BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

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A Solid lad
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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by A Solid lad » 27 Dec 2018, 06:22

Falkentyne wrote:
A Solid lad wrote:
saw141 wrote:Bumping this thread due to the new 0.5ms panels that are coming out. Also..the 2740 is unfortunately just so expensive :( I love BenQ’s features, and build quality, and company policies, but $599 USD is A LOT. I’ve been starting to second guess my dream monitor because these new 0.5ms panels could be “better” for fluidity, and clarity, and my $599 purchase may get outclassed super quickly. I want to make a good investment.
Exactlz this.^
I wanted to stick to my already bought XL2740, because I loved it. The OSD features, the colors, the contrast, the smoothness, the strobing, the overdrive tuning, the motion clarity... even viewing angles! (Which were much better than let's say the XL2720Z's were.) amazing monitor, the best fps gaming screen I've ever used.

...But I knew a better version of it with the new panels should come out shortly, that would top it in ever category, unless Benq f-s it up. (Which is a possibility...they did it with the XL2735 by using a too heavy coating or even the smaller sibling, the XL2540 by tuning the overdrive to be more heavy...the XL2740 is a rare monitor from Benq, as in, it luckily has nearly everything done right to it.)
So the XL2740 supports basic Benq Blur Reduction if you enable it in the service menu, but does NOT support AMD Freesync at all? (and doesn't have the brighter blur reduction of DyAc models?). Do Vertical Total tweaks still work on this thing? (I assume since it's 1080p then VT 1500 should work, while on the XL2735, you needed to use 1825 or 1852 (maximum))
Idk about Freesync... officially it doesn't support it. But I don't even care... however, Blur reduction is super bright on it, just as bright as it is on the alienware aw2518H in 144hz ULMB mode... I'd say even a tiny bit brighter.
I haven't even tried VT tweaks... if you're doing them to gain more brightness, I'd say don't even bother as there's plenty, even without touching timings.

*EDIT: Just read saw141's latest post.
I feel you.
First off, Mark most likely added it to the list because of my reports. I've tried the tool, and while it works, it doesn't provide any extra functionality over the monitor's service menu...and when I tried it, it had less range than the service menu. (meaning that to access all the values, you'd need to use the service menu anyway)
The service menu has two relevant entries:
Area (Crosstalk area)
Intensity (Persistence)
The default is 10 for both if memory serves my right.
There's no need to change the Area setting, as it's already the best it can be for clarity near the crosshairs area.
The Intensity setting doesn't actually change persistence...only brightness.
Motion clarity remains the same, no matter the value, so just turn that down to 1 (for maximum brightness) and you're set.
Last edited by A Solid lad on 27 Dec 2018, 10:11, edited 2 times in total.
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Falkentyne
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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by Falkentyne » 27 Dec 2018, 09:54

A Solid lad wrote:
Falkentyne wrote:
A Solid lad wrote:
saw141 wrote:Bumping this thread due to the new 0.5ms panels that are coming out. Also..the 2740 is unfortunately just so expensive :( I love BenQ’s features, and build quality, and company policies, but $599 USD is A LOT. I’ve been starting to second guess my dream monitor because these new 0.5ms panels could be “better” for fluidity, and clarity, and my $599 purchase may get outclassed super quickly. I want to make a good investment.
Exactlz this.^
I wanted to stick to my already bought XL2740, because I loved it. The OSD features, the colors, the contrast, the smoothness, the strobing, the overdrive tuning, the motion clarity... even viewing angles! (Which were much better than let's say the XL2720Z's were.) amazing monitor, the best fps gaming screen I've ever used.

...But I knew a better version of it with the new panels should come out shortly, that would top it in ever category, unless Benq f-s it up. (Which is a possibility...they did it with the XL2735 by using a too heavy coating or even the smaller sibling, the XL2540 by tuning the overdrive to be more heavy...the XL2740 is a rare monitor from Benq, as in, it luckily has nearly everything done right to it.)
So the XL2740 supports basic Benq Blur Reduction if you enable it in the service menu, but does NOT support AMD Freesync at all? (and doesn't have the brighter blur reduction of DyAc models?). Do Vertical Total tweaks still work on this thing? (I assume since it's 1080p then VT 1500 should work, while on the XL2735, you needed to use 1825 or 1852 (maximum))
Idk about Freesync... officially it doesn't support it. But I don't even care... however, Blur reduction is super bright on it, just as bright as it is on the alienware aw2518H in 144hz ULMB mode... I'd say even a tin y bit brighter.
I haven't even tried VT tweaks... if you're doing them to gain more brightness, I'd say don't even bother as there's plenty, even without touching timings.
Hi,
VT tweaks are for reducing strobe crosstalk. Increasing brightness was just a byproduct of that (mainly because on older benq models, the presence of the VT tweak made it use 60hz strobe pulse widths rather than the default pulse widths (e.g. at 120hz, default pulse widths are 8.3ms, a VT 1500 tweak forces 60hz pulse widths, which is twice the brightness).

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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by A Solid lad » 27 Dec 2018, 10:16

Oh, okay Falkentyne. I forgot about that apect... currently on vacation, and I tend to forget everything near holidays. haha

Added this to my prev. post btw:
*EDIT: Just read saw141's latest post.
I feel you.
First off, Mark most likely added it to the list because of my reports. I've tried the tool, and while it works, it doesn't provide any extra functionality over the monitor's service menu...and when I tried it, it had less range than the service menu. (meaning that to access all the values, you'd need to use the service menu anyway)
The service menu has two relevant entries:
Area (Crosstalk area)
Intensity (Persistence)
The default is 10 for both if memory serves my right.
There's no need to change the Area setting, as it's already the best it can be for clarity near the crosshairs area.
The Intensity setting doesn't actually change persistence...only brightness.
Motion clarity remains the same, no matter the value, so just turn that down to 1 (for maximum brightness) and you're set.
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Falkentyne
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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by Falkentyne » 27 Dec 2018, 17:16

A Solid lad wrote:Oh, okay Falkentyne. I forgot about that apect... currently on vacation, and I tend to forget everything near holidays. haha

Added this to my prev. post btw:
*EDIT: Just read saw141's latest post.
I feel you.
First off, Mark most likely added it to the list because of my reports. I've tried the tool, and while it works, it doesn't provide any extra functionality over the monitor's service menu...and when I tried it, it had less range than the service menu. (meaning that to access all the values, you'd need to use the service menu anyway)
The service menu has two relevant entries:
Area (Crosstalk area)
Intensity (Persistence)
The default is 10 for both if memory serves my right.
There's no need to change the Area setting, as it's already the best it can be for clarity near the crosshairs area.
The Intensity setting doesn't actually change persistence...only brightness.
Motion clarity remains the same, no matter the value, so just turn that down to 1 (for maximum brightness) and you're set.
You may be wondering what the "problem" is with 60hz strobe pulse widths at 120hz.
Well, basically, the LCD's are rated for a certain amount of current, and therefore are rated for a certain maximum persistence. It was on strobemaster's webpage long ago. But the max persistence is based on the maximum "strobe duty" allowed (the higher the persistence, the higher the brightness of course). The persistence is how long the backlight is left "on" for during a strobe cycle. The pulse width is the entire full millisecond time of the entire on and off cycle divided by **100** (left this out)(e.g, at 120hz it's 8.3ms, and at 60hz it's 16.7ms). So the strobe pulse width with a very low "strobe duty" cycle e.g. intensity 25 or strobe duty "001" on older Benqs would be 0.167ms. And each point added of strobe duty increases this by another 0.167ms.

Now when a VT tweak is used, the backlighit switches to 60hz pulse widths, which means that at 120hz, instead of using 8.3ms pulse widths (0.083ms), it will be using 16.7ms pulse widths. So each point of strobe duty will have an off cycle of 0.167ms rather than 0.083ms (a smaller value than 0.167ms), which is naturally brighter --thus more brightness.

In the older Benq monitors, the maximum strobe duty was 30, and 30 * 0.083 was 2.5ms, which is the maximum rating for how long the backlight can be flashed on during a strobe phase (so 8.3ms - 2.5ms is the backlight off phase). But with 16.7ms pulse widths, that now becomes 0.167ms *30 = 5ms, which is double what the backlight was originally supposed to handle. That's actually *BRIGHTER* than having blur reduction disabled. (this is because when you enabled blur reduction on these older monitors, the backlight current was increased by 1.8x (the same as the old Lightboost mode). But yeah....I haven't posted this information in awhile. So it's been awhile. I forgot a lot of what I said....I think my old info is still in the "AMA low" benq thread on the strobe utility subsection here.

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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by A Solid lad » 28 Dec 2018, 07:20

Nice read, thanks.
But yeah....I haven't posted this information in awhile. So it's been awhile. I forgot a lot of what I said....
I can heavily relate to this.
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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by saw141 » 13 Jan 2019, 16:18

I don’t think I can wait anymore. I hate how much the monitor costs $599 USD, but I want it so badly. I feel like even with 0.5ms panels I won’t want to or need to upgrade from 240 until we have a higher Hz profile, anyway. Mark has talked about how 0.5ms can pave the way for 480hz but until we have 1080@480hz, I think I’m fine. I would love if BenQ would make a 27” 1080 240hz 0.5ms, but after contacting their support they said there’s no current plan or news of doing so.

Regardless of 0.5ms, this monitor is an absolute beast with so many amazing factors that I love. It’s QoL features are second to none imo.

I think about the XL2740 seriously almost daily. I follow eBay search notifications for it, I check eBay at least once a week. There was a refurbished model for $398 but I missed it >;( I’ve watched every YouTube video about it, including ones in foreign languages, or just gameplay from people using it. I’m obsessed with this panel and have been for nearly if not a year now...I think I’ve held off long enough, and with no worthwhile prospects in the near future...

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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by saw141 » 14 Jan 2019, 23:34

Is there any truth to this reddit thread? A user is claiming that the XL2546 in particular, and apparently the XL2540 and XL2740, are terrible due to input lag. I think they're completely incorrect, right? https://old.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comme ... 6/duit2o3/

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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by A Solid lad » 15 Jan 2019, 08:01

Never believe somebody's word about a given product if that person hasn't tried it themselves.

I f-in despise the know-it-alls who get all of their information from others' reviews (or better yet... baseless youtube comments and reddit posts), and then proceed to write/talk about a product which they haven't even touched, as if they've built it themselves.

TL;DR:
Yes, those are false claims.
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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by saw141 » 15 Jan 2019, 09:47

A Solid lad wrote:Never believe somebody's word about a given product if that person hasn't tried it themselves.

I f-in despise the know-it-alls who get all of their information from others' reviews (or better yet... baseless youtube comments and reddit posts), and then proceed to write/talk about a product which they haven't even touched, as if they've built it themselves.

TL;DR:
Yes, those are false claims.
Thank you, very much. I’ve tried to get all of my information from credible sources, but with such a large investment I want to be as sure as I can.

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Re: BenQ XL2740 - 27” 1080p - 240hz - Should I wait?

Post by saw141 » 17 Jan 2019, 15:50

I finally did it, after a year of waiting; I just ordered the XL2740 from BenQdirect. I’m so excited and glad. I do wish it were cheaper, and I know some day it may be, and that better hardware will come out. However, I am going to take immpeccable care of it so that it’s resale value does not degrade. I plan to keep all original packaging material for example. When I sold and shipped my XL2720 it was expensive and a pain, keeping the original materials will make it 10000000% easier.

C: I finally DID IT!!!!! I did my research, diligently saved money, and I think I deserve it. I can’t wait.

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