does anyone here have zowie xl2546 ? quick question!

[alexander1986]

what happens if your framerate dips below 240 fps on this monitor while using dyac at 240 hz? does the picture stutter a lot and does it feel really bad ? this is usually the case when running a strobed monitor and fps dips below refreshrate anyway, just wondering if its the same on this one !

[RealNC]

Yes, obviously there's stutter. However, it's less visible compared to 120Hz displays. The higher the refresh rate of a display is, the less visible FPS/Hz mismatch stutter becomes. Note that 240Hz is not high enough to make FPS/Hz stutter imperceptible. You'd probably need something close to 1000Hz for that to happen.

[alexander1986]

Yes, obviously there's stutter. However, it's less visible compared to 120Hz displays. The higher the refresh rate of a display is, the less visible FPS/Hz mismatch stutter becomes. Note that 240Hz is not high enough to make FPS/Hz stutter imperceptible. You'd probably need something close to 1000Hz for that to happen.

I see, makes sense, it feels like somewhat of a shame that there is no freesync on this monitor to use with dyac disabled or so, from what I can find in reviews and forums it seems the dyac tech and 240hz strobing in general on this monitor is supposedly top notch compared to many if not all other alternatives when considering strobing at 240hz, but requires of course that you can maintain that framerate for the best result, IDK, have been scouring the net for reviews, videos, forums you name it for opinions and feedback/tests on this matter and feels really tough to find a clear winner 240 hz monitor when considering strobing implementation / overdrive implementation / free/gsync compatible all at once :S


I dont suppose you have any recommendations or tips for a 24-27" 240hz monitor with good 240hz strobing in terms of crosstalk and so on, that also has support for either freesync or gsync to use in games where constant 240 fps is not realistic? cheers !

[PepsiCola]

I side-by-side compared the XL2546+DyAc against the MAG251RX+Freesync at 240Hz, playing Fortnite achieving FPS in the 150-240 range. The DyAc provided a much clearer image with less motion blur, even without the Freesync. I ended up keeping the XL2546 and am very happy with it. You just can't beat the clear, bright image that DyAc provides. The MAG251RX has a motion-blur reduction strobing feature too, but like most other manufacturers, there's no voltage boost on the backlight, so it's too dim for practical gaming use.

Frame drops and stutters are barely noticeable at 240Hz. Yes, you can see them when your eyes are tracking fast-moving objects, they appear as very brief and light ghost images that are just one (or two) frames behind. However it's still less motion blur than you get with a perfect 240Hz without backlight strobing, and even less than almost-240Hz without backlight strobing but with FreeSync.

I think FreeSync (well. GSync originally I guess...) was primarily designed to reduce stutter and tearing, back when most monitors were 60Hz. It does a great job of that, but it's just not necessary at 240Hz.

DyAc > FreeSync. I don't miss FreeSync at all on the XL2546. If it was available I would enable it of course, but not if it meant turning off DyAc, and I wouldn't pay extra for it.

If the delivered FPS by the PC was far below 240Hz, that would be a different story... although you can always use DyAc with a lower refresh rate at which you rarely get dropped frames.

[DukeDice929]

I side-by-side compared the XL2546+DyAc against the MAG251RX+Freesync at 240Hz, playing Fortnite achieving FPS in the 150-240 range. The DyAc provided a much clearer image with less motion blur, even without the Freesync. I ended up keeping the XL2546 and am very happy with it. You just can't beat the clear, bright image that DyAc provides. The MAG251RX has a motion-blur reduction strobing feature too, but like most other manufacturers, there's no voltage boost on the backlight, so it's too dim for practical gaming use.

Frame drops and stutters are barely noticeable at 240Hz. Yes, you can see them when your eyes are tracking fast-moving objects, they appear as very brief and light ghost images that are just one (or two) frames behind. However it's still less motion blur than you get with a perfect 240Hz without backlight strobing, and even less than almost-240Hz without backlight strobing but with FreeSync.

I think FreeSync (well. GSync originally I guess...) was primarily designed to reduce stutter and tearing, back when most monitors were 60Hz. It does a great job of that, but it's just not necessary at 240Hz.

DyAc > FreeSync. I don't miss FreeSync at all on the XL2546. If it was available I would enable it of course, but not if it meant turning off DyAc, and I wouldn't pay extra for it.

If the delivered FPS by the PC was far below 240Hz, that would be a different story... although you can always use DyAc with a lower refresh rate at which you rarely get dropped frames.

So it's not worth upgrading the XL2546 to MAG251RX ?
I just want to try new 240Hz IPS panel, but now I'm confused.

[alexander1986]

I side-by-side compared the XL2546+DyAc against the MAG251RX+Freesync at 240Hz, playing Fortnite achieving FPS in the 150-240 range. The DyAc provided a much clearer image with less motion blur, even without the Freesync. I ended up keeping the XL2546 and am very happy with it. You just can't beat the clear, bright image that DyAc provides. The MAG251RX has a motion-blur reduction strobing feature too, but like most other manufacturers, there's no voltage boost on the backlight, so it's too dim for practical gaming use.

Frame drops and stutters are barely noticeable at 240Hz. Yes, you can see them when your eyes are tracking fast-moving objects, they appear as very brief and light ghost images that are just one (or two) frames behind. However it's still less motion blur than you get with a perfect 240Hz without backlight strobing, and even less than almost-240Hz without backlight strobing but with FreeSync.

I think FreeSync (well. GSync originally I guess...) was primarily designed to reduce stutter and tearing, back when most monitors were 60Hz. It does a great job of that, but it's just not necessary at 240Hz.

DyAc > FreeSync. I don't miss FreeSync at all on the XL2546. If it was available I would enable it of course, but not if it meant turning off DyAc, and I wouldn't pay extra for it.

If the delivered FPS by the PC was far below 240Hz, that would be a different story... although you can always use DyAc with a lower refresh rate at which you rarely get dropped frames.

mm interesting indeed! thanks for the detailed feedback on this, appreciate it a lot !

some questions for you if thats OK, since im interested in getting this monitor (but also have a few alternatives in mind, like the 27" version of it but also some other models are interesting right now, like asus 280hz ips model or acer/asus 240hz models)

have you also tested the dyac in fortnite in say either very stacked endgames with tons of players in the vicinity in small circles or just in like team rumble, where there usually is 20-40 players in small circles with tons of builds? cause in this situations, if im using 240 fps ingame framecap, my fps drops from 240 to like 150-170 range, and on my current ancient monitor, the asus vg248qe, the experience is quite bad in terms of jarring stutter and bad mouse feeling when this happens for example, IF I play at 240 fps framerate on 120 hz strobed lightboost mode,

if I run a constant 120 fps limit instead at 120 hz lightboost on my monitor, (lightboost = strobing) then it looks and feels perfect no matter how many players or builds are nearby and I can maintain that framerate in 100% of scenarios,

if I instead set 240fps ingame limit at 120hz strobed, and if im not in a heavy scene / stacked endgame, or im playing low intensity public solo matches for example, where I can maintain 240 fps a large majority of the time, then that feels quite a bit better in terms of input delay vs 120 hz/120 fps, and the vsync off tearing is more or less eliminated or at least unnoticeable for me at this framerate, so in this case im talking about 120 hz strobed with 240 fps framecap, vsync off,


in other words and to be more specific, with what I wrote above in mind on my current monitor and scenario, I really wonder exactly how different the smoothness of the picture but also how your mouse input "feels" whenever your fps drops from 240 solid to different steps below in those high intensity scenarios on the zowie, like at 220-200-180 down to 150 fps or so which should be possible to maintain even in stacked endgames (if you have a strong cpu and gpu of course, mostly fast cpu / ram matters with low gfx quality settings I guess anyway in fortnite)

I guess you already kind of answered but even more detail would be appreciated


for reference my system is cpu: 9700k @ 5ghz all cores , gpu rtx 2060 at +1000 mhz memory oc and core is usually at 1950 mhz in fortnite since the gpu load is basically never over 40-50% if that even with my low quality settings at 1080p, and my ram is 2x8gb 3600mhz cl16.

cheers and thanks again for your post anyway, really interesting and kind of more leaning towards a benq monitor now, although maybe I should wait for the 2540S or 2740S, choices choices...


PS. last question that is maybe the most important one even for me, can the 2546 strobe at any custom refreshrate? like can you set it to 200hz/180 hz / 165hz/144 hz and still keep DyAc enabled and then just set the fps to that in fortnite? to try and find a sweet spot in terms of 100% stable fps while strobed, preferrably above 120/144hz with a good result if that makes sense!,

also like, what if you set your benq monitor to 240hz with DyAc enabled, but set the ingame fps limit to something lower like 180 fps or 165/144/120 fps, will this look and feel bad compared to 240/240 but with framedips? this would be super interesting to know ! although I cant expect you to test all that but perhaps one or two combinations at least if you have the time and energy for it in the near future cheers!

[PepsiCola]

Haha wow, lots of questions and long ones. I can't speak to your specific system. I have a 9900K, 2070 Super, 32GB RAM. I don't notice frame drops or stutters while the FPS is above 140Hz or so, with a 240Hz refresh rate. The XL2546 does do backlight strobing at any custom refresh rate, even down at 120Hz refresh (possibly lower too, haven't tested it though). I find 240Hz+DyAC at say 160 fps a smoother experience than 120Hz+DyAc at 120 fps, even though some frames are being repeated by the strobing. Once the FPS drops below about 120Hz, that's when I start to notice it at 240Hz refresh. Otherwise, it's very smooth. A much bigger problem is the occasional hitches and FPS drops from Fortnite itself, when the game drops to 80hz or below for a frame or two, those glitches are very noticeable and no monitor will fix that issue.

As for 240Hz IPS and the MAG251RX, I was very disappointed. I tried it because I was hoping for better colors. Yes, you get better gamut, but the 1ms GtG is just not as fast as a TN panel. The colors on the XL2546 are already pretty good, and the Color Vibrance / Black Equalizer options work very well, making the image pop in Fortnite much more than the slightly wider gamut of the MAG251RX. The Color Vibrance is in theory just a saturation adjustment, but it seems to work better than just dialing up the saturation on the MAG251RX or in the NVidia Control Panel. Also, I discovered I actually prefer the defects of TN to the defects of IPS, in particular I really don't like IPS glow, and I'm usually directly in front of the monitor anyway so viewing angles aren't an issue. There is virtually no pixel inversion artifacting on my XL2546 (however, I did see a "certified refurbished" one which had quite bad inversion artifacts, so YMMV).

Another big selling point for the BenQ is the external preset switch. I have a "desktop" mode configured for preset 1, and a "gaming" mode with DyAc, Color Vibrance, Black Eq, all enabled, for preset 2. I can switch between them instantly by pressing one or other button. It works very well. I'm surprised other monitor manufacturers haven't done something similar. It's very convenient.

Definitely won't give up my XL2546 soon. They seem to be out of stock though, not sure whether due to coronavirus or because the XL2546S is around the corner, which will hopefully have the newer 0.5ms GtG TN panel.

[alexander1986]

Haha wow, lots of questions and long ones. I can't speak to your specific system. I have a 9900K, 2070 Super, 32GB RAM. I don't notice frame drops or stutters while the FPS is above 140Hz or so, with a 240Hz refresh rate. The XL2546 does do backlight strobing at any custom refresh rate, even down at 120Hz refresh (possibly lower too, haven't tested it though). I find 240Hz+DyAC at say 160 fps a smoother experience than 120Hz+DyAc at 120 fps, even though some frames are being repeated by the strobing. Once the FPS drops below about 120Hz, that's when I start to notice it at 240Hz refresh. Otherwise, it's very smooth. A much bigger problem is the occasional hitches and FPS drops from Fortnite itself, when the game drops to 80hz or below for a frame or two, those glitches are very noticeable and no monitor will fix that issue.

As for 240Hz IPS and the MAG251RX, I was very disappointed. I tried it because I was hoping for better colors. Yes, you get better gamut, but the 1ms GtG is just not as fast as a TN panel. The colors on the XL2546 are already pretty good, and the Color Vibrance / Black Equalizer options work very well, making the image pop in Fortnite much more than the slightly wider gamut of the MAG251RX. The Color Vibrance is in theory just a saturation adjustment, but it seems to work better than just dialing up the saturation on the MAG251RX or in the NVidia Control Panel. Also, I discovered I actually prefer the defects of TN to the defects of IPS, in particular I really don't like IPS glow, and I'm usually directly in front of the monitor anyway so viewing angles aren't an issue. There is virtually no pixel inversion artifacting on my XL2546 (however, I did see a "certified refurbished" one which had quite bad inversion artifacts, so YMMV).

Another big selling point for the BenQ is the external preset switch. I have a "desktop" mode configured for preset 1, and a "gaming" mode with DyAc, Color Vibrance, Black Eq, all enabled, for preset 2. I can switch between them instantly by pressing one or other button. It works very well. I'm surprised other monitor manufacturers haven't done something similar. It's very convenient.

Definitely won't give up my XL2546 soon. They seem to be out of stock though, not sure whether due to coronavirus or because the XL2546S is around the corner, which will hopefully have the newer 0.5ms GtG TN panel.

nice! thanks for the detailed reply once again and taking the time once again, very appreciated! very interesting that it feels smooth with dyac even at ~160 fps @ 240 hz for you, that is very good to hear imo!

and indeed it kind of is what it is with the framedrops from the game itself, at least its on epic games trello board as a known issue and something they are working on since this seasons release:

https://trello.com/c/GvSgF8DV/1240-repo ... ince-v1200


towards the end of last season and previous seasons it felt way less stuttery, kind of feels like there is always stutter and hitching issues at release of new seasons in fortnite and then it progressively gets better with updates and patches until the next season lol,

we shall see I guess what happens.. anyway your feedback on the xl2546 sounds really good in any case! currently just waiting for the xl2546S to be available for purchase and decided to go for that one, I can buy the xl2746S right now as its in stock in my country but not sure if 27" 1080p is too blurry or might be worth it with the larger playermodels/targets so to speak,if you know the player "mr savage" he is on the xl2740 so at least some pro player seems to be doing fine with 27" 1080p, but IDK !

either 2546S or 2746S it will be, just hoping the S models are not worse in any way than the non S models and that its still possible to strobe at custom refreshrates, for the 182 hz large VT trick just to have the option available for testing and so on, again thanks for the feedback, appreciated a lot mate cheers

[PepsiCola]

You're welcome, congrats on your decision. I will upgrade to the 2546S when it comes out too, hopefully soon!

Thanks for the Trello board link. I play COD Warzone too, and I experience no frame hitches there. I get a rock solid 170 fps which I run at 240Hz refresh. Again here, I tried 170 fps at 170Hz refresh with DyAc, and the picture wasn't quite as smooth. With the NVidia 30xx cards just around the corner, it's a moot point anyway, and I expect to be running both games at a solid 240 fps later this year.

I tried a 27" 1440p monitor late last year. It was a little too big for my desk. I'd need to move it further away to view it comfortably. 24" works better for me and I prefer the pixel density of 24/1080 over 27/1080. I could see the pixel grid at 27/1440 and it was ugly. I've tried Fortnite at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, and yes the 4K image looks nice, but in practice the 1080p is much preferable due to the higher frame rates.

Another thing I love about the BenQ is the stand. The marker tabs let you position the monitor precisely after moving it around.

Enjoy your new monitor when it comes!