Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

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Woundman
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Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Woundman » 02 Apr 2017, 14:40

Hi!

I am about to purchase a 240hz monitor and was curious as to which I should purchase. I know they have the same exact panel, should I save the extra money on the Acer?

Also, I couldn't find any calibration guides on the Acer like the Asus. Would I calibrate them the same, since the panels are identical? I know every monitor isn't the same.

Let me know what you think!

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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by CRTguy » 02 Apr 2017, 14:48

Hi,

I recently wrote a review on the ASUS PG258Q in this forum:

http://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3287

I found there were more negative aspects to the ASUS PG258Q than I would have liked (the review has the details), so my opinion would be to try the Acer if you're set on going for a 240hz monitor.

I returned the PG258Q and purchased the AOC G2460PG instead (144 hz monitor) because I was worried the new 240hz panels would all have the terrible color/contrast I witnessed, and you can find my review here (just posted a few minutes ago):

http://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3296

I am curious to know what the Acer 240hz will be like, but wasn't willing to make the gamble after already returning one monitor.

As a side note, I own a Sony GDM-FW900 CRT (100 lbs weight on my desk) because I am so sensitive to motion, and I didn't see that much improvement between 144hz and 240hz on the ASUS PG258Q, even when playing games like Team Fortress 2 at 240 fps consistently. I didn't see that much value overall, especially when none of the modern games I play can reach 240 fps, and they rarely reach 144 fps even at 1080p on a GTX 1080.

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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 02 Apr 2017, 21:09

What will be your purpose of the monitor -- competition gaming as priority -- or also a well-rounded monitor (general desktop use, gaming, PhotoShop, etc)?

There are many benefits to a 240Hz monitor, but also that 144Hz monitors have been on the market longer and have more maturity (And choice of panels too -- IPS / VA / TN).

If you are into the professional competitions, then there's definitely benefits, but there's also just simply getting a monitor with better colors but slightly lower (144Hz) refresh rate if you need something more well-rounded and mature...

There are also plenty of really good 144Hz monitors on the Official List of Gaming Monitors, too.
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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Woundman » 02 Apr 2017, 21:30

Thanks for responding so quickly guys. The monitor would be used for gaming 100%. Are the colors really that bad?

Edit: Currently have the ASUS PG248Q, but looking to upgrade. Overclocking to 180hz is noticeable, but the lines are really bad, especially on 180hz. 160hz isn't very noticeable, but you can definitely see them. It's so bad, I don't even use 180hz. Other than that, it's a great monitor and love G-Sync.

Games played are: WoW, CS:GO, Hearthstone, Fallout, Skyrim, ect.

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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 03 Apr 2017, 10:44

Woundman wrote:Thanks for responding so quickly guys. The monitor would be used for gaming 100%. Are the colors really that bad?

Edit: Currently have the ASUS PG248Q, but looking to upgrade. Overclocking to 180hz is noticeable, but the lines are really bad, especially on 180hz. 160hz isn't very noticeable, but you can definitely see them. It's so bad, I don't even use 180hz. Other than that, it's a great monitor and love G-Sync.

Games played are: WoW, CS:GO, Hearthstone, Fallout, Skyrim, ect.
Oh! You already have the ASUS PG248Q? That's a very high end monitor already.

What you might want to do is wait a few more weeks/months for more reviews/tests of all the 240Hz monitors to come out. There are at least 2 more 240Hz monitors coming out, which could sway decisions, especially as manufacturers are working to rapidly improve the 240Hz experience.

We are purchasing from the store, at least one or two 240Hz monitors, so we will even also have our own tests too by late spring.
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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Woundman » 05 Apr 2017, 22:46

So I decided to buy the Acver XB25Q and abosolutely love it compared to the PG248Q. Definitely notice the difference in refresh rate and colors and contrast seem to be better imo (even the wife agrees). Would you recommend a guide to calibrate the colors? Monitor is adjusted to my liking, but maybe there is some better settings out there for gaming.

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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by luckydog323 » 06 Apr 2017, 08:49

Chief Blur Buster wrote:
Woundman wrote:Thanks for responding so quickly guys. The monitor would be used for gaming 100%. Are the colors really that bad?

Edit: Currently have the ASUS PG248Q, but looking to upgrade. Overclocking to 180hz is noticeable, but the lines are really bad, especially on 180hz. 160hz isn't very noticeable, but you can definitely see them. It's so bad, I don't even use 180hz. Other than that, it's a great monitor and love G-Sync.

Games played are: WoW, CS:GO, Hearthstone, Fallout, Skyrim, ect.
Oh! You already have the ASUS PG248Q? That's a very high end monitor already.

What you might want to do is wait a few more weeks/months for more reviews/tests of all the 240Hz monitors to come out. There are at least 2 more 240Hz monitors coming out, which could sway decisions, especially as manufacturers are working to rapidly improve the 240Hz experience.

We are purchasing from the store, at least one or two 240Hz monitors, so we will even also have our own tests too by late spring.


I used three monitors, my main monitor in the center being the ACER X34. I had two 1080p monitors as bookends and really liked the setup. I have a corner desk and all of the monitors fit pretty well along the walls/turn in the desk without using up too much desk real estate. I had to give up one of the monitors for my daughters computer but all is well, they are coming along nicely.
I will not be investing (too much, lol) more in monitors until the VR stuff works itself out. The 34 inch i just bought this year should get me well into whatever comes next, display-wise.
Maybe you can get some advices from the link.http://cvc2.org/best-gaming-monitor/

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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 06 Apr 2017, 17:23

Woundman wrote:So I decided to buy the Acver XB25Q and abosolutely love it compared to the PG248Q. Definitely notice the difference in refresh rate and colors and contrast seem to be better imo (even the wife agrees). Would you recommend a guide to calibrate the colors? Monitor is adjusted to my liking, but maybe there is some better settings out there for gaming.
That's interesting to hear that Acer Predator XB252Q (240Hz) has better colors than the ASUS ROG PG248Q (180Hz)! Normally, the higher the refresh rate, the poorer the TN colors usually become.
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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by RealNC » 06 Apr 2017, 21:58

Chief Blur Buster wrote:That's interesting to hear that Acer Predator XB252Q (240Hz) has better colors than the ASUS ROG PG248Q (180Hz)! Normally, the higher the refresh rate, the poorer the TN colors usually become.
We need to be a bit careful with subjective impressions of color quality. Many monitors that don't have color accuracy usually use a 2.0 or 1.8 gamma curve coupled with a bias on the blue channel in order to make the image artificially more "vibrant."

Not that subjective perception of colors isn't important, but that never says much about actual color accuracy. Many years ago, I was using a cheap TN from 2006 or so. I thought the colors were brilliant. On one occasion, I sat in front of a well calibrated $2000 Dell IPS of a professional photographer. My first thought was that the colors absolutely suck and everything appears yellow compared to my uncalibrated $200 TN. If you get used to a 7400K white point with poor red and greens and 1.8 gamma over several years, then a monitor with actual good colors might appear like total crap...

Since ENB injection is so popular with gamers these days, I'd even dare to wager than most people are used to wrong colors and prefer "enhanced" colors that actually are completely off but more visually appealing than correct color reproduction.
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Re: Acer XB252Q vs Asus PG258Q (240hz)

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 07 Apr 2017, 12:47

This be true. You do get used to a specific calibration.

Sometimes I even prefer a much brighter picture at 6000K or 7000K than a dimmer picture at 6500K, if I'm trying to calibrate a strobe-backlight that's has a white point that is a little off... Sometimes you have to make compromises somewhere -- trade off brightness for color calibration, etc.

That said, if a huge number of Amazon reviewers like the default color calibration of a specific gaming monitor, then it appears that the manufacturer decided to make all the "right" compromises (even if imperfect) to satisfy a gamer that might get frustrated with poor colors. They can calibrate monitors if they want to -- and include it as an easy-access monitor menu preset -- but they need to try to aim to the baseline user preference too.

A calibrated monitor looks kick-ass when it runs applications that benefit from the calibrations, e.g. nature photography. But might look crap when playing a cartoony FPS that is optimized for a more illuminated gamma and spiked color saturation... Sometimes the gamer doesn't care if that cartoon colors of Borderlands or Team Fortress is simply a slightly enhanced cartoon color. And we can press a button to go back to 6500K when viewing our family photo album.

All boils down to priorities.
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