PWM Flickering Monitor

[Joe4788]

Hello, I recently bought a computer monitor for gaming and I believe it has PWM flickering. I was wondering what some of the effects are that PWM causes. Sometimes when I am playing games, if I look left and right some things in the background kind of flicker. Also motion in a lot of the games I play just doesn't look smooth, especially with games that are 30fps. I don't know if that is the result of PWM, or if it is just motion blur/ghosting. The monitor I bought is the Asus MX279H, and I was considering returning it. The monitor is advertised for having a 5ms response time, but in reviews they say it actually has 12ms. So, I don't know if the PWM or the response time is the problem.

Thanks

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Hello,

You can't notice PWM. The problem is the refresh rate, if you want sharper frames playing at 30 FPS, then buy a 120/144 Hz monitor instead. The response time 5 -> 12 ms doesn't mean anything, and isn't adding blur. As long as the response time is faster than 16.67 ms, what you see is the result of too slow updates between graphics card -> monitor, because it's a static/fixed number. This means that there is less blur at 120/144 Hz, because the static update timings are then every 8.9 ms, and 6.9 ms. Lastly, keep in mind that on an LCD monitor, the pixels are always lit, but the dynamic and static response times are two completely different specs, despite (almost) having the same name.



All the best!

 

[Joe4788]

Hello, I have heard that buying a monitor with a refresh rate above 60hz is not necessary when playing on game consoles. I have heard that PWM causes motion in games to look bad also. I just doubt that games are supposed to look like the way they do on the monitor I have right now (Asus MX279H). The motion on it just doesn't look right. Motion looked better on my old CRT tv than on this monitor. Many review sites and gamers that I have seen have said that 12ms response time isn't all that great for gaming. They say less than 8ms is best. I had another monitor before and it had no PWM, it also had a response time of 7ms, and the motion looked a lot smoother. I was considering buying the BenQ RL2755HM which is similar to the monitor I used to have.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

For consoles, no. You won't achieve anything above 60 Hz output -> monitor. However, with PC gaming, you do benefit from the faster pixel times, because you'll feed it 144 Hz, rather than 60 Hz. A CRT don't need a response time spec, it's near instant, it's literally flickering. High end gaming monitors are using a technique they call lightboost, or black frame insertion, in order to have CRT sharp images displayed on screen at all times. It's a technical limitation of LCD's to do it any other way. It's possible that your monitor is defective. Do you have a video you could share, pref. on YouTube?


All the best!

 

[Joe4788]

I have no way to share a video, sorry. Do all LCD monitors have lightboost, or should I try to get one with it? Does the other monitor I was thinking of getting(BenQ RL2755HM), have lightboost or something similar to help with motion? I am only going to be using this monitor for console gaming, and I heard that monitor was specifically made for consoles. I don't think the monitor I have now is defective because certain games look mostly ok on it. Metal Gear Solid 5 especially looks fine on it, and that game is 60fps. Most of the other games I have played on the monitor were 30fps, and that is where the motion doesn't look right. I have played on CRT most of my life and I am used to the motion on there, and it seems like on some monitors I have tried the motion doesn't look as good.

Thanks

 

[Joe4788]

I did find a video that kind of shows what I am experiencing. Here it is:http:// . It is a little hard to see, but you can see on the edges of things like walls it looks a little weird, and the video says that is a result of PWM. So, if I got a monitor without PWM I wouldn't see that happen anymore right? I don't know if that other monitor I was considering getting, (BenQ RL2755HM), has PWM or not. I also don't know if it has that lightboost technology you were talking about. Thanks a lot for helping me out with all this.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

Your monitor is defective. You can see PWM with a camera but not without. Yes, the RL2755HM is flicker free.