AMVA or IPS panel, 21.5" or 24" monitor from 19.5" TN panel as an upgrade

[Ikmalhidayat]

(been awhile since i'd online Tom's Hardware)

Currently, my Acer x203H 19.5" TN monitor is dying (used for 10 years, im actually amazed myself), showing lcd clouding badly and permanent lcd bubbling and some shades. as im trying to find a replacement, many factors are what i need to determine my decision.

Right now, im dealing with a 2nd hand owner of BenQ GW2470H, a 23.8" AMVA true 8bit monitor if he/she's actually want to sell his/her rarely used monitor and i really like and frustrating (slow and lack of response from the seller)
Alternatively, i found online BenQ GW2270H (new), similar monitor spec but with 21.5" instead.
Also, i've come across online Samsung S24F350F (S24F350FHE), 23.5" PLS (IPS) [strike]true 8bit[/strike] monitor. (is uncertain and hard to confirm)

Pricing (from what i found locally/online and direct currency conversion)
BenQ GW2470H (2nd-and): USD86.11, EUR75.66, GBP67.26
BenQ GW2270H: USD87.31, EUR76.75, GBP68.17 (another 4 dollar/pound with shipping)
Samsung S24F350FHE: USD92.81, EUR81.58, GBP72.49 (another 3 dollar/pound with shipping)

Both BenQ uses a VGA and 2 HDMI 1.4b as input while Samsung only has a VGA and 1 HDMI (assuming it's 1.4b). I've been using DVI-D cable but my card do support HDMI out.

Problems;
1. AMVA has better contrast ratio than IPS and AMVA do not suffer IPS Glow from IPS. Is IPS Glow only a thing when viewed at an angle and not from straight on? IPS tend to have better colour but is the BenQ comparable comparable to Samsung's PLS? I dont really care with viewing angle though.

2. as i used to 19.5" 900p, will 21.5" 1080p be too small? i meant like texts and suchs. or will 24" be better in text size? if the text isnt too small, is 21.5" worth it?

3. if you notice, [strike]all 3 monitors[/strike] the BenQs that i want to decide is all true 8bit (no FRC). i purposely search for true 8bit (and it was hard) as i do image editing. but is true 8bit actually better than most monitor which feature 8bit/FRC? is this even matter at all actually?

4. again with the true 8 bit stuff, is it worth than 8bit/FRC? as i do actually consider BenQ GW2280 which uses VA (not AMVA) and uses 8bit/FRC (and has build in speaker, could be useful for bring the monitor out). also i do consider Acer V226HQL (VA panel) if again, 8bit/FRC isnt a big deal.

5. I do intend for movies but i do image editing as well and some gaming as well. i thought that the AMVA would be great for my purpose but many says VA can be very bad at response time, worse than IPS. i dont know about these monitors though. Also, can VA's ghosting or response be improve much with overdrive? (dont know how)

6. as i do need 75Hz, all 3 monitors seem not saying 75Hz as "default" or just say its 60Hz. i do looked more and based on displayspecification.com, all are capable up to 76Hz for BenQ, 75Hz for Samsung. the BenQ GW2470H i found in forum did show that the display is capable to overclock up to 80Hz and a bit more with a bit colour washout.
I need the 75Hz so that for videos, i can set 72Hz for 24fps playback and 75Hz for 25fps playback.
What im concern about is especially the Samsung if the monitor can do 75Hz stable.

7. The Samsung supports AMD Freesync. I do use AMD Radeon but not FreeSync capable. But this seems to benefit me in future if i upgrade with FreeSync support (and for video as well). Also i do saw the Samsung has "Game mode", not really sure what it does.

I would prefer the BenQ GW2470H but only if the seller responds and agree to sell (been for 3 days now)
But finding the BenQ GW2270H in new condition and the Samsung S24F350FHE with AMD FreeSync support at just a tad pricier than the BenQ 23.8" just do factors me a lot.
Is IPS better? or do VA's black better benefits to the ips glow and less contrast ratio of the Samsung but theoritically better colour? (not entirely sure with colour accuracy with the Samsung)
Or should i ditch the true 8bit idea and choose more other monitor like BenQ GW2280 or Acer V226HQL (VA panel)?

Well, sorry for very long words and many paragraph but hopefully your answers can help me to decide which 3 monitors (or 5 monitors) should i get.

Extra;
I do use a CRT monitor as well, its Acer AC713. the CRT will be "the judge" for new monitor but 1080p on it is too small to see.

 

[k1114]

Pls is ips for all intents and purposes and will be grouped and stated as ips, just like ahva. These are just getting into specific panel types or rights issues which we don't need to get into for a user standpoint.

1. Ips glow is at all angles. Ips don't tend to have better color for the reasons many people think. The viewing angles are the only reason on some ips monitors that it has better color. This is especially true on cheaper ips. Ips tend to have better contrast than tn which gives it better color gamut but the contrast of va makes it have better color gamut than ips. Accuracy can be similar among all panel types, although varies more from model to model, and the differences in color are largely down to the other factors previously mentioned. To really compare color you have to compare in depth reviews between models which isn't possible on many models.

2. Depends on you. You might want to see for yourself.

3. These aren't true 8 bit panels. They're 6 bit with frc. I know it says "true 8 bit color performance" but that's marketing speak for "I'm tricking you thinking it's true 8 bit by adding color performance." You don't find cheap monitors that are true 8 bit. Depending on the frc algorithm, it'll be close enough. Check reviews for banding.

4. Amva is just a specific va but it doesn't matter just like stating ips vs specifically stating e-ips, ah-ips, etc.

5. All monitors have overdrive these days. If reviews don't mention ghosting issues than the response times are fine.

6. Just like saying the monitors are true 8 bit, that site is often wrong. These are 60 hz monitors if you have them running at 1080p. Most monitors run 75hz on lower res but that's not useful. Overclocking will vary among monitors. It's a lottery just like any other ocing. You can run 24 or 25 fps with 60hz monitors. I realize 72hz and 75hz are multiples but I see no real reason why you can't just run at 48hz and 50hz. Depending on the media, all the people viewing the content are still viewing it at 60hz and is why most video editors don't change the monitor hz but then I don't know the details of what you do.

7. I don't see a question. I could agree with what was said. Game mode just changes color and contrast settings.

 

[Ikmalhidayat]

thanks for an answer, k1114

1. Oh, so ips glow still persist at any angle. Though im not sure but is ips glow something like bloom effect or "backlight bloom as if a backlight behind an object"? So, ips vs va in colour accuracy is still depending on the panel then.

2. Guess i need a trip to pc store to look at monitors as sample...

3. I did a research as when i was searching for 8 bit panel i encountered, and both BenQ are true 8 bit panel without FRC.
BenQ GW2470H panel, AOU Optronics Corp. M238HVN01.0
http://www.panelook.com/M238HVN01.0_AUO_23.8_LCM_parameter_24330.html
BenQ GW2270H panel, AOU Optronic Corp. T215HVN01.1
http://www.panelook.com/T215HVN01.1_AUO_21.5_LCM_parameter_23623.html
The Samsung is not possibly true 8 bit though as i cant find the panel model used in S24F350FHE.
(all information about panels, i found at here http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/monitor_panel_parts.htm )
Though im not sure if true 8 bit is any different than 6bit+FRC, just that i found in some forum or reddit which if about image editing, true 8 bit is recommended as dithering with FRC will mess up some colour or something, or so i read.

4. Actually is about the true 8bit and 6bit+FRC. But yeah AMVA is one of specific VA panel type with better colour, etc.

5. I thought the overdrive is to be done manually by user. Is just that i remembered with my old graphic card, in radeon setting, i have overdrive tab and adjust the overdrive to reduce ghosting or trail or so.

6. Is just that i dont like pulldown effect of 3:2 when vwatching 24fps with 60Hz and i did fix that with my current dying monitor by setting a custom resolution (to native) and refresh rate to multiples of the video fps (24*3=72). Im using MPC which has internal resolution changer depending on video source if enabled.
I can manually do custom refresh rate since my monitor is native 900p@75Hz.
the thing that run 48Hz and 50Hz is that, i could if the monitor supports the refresh rate. (and triple frame rate actually feels smoother for ui too)
I feel this refresh rate change is important to me as im used to my sony tv that can change its refresh rate depending on video source (and why i cant satisfy with playing videos on pc till i discovered about this).
Although if i use 144Hz these stuffs is unnecessary.

7. I guess not a question XP. I thought the game mode would be like backlight strobing or reduce input lag or that kinda of stuffs.

Though this still concerns me, is VA panel really bad for its trailing and ghosting that even overdrive barely improves it?


Actually, maybe i need someone who has one of these monitors to know more about their experience with the monitors specified, instead of asking VA vs IPS kind of question>>

 

[k1114]

1. Ips glow is only seen on darker coolers and is not the same as backlight bleed which is seen on all colors. Ips glow also shifts with viewing angle.

4. AMVA does not mean better color. People say the same thing with ah-ips and we seen ah-ips comparable to low end e-ips. Specific panel type is not relevant to the actual performance.

5. Amd overdrive is for ocing. It has never and will never be able to change monitor response times. The only thing that can do that is the monitor itself because it deals with the monitor's processing. The overdrive setting is rarely called overdrive.

You can't just say all va when it depends on the monitor. You're generalizing which doesn't help when the only way to compare monitors is by specific monitor model and not panel type. When a pro review can't be found, your only choice is user reviews which could state if they have any issues you are concerned about.

 

[Ikmalhidayat]

Again, thank you for more info.

5. I see. So the the manual overdrive helps with the by-effect of the screen when the display is overclock (i assume that display own overdrive doesnt set the optimum at overclocked rate)

Sorry for that. Is just that reviews are really hard (and mostly not in language i know) to find that im ended up with ips vs va thing.

I do want to try something different as i think my tv is ips and how different is va panel but things are still dependent on its monitor model.

Again, thank you. As for this, i may choose either BenQ model as my decision but if you (or anyone) can recommend a different model that may seems worth for at similar pricing.
(i gues deciding a monitor seems harder than deciding pc parts and especially when monitor is usually last or not priority to decide first, at least thats what i think)

 

[k1114]

5. No, ocing has nothing to do with changing overdrive. I think the name is just confusing you. Amd overdrive has nothing to do with this.

Monitors are hard to choose because there is a lot of info that can't be found about most models. The specs are typically just industry standards, not the actual or they put artificial numbers for marketing. I won't say they're fake but things like response times are best possible with inverse ghosting, and no one will be setting the overdrive that high when it causes that. There's also a lot of misconceptions about panel types and it gets worse when generalizations are used.