure it's out of your price range anyhow.

Everything 120Hz is going to be 1920x1080 so why get a 27" panel when you can get a considerably sharper one that's 1920x1080 at 21.5"-24" which will cost less too. I can't even find a 1080p 120Hz monitor thats 27" within your budget anyway because those big monitors have a ridiculous price increase because of their size despite the lower sharpness. You'll probably have to compromise on something in that list of requirements and I would go with size if I were you. You can probably find the 24" 1080p Asus VG248QE in that price range and it's 1ms GTG with a refresh rate of 144Hz so you can eliminate telecine judder in any movies and just have a crazy high refresh rate in general.

Asus have just annuonced a 2560x1440 120Hz 27in screen however it is (understandably) outside of your price range. [editline]6th January 2014[/editline] [T]http://images.anandtech.com/doci/7639/ASUS_CES14-011.jpg[/t]

I've read some more about monitors, and stumbled upon Korean PLS monitors. Basically, these are panels from Samsung's line of monitors, that either didn't quite pass the required QA test to be branded as 500+ dollars, or are overstocked, which is why they some are "A" graded and not "A+" . This will usually result in either a few dead pixels, which can be eliminated by buying a Pixel Perfect guarantee for a few tenners, and/or some minimal backlight bleeding in dark pictures. Though there are more than a few that report no noticable backlight bleeding in dark pictures. Another thing is that they might not be seated perfectly in the frame (slight pressure jiggle if you press the sides of the panel), but this isn't noticable if you don't move the monitor around a lot, and can be easily fixed by reseating the panel with just a screw driver. A final note: These do NOT have any On Screen Display menu's (OSD) to adjust color, gamma and contrast. Though that ain't a problem, as the factory calibration is close to perfect. It uses your graphics card to power the monitor. The advantage of this, however, is that you can actually overclock the monitor to reach 96/120 Hz. The things you can adjust, are Brightness controls and speaker volume. [url]http://www.2560x1440monitor.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=17&product_id=44[/url] - 27 Inch PLS monitor. Equal or slightly better than IPS. - QHD - 2560x1440. - 60Hz, but overclockable to 96/120Hz (varies per panel) with no issues. - 8MS response time. - Well calibrated out of the box. - Great reviews from all around the internet. - Check that fucking price tag hot DAMN! And this is WITH the pixel perfect guarantee. - FREE shipping to the U.S, Canada, and more! Ships worldwide for a small fee. I've read that some buyers got their package in 2 days, and some even in ONE day. - Can be ordered in matte or glossy finish. - There's also a slightly more expensive model with more input ports.

[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;43448486]I've read some more about monitors, and stumbled upon Korean PLS monitors. Basically, these are panels from Samsung's line of monitors, that either didn't quite pass the required QA test to be branded as 500+ dollars, or are overstocked, which is why they some are "A" graded and not "A+" . This will usually result in either a few dead pixels, which can be eliminated by buying a Pixel Perfect guarantee for a few tenners, and/or some minimal backlight bleeding in dark pictures. Though there are more than a few that report no noticable backlight bleeding in dark pictures. Another thing is that they might not be seated perfectly in the frame (slight pressure jiggle if you press the sides of the panel), but this isn't noticable if you don't move the monitor around a lot, and can be easily fixed by reseating the panel with just a screw driver. A final note: These do NOT have any On Screen Display menu's (OSD) to adjust color, gamma and contrast. Though that ain't a problem, as the factory calibration is close to perfect. It uses your graphics card to power the monitor. The advantage of this, however, is that you can actually overclock the monitor to reach 96/120 Hz. The things you can adjust, are Brightness controls and speaker volume. [url]http://www.2560x1440monitor.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=17&product_id=44[/url] - 27 Inch PLS monitor. Equal or slightly better than IPS. - QHD - 2560x1440. - 60Hz, but overclockable to 96/120Hz (varies per panel) with no issues. - 8MS response time. - Well calibrated out of the box. - Great reviews from all around the internet. - Check that fucking price tag hot DAMN! And this is WITH the pixel perfect guarantee. - FREE shipping to the U.S, Canada, and more! Ships worldwide for a small fee. I've read that some buyers got their package in 2 days, and some even in ONE day. - Can be ordered in matte or glossy finish. - There's also a slightly more expensive model with more input ports.[/QUOTE] This seems too good to be true, honestly. Hugely discounted displays with no noticeable/ easily remedied defects and free shipping? If it's a reputable source then hot damn how has this not been made more public

[QUOTE=MrWhite;43450679]This seems too good to be true, honestly. Hugely discounted displays with no noticeable/ easily remedied defects and free shipping? If it's a reputable source then hot damn how has this not been made more public[/QUOTE] He's mostly accurate although they're usually A- panels. PLS is not better than a good IPS panel, it has problems with color shift and rendition and it's in the same range as eIPS(the similarities go right down to subpixel geometry). The factory calibration isn't really that good since they're faulty panels so they aren't really calibrated at all, and a lot more come with bleeding and dead pixels than sellers let on although you're generally safe from lots of dead pixels if you buy a perfect pixel one. People have known about these on overclock.net for years now and they're a risk but they can be a steal at $300, I owned an overclockable Yamakasi Catleap but I sold it when the price went crazy high. Overclockable ones were a bit higher at like $450 at that time when all the monitors were IPS based since actual 8bit panels from LG cost more than PLS ones from Samsung. Also, you have to hack your drivers to overclock them because AMD and NVIDIA have a max pixel clock on their GPUs, but that's not really a fault of the monitor.

[QUOTE=Kaabii;43450930]He's mostly accurate although they're usually A- panels. PLS is not better than a good IPS panel, it has problems with color shift and rendition and it's in the same range as eIPS(the similarities go right down to subpixel geometry). The factory calibration isn't really that good since they're faulty panels so they aren't really calibrated at all, and a lot more come with bleeding and dead pixels than sellers let on although you're generally safe from lots of dead pixels if you buy a perfect pixel one. People have known about these on overclock.net for years now and they're a risk but they can be a steal at $300, I owned an overclockable Yamakasi Catleap but I sold it when the price went crazy high. Overclockable ones were a bit higher at like $450 at that time when all the monitors were IPS based since actual 8bit panels from LG cost more than PLS ones from Samsung. Also, you have to hack your drivers to overclock them because AMD and NVIDIA have a max pixel clock on their GPUs, but that's not really a fault of the monitor.[/QUOTE] It's true that there are more than a few shady sellers that sell you bottom rung panels. That's why recently there are sites that review sellers individually. The site above is apparently a high rated one, and reviewed positively by this site and various users: [url]http://www.technologyx.com/featured/qnix-qx2710-27-2560x1440-monitor-review/[/url]

[QUOTE=DarkWolf2;43452255]It's true that there are more than a few shady sellers that sell you bottom rung panels. That's why recently there are sites that review sellers individually. The site above is apparently a high rated one, and reviewed positively by this site and various users: [url]http://www.technologyx.com/featured/qnix-qx2710-27-2560x1440-monitor-review/[/url][/QUOTE] They're all the same rejected panels from Samsung, you're buying into conjecture and marketing if you believe any specific brand of Korean display or seller of them has better panels than the rest. All you could say is maybe some sellers are nicer with their dead pixel guarantees than others.

I'd only consider the cheap 2560x1440 Korean monitors if you're cool with the possibility of needing to repair it. Internal connectors may need to be reseated and for the longest time the power supplies were a bit dogy but that may have changed. You should check out the threads on Overclockers and see if its the right purchase for you. Since early 2012 I've owned a pair of Catleap monitors. One has a small amount of backlight bleed (you'd have to look for it to notice) and the other has a stuck pixel. I've needed to repair the power supply on one of them twice now. Because of the calibration settings they're probably not the best for professional video/image work without using a colorimeter first. That being said they really are a fantastic value, the screen space is great when working on documents or just general multitasking, they're nice and bright and they don't have any gross looking anti-glare coating. Movies and video games look great on them. If I wanted a third one I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My only real complaint is the stand, though some models have better stands than others. The ones on the Catleaps are basically a cheese stick.

Only a slight downside to the Korean route is some can't be o/c'd at all. Mine is of the DVI passthrough type yet won't overclock at all really.

[QUOTE=rhx123;43455528]Only a slight downside to the Korean route is some can't be o/c'd at all. Mine is of the DVI passthrough type yet won't overclock at all really.[/QUOTE] Either I'm doing it wrong or my overpriced 27" Asus doesn't overclock much at all either. I can't make it 2-4hz before everything goes fuzzy. Also the worst bleeding on all edges I've ever had; completely noticeable at night and drives me nuts. I'm never getting a 27" again if this is what the gigantic price hike gets you.

[QUOTE=rodent-man;43491108]Either I'm doing it wrong or my overpriced 27" Asus doesn't overclock much at all either. I can't make it 2-4hz before everything goes fuzzy. Also the worst bleeding on all edges I've ever had; completely noticeable at night and drives me nuts. I'm never getting a 27" again if this is what the gigantic price hike gets you.[/QUOTE] Uh, most 27" monitors can't, it's unique to some korean displays. If it's a 27" IPS you should get it RMA'd for the bleeding. If it's PLS you can try, but bleeding is par for the course.

[QUOTE=Kaabii;43491176]Uh, most 27" monitors can't, it's unique to some korean displays. If it's a 27" IPS you should get it RMA'd for the bleeding. If it's PLS you can try, but bleeding is par for the course.[/QUOTE] Damn; wish I'd known. Thanks for that feedback though. Where exactly would one have to research to find out this kind of info?

Well, I use the Asus VG278HE 27" TRUE 144Hz 3D Widescreen LED Monitor. Easy to manage through the menu to set up brightness and contrast as you like and I can't fault it.

Samsung's S23A[79]50 are still the most fun to overclock and fuck about with timings There's so much active processing that not only do they have a fucking fan, but they'll take 30%+ more than native resolution (and downscale it) and literally any refresh rate and whatever timings you feel like, no matter how ridiculous (it'll accept things a tiny fraction of CVT-RB) I'll never understand how the input lag on them manages to remain excellent

I've got a Qnix and I'm very content with it, no dead pixels, no noticeable backlight bleeding, and it does a stable overclock @ 115hz.

I feel like such a doofus. I never imagined I my DVI cable was single link... My god. Same with the hdmi; I always assumed most HDMI cables were on the 1.3-1.4 revision these days, but no, I hit the same frequency cap so I'm going to assume that's barebones as well. On one hand, I'm seriously surprised. On the other though, there's hope! Woohoo! Time to order some new cables!

[QUOTE=rodent-man;43522533]I feel like such a doofus. I never imagined I my DVI cable was single link... My god. Same with the hdmi; I always assumed most HDMI cables were on the 1.3-1.4 revision these days, but no, I hit the same frequency cap so I'm going to assume that's barebones as well. On one hand, I'm seriously surprised. On the other though, there's hope! Woohoo! Time to order some new cables![/QUOTE] There's no way your cable is single link because it's impossible to drive 2560x1440 at 60Hz and 24bpp with single link DVI. ASUS monitors won't overclock, that's why you can't. It has nothing to do with your cables.

[QUOTE=Kaabii;43524366]There's no way your cable is single link because it's impossible to drive 2560x1440 at 60Hz and 24bpp with single link DVI. ASUS monitors won't overclock, that's why you can't. It has nothing to do with your cables.[/QUOTE] Twist here is that he's been running it at 1920x1080 this entire time. :v:

[QUOTE=Kaabii;43524366]There's no way your cable is single link because it's impossible to drive 2560x1440 at 60Hz and 24bpp with single link DVI. ASUS monitors won't overclock, that's why you can't. It has nothing to do with your cables.[/QUOTE] That would be true... If I were running in that resolution. I've been sporting 1920x1080@60hz since '06. I looked online and 165hz for a pixel clock seems to be the limit of single link DVI, which is when I physically checked my cable and saw that it was only a single-link DVI connection, at least according to the comparison picture I was looking at. As for the HDMI cable, I'm just assuming its only 1.0 because of it not breaking past that 165hz barrier on the pixel clock as well. I'm not quite certain how else to check the HDMI cable as I couldn't see anything written about the type on the cable itself. As for that Asus information, I was unaware! I'll definitely keep that in mind (I love general knowledge like that) though I had no intention of ever getting an Asus monitor again anyways given my issues with them. [QUOTE=Demache;43528333]Twist here is that he's been running it at 1920x1080 this entire time. :v:[/QUOTE] That IS the twist!

I bought this: [url]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CAKD6LI/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url] On December 27. It is a PERFECT monitor. The stand is SHIT though, but that's fine. No dead pixels. No back light bleed either. Overclocked to 120hz, and it was really easy to do it. I'd make sure your GPU can drive that kind of resolution though.

[QUOTE=rodent-man;43522533]I feel like such a doofus. I never imagined I my DVI cable was single link... My god. Same with the hdmi; I always assumed most HDMI cables were on the 1.3-1.4 revision these days, but no, I hit the same frequency cap so I'm going to assume that's barebones as well. On one hand, I'm seriously surprised. On the other though, there's hope! Woohoo! Time to order some new cables![/QUOTE] [img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64514745/speccy1252013.png[/img] 50Hz 2560x1440 represent. Running it off a laptop, so I don't have an option to go dual-link :(

I use a BenQ RL2450H, though it's only a 24". I got it for $199 and it does great.

[QUOTE=ScottyWired;43542701]I use a BenQ RL2450H, though it's only a 24". I got it for $199 and it does great.[/QUOTE] Looks like a TN panel that doesn't fit his 120Hz requirement which is the most significant one. Seems expensive for a TN too, why didn't you return it along with your G500s and get an eIPS?

Why do you need a 120hz monitor? Unless you're 3D gaming (which honestly is just a waste of time and money) you'd be better off spending that extra dolla on an IPS panel

[QUOTE=Generic.Monk;43544188]Why do you need a 120hz monitor? Unless you're 3D gaming (which honestly is just a waste of time and money) you'd be better off spending that extra dolla on an IPS panel[/QUOTE] Some people don't care about image quality, having 120Hz is really quite nice even just when doing typical tasks because even your desktop is noticeably more fluid(IPS is always my choice though). Also at $300 for some 120Hz monitors you'd have to stretch your budget to get an 8bit IPS panel which is the only thing worth buying for someone who cares about image quality.

[url]http://www.ipsledmonitors.com/[/url] is a decent site; However most of the time I just use them to get the model info and compare prices on amazon/newegg though.

consider buying a QNIX or X-star korean monitor, they are known to be able to over clock to 120hz and cost ~$300 USD (not sure what that is in euros, I assume less). They are IPS/PLS panels but I'm not sure about their response times.. these are probably the best you can do

trust me when I say you don't want 1080p on 27 inches. blurry as a mother fucker. get 22-23" max. I'm running on 2560x1440 27".