Help with Monitor selection

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Wiluven
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Joined: 17 Oct 2018, 02:02

Help with Monitor selection

Post by Wiluven » 17 Oct 2018, 02:36

I need some professional help from you folks as I simply can't decide what monitor(s) to go with. I'm not a first person shooter type of gamer but I will load up a Royale type game or Overwatch occasionally but most of my gaming is Witcher 3 style games.

I'm not really looking for 4k as the technology isn't really there nor affordable at this point so I'm looking at a few options:
2x PG279Q
2x XB271HU
1x PG348Q & 1x PG279Q or XB271HU
1x Z35P & 1x PG279Q or XB271HU
others?

PC Specs:
I7-7700k OC'd to 5.2
Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero
G.Skill TridentZ RGB 32GB
Samsung 960 EVO 1TB SSD
EVGA GTX 1080 FTW

Your thoughts and time are appreciated.

Thanks!

Kheri
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Joined: 29 Sep 2018, 13:39

Re: Help with Monitor selection

Post by Kheri » 17 Oct 2018, 04:34

My personal thoughts are you would benefit from IPS viewing angles (and if their colors are calibrated), and 1440p. The XB271HU can also be overclocked to 165hz, and has g-sync. G-sync will give you a smoother experience especially when frames fluctuate. I'm not sure if you're interested in motion blur reduction, but the XB271HU can apparently be made to run ULMB+g-sync at the same time (120hz). I know one person who has 2 XB271HU and plays overwatch (he plays on 165hz). He loves the XB271HU. I don't have the personal experience to give you much of an opinion, imo. So hopefully someone else helps out.

Ultrawides seem fun to play on, never have personally though. Have you looked at the AW3418DW? That said I did see a 4k 60hz monitor for $220. No idea if it's any good.

Edit: The XB271HU and PG279Q don't use the same panel. TFTcentral review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/asu ... pg279q.htm

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RealNC
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Re: Help with Monitor selection

Post by RealNC » 17 Oct 2018, 15:39

Wiluven wrote:I need some professional help from you folks as I simply can't decide what monitor(s) to go with. I'm not a first person shooter type of gamer but I will load up a Royale type game or Overwatch occasionally but most of my gaming is Witcher 3 style games.
Exactly the same for me. I play fast shooters sometimes (OW, CS:GO), but ~80% of the time, I play other games. Be it Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dragon Age, Dishonored, Alan Wake, etc, etc. For these typed of games, image quality is nice to have. And G-Sync was a very big upgrade for me, because I always want to use vsync in games to get the smoothness and tear-free image, but I can't stand the input lag of vsync, and the stutter you can get when your FPS gets lower than the Hz of the monitor. G-Sync solved all those problems of vsync, and I'm having lots of fun with it. Some people might not care though; if you always play vsync OFF in games and don't care about tearing, then g-sync is not a must. But for me it is though.

I'm using an IPS 1440p G-Sync display (ViewSonic XG2703-GS), which has the same panel as the PG279Q and the XB271HU. Even though it's the same panel, it seems to be calibrated a bit better out of the box compared to the Asus and Acer. But otherwise, same thing pretty much.

These monitors are really good for the type of gaming I do. Unless you get a unit with lots of backlight bleed (there were QA issues with these monitors.) The pcmonitors.info video review of the XG2703-GS includes a section that shows the pros and cons you get compared to TN monitors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYKUFNSya_Y

However, there's also another option now that seems rather good. A 165Hz G-Sync VA panel, the LG 32GK850G. It's 1440p 31.5". The video review is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wENM8o_rIA8

The written reviews with all test results in measurements are linked to in the video descriptions. But the video reviews are a bit more "hands on", and they discuss the pros and cons of modern IPS and VA panels vs TN panels, which are worth knowing before you buy. (The first video for example shows why viewing angles are important even if you're sitting right in front of a monitor, and it also shows how IPS glow looks like.)

(I always link to pcmonitors.info reviews because IMO he is an extremely trustworthy reviewer.)
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Chief Blur Buster
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Re: Help with Monitor selection

Post by Chief Blur Buster » 19 Oct 2018, 20:10

Good tips from RealNC.

If you are not picky about uber-low eSports lag -- then for a two monitor setup, think of the ultrawides too. A 3440x1440 100Hz/120Hz work really well for casual gaming. These are VA panels, which have good color and contrast ratio. A bit laggier than IPS but if you're doing solo games, that's not going to be noticeable or felt -- Witcher 3 is great on these monitors.

Think about your 2-monitor use cases. 2-monitor gaming doesn't work as well a 1-ultrawide or 3-monitor, and diverging the refresh rates (e.g. 144Hz game with 60Hz Walkthrough Guide monitor) can degrade the performance of the main monitor sometimes in unusual/weird ways if you're not in true surround mode (which only works for 3-monitor setups). If you do 2 monitors, keep both of them at the same resolution+refresh -- so preferably two identical monitors.

For those looking for ultrawide monitors for a panoramic experience, there's the List of Ultrawide Monitors. For the VA 3440x1440 models, most are 100Hz but some are overclockable to 120Hz.

For other models, see the signature below; if isolating to specific monitors (e.g. IPS 1440p monitors)
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