Best 1440p Budget Monitor?

[Jon Bartlett]

Title says most of it...so yeah I'll be having a msi gtx780 lightning so I'm pretty sure I can handle 1440p. The monitor I'm looking at is $350 QNIX 27", which seems to be everyone's personal favorite. However, QNIX's 1,000:1 6ms doesn't look as good as the Asus PB series with 80,000,000:1 and 5ms. Any thoughts?
QNIX:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3PC1705689
ASUS:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236294
My current build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2y1tX

 

[cookybiscuit]

The two use the same Samsung panel and both are incorrectly listed with regards to their response time, they are both 8ms. Pluses for the Qnix are less input lag and higher overclocking as it doesn't have a scaler. Pluses for the Asus are that it doesn't have a crappier stand and has better customer service.

Asus is the safe option, Qnix is the one to go with if you want a better monitor.

 

[Jon Bartlett]

I take it that the Qnix customer service is all in korean? 😀
How reliable are the Qnix's then? Because it looks like a great deal but if it's 15% failure or more then I don't want to do it.

 

[cookybiscuit]

They seem fine, the only cheapo knockoff components are stuff like the plastic casing and stand.

One thing I would say if you aren't willing to open the monitor to fix backlight bleed then you may not be the smartest of decisions, with the Asus you'd be able to return it, with the Qnix you are stuck unless its so bad its defective. They seem to have bleed more often than a 'normal' monitor.

You can gauge some idea of the reliability and issues people have with them from the graph in the OP's post here.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1384767/official-the-korean-pls-monitor-club-qnix-x-star

I've got two and they both do 120Hz, have no dead pixels, one has no backlight bleed, the other had a bit on the side and bottom that was dramatically reduced by taking it apart to fix it (takes 20 mins if you know how). I was in the same dilemma when choosing to get one or not (worrying if they'd break), reading through that thread I posted every time someone got a defective one (e.g. lines of dead pixels, blocks of dead pixels, dead on arrival) they had them replaced, I still wouldn't like to send one back if I could avoid it, time consuming compared to doing it in your own country.

If you have a problem with it you contact the Ebay seller, they speak English.

 

[Optimus_Toaster]

I can also vouch for the QNIX, mine is OC'd to 110Hz from the day I got it and I have had no problems with dead pixels or backlight bleed.

The only downside is that other monitors and screens will seem worse due to how good the display is on it.