xl2420z vs xl2720/30z vs mg279q | more Q and details inside

[w00p00]

To start, Im aware one of these is not like the others but Ill explain later. So for the past couple of weeks Ive been looking for a new monitor and Im no closer to understanding anything except that I want one of these 4. Also Im not tech guy so Im not exactly sure what was bs but from what Ive read there is either alot of fanboyism, hate in the monitors community or all the stuff is pretty much the same and nothing can give conclusive results.
First of all I already own 60hz ips so Ill use this one primary for gaming and while I do want good colours on my new monitor I dont need them perfect but Im inclined to get the asus because from what I saw from various input lag tests (none of which show the same values..) the TNs arent much better than it in that respect. I mostly play quake, some rts games and some indies. In general I try some of the AAA games but Im not too much into them. The only big game I expect to play alot that's coming is Overwatch but Im not sure if it's gonna be that intensive.

That's what made me not hop onto the g sync train. Am I correct in understanding that it doesnt affect much of the gameplay above the Hz (and doesnt let the fps go there even?). Also I understand that it's supposed to decrease input lag but actually often does the opposite, dont even want to know how is that possible. If that's not the case feel free to explain what it does because Ive watched at least 5 videos and read at least dozen of posts and I didnt get 2 saying the same thing. Not sure if I get that impression because I dont understand much of the 'jargon' or something else.

Also before I start Im not sure if running 125Hz is better but I saw it recommended in some of places (here included). Is it better than 144 I heard it syncs better with mouse polling and it doesnt cause as much ghosting (not sure if this only applies when blur reduction is active). Would appreciate some feedback on this too.

Anyway after reading numerous threads about those I compiled list of 'criterias', to compare them by, combined with questions to help me make my decision.
Just a reminder Im not tech guy so going very indepth won't really help me understand too much.

speed - Is the response timer any real indicator of speed? Will the 3 TNs really be only 2-3ms faster than the IPS when accounting for input lag. Asking because I also read that the input lag tests arent very reliable but. If that's the case and the response time difference doesnt directly translate into the same amount of difference in input lag how do I know which is faster?

ghosting and similar stuff - I read that the 2411z has lots of ghosting coming from the blur reduction (I think?) and Im wondering if that translates to the 3 benqs I listed. Also how does ghosting affect the ips, is it same thing. Does the IPS have blur reduction? I could find no info so Im going to assume it doesnt, if so how does that affect playing games. Also I see lot of people recommend turning off blur reduction once you got into high Hz. I understand it's because of ghosting but Id appreciate simple explanation. Also is there noticable blur at 125/144hz ?

colours - From what I understand 2420z has wore colours and 30z is somewhat comparable to the asus but where does the 20z stand? Also is 30z just fancy 20z (with remote and more ports)

QC - From all my friends I hear how asus is supposed to be such a great brand and how they are much better than benq but over the internet all I see for the 2-3 asus models Ive researched is complaints about all kinds of stuff (including dead pixels?! I didnt even know that still exists until recently). Have they dropped off or is that just vocal minority. Also is benq really that good, I see people praising them all over the place. Is it because of the blur reduction technique? Are they simply focused on improving their monitors for games or is it marketing trick and the fact that they sponsor pretty much all pro teams ^^

Well this is it for now but I reserve the right to ask more questions when I get answers. Also I hope I get some answers by the chief guy cuz he sounds really logical when explaining stuff ^^

fast edit: if Im getting the benqs how do I make sure to get v4 firmware because Im not sure I can handle upgrading the firmware myself

[Falkentyne]

The benq blur reduction monitors all have too high overdrive artifacts in motion even with AMA set to high. This includes the XL2730Z also (at default). This is done most likely to lower input lag as well as make black to white transitions perfect at high contrast, which is important in FPS games.

The XL2720Z with V4 firmware only, (and apparently the XL2730Z freesync 1440p model) apparently have an AMA low toggle in blur reduction mode where you set MBR to on then overwrite the AMA high with setting it again after MBR is on. This cuts down on the overdrive artifacts DRASTICALLY but you need a lower contrast for best results. The other Z series monitors (the XL2430T is actually a Z series badly named XL2430Z) do not have this AMA low setting.

[w00p00]

Im currently unable to decide between the 3 27"s for the most part. What's on my mind is that I plan on using my monitor in 1920 x 1080, will that be problem for the 30z and the asus as it's not their native resolution?

Also does freesync make that much of a difference? Some reviews says it's must have if you are buying new monitors for gaming, some say it adds input lag and I don't know what to make out of all of this, pretty much the reason I posted here initially.
I also managed to find some response time tests that include those monitors but not for the input lag.

What's bothering me is that the IPS doesnt have blur reduction, is that a big deal? Im so indecisive because Ive read that it also has ghosting problems even without that feature and as I said already perfect colours arent that much of a big deal for me but the response time difference isnt enough to convince me to go for the TNs over the asus.

Oh and again if someone could explain why are there so many problems with the asus monitors compared to the benq? I even read asus had to pull back the mg279q. On the other hand benq also had firmware problems but I dont see people complaining about dead pixels and bleeding nearly as much.

[Falkentyne]

If you want 1920x1080 you want the XL2720Z, not the XL2730Z.
If you want blur reduction, you want the XL2720Z.

If you want freesync/gsync, then you want a 2560x1440 panel.
Full range blur reduction (XL2720Z) from 60hz-144hz (1 hz increments) are for CRT lovers who hated the move to blurry motion (sample and hold) non strobed LCD's. The XL2730Z (the 1440p panel) can only use blur reduction at 120hz and 144hz due to a firmware/scaler bug.

[w00p00]

If you want 1920x1080 you want the XL2720Z, not the XL2730Z.
If you want blur reduction, you want the XL2720Z.

If you want freesync/gsync, then you want a 2560x1440 panel.
Full range blur reduction (XL2720Z) from 60hz-144hz (1 hz increments) are for CRT lovers who hated the move to blurry motion (sample and hold) non strobed LCD's. The XL2730Z (the 1440p panel) can only use blur reduction at 120hz and 144hz due to a firmware/scaler bug.

Anything regarding the IPS? Also is its blur similar to the others without blur reduction?

Oh and also is the usage in non-native resolution really that bad? And will the image quality clear if I use on half the native (as clear as it can be in such low res) , from 2560x1440 to 1280x720. Asking because I found the asus 20% off but I dont want to run games in such a high resolution -__-

[Falkentyne]

Using half resolution will look better than non half non native but it won't look perfect. Only using 1:1 (regardless of resolution) without scaling will look perfect (thus, black bars).

And without blur reduction, all the monitors will be pretty much the same, since you will be dealing with sample-and-hold motion blur (eye tracking based motion blur). Any differences will be in the monitor's own response time and the overdrive circuit.

Eizo is coming out with a new Foris that will have built in blur reduction in a few months (no information on if its limited to 105-120hz like the FG2421 was or if its full range like the Benq blur reduction 1.0 models (The XL2730Z is bugged and limited to 120 and 144hz). The only other monitors capable of blur reduction are through Gsync's ULMB mode (and some Gsync monitors don't have ULMB, although most do).

[w00p00]

My question regarding the resolutions is if it will be blurry or just pixelated.

Regarding the blur, I tried finding video with blur vs no blur at 144hz at slowmotion but couldnt find. Any tips for where to look or if you know any?

Regarding the eizo, it looks awesome but I doubt it will be within the same prierange as the asus/xl2730z? Has anything been announced and I missed it?

[Falkentyne]

Look in the main website. Chief blur buster has a lot of videos about motion blur and sample and hold.

And any resolution under native will look blurry. Just half resolutions will not look as blurry as other non native resolutions since the interpolation will basically be loss of sample size instead of "distortion", but the way it looks depends purely on the monitor scaler (if it even has one), and if it does have one, it will depend on if you are using GPU scaling (bypassing the monitor scaler) or display scaling (custom resolutions through EDID overrides). it's almost like doing supersampling anti-aliasing in reverse, basically.

[w00p00]

So this will also add input lag I assume?

[Falkentyne]

Input lag is based on refresh rate and vsync.

Vsync off should not have any artificial input lag but you will still have faster response time at faster framerates.
Vsync on will have input frame lag equal to (1000 / refresh rate) milliseconds.

Gsync and Freesync avoid this, but blur reduction can't be used in combination with gsync and freesync yet, on any monitor.
(someone managed to be blur reduction working via a bug, with gsync, and it was....extremely...ugly).