Questions about ASUS and BenQ monitors

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Nixal
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Joined: 09 Apr 2017, 19:49

Questions about ASUS and BenQ monitors

Post by Nixal » 09 Apr 2017, 21:24

Hey! I have some questions I haven't quite been able to find the answers to, and this seems to be the most appropriate place to ask.

I am about to buy a new monitor, and I have been looking at the ASUS MG248Q and the BenQ ZOWIE XL2430 as the most likely choices. I then came across discussions regarding issues with "scan lines" (moving and static) on these monitors, seemingly related to using an overclocked refresh rate. I also looked at the ASUS PG248Q, but that monitor seems to have issues with losing signal when changing resolution and/or refresh rate.

Now this may seem strange to some of you, but I do not intend to use any form of blur reduction, LightBoost, ULMB, or any other such feature. I'm also not very interested in G-SYNC and FreeSync or the like. Any overdrive setting will be set to its medium (which seems to be the default and to provide a good balance) or off. If I get the XL2430 the "Instant Mode" will be on, as there seems to be only advantages and no disadvantages to using it. As such any blur reduction will only be due to high refresh rate and overdrive.

So, what I'm wondering is, when do the so-called scan lines show up and is there anything I can do to get rid of them? Do they only show up when using any form of blur reduction and/or G-SYNC/FreeSync and 144 Hz, meaning that if so I can use 144 Hz without any scan lines? Do I have to use 120 Hz in order to not have any scan lines? If so I can be fine with that. As long as I can use 144 Hz or at least 120 Hz without any scan lines or other problems I think I should be fine.
Also, if there is no fix for the PG248Q losing signal, that monitor is out and the choice is between the MG248Q and XL2430.

Thank you.

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Chief Blur Buster
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Re: Questions about ASUS and BenQ monitors

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 10 Apr 2017, 12:18

-- The scanlines artifact only shows on some monitors when their limits are being pushed (e.g. closer to their maximum refresh rates, or during overclocking, or when enabling strobe mode). It doesn't happen on all of them, and sometimes it's a panel-lottery behavior (luck of the draw) for certain model of monitors.

As far as I know:

ASUS PG248Q -- can overclock to 180Hz. Generally "scanline-artifact-free" at 144Hz and less
ASUS MG248Q -- Unsure, but probably not
BENQ/Zowie XL2430 -- No scanlines issue as far as I know.

Be noted, I have heard many situations where for the same model -- A user had scanlines artifacts and another user did not. Sometimes it only shows on a specific corner of the screen, rather than full screen. A typical scanlines artifact looks like this: http://dhainne.free.fr/weirdscanlines.jpg ... Not everyone finds it objectionable nor distracts from their gameplay, while others are bothered by it.
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Falkentyne
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Re: Questions about ASUS and BenQ monitors

Post by Falkentyne » 10 Apr 2017, 12:56

Turning off "Instant Mode" will prevent some dithering issues at extreme gray tones (the service manual for this monitor mentions to disable instant mode when doing some sort of movie rendering for best quality, as ambiguous as that may sound), and may prevent scanlines from appearing, but other issues will be caused by the 8556T Scaler, like extreme laggy (unusable) performance at 144hz refresh rate, Vertical total tweaks being ignored, and so on (the XL2730Z monitor, the freesync 1440p version which has buggy firmware, ignores VT Tweaks anyway, almost as if instant mode were forced off, yet the XL2735 works with VT Tweaks once again...)

Nixal
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Joined: 09 Apr 2017, 19:49

Re: Questions about ASUS and BenQ monitors

Post by Nixal » 21 Apr 2017, 09:37

All right, thanks! Then it seems that it should hopefully be fine no matter which monitor I choose. Are you aware of any reason to choose one of the monitors over the other? I read that the MG248Q has a newer 8-bit panel but might have worse gamma control, while the XL2430 has a 6-bit panel with FRC but with better gamma control. I don't know if any of that is true.

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