27" or 24" for 1920 x 1200

[blakestock]

I'm looking to buy a new monitor and I'm having a hard time deciding which would be a good option for me. I'm replacing my 23" 1680 x 1050 monitor by Sceptre.

I really want to go with a monitor that is 1920 x 1200 resolution but having a hard time deciding on 24" vs 27". This will be used for my gaming PC and not much else. I play all sorts of games, FPS, RTS, RPG, etc. The part that sucks is that I'm looking to spend maybe 400 - 450 but of course the cheaper the better.

Anyone have any suggestions on which size at 1920 x 1200 would work out better if there's a difference at all? Does anyone have suggestions on specific monitors to look at?

Thanks in advance!

 

[blakestock]

I'm trying to spend at most, $450. Does having a monitor that can do 1.07 billion colors show that much better for games as opposed to the standard 16 million colors? I do not do any digital photography or editing, this monitor will be purely for gaming.

If that Asus really is worth ~ $500 bucks, I might consider it.

Any thoughts on 120Hz monitors?

 

[ssddx]

it all depends on how far you are going to sit from the monitor. if it will be placed on your desk at normal distances then the 24" will look sharper than the 27" due to the smaller size of the pixels.

you will be able to buy a better monitor at 24" size than a 27" size for the same money. keep this in mind if quality matters.

16mil colors is fine for gaming. if you want vibrant and detailed displays i've always used IPS panels (viewsonic makes great ones) but expect to pay a little more. keep in mind that led backlit ones can have a blue tinge sometimes that you will need to adjust out.

you dont need 120hz. standard 60hz monitors will play games fine. why pay more for no real gain?

 

[AnUnusedUsername]

If you're considering 120Hz, find one in a store to look at and decide for yourself. Some people notice the difference more than others. If you really like 120Hz, go for it, but you'll be stuck with either 1680x1050 if you want 16:10 or 1920x1080 otherwise, and all 120Hz monitors are TN panels, which are technically worse than PVA or IPS panels for image quality. I recently bought a (refurbished and likely no longer available) hp lp2465, thats 24'' and has a PVA panel. It looks better than my old TN panel, but only if they are side by side. On a daily basis, I don't really notice any significant improvement. It may be there, as comparing the monitors side by side shows, but I don't generally notice it. Basically, I wouldn't recommend paying a huge premium for a non-TN panel.

However, 1920x1200 is generally reserved for the higher-end monitors, so most of them are going to use IPS/PVA panels anyway. In general, the ones that use the cheaper (to produce) TN panels don't actually cost much less, but are lower quality monitors (unless they are 120Hz, but that just means they'll still be a lower quality picture, but displayed more smoothly). If you don't go for a 120Hz monitor, I'd recommend the hp zr24w. It sells for $425 (+shipping/tax) on hp's website (its under the small buisness category though, not the home/home office one), which is a fair amount cheaper than the popular dell U2410. If I recall correctly, it also uses the exact same panel as the U2410. It's got low input lag, a response time equivalent with nearly all LCD monitors, and an IPS panel screen. I did a fair amount of research and was all set to buy one myself before I came upon a really good deal on a refurbished monitor ($200 for a 24'' 1920x1200 PVA panel), which is sadly no longer available.

 

[jaguarskx]

Only certain cards can make use of the 1.07 billion colors in a 10-bit color look up table (LUT). None of them are gaming cards.

IPS colors are not vibrant. Vibrant is usually reserved for monitors with glossy screens that make colors "pop"; the downside is glossy screens are highly reflective and they also over saturate color. Therefore, most IPS panel monitors are matte finish and some would complain that makes colors "flat". However, matte finish does not negatively affect color accuracy.

While I do not own a 120Hz monitor, others have stated they make games look smoother since technically speaking, the max displayable frame rate is 120FPS instead of 60FPS. I have not seen a 120Hz monitor so I cannot offer my own opinion.

The main drawback is all 120Hz monitors use TN panels which are preferred by most gamers because of fast response times, generally low input lag and are less expensive than other LCD panel tech like VA and IPS. The downside is the limited viewing angle which means colors starts fading the more off-center you are from the screen. Some people will state they will only sit in front of the monitor to avoid this issue. However, I can notice it simply by moving my eyes to look at sections of the screen.

 

[ssddx]

i suppose i shouldnt have used the word vibrant. what i meant was the colors appear how they should (accuracy). but if you want to take the literal definition then just look at a TN panel and an IPS panel from a severe angle and tell me which is more "vibrant". TN panels get greyout when viewing on angles.

TN panels with the reflective coating have that wet look (and i suppose colors do look slightly brighter) but with the excessive glare its hard to call that a gain. the matte finish (while it doesnt amplify vibrancy..) does limit glare by quite a bit.

it might sound good to get 120fps / 120hz for gaming but check to see what your video card actually outputs. usually it is 60hz (do they use two connections or something for 120?, i dont use 120 myself)

 

[blakestock]

Thanks for the input so far everyone, its been very useful in my search.

I'm going to try and see if I can find any 120Hz monitors nearby in any stores and see the difference there. The video card I'm using is an MSI GTX 470 which is 3D Vision ready so I'd assume it can handle the 120Hz refresh rate.

As far as the viewing angle, I'm only ever straight in front of it. Is the only downside to TN panels the viewing angle vs IPS panels? I keep reading that TN is much faster and cheaper, but do IPS panels produce any advantage other than viewing angle?

 

[jaguarskx]

Even when I sit in front of my Asus TN panel monitor which is hooked up to my HTPC I can notice some color shifting due to viewing angles.

The benefits of IPS panels are basically as follows:
1. Better / wider viewing angles.
2. Good color accuracy since IPS panels can truly 16.7m colors (excluding e-IPS panels)
3. No color banding issues unless the source material is the issue.

As a comparison to TN panels...
1. This has already been discussed.
2. TN panels can only create 256k colors. It uses dithering (or blending) of two different colors to create up to 16.7m colors.
3. The use of dithering can cause color banding issues amongst other visual artifacts. Color banding is when the monitor is trying to display a color that is smoothly changing in brightness from one end of the screen to another end. Dithering can sometimes cause these colors to be displayed in bands of colors rather than in smooth gradients.

Below is an example. An IPS panel will display the right most image while a TN panel may display the middle image:

This is an example of what you may experience with a TN panel:

If you saw Batman: The Dark Knight, then during the scene when the Joker blows up the hospital, there are a couple of things that my Asus TN panel (from 2009) monitor displayed that my NEC H-IPS panel monitor does not display:

1. When the Joker is dressed in the nurse uniform his arms changed from normal skin color to dark green as you see him walking away while swinging his arms.
2. The birdseye view of the hospital exploding with lots of thick smoke resulted in very distinct dark gray to black blocks of smoke filling the screen which made the entire scene look very pixellated.


TN panels have come a long way from 4 or 5 years ago, but you will still bump into visual artifact issues from time to time.

 

[blakestock]

Best answer selected by blakestock.

 

[blakestock]

Thanks for all the info! its really helped with making my decisions.

Really helpful community here!

 

[Coopervane]

I just got a samsung 277h 27 inch and 1900 by 1080 and am going to return it ..i had a 24 inch 1900 by 1200 samsung before and for gaming i have found out that the smaller screen and 1200 lines is better then my new big screen 1080i one.... in MW3 i see more jaggey lines then with the smaller higher resoulution 24 inch screen
i dident think going from 1200 lines to 1080 would make as big a difference but that plus the bigger screen size really does ..i,m disappointed ,going back to a 24 inch 1920 by 1200