Does monitor Overdrive make low fps content look worse?

[Timekeepsonslippin]

I find with low fps content (around 30fps + or - however many frames) that with Overdrive turned on at all (any of the 4 settings) it appears unnatural and less pleasant to look at, turning it off looks much more like what I assume is the intended appearance. Even with higher fps I seem to run into situations where I prefer the natural looking blur of having no Overdrive to the sped up look that occurs with it on. Sometimes it seems like there's more continuity to the motion with OD turned off.

Got this new AOC G2260VWQ6 monitor recently and I'm still not sure if I should just keep the OD off, or turn it on sometimes, like in certain faster paced games and some high fps videos (60fps). The blur reduction and faster pixel response time sometimes seems good, but I'm definitely leaning towards it not being good all the time.

From what I've read my HDMI to DVI adapter shouldn't degrade the quality of the image at all. I'm not sure if it might be an old HDMI standard that might not allow sufficient data through or something... would be good to figure out if that's the case. I don't have any other cables to test with. I've thought of getting a Displayport cable at some point since I'll need it eventually when I get a Freesync compatible GPU for this monitor. I'm very curious if the monitor will work any better with another cable.

 

[Timekeepsonslippin]

I should probably mention that with low fps content, instead of it having some degree of a flow to its appearance, overdrive makes it look like it's stuttering between positions when things are moving. OD off doesn't completely fix it, but it's much more appealing to my eyes.

 

[Timekeepsonslippin]

Given Overdrive some more time, there are actually a lot of situations where I like OD even in low fps/low quality content. It does seem to depend on what specifically one is viewing. I wish there were a way to press one button to reach the Overdrive setting. As it stands you're looking at a minimum of 8-9 or more button presses depending on your accuracy, to switch the OD from Off to Weak (I find Weak to be the best OD setting). There is content where having OD turned off is probably a better viewing experience because of how the image seems to flow, it's more like watching on old TVs or something, it can feel a bit like a slideshow with OD turned on.

Comparing it with the old monitor this replaced which didn't have OD afaik, I definitely notice the difference between on and off, and never realized how much of a handicap my old monitor must have been for gaming. You can very clearly see how much sooner the display shows events happening from instance to instance. Basically the image seems to be less sluggish in showing what's going on. I checked a review that showed the difference in the monitor's response time with OD on and off and got a clear indication in numbers of just how much faster it is.

Pretty dang satisfied with this monitor for $150 CAD + taxes/shipping. The colors are really good for a TN panel. I'd like to have options for sharpness but it doesn't give you that on this monitor if you use digital cables, only for analog. My Benq monitors had sharpness options which I really liked, some games look way cooler with it turned up IMO, and I tended to use my desktop with sharpness turned up as well, it seemed easier on the eyes. Other than that, it would be nice to have 144Hz, but this will do since I don't have a lot of money to spend. I also love the 21.5" size for my desk since I don't have a lot of room, and the pixel density makes it a lot more appealing than a 23-24" at this range. One review I read said it's the only 21.5" 1080p gaming monitor with Freesync available.

I would love it more if there weren't the one seemingly permanently stuck red pixel close to the middle of the screen. From what I understand I'm probably not covered under the manufacturer's warranty for only 1 red pixel, and even if I were I don't really want to RMA it since I don't have a spare monitor handy while it's gone.

Anyway yeah, good monitor, I feel like I have about the best 60Hz monitor one could hope to have as far as being able to game (without the potential handicap of using a slower IPS panel, especially at this price range, which I consider important), yet enjoy a lot of other content on. Like I said the colors are quite spiffy. It would be great to have the color range of an IPS panel, but I'm not certain based on what I've heard if I could put up with IPS glow. If I had the money for a 2nd monitor I'd probably go for an IPS. Preferably I'd have a 144Hz TN with Freesync for gaming, and a high quality IPS as well, perhaps also at 144Hz, and use it for every game that I'm not being seriously competitive with. I could game on the IPS, but if I wanted the absolute fastest speed possible would switch to my TN to make sure I'm not held back by the monitor. Hopefully OLED will become not too expensive in a few years and I can just get by with this monitor until then. Maybe they'll have worked out some of the issues of that emerging technology by then.