IPS vs. TN, 144 Hz vs 60 Hz, Recognized brands vs. Korean, etc. (Gaming, movies, general use)

[PieSnatcher]

Right of the bat I have many wants, but I know I can't have it all, but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on any one item because as soon as I think I've made a decision, I start thinking about the caveats of the particular monitor I thought I had landed on. Here are the things I am looking for/keeping in mind when I look for a monitor:

1. Price, obviously: My absolute limit is $400 on a monitor, though I'm not looking to spend that much per se ($250 would be preferable, anything less is icing on the cake); if I get a monitor that can absolutely blow my mind for that much, then that's fine, but I've got plenty other areas where I can funnel unused monitor funds so I don't want to spend money for the sake of spending it.

2. Picture quality: I like pretty pictures! So I'm leaning heavily towards a PLS/IPS panel, though a VA would at least be a step up from TN. While color is usually my first concern, I don't want to have crummy blacks.

3. Resolution: I'm fine with a 1080p monitor, from 23'-24'. If somehow I end up with a 1440p monitor though, I won't complain (and at the distance I sit from the monitor, if I'm using a 27', I'd definitely prefer the higher resolution.

4. Refresh rate/response time: Here's where I've mostly gone on what I've read online; I've played around with a 144 Hz very, very briefly (and then it was just shaking the cursor over a desktop to see how smooth it was). I like how smooth it is, but I haven't been exposed enough to it to be used to it. If I had to be stuck with a 60 Hz monitor, then I guess that would be OK, though obviously the more Hz the better. As far as response time goes, I'd really like 5ms max for a 60 Hz and 2ms max for 120+ Hz.

5. Inputs. More than one, and at least one HDMI (though if the resolution was 1440p or the refresh rate high I would also want a displayport)

6. Reliability: I'm very wary of no-name or cheap brands; don't want to stare at dead pixels or have a shoddy stand burn my investment. Nor an excess of an otherwise normal panel imperfection (i.e. a ton of light bleed in an ips or extremely flat colors, even by TN standards)

Anything else such as built-in speakers, g-sync (yeah that's not gonna happen), and monkey-butlers would be at best tie-breakers but not really anything I'm focusing on.

My intended usage: Fairly multi-purpose, though a significant portion will be games from a variety of genres (RPG, RTS, FPS, etc.). I also intend to watch movies on this display.

Here are some of the monitors I keep going back and forth on:

A. [urlExt=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe]Asus VG248QE[/urlExt]
I've seen this one brought up a lot, and it is very nearly perfect for me. Ok resolution, seems plenty reliable, all the inputs I want, but my heart sinks at the thought of a panel using dithering to make up for 6-bit color.

B. [urlExt=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vn248hp]Asus VN248H-P[/urlExt]
Not a flashy monitor and I don't read much about it online. It's simply a very inexpensive IPS monitor. I wish I saw more reviews on this one; if I knew that the color was exceptional for the price, I would be very tempted to get this one and use the extra money to treat myself to some nice open-back headphones to compliment my sound setup.

C. [urlExt=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/eizo-monitor-fs2434bk]Eizo FS2434-BK[/urlExt]
My most expensive option. While the refresh rate is a simple 60 Hz, and the black levels aren't anything to write home about, the colors are supposed to be superb. And I love pretty colors. However, is this 60 Hz IPS monitor worth over $200 more than the Asus option? And I ask myself again, will 60 Hz be enough?

D & E.[urlExt=http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JEZ3MAW/]QNIX QX2710 (Matte)[/urlExt] or [urlExt=http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-STAR-DP2710-LED-MULTI-27inch-AH-VA-Panel-WQHD-2560x1440-Computer-Monitor-/331180242313]X Star DP2710 LED Multi[/urlExt]
I thought I'd throw in a couple korean monitors. Higher resolution, larger screen, adequate inputs, and can apparently be comfortably overclocked to 90 Hz-ish. The build quality is all over the place in reviews however, and I have had a display with exactly one dead pixel before and I swear that was the only pixel I could look at. I'm one of those people I guess.


So there we have it. If anyone could throw in their two cents about which they'd choose and/or any other pointers I'd appreciate it! Anything to break the vicious never-ending cycle of arguments in my head.

 

[nikoli707]

my two cents, ips over tn any day, unless your a competitive battlefield 4 player with an insane gpu setup or you like having bragging rights. otherwise tn will never come close to ips quality and i personally cant stand looking at colors and black/whites on the rog swift, even if it is 1440p and 144hz. even competitive gamers agree that getting a mechanical keyboard and high quality sensor mouse will help you be a better gamer before any 120/144hz monitor would.

sounds like you should wait for strobbed backlight adaptive high refresh ips monitors, they will be out next year and they will cover every point you want, except maybe price which im sure will be well over $600. hey maybe then you can get the rog swift for much cheaper.

 

[PieSnatcher]

my two cents, ips over tn any day, unless your a competitive battlefield 4 player with an insane gpu setup or you like having bragging rights...

That's reassuring! I'm definitely wouldn't call myself competitive, though I did treat myself to a nice cherry mx brown keyboard and quality mouse. I think I'm landing on the asus VN248H-P, if I can find out for sure it has decent colors and is an all-around acceptable monitor for gaming use. Since it's pretty dang cheap, I can use it to tide me over until the next gpu upgrade and switch to a more 'gaming' ips monitor when they've had time to really come into their own.

 

[bystander]

As a non competitive gamer, I still much prefer 120hz to 60hz. People act as if it is about getting a competitive edge, and it might help there, but it is very nice for all gaming. Here are a few of the things you gain:
1) Better responsiveness with mouse controls. This will also require greater than 60 FPS to achieve, but it does feel quite nice.
2) You can turn V-sync off, and tearing is far less noticeable (refreshes remove the tears faster).
3) You can use V-sync and not have nearly as much jutter or latency.
4) If you do get higher FPS, animations appear smoother.

How important those things are to you is a matter of taste. I personally would never use 60hz again, and I'm not a competitive gamer. Just a gamer that values responsiveness and animation smoothness above better viewing angles. You can even get them at 1440p now.

Another interesting option, which is also quite expensive, is the Eizo Foris FG2421, which is a 120hz VA panel.

 

[chenw]

My opinion on this is:

Choose IPS if any of the following applies to you:

1. You want a better out of the box experience (IPS's colors works for all games, calibrated TN not necessarily, and IPS are often better calibrated out of the box)
2. You value image and color quality over frame rates, response times.
3. If your rig or planned rig will not run games at higher than 60fps, or you have no real expectation to.

Go TN if you value smoothness over image quality, especially if you want G-Sync (for now), and you have the computing power to drive the games at high fps.

TLDR: if you don't know what you want at all, one will rarely be dissappointed with a decent IPS. If you know what you want, then only you can decide. It is more complicated than an "TN color blows" vs "IPS is a blurry mess" argument.