Recommandation: High End

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pmoise

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Oct 31, 2017
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Hi,

First post ever after 20 years of reading this Website. Always easy to figure out by reading reviews what to buy for my computer....but monitors...wow nobody seems to really like what's on the market right now. Seems like they are no "no brainers" purchase out there.

I have an old Dell U2412M monitor...which I think is fine...but not great. After playing Witcher 3 with my Shield TV on my Panasonic Plasma...everything is so vivid with perfect blacks. Now I think I might need a new monitor...

I know about the Asus and Acer top monitors...but ratings are rather poor and Quality Control seems to be a problem. Budget wise I just want good bang for the buck, I have a 1080ti so any resolution is fine. Primary it is for gaming, but I want good color reproduction, no glossy screen (can't believe they still make those), deep black and decent brightness. I just want to improve my experience. Is Gsync worth it? Or a better overall quality monitor? Without all those QC issues?

Size wise, I don't want anything larger than 27" (16:9) height gets too big and you need to seat higher to be at the right angle! Ultrawide seems fun and curve is ok.

Thanks for your help!
 
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On a plasma screen, like your television, each individual pixel lights up on its own, and can be turned completely off, allowing for those deep blacks. Plasma isn't something you tend to see on computer monitors though, and even for televisions it has become uncommon in recent years.

The vast majority of current screens use an array of LEDs to project light behind an LCD panel, where each pixel blocks a certain amount of light to appear a particular color. Because of that, there tends to be a small amount of light that shines through, even on dark portions of the screen, making blacks appear more of a dark grey, and in turn reducing contrast. The exact amount of light that escapes will depend on the screen, and what sort of LCD panel technology it uses. Currently, the most common panels are variants of either TN, IPS or VA technologies.

TN panels have been the most common for many years. They offer slightly faster pixel response times, but otherwise tend to have less accurate colors that shift in hue depending on viewing angle, and their blacks are not entirely black, so their static contrast ratios top out around 1000:1.

IPS panels have also become relatively common in recent years, though they usually cost a little more. They offer more accurate colors that are not as affected by off-axis viewing, however off-axis viewing tends to result in more light bleeding through in dark areas, resulting in what's known as "IPS glow", and their contrast ratios are not any better than TN. Their pixel response times are not quite up to those of a TN panel either, but they tend to be close enough now that it should be hard to notice the difference.

VA panels are not quite as common as the others yet, but are becoming more popular now that their response times have become similar to IPS, and in turn not that far behind TN. They tend to offer color accuracy that's better than TN, but generally not quite at the level of IPS. Most importantly though, they offer much deeper blacks and in turn higher contrast ratios than the other panel technologies. Where TN and IPS screens only offer around a 1000:1 static contrast ratio, VA screens offer around 3000:1 due to their darker blacks. This isn't quite at the level of a plasma screen, but should be much better than other monitors. Viewing at an angle can result in a slight purplish tint, but that is generally considered better than the hue shifts of TN.

One other panel type would be OLED screens, but you don't tend to find them in monitors yet. Currently, they're mainly just found in portable devices like smartphones, and in some ultra-high-end televisions. Much like with plasma, each pixel of an OLED display is its own light source and can be turned completely off, resulting in very deep blacks and high contrast ratios, along with excellent viewing angles and response times. However, the screens degrade much faster than LCD panels, becoming dimmer and with colors shifting more toward yellow over time, making them less suitable for screens that will be left on all day. Plus, they currently tend to be a lot more expensive, and it will undoubtedly be years before OLED panels become common in monitors.

So, for the deepest blacks and highest contrast ratios, you currently might want to look at monitors with VA panels. Some older models may have slow response times, but generally the newer, high refresh rate gaming-focused screens should be much better about that. Here's the search results for 144-165Hz VA monitors at Newegg for some ideas...
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100160979%20600325897%20600311118%20600460747%204814%208000%20600417886%20601191223%20601115272&IsNodeId=1
 
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Sorry but suggesting a Dell S2417 for someone who has a Dell U24, wants good blacks and vice colours is like telling someone who wants to get in shape to only eat at McDonald's.

I agree that you should look at VA Panels, those are your best bet. Especially at 60Hz, higher refresh rates are still problematic though (or: just Samsung makes them and they have some issues).
Edit: I see AU Optronics releases a panel used by Acer/Asus/Lenovo/MSI

Another problem with VA is that there's not a lot of displays with a resolution higher than 1080p Out there. With a 1080Ti and investing in a new screen, I'd definitely go 1440p. But there's again only Samsung doing those.
Samsung is about to release a G-Sync supporting VA panel, at least they announced it a year ago and introduced it on some presentation 6 months ago, but there's still no release date for that.

At 1080p, there are various options.
There's a cheap BenQ that apparently got really great reviews, the VZ2470H -- but tough to say how it compares to a 500$ display tbh.

If you want high refreshrates, VA & IPS displays are just not there yet. Can work, but some magazine once did a test of buying 10 Asus PG279Q and had 5 with issues so big that they deemed it unacceptable and IIRC only 2 were flawless.

As for 60Hz screens there are various IPS screens that are quite good. But I wouldn't go for one of the gaming brands (Acer, Asus, AOC) but rather a display for professional use (there are some Philips & especially Eizo screens for example)
 
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Thanks everyone for your more than complete answers.
Seems like VA panels can't do more than 2560 x 1080. Good enough?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824025164&ignorebbr=1
That monitor seems nice, but I can't find a professional review about it.

So in my quest, I should just skip g-sync?

I like that one also: LG 34UM80. I have read that gaming on ultra wide is really fun. Price for this one is decent.

I'm in Canada, I can also deliver at the border, so US is fine.

Thanks!
 
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After your recommandations, I am looking for a VA panel ultra wide. Seems like AOC, Asus, Samsung make decent ones.
My picks:
1) Asus MX34VQ
2) AOC’s AG352UCG
3) Samsung C34F791
 
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It looks like TFT Central recently posted an in-depth review for the Samsung C32HG70...

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_c32hg70.htm

It's a long review though, so you might want to skip to the conclusion before looking into the details on anything.
 
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