Please help - Best 144hz gaming monitor

[RealNC]

Some mainboards do support both Sandy Bridge (2xxx) as well as Ivy Bridge (3xxx) CPUs, but you'd need to check that to make sure. Those who do support it usually need a BIOS update, and you need to do that BEFORE you upgrade the CPU.

Also, many such mainboards offer limited support for Ivy Bridge K-CPUs. Meaning you can use them, but can't overclock them well. Mine is such a mainboard, which is why I use a 2500K on it. An OCed 2500K is faster than a non-OCed 3570K.

So do some research on your mainboard model and whether it can take a 3570K and also if it can OC it.

Another thing to note is that the 2500K and 2700K OC much easier than the 3570K. You get higher clocks with lower temps. The 3570K seems to get too hot very easily and thus is difficult to overclock.

[LaskoAA]

Some mainboards do support both Sandy Bridge (2xxx) as well as Ivy Bridge (3xxx) CPUs, but you'd need to check that to make sure. Those who do support it usually need a BIOS update, and you need to do that BEFORE you upgrade the CPU.

Also, many such mainboards offer limited support for Ivy Bridge K-CPUs. Meaning you can use them, but can't overclock them well. Mine is such a mainboard, which is why I use a 2500K on it. An OCed 2500K is faster than a non-OCed 3570K.

So do some research on your mainboard model and whether it can take a 3570K and also if it can OC it.

Another thing to note is that the 2500K and 2700K OC much easier than the 3570K. You get higher clocks with lower temps. The 3570K seems to get too hot very easily and thus is difficult to overclock.

Thanks again for your help, greatly appreciate and I realize that I'm beyond the point of asking too many questions... However, do I need a cooling system if I overclock a CPU (let's say the 2500)?


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[RealNC]

I'd say yes. The stock cooler is not very useful. Even a mild OC will probably raise the temps too much. Myself, I found a very good deal for €60 closed water loop cooler (a now discontinued Seidon 120XL, which is what I'm still using.) If you can find a good deal or discount on one (I was stalking the "special offers" sections of online shops for a while), that would be best. I like these closed-loop coolers because they have zero maintenance. You just pop them in as you would a normal cooler and they're good to go. In fact, they're easier to install than normal coolers.

Otherwise, just look for reviews of coolers. It needs to support the LGA 1155 socket, which is what the 2500K uses. It's been a while, so I would assume by now there's lists out there with coolers sorted by price/performance ratios.

[RealNC]

Oh, btw, your mainboard's chipset needs to support this. Some chipsets do NOT allow you to raise the CPU's multiplier, and thus you can't OC.

If you have a P67 or Z68 chipset, you can OC. The H67 and H61 chipsets can NOT OC.

[LaskoAA]

Oh, btw, your mainboard's chipset needs to support this. Some chipsets do NOT allow you to raise the CPU's multiplier, and thus you can't OC.

If you have a P67 or Z68 chipset, you can OC. The H67 and H61 chipsets can NOT OC.

Ok perfect, thanks again for all of your help!


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[RealNC]

Btw, there's also the Dell S2417DG. However, that's a 1440p monitor. But it seems to have better image quality than the Asus. It apparently uses an 8-bit panel with very good color reproduction. So it seems it's offering higher resolution and better image quality at the same price.

But even though it seems to be the better monitor, 1440p might be too much for your machine. Frame rates are quite a bit lower in 1440p compared to 1080p. If you had a 980 Ti or a 1070 card, this *would* be the best 24" monitor to get though. You obviously can still play at any resolution you want with it, including 1080p, but it's not gonna look as sharp as a native 1080p monitor.

[LaskoAA]

Btw, there's also the Dell S2417DG. However, that's a 1440p monitor. But it seems to have better image quality than the Asus. It apparently uses an 8-bit panel with very good color reproduction. So it seems it's offering higher resolution and better image quality at the same price.

But even though it seems to be the better monitor, 1440p might be too much for your machine. Frame rates are quite a bit lower in 1440p compared to 1080p. If you had a 980 Ti or a 1070 card, this *would* be the best 24" monitor to get though. You obviously can still play at any resolution you want with it, including 1080p, but it's not gonna look as sharp as a native 1080p monitor.

Hi RealNC, thanks again for your help, a couple quick things...

I checked my motherboard specs and the i5 3570 is compatible with it. I checked Ebay and luckily won a bid for what looked to be a good deal... I bought the Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core (BX80637i53570) for $93 USD including shipping with a note that says "Used, but in great condition. Comes in original box with stock heatsink and fan. Heatsink and fan have never been used. CPU works great, never had any issues.". This should help improve some performance (maybe i can get the cooler you suggested and overclock the 970).

Other thing (back to monitors), I was trying to convince myself to go over budget and get the ASUS PG248Q. However, now after reading reviews, apparently a lot of people are seeing lines in the screen when running this monitor at 144hz and over.

What are your thoughts on the above?


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[Chief Blur Buster]

If you don't want G-Sync, then it seems the LG 24GM77 has good reviews. It does use a double-strobe technique though when you enable motion blur reduction

Strobe crosstalk (double image effects) during their blur reduction mode isn't too good, though -- LightBoost/ULMB/BENQ is better with much clearer single images.

That said, the 24GM77 is perfectly cromulent for everything else, if you do not use blur reduction.

[LaskoAA]

If you don't want G-Sync, then it seems the LG 24GM77 has good reviews. It does use a double-strobe technique though when you enable motion blur reduction

Strobe crosstalk (double image effects) during their blur reduction mode isn't too good, though -- LightBoost/ULMB/BENQ is better with much clearer single images.

That said, the 24GM77 is perfectly cromulent for everything else, if you do not use blur reduction.

Ok, so here is where I am with my monitor search...

ASUS VG248QE: I used this monitor for close to a month and it was hurting my eyes and giving me slight headaches. A lot of people I game with have used this monitor for a while and love it. This monitor has slightly better fine detail in graphics than the BenQ XL2430. However, the VG248QE has flicker and PWM and I really want a good gaming monitor that has good eye care so this monitor is ruled out and I decided to test the BenQ XL2430.

BenQ XL2430:
I currently own this monitor and I'm not satisfied. The game play felt less chaotic and more in control with the VG248QE vs. the XL2430. The VG248QE has slightly better fine detail in graphics (see above). The S-Switch is basically useless with the XL2430 as you can only save Gamer 1, Gamer2 & Gamer3 profiles to it (can't save Standard mode to the S-Switch). There is a 21 page thread on this forum about settings for this monitor (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1848) and I now understand why. It's pretty much impossible for me to find a setting that works for both gaming and for browsing the internet. When I'm done gaming and want to browse the internet, I literally have to make all sorts of adjustments to the monitor settings. I then have to re-adjust the settings when I want to game. Pretty much all setting suggestions that I read online say to leave the Blur Reduction off because it dims the image and also increases the input lag by a few ms so what's the point in having it as an option in this case? On the other hand, maybe I'm just not using this monitor right. I really want to love this monitor (the headphone hook is awesome, the monitor looks really great, I like the black equalizer option and I like that it's flicker free / PWM free) but I feel I need to find something better. If the S Switch had two modes (one for browsing the internet and another for gaming) then I think I would be a lot happier.
LG 24GM77:
I haven't tried this monitor. Reviews for this monitor seem to be excellent all around. I have had trouble finding bad reviews for this monitor. However, this monitor is not G-sync and there is a double-strobe issue when you enable motion blur reduction so using blur reduction with this monitor is not an option. If this monitor had G-Sync then it would probably be a clear winner.

Asus PG248Q:
I was about to go over budget and purchase this monitor, however, I'm reading reviews online about how when the monitor is at 144hz and over, there are very noticeable vertical and horizontal lines on the screen. This is so unfortunate because despite my cons regarding VG248QE above, it was a really great monitor. The PG248Q seemed to be the VG248QE with all of the fixes I wanted (plus G-sync).

Acer: I just don't like this brand to be honest so this one is out of the question.


Given the above, I just don't know what to do for a good 144hz monitor.


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[RealNC]

There's also the AOC G2460PG. Normally with AOC monitors the major issue is their very bad overdrive. However, with G-Sync it's NVidia that does the overdrive implementation (it's handled by the G-Sync module,) so for this monitor it might actually be not too bad.

There's the Dell S2417DG. 1440p though. At 24" is has a VERY high pixel density. The apparent resolution is so high that you might not even need anti-aliasing anymore in games. However, the desktop is unusable without something like 150% DPI scaling enabled in Windows. And it's more expensive (but less expensive than the Asus PG248Q, which is interesting.) And playing at 1080p will probably still result in a blurry picture because of NVidia's bad GPU scaling quality (G-Sync cannot do scaling on its own; GPU scaling is the only option.) However, anything rendered at such a high DPI in the native resolution looks amazing. Not recommended without at least a 980Ti or 1070 though for modern games. Older games pose no problem, obviously. This monitor might actually be the "best bang for the buck" option simply because it's the only 24" with such a high resolution and G-Sync and 165Hz refresh rate.

Another one is the AOC AG241QG, which is also 1440p, but... it's AOC. And it's more expensive than the Dell

And I think it's worth researching the Acer XB240H. Even if you don't like Acer, it doesn't mean it's a bad monitor.

If I was going for a 24", I would probably go with the Dell. If I had a good return policy from the store I buy from, I'd try the AOC G2460PG first simply because it's the cheapest. If I wasn't satisfied, I'd return it and only then get the Dell.