Acer TN 27"XG270HU vs Acer IPS 27"XB270HU

SoNaut

Commendable
Jul 4, 2016
11
0
1,510
Hey all

Im just curious whether or not the G-Sync is worth the extra $300 difference or if other features on the monitor are worth it. I am getting the GTX 1080 and am just curious if its really a waste of money getting it just for g-sync.
 
Solution
Best monitor (for NVidia) IMO has:

GSYNC
IPS
27"+
2560x1440+

The Asus model is about $750USD.

Is it "worth it"?
IMO, yes. Very much so.

*I would recommend a GTX1070 if the price difference of the GTX1080 prevents the above monitor.

I'll attempt to explain GSYNC briefly below.
The G-Sync isn't what makes up the difference.
The XG270HU is a freesync 1440p TN panel, meaning it has poor viewing angles and duller colours.
G-Sync does add an extra $100 to the monitor itself, but the other feature on the XB270HU is an IPS panel, which results in vibrant colors and great viewing angles, meaning that the shift in brightness you see while looking at a TN monitor is eliminated.
It is worth getting the XB270HU in my opinion if you have a 1080 as I do, because of the amazing colors and the overall better experience it gives you in gaming. Enable G-Sync when you get lower frames to make it look buttery smooth.
This means you can crank up the settings to max and not worry about stuttering or screen tearing, well worth it imo.
 
XB270HU is better not only due to GSync but also due to the better panel type (IPS).

If you put the panel type topic aside, I have XB270HU since April 2015...here is my experience...I hope you are already familiar that in order to use GSync, you need nVidia GPU.

These are my opinions beside that GSync will eliminate any kinds of screen tearing.
If your PC can push fps really high let say over 90 fps as example, GSync is a pure huge waste of money.
If your PC can only push moderate fps e.g. 30-60 fps, GSync will make the game somehow felt smoother. This is where I like having GSync. 40 fps game with GSync is still nowhere near the smoothness of 90 fps, GSync is not magic, do not forget this.
Does it worth the money, only you can answer.

Going from XG270HU to XB270HU cost more but it is not only due to GSync. The panel type of XB270HU is also better.
 

That's the upside! :)
The technology is there for you to use if the situation calls for it. Obviously if you're playing CS:GO for example G-Sync will not do you any good, but if you're playing AoTS or The Witcher 3 at 1440p max settings with hairworks enabled, it will work wonders.
It's always good to have the option to crank stuff up right to the max and indulge in the visuals, especially with that IPS panel. :)
Got the XB271HU myself and an MSI Gaming X 1080, not a single regret.
 

That's the upside! :)
The technology is there for you to use if the situation calls for it. Obviously if you're playing CS:GO for example G-Sync will not do you any good, but if you're playing AoTS or The Witcher 3 at 1440p max settings with hairworks enabled, it will work wonders.
It's always good to have the option to crank stuff up right to the max and indulge in the visuals, especially with that IPS panel. :)
Got the XB271HU myself and an MSI Gaming X 1080, not a single regret.
 
Best monitor (for NVidia) IMO has:

GSYNC
IPS
27"+
2560x1440+

The Asus model is about $750USD.

Is it "worth it"?
IMO, yes. Very much so.

*I would recommend a GTX1070 if the price difference of the GTX1080 prevents the above monitor.

I'll attempt to explain GSYNC briefly below.
 
Solution
GSYNC:
You've likely looked into this, but asking if it's worth it or not suggests you don't truly understand the benefits. Most don't. It's a bit confusing. (understanding VSYNC and similar methods and how to tweak is probably the most important thing a gamer should know).

Normal, synchronous monitors update at a specific interval. 60Hz for example updates every 1/60th of a second. This causes PROBLEMS for gamers.

SCREEN TEARING.
Mixing different GPU frames because the GPU output and monitor are not synchronized. The solution is thus VSYNC however this adds latency because it has to BUFFER the GPU frame until it's time for the monitor to draw it. Thus results in not only LAG (sluggishness) but also STUTTER at times, especially if your GPU can't output fast enough (i.e. below 60FPS on 60Hz monitor; this causes missed frames and thus mixed frame times showing as micro-stuttering.

VSYNC CAP:
On a 144Hz monitor the lag is minimal with VSYNC ON if you can output at least 144FPS. That's almost ideal, except doing so is very difficult so you'll likely get VSYNC STUTTER by dropping below the FPS target or give up and NOT use VSYNC to get screen tearing. (one solution is to force Adaptive or "Half" Adaptive Sync to toggle VSYNC ON or OFF automatically but even that's not ideal. (Half Adaptive synchs to 72FPS output on 144Hz monitor so two refreshes for one GPU frame output... it's a very good idea for 144Hz monitor owners without asynchronous support)

TWEAKING:
This is a hassle due to all of the above. Ever start a game and it's locked to say 60FPS and smooth, then stutters? If you know what you're doing then maybe you use Adaptive Sync, or just drop the settings (using VSYNC ON) for a solid 60FPS though again with some lag.

But... sigh, after several minutes you get big stutters, or micro-stutters or if VSYNC is OFF then screen tear is too annoying.. AAAaargh!!

**GSYNC->
With GSYNC the monitor refreshes when TOLD to from the GPU. This solves a lot of issues.
a) no screen tear
b) no lag due to a VSYNC buffer
- when VSYNC is enabled if you hit 144FPS (144Hz) then at least lag should be fairly small. Another option is an FPS cap though I'm not sure if NVidia has a simple way yet to do that. Keep that in mind for the future.
c) much less TWEAKING due to attempting to meet a specific FPS minimum when using VSYNC
d) can get away with LESS GPU processing for a similar or better gaming experience

Cheers!

Other:
FREESYNC.
It can work about the same as GSYNC. Especially if 144Hz but unfortunately I can't recommend any of the high-end AMD cards yet. If they had a GTX1070 competitor that would be a different story.

It's worth noting that many FreeSync monitors do NOT work well. AMD fixed mostly the issue of NO synchronous support on the low end with a driver update. Long story short is that the max/min ratio must be at least 2.5X. So 30Hz to 75Hz does work (though not as good as 144Hz since your game can go above max too easily at 75FPS).

Many Freesync monitors are 30Hz->60Hz, or 40Hz to 60Hz, or 40Hz to 75Hz none of which work well. If you get a 40Hz to 60Hz range then it's fairly smooth between 40FPS and 60FPS only.

Not an issue for this post likely but I thought I should mention it.

(GSYNC laptops work the same as Freesync, however I believe they enforce a 30Hz to 75Hz range to ensure the driver frame doubling works properly, thus dropping below 30FPS doesn't cause major issues.)
 
Thanks guys from letting me know and decide what I should do!

Im in Australia so the prices are a little more on the expensive side. Surely I can do without a brand new monitor for an extra week or two, just thought there wasnt much of a difference between the monitors besides G-Sync and Free-Sync. I have a GTX 960 now and just looking at upgrading basically everything and was hoping to get extremely high fps on a 1440p monitor @ 144hz because if im going to upgrade, I may aswell upgrade big! I know I probably wont reach 144fps all the time, but im not fussed on AA and Shadow Textures that much so im sure I can make sacrifices even though I probably dont need to.

Looks like ill be going for the XB270HU G-Sync monitor then!
 


Aaaay, same here! :)
I think PCCG recently discounted the XB270HU to 849, take a look at that.