[SOLVED] Is there a big difference between VA and IPS panels?

[ThatSourMelon]

I have a TN panel, and have only seen TN panels. IPS has better colors than VA, but I don’t know how much better it is. When buying a new monitor how much should it influence my buying decision? Is IPS worth giving up for a curved screen, FreeSync premium/pro, or just paying more?

 

[Aeacus]

This article here is one of the best ones to make sense between TN, VA and IPS panels,
link: https://techguided.com/display-panel-types-tn-ips-va/

But in short;
TN - best performance, worst image, poor contrast
VA - best contrast, good image, good performance
IPS - best image, decent performance (and same contrast as TN panel)

Long answer;
There are 3x kinds of monitor panels: TN, VA and IPS. Actually there are more (variations of the main three) but i focus on these main ones.

TN panel is oldest of the three and also cheapest. Where TN panel excels, is it's performance, most notably response time (1ms) and refresh rate.
Though, TN panel also has it's downsides. Prominent ones are: poor color accuracy (washed out colors), very narrow view angle and poor contrast ratio (max 1000:1).

Gaming wise, TN panel monitor is best suited for fast-paced games (FPS, racing etc), where you don't care as much about pretty colors as you do about smoothness of movements.

IPS panel has been around for some time and is also the most expensive of the three.
Where IPS panel excels is it's color accuracy, which is the best of the three. Also, it has widest viewing angles of the three.
But where IPS panel falls short is response time. IPS technology by design can't be any faster than 4ms (compared to the 1ms most TN panels are). Another area where IPS panel falls short is it's poor contrast ratio which is equal to a TN panel (max 1000:1), despite it's great color accuracy. This is most prominent when looking at black image and where black isn't black but instead gray or some form of blue. Refresh rates aren't IPS panel strong side either and many IPS panels are 60Hz, especially on higher resolutions. There are some 1440p 165Hz and 4K 120Hz IPS panel monitors out there but they are few and far apart, also costing a fortune.

Gaming wise, IPS panel monitor is best suited for slow-paced games (RPG, strategy etc), where you have time to see all those pretty colors and where smoothness of movements isn't that important.

VA panel is the newest of the three and price wise, it falls between TN and IPS. VA panel was created to take the best of both worlds (TN and IPS) and combine them.
Where VA panel excels is it's contrast ratio (min 3000:1), where you'd see the deepest and richest blacks. Also, it doesn't fall short on other aspects as well. VA panel color accuracy isn't as good as it is for IPS panel but it's close to the levels of IPS panel (considerably better than TN panel). It's viewing angle is also a notch smaller than that of an IPS panel but again, considerably better than that of a TN panel. Refresh rate wise, VA panel is more capable on different resolutions than IPS panel but it doesn't match the 240Hz of a TN panel (at least not yet). Response time is another area where VA panel does good. While VA panel can't naturally be any faster than 4ms (just like IPS panel), it can achieve the magical 1ms response thanks to the software solution in it.
Downside of VA panel monitor is that not many of them are around at current date.

Gaming wise, VA panel monitor is suited for all kinds of games. VA panel is like Jack of all trades but master of none.