IPS vs TN

[LFLSvfx]

Hi, i play non-competitive games and im a sucker for beautiful visuals. I heard that IPS panels have better colors than TN but i have also seen that "cheaper" IPS panels dont go above 60hz. I dont care about 100fps, if i have that much headroom i raise the graphics higher.

- If i get a 60hz monitor will i see tearing when my gpu renders over 60fps ?
(will freesync solve that ?)

- Are TN panels less color accurate ?

Any suggestions on an IPS, 60-75hz, 1-5ms monitor under 300€ ?

 

[koreanoverlord]

Freesync, Gsync, or even Vsync will eliminate tearing. Each have their own drawbacks and Freesync/Gsync monitors require compatible monitors.

Higher refresh rate monitors can also minimize tearing.

TN panels have significantly less color quality and accuracy.

 

[Dunlop0078]

1) Anytime your framerate is above or below your monitors refresh rate it will tear without something like freesync or gsync, it may not be noticeable in every situation but it is tearing. Freesync only works within a certain range depending on your monitor, with a 60hz freesync monitor typically freesync will work between 30 and 60hz so between 30 and 60fps, if you exceed or fall below that there will be screen tearing.

2) Typically yes, but that does not mean the colors are "better" for a gamer anyway. I have seen TN panels that look more vibrant and pleasing to the eye than IPS panels. IPS panels are also prone to having issues like backlight bleed and IPS glow that TN's typically dont have. If you ask me the biggest advantage to an IPS is viewing angels, you dont get color shift every time you move your head like on a TN. Unless you have a big budget and can afford a high refresh rate IPS monitor I would stick with say a 144hz TN over a 60hz IPS.

 

[Solandri]

- If i get a 60hz monitor will i see tearing when my gpu renders over 60fps ?
(will freesync solve that ?)

Unless your framerate is exactly 60 fps (which never happens) AND the GPU finishes drawing the frame just before the monitor refreshes (which is dumb luck), you will get tearing.

The only ways to avoid tearing are to turn on vsync, or to get a freesync/g-sync capable monitor and video card.

- Are TN panels less color accurate ?

That's actually multiple questions in one.

• 
  ■TN panels experience more color shift with changing viewing angle. This is usually most pronounced when you change vertical viewing angles. If you tilt a TN panel up or down, you'll see the colors shift a lot. This makes them unsuitable for graphics, photo, and video work as the colors will change slightly every time you move around in your seat. But for office tasks and gaming, it may be acceptable.
  ■TN panels generally have the same color gamut (maximum saturation) as IPS panels. The current color gamut standard is sRGB, and pretty much all desktop monitors target and hit 98%-100% sRGB. This means the reddest red, greenest green, and bluest blue will be the same for all these monitors. There are a few monitors for professional graphics / photo / video work which target Adobe RGB (about 50% wider than sRGB), but they're much more expensive. Beautiful, but expensive.
  ■Even if both the TN and IPS panel have the same color gamut, and you're sitting in the TN panel's sweet spot, each panel has its own unique characteristics and there might not be a linear representation of all the color brightness levels from 0-255. To correct this, you need to calibrate your monitor with a colorimeter. Aside from graphics / photo / video professionals, nobody does this. So how accurate the colors are on the 0-255 brightness scale depends on how much effort the manufacturer put into calibrating the panel's colors as shipped. Whether it's TN or IPS is mostly irrelevant for this.
  ■TN vs IPS has little to do with contrast ratio. The IPS panels used to have better contrast ratios - because they were more expensive, manufacturers paid a little extra to make them better. But with the flood of cheap IPS panels the last few years, I've seen some pretty crappy IPS panels. Poor contrast ratio can make the colors look pale even if the color gamut is the same (100% sRGB), because you're comparing the colors against a black level which isn't very black. Anything over 1000:1 is good. Over 1500:1 is excellent. This is why everyone is excited about OLED panels and TVs - they have perfectly black blacks, so effectively have infinite contrast ratio. (Ignore dynamic contrast ratio - that was invented by a marketing department and isn't very useful in real-life use.)
  ■IPS tends to suffer worse backlight bleed. It's beautiful when you get a good panel with minimal bleed. But if you spend a lot of time looking at dark graphics or video, the backlight bleed can be annoying. The LG IPS panels in particular seem to lose contrast when viewed at 45 degrees (along the corners of the screen) - the blacks turn almost white. BTW, "IPS" is a trademark of LG. The Samsung equivalent is PVA. The AUO equivalent is AHVA. Most people just refer to all of these as IPS, but you may see the other terms in product specs.
  ■TN panels have much better response time (pixels switch from one brightness to another much faster). Typically 1-2 ms vs 8-15 ms. So if you're looking at fast-moving video or game graphics, the TN panel's colors can look better with clear animation, whereas the IPS panel's moving image might just be a blurry mush.