BenQ XL2720Z Monitor Review: A 27-Inch, 144 Hz Gaming Display

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Fierce Guppy

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What a coincidence. I got a XL2720Z just this Wednesday. I would've preferred to wait for the arrival of Haswell-E before buying a new monitor, but my Samsung T260 emits something that causes reddening of the skin around my nose, above my left eyebrow, and smack in middle of my forehead. (Sunlight and florescent tubes don't do this to me.) Happy to say the XL2720Z does not cause me any injury, or at least not yet...

It's still an interim monitor, though. What I really want is a large affordable WQHD or UHD IPS gaming monitor.
 

MonsterCookie

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When do monitor manufacturers understand, that 1080p resolution is a JOKE,
especially on a large 27" screen?
In the early 2000s it might have been ok to have such resolution, but nowadays
it is no longer usable. Even for a 24" screen the minimal resolution is
1920x1200.
Until they are not making these 27" screens to have more pixels, they are not
seeing any cash out of me. I rather buy el-cheapo monitors from Ebay as a mail
order from Korea.

Monitor manufacturers, please stop living in the 80s and stop hustling us with
your prices!
 

Bernie Fresh

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"oh neat, a new monitor. lets check specs. oh coool 1080p and a bunch of buzz words"
sometimes I feel like nobody is listening... or just trying to sell me a bridge for the low low.
decent review, but if youve got the gpu for 144Hz. 2160p @60 is just a cootie shot away
 

somebodyspecial

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So from the results I still need an IPS with Gsync or you're stuck with TN. I'm hoping by xmas they have a dozen good choices for gsync monitors with 144hz also in there (why not, what if I go AMD again after maxwell?). Might as well get as many bases covered as possible. IF monitor makers are reading this, 2560x1600! Screw this 1440p crap. Wider is NOT better in monitors of these sizes. I want to scroll up & down less than I am already on 1920x1200 but at least at 1600p I get the same. I won't buy 1440p.
 

MonsterCookie

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"oh neat, a new monitor. lets check specs. oh coool 1080p and a bunch of buzz words"
sometimes I feel like nobody is listening... or just trying to sell me a bridge for the low low.
To add offense to injury, in 2008 I bought my first LCD (24" Samsung with 1920x1200 pixels) for 330Euros. Now a 24" Samsung would cost me 400 Euros, and it has only 1920x1080 pixels.

What on earth have happened? Why did prices go up, and resolution went down?
Why are there no 30" 2560x1600 TN panels out there for gamers for 700 Euros?
 

siman0

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When do monitor manufacturers understand, that 1080p resolution is a JOKE,
especially on a large 27" screen?
In the early 2000s it might have been ok to have such resolution, but nowadays
it is no longer usable. Even for a 24" screen the minimal resolution is
1920x1200.
Until they are not making these 27" screens to have more pixels, they are not
seeing any cash out of me. I rather buy el-cheapo monitors from Ebay as a mail
order from Korea.

Monitor manufacturers, please stop living in the 80s and stop hustling us with
your prices!

This monitor is made for gaming, true gamers don't care a grate deal about resolution. We are in it for the refresh rates and the response time. Ive been gaming on a old CRT monitor till last year with a change to the Asus VG248QE. Even though its still much slower than my old CRT it works. I have 2 computers 1 for gaming and one for everyday and video work. Gaming machine is set up around a single R9 290X, 4770K, and a Asus VG monitor. My other computer is a crossfired 295s, 3930K, and 3 IPS 4k monitors.

A single card is better for latency, 4770K is more than enough to push data to the 290X and the monitor has a fast refresh rate. Its better at gaming than my extremely high dollar build. Peripherals are set up differently as you can imagine gaming computer has razer and a 7.1 headset. The other is mostly set up for 2.1 but i do have a 7.1 headset for room sound.
 

MonsterCookie

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@siman0

"This monitor is made for gaming, true gamers don't care a grate deal about resolution"

You meant, online multiplayer gamers don't care a grate deal about resolution.

I prefer to play single-player FPS, where I do want to have all the eye candy,
and I want to see the vegetation, desert, sky etc. The only advantage of a PC is
that it can provide better graphics, that is the main point.

Otherwise I could just go out, buy an 1080p TV, a Crapbox1, Crapbox360, or PlayStopper 4, and game on that thing in 1080p.

I think monitor technology is not moving forward (in fact moving backwards) exactly because people are happy to buy their 1080p crap for 500 Euros.
 

InvalidError

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This seems a little weird to me: the panel uses constant-current to drive LEDs because some people claim to see flicker at ~20kHz PWM frequency yet the very same display uses backlight strobing to reduce blur and this would be occurring at 144-288Hz which is 100X lower.
 
Serious question. Why not just buy a quality HDTV with 120 (or greater) Hz for your gaming monitor? Especially if you'll be gaming at 1920x1080. A neighbor has his PC hooked up to a quality HDTV and it looks great to me. I've played Battlefield on it with no issues at all. It's pretty awesome!
 

Fierce Guppy

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Monster Cookie:
When do monitor manufacturers understand, that 1080p resolution is a JOKE,
especially on a large 27" screen?
In the early 2000s it might have been ok to have such resolution, but nowadays
it is no longer usable. Even for a 24" screen the minimal resolution is
1920x1200.


In the early 2000s CRTs were still the standard. 4:3 was the standard aspect ratio. There were no 1080p LCD monitors let alone large 1080p LCD monitors, and I paid ~$1200(NZD) for a 17" 1280x1024@60Hz (16ms) LCD display in 2003. That's how bad it was back then.
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator

Most 120+Hz TVs take 60Hz input and pulse their backlight 2-5X per frame to reduce blur during display refreshes and perceivable flicker.
 

Fierce Guppy

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DookieDraws:
Serious question. Why not just buy a quality HDTV with 120 (or greater) Hz for your gaming monitor? Especially if you'll be gaming at 1920x1080. A neighbor has his PC hooked up to a quality HDTV and it looks great to me. I've played Battlefield on it with no issues at all. It's pretty awesome!

Try searching for a 120HZ HDTV in my country. See what comes up.
http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=107
 

balister

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@siman0

"This monitor is made for gaming, true gamers don't care a grate deal about resolution"

You meant, online multiplayer gamers don't care a grate deal about resolution.

I prefer to play single-player FPS, where I do want to have all the eye candy,
and I want to see the vegetation, desert, sky etc. The only advantage of a PC is
that it can provide better graphics, that is the main point.

Otherwise I could just go out, buy an 1080p TV, a Crapbox1, Crapbox360, or PlayStopper 4, and game on that thing in 1080p.

I think monitor technology is not moving forward (in fact moving backwards) exactly because people are happy to buy their 1080p crap for 500 Euros.

It has absolutely nothing to do with people being happy with buying them. The reason monitors are being made at 1080p or 1440p is because of media. Media companies set the standard of 16:9 which is why you see the majority of monitors now only being built at 16:9 instead of 16:10. So blame the media companies for basically forcing the monitor manufacturers into 16:9 because there are far more TVs/Monitors that are sold at 16:9 than at 16:10 (this is why there are also so few TVs/Monitors at 2.35 - True Letterbox).

Also, you don't understand why having a monitor refresh above 60Hz is useful, even if you play single player games like FPS. There are two aspects to having a monitor above 60Hz, one is 3D so you can play true 3D (ie, there's true depth of image vs. pseudo-depth where the illusion of 3D is provided through 2D) capable games at a respectable frame rate of 60 or 72 (depending if your monitor is 120Hz or 144Hz) and the second (which has been mentioned) is smoothness in turning (with a 60Hz monitor at 60 FPS, each will only show an arc of 6 degrees if you make a full revolution within one sec where as a 120 Hz monitor at 120 FPS will have an arc of 3 degrees if you make a full revolution within 1 sec).

There is a very noticeable difference when playing between a 120+ Hz monitor and a 60 Hz monitor. It's not something that can be really imparted well through explaination, it's more something you have to see yourself. After spending a few years gaming on a 120Hz monitor, I really can't go back to 60Hz without getting some level or motion sickness due to the fluidity of movement on a 120Hz monitor where I can notice the "jerkiness" in a 60Hz monitor.
 

tankNZ

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Great article!
li3a.png
 

tankNZ

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cool!<img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/epU/bg_FFFFFF/txt_DEDEDE/border_F7F7F7/flags_1.jpg" width="1" height="1">
 

gsxrme

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Hard market this monitor will be. Asus released a 27" 4k 60Hz display for $600. Personally I have 2 cards and 60 FPS is fine for me as well as 4k would be fantastic!
 

rafael_1414

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People like me buy ' gaming' monitors not just for the high refresh rate, but also for the fast response time.

I can game on a normal monitor just fine, but at times I crave a smoother gaming experience without noticeable blur. At the end of a gaming session I just switch back to my regular monitor.
 

Darkmatterx

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Since I do photography and gaming (but not competitive FPS) I've been waiting and waiting like everyone else. Unfortunately my monitor is starting to go and I don't know how much longer I can wait. Is there ANY hint out there that there is a new, better, panel tech in the works that might be out by the end of 2014?

WARNING: Incoming run on sentence.
Like a lot of people I would love to see a new or upgraded panel tech that gives me at least 27" ABOVE 1920x1200 at 120Hz+ with 8bit sRGB and AdobeRGB that has close colour accuracy when calibrated, even colour and light distrubition, low to nil light bleed, with a response of no more then 5ms.

Grats if you got through that without having to stop for a breath. :)

SO! Anyone know if anything is on the horizon that will do something like that? So that we can start merging the needs of photographers and gamers into one?

Thanks!
 

XGrabMyY

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1080p TN panel? Why does this disgusting piece of shit even bother existing?

When will 1440p/1600p IPS panels reach 120Hz in non-junk brands?
 
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