Question Gaming monitor advice, 27" too big?

[wicked_sticky]

I didn't do any research last time and bought a TN 1080p 27" monitor. IDK if it was the size, size+resolution, and/or the panel type... It's painful to look at for extended periods of time. I have to push it back to game, pull it forward to be able to read text.

The previous monitor was a Samsung 226BW... Beautiful display BUT too small, and a lot of games would cut off the L/R edges of the picture as opposed to adding height on the native 1680:1050 resolution



TLDR:
-what panel type should I look for, IPS?
-Assuming it's 1440p-ish, at least 100hz, is 27" too big?
-would a non 16:9, ie widescreen, display cut off the top/bottom of the display or add extra width in "most games" (or just show black bars)?
-What would be a good $125-$225 for gaming/multipurpose models to consider.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

You might let us know your system specs. Choosing a monitor without that info, is like a shot in the dark.

You could go for something like this: Gigabyte M27Q P

Or maybe the one I have: MSI G272QPF.

$225 is a little low for a good experience. But again, knowing your specs would help.

For more info:

The issue with your current monitor is it's low pixel density for 27inch monitors. It's about 81 ppi. At 1440p with a 27inch the pixel density is 108 ppi. That's why you have to push and pull the monitor away or towards you for different tasks.

 

[CelicaGT]

27" is a bit big for a 1080p monitor, but it really depends on your viewing distance. On resolution, consider your system BEFORE going to a higher resolution monitor. Can your GPU push that many pixels at a reasonable framerate? Ideally, when designing or purchasing a system we START with panel resolution and target framerate then choose components to achieve that. More resolution = more money, now and down the road so choose wisely. On panel type: IPS is the best of most worlds, good colour reproduction even in lower tier panels, decent response times etc but can suffer from light bleed and "IPS" glow. More so on lower tier panels. VA has nice deep blacks and punchy colour but suffers bleed and smeering even on higher end panels. In your budget I won't bother mentioning other types. As for games getting cut off, that is an issue with one of your settings, either in game or on the monitor. It should not be doing that. Make sure you don't have any Zoom or Fit to frame type settings enable on the monitors On Screen Display menu.

 

[wicked_sticky]

I'm going either QHD or WQHD, 100Hz or more is fine. Desktoo still has a *GTX 970, laptop 6500m. I've got to get the monitor first to justify a new GPU.

As for games getting cut off, that is an issue with one of your settings, either in game or on the monitor. It should not be doing that. Make sure you don't have any Zoom or Fit to frame type settings enable on the monitors On Screen Display menu.

It probabky doesn't matter since most *ultra wide QHD are even bigger than I'd prefer. But my point was: zoom to fit a 4:3 show on a 16:9 display will just cut a little off the top/bottom of the picture. Im guessing 16:9 is the standard now, a 21:9 monitor would have a narrower top/bottom field of view.

*Edit: GTX 970 not 980

 

[CelicaGT]

I'm going either QHD or WQHD, 100Hz or more is fine. Desktoo still has a GTX 980, laptop 6500m. I've got to get the monitor first to justify a new GPU.


It probabky doesn't matter since most WQHD are even bigger than I'd prefer. But my point was: zoom to fit a 4:3 show on a 16:9 display will just cut a little off the top/bottom of the picture. Im guessing 16:9 is the standard now, a 21:9 monitor would have a narrower top/bottom field of view.

16:9 is the general standard now yes. As for going QHD you will be solidly in the RTX4070(any variant)/RX7900XT zone if you want 100Hz/FPS consistently. For that to last 5 or six years at that performance level (when considering new AAA titles) you should be looking at 4080(Super)/7900XTX levels. Before committing be absolutely certain you want to spend that kind of money, and keep spending that money on future upgrades. Monitors last a long time. Staying at 1080p keeps costs way down for high refresh gaming. It really does depend on the titles you play however. Older titles, and many indies have much lower requirements. I only advise while considering the worst case, so as to err on the side of caution.

 

[wicked_sticky]

Or maybe the one I have: MSI G272QPF

Done. Thanks.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Done. Thanks.

You went with the MSI? How much was it going for? Let me know what you think. I absolutely love it. By far the nicest monitor I've had. It also has a seamless overdrive so goes up to 170hz with a simple change. HDR looks amazing. It's IPS, which I love. Before I got it I tried an AOC 27in VA curved. Whilst the monitor itself looked fabulous, the ghosting I had on it was horrendous. I immediately returned it (Thank God for Amazon!) The MSI is the replacement. Freesync/Gsync work flawlessly. Good choice 👍

 

[wicked_sticky]

You went with the MSI? How much was it going for? Let me know what you think. I absolutely love it. By far the nicest monitor I've had. It also has a seamless overdrive so goes up to 170hz with a simple change. HDR looks amazing. It's IPS, which I love. Before I got it I tried an AOC 27in VA curved. Whilst the monitor itself looked fabulous, the ghosting I had on it was horrendous. I immediately returned it (Thank God for Amazon!) The MSI is the replacement. Freesync/Gsync work flawlessly. Good choice 👍

Was $219, on hold, need pick it up.

I bought my wife an MSI laptop 2018 one for me in 2019. Her IPS display it's by far the nicest "screen" in the house. Neither had any issues yet, it made sense to just go with MSI (for brand loyalty and to stop looking at monitor reviews)

The MSI VA monitor (G271CQR) is $169, the price is enticing I might go look at that in person if I can muster the energy

 

[35below0]

If you're looking at enticing prices and IF~! you don't mind the 1080p resolution, the Dell 2721HGF is sometimes available for under $200. It's curved, VA type, 144Hz 16:9 1080p. Good for the money. Of course 1080p is without a future, but if that's not an issue it might be a good pick.
IPS panels are generally better except for contrast and sometimes color.

As for 27" being too big, i have a 32" Dell, and it seems too big. For gaming it is ok if it's first person but for general use it seems it takes days just to track my eyes from corner to corner.
I think 27" is my ideal size.

 

[wicked_sticky]

If you're looking at enticing prices and IF~! you don't mind the 1080p resolution, the Dell 2721HGF is sometimes available for under $200. It's curved, VA type, 144Hz 16:9 1080p. Good for the money. Of course 1080p is without a future, but if that's not an issue it might be a good pick.
IPS panels are generally better except for contrast and sometimes color.

As for 27" being too big, i have a 32" Dell, and it seems too big. For gaming it is ok if it's first person but for general use it seems it takes days just to track my eyes from corner to corner.
I think 27" is my ideal size.

I wouldn't spend money on a 1920x1080 monitor or tv in 2024, It's just not worth it regardless of refresh rate. I can barely tell 30hz from 60hz. Difference between a "good" 1080p and dozen used free ones that show up on local site every month is too small.

*Edit ps no citism of anyone who's buying a 1080p monitor. Most of my county will not take electronic waste, my garage is full of 720 and 1080p TV's and monitors.

 

[CelicaGT]

I wouldn't spend money on a 1920x1080 monitor or tv in 2024, It's just not worth it regardless of refresh rate. I can barely tell 30hz from 60hz. Difference between a "good" 1080p and dozen used free ones that show up on local site every month is too small.

*Edit ps no citism of anyone who's buying a 1080p monitor. Most of my county will not take electronic waste, my garage is full of 720 and 1080p TV's and monitors.

1080p is a great resolution for people on a budget and is the defacto for E-Sports. It takes 2x the GPU power to get similar performance at 1440p vs 1080p, 4x to go from 1080p to 4K. And THAT is why I tell people to start their build with the monitor. 4x the GPU "horsepower"costs about 4x as much money, plus the cost of PSU and cooling to carry all that. Is it worth the cost? Not for me. I will not pay 3200CAD for a GPU to push 4K panels that look identical to my 1440p panels at my viewing distance. Some people will and thats cool for them. I actually did consider going down to 1080p as there's some compelling monitors at a very good price range. That would have cut my GPU budget nearly in half as well and all I would be giving up is smoother fonts and lines. Ultimately I kept my 1440p panels and got a 4070Ti. For now I'm happy, but it's gonna cost me 800CAD in displays vs. 500CAD when I replace these ones.

As far as high refresh rates go, high frequencies can hide a LOT of sins. I can disable Vsync on my little 144Hz Acer laptop and I get no visible tearing. The screen refreshes fast enough it can't be seen (by me, other people may be more sensitive to it). It does make the poor thing sound like it's about to lift off the table under its own power while melting down in the process though, so I keep everything capped at 72Hz. It's a terribly inaccurate display colour wise but it's quite nice to look at oddly. Smooth as glass.

 

[35below0]

...It takes 2x the GPU power to get similar performance at 1440p vs 1080p, 4x to go from 1080p to 4K. And THAT is why I tell people to start their build with the monitor...

That is really smart. The monitor then determines the GPU & CPU needed to make full use of it. Which then determines the motherboard and PSU. Compatible/supported RAM follows from there and there's most of the build done except for storage and sundry stuff.

Starting from the motherboard misses the point. It is the bedrock component that everything has to fit around, but it is not the purpose of a build.

Back to the topic. I would not actually recommend 1080p but i would suggest taking it into consideration. There are a lot of different use cases, and it's possible to be very happy with a 1080p model.

 

[CelicaGT]

That is really smart. The monitor then determines the GPU & CPU needed to make full use of it. Which then determines the motherboard and PSU. Compatible/supported RAM follows from there and there's most of the build done except for storage and sundry stuff.

Starting from the motherboard misses the point. It is the bedrock component that everything has to fit around, but it is not the purpose of a build.

Back to the topic. I would not actually recommend 1080p but i would suggest taking it into consideration. There are a lot of different use cases, and it's possible to be very happy with a 1080p model.

1080p is a bridge too far for me as well, and I'm able to budget for higher so I did. If however, I only had 1000CAD for the core build, 1080p is where I would be. I could get a fantastic gaming experience at that budget. Consider that an RTX3060 could have all the visual goodies on Ultra and likely still break 100fps in most AAA titles. It's a compelling argument for a budget system and it's also why it's the most popular screen resolution.

 

[wicked_sticky]

1080p is a bridge too far for me as well, and I'm able to budget for higher so I did. If however, I only had 1000CAD for the core build, 1080p is where I would be. I could get a fantastic gaming experience at that budget. Consider that an RTX3060 could have all the visual goodies on Ultra and likely still break 100fps in most AAA titles. It's a compelling argument for a budget system and it's also why it's the most popular screen resolution.

^^100% agree. I'm sticking with 1440p but reinstalling some 2012-2015 era games. fine at 1080p w/GTX 660ti . Struggling at same setting at 1440p with a much more powerful card & double the vram. I won't be excceeding 60hz on anything modern with midrange anytime soon

 

[wicked_sticky]

You went with the MSI? How much was it going for? Let me know what you think. I absolutely love it. By far the nicest monitor I've had. It also has a seamless overdrive so goes up to 170hz with a simple change. HDR looks amazing. It's IPS, which I love. Before I got it I tried an AOC 27in VA curved. Whilst the monitor itself looked fabulous, the ghosting I had on it was horrendous. I immediately returned it (Thank God for Amazon!) The MSI is the replacement. Freesync/Gsync work flawlessly. Good choice 👍

So, I waited to get a new GPU with a 1440p monitor. Went yesterday to buy both

...I got talked into getting the Acer Nitro XV272U V3BMIIPRX for $10 more. (Is it a better monitor? Neither minitors were on display)

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

So, I waited to get a new GPU with a 1440p monitor. Went yesterday to buy both

...I got talked into getting the Acer Nitro XV272U V3BMIIPRX for $10 more. (Is it a better monitor? Neither minitors were on display)

I guess that's arguable. Here is a side by side comparison on RTings.com : https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tool...4qrf-qd/23638/19535?usage=3623&threshold=0.10

They are for the most part close in everyway, with the Acer leading in a few scenarios and MSI in others. The one you chose is also a v good monitor.

 

[wicked_sticky]

I guess that's arguable. Here is a side by side comparison on RTings.com : https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tool...4qrf-qd/23638/19535?usage=3623&threshold=0.10

They are for the most part close in everyway, with the Acer leading in a few scenarios and MSI in others. The one you chose is also a v good monitor.

Not quite the same Nitro V3b... instead of the KVB. Although the did have the KV for a the same price V3 higher brightness in HDR10 180hz 0.5ms vs 170hz 1ms.Z. Their are a few other XV272U's cheaper and more expensive. Really overwhelming.

the Nitro's have built in speakers (which is occasionally handy).

wouldve been nice to look at them side by side.

 

[wicked_sticky]

Ive been using the new monitor for a month now.

Ive got some insights on my original question, "is 27" too big"

The top and side bezels on monitors I got from 2007-2020 have shrink a tiny bit, from 1.1" to 0.8" but the difference is barely noticeable. The new 27" 1440p monitor has almost no bezel. Occasionally, find it a little too big when their is text on the bottom right and top left of the screen but no headaches or eye strain like I got with the 27" 1080p .

AND I FIGURED OUT WHY.:

Maybe i'm too dumb to be able to ignore the edges/bezels of the monitor but I have I inadvertently/naturally use them as focal points.

My wifes 23.6" 1080p monitor has a 310 sq inch foor print (screen + front bezel)
My new 27" 1440p has a 335 sq inch foot print
The 27" 1080p had 415sq inch foor print,... just big enough to not be able to see both edges while on mouse/keyboard. Swapping vertical focal points left to right tired out my eyes a lot faster.



TLDR : Sitting 2ft away 27" even 1080p is fine with a thin/no bezel.

My new 1440p gah a 20%-30% SMALLER than a 27" from 2016-19. The fram size may not matter ot a lot of people but it makes a difference for me.