05/22/2020 UPDATE. The IPS 240hz monitor tier list.(I've measured/tried the all) and my honest explanation why.

[RLCSContender*]

I'm back!. it's time to write more reviews!(although i do NOT consider myself a reviewer, i consider myself a consumer) i finally got a new motherboard because my z490 MSI MEG Unify had a major power surge because it had really bad transient response(the motherboard was paper thin, i wasn't surprised). It took along almost every hardware that i had.

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Speaking of reviews. I will have to get this out of the way. I'm not a professional reviewer. I buy every thing with my hard earned money. Professional reviewers generally receive their monitor for FREE(or a free rental) from the company they are reviewing. Which means they have to abide by certain standards such as upholding neutrality.

i do NOT like that system because

1. The company sending that monitor can cherry pick that monitor which MAY give an inaccurate review relative to what most people own
2. affiliate bias (lets be real here, if I was a professional reviewer and i made a NEGATIVE review, do you seriously think that particular company will continue to be affiliated with me? Probably not. Generally speaking, professional reviewers HAVE to uphold neutrality or say things in a way that does NOT come off "negative". Because if they don't, then that particular company will cut TIES with that reviewer(so BOTH lose and it's not a win win situation when it comes to monetary gain)
3. they dont' really acknowledge the COST of the monitor relative to its shortcomings. TWO examples of this is the Asus PG259QN (360hz monitor) and the samsung odyssey G7. These monitors are around $700-800 which is very expensive. The higher the price, the higher the expectations. Just because guys from RTINGS or TFT claim that "flicker is just a case by case basis" "this inverse ghosting isn't really noticeable in practice". What they don't understand is that consumers such as myself paid $800 for this item and because of that, ANY form of flicker is an AUTOMATIC RMA, ANY form of Ghosting/inverse ghosting is an AUTOMATIC return. $800 is a lot of money and ppl's expectations should be through the roof. For them to trivialize these monitor shortcomings is the reason why i take every thing they say as a grain of salt

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i'm 100% totally aware of my divisive reputation. My posting style generally either make ppl hate my reviews or like my reviews. From my experience Consumers generally like my reviews the most hence why i basically make FRONT PAGE as the #1 top reviewer on most monitors i review on (A* i wont' mention the website).

So yes, call me "charlatan" or accuse me of reviewing through emotion. At the end of the day, my Amazon metrics and helpful votes back me up. People find my reviews to be very useful. Yes, I maybe blunt and abrasive, but i'm HONEST and i'm here for the best interest of the consumers.

When i review, i'm reviewing from the point of view of a consumer. Which means MY MONEY gets affected and if i see something that does not hold up to my expectations relative to how much i paid for the monitor, rest assure i will NOT tolerate it. . The only time i show some sort of emotion is if i find something from my tests that does NOT meet my expectations relative to how much i paid for that monitor.


upcoming reviews

Asus TUF VG259QM review (the king of motion clarity)
MAG251RX (OWN) (#2 in motion clarity)
Odyssey G7 27" part 1
Odyssey G7 32" part 4
Dell Alienware AW2521HFL (RLCSContender's current MAIN)(#3 in motion clarity)(RLCS season 1(15) dreamhack 2021+RLCS season 1 reboot, Officially sponsored as an esports professional)
Acer Predator XB253Q Gx (the King of competitive)
360hz monitors

[gunner7]

RLCScontender, I wanted to say that I read this forum over the past couple of days and I appreciate all the testing/posting results you've compiled. I play competitive Warzone on console and I will probably be buying/building a higher end PC next year - I was looking at the AW2521HF, MAG251RX, and Xb253QGx. I know how highly you rate the MSI, but its still oos at the retail price. What would the pros and cons be between the Predator and Alienware for console gaming?

Also, if you don't mind, what are your thoughts on the VG259Q 144hz? Would this be a good option for next-gen consoles? Even higher end PCs have a hard time running this game above 150fps.

[ferro]

I'm back!. it's time to write more reviews!(although i do NOT consider myself a reviewer, i consider myself a consumer) i finally got a new motherboard because my z490 MSI MEG Unify had a major power surge because it had really bad transient response(the motherboard was paper thin, i wasn't surprised). It took along almost every hardware that i had.

This is kind of off topic but I just ordered this motherboard and had to RMA it because it was dead. Should I just get my money back and buy an Asus board or Gigabyte? Aren't they all about the same thickness? Or do you think you just got a lemon?

[lostyBLUR]

Dell Alienware AW2521HFL (RLCSContender's current MAIN)(#3 in motion clarity)(RLCS season 1(15) dreamhack 2021+RLCS season 1 reboot, Officially sponsored as an esports professional)

I'm curious why do you main the AW2521H when you seem to have a higher opinion of the ASUS and MSI? I also play Rocket League and am looking to upgrade my ViewSonic XG2402 144Hz to 240Hz. The VG259qm looks good but I also play on console sometimes so this may not be the best option. The MAG251RX looks promising but doesn't seem available to purchase at the moment. That leaves me looking at the AW2521H or should I be looking at something else? Thanks.

[spacerocktraveler]

Wizards, please help guide me. I'm really itching for a monitor upgrade. I feel as if my xb271hu just isn't cutting it in Valorant.

How does the xb271hu compare to the top rated ips monitors on your list in terms of motion clarity and response times? Genuinely curious how dated this one is in comparison.

My other monitor is a benq 2420g so I'm well aware of the difference between 1440p and 1080, and while that can be somewhat stable at 200hz, I just don't use it for anything other than my side screen because fps games aren't the only games I play anymore.

I have been strongly considering the benq 2546 or 2746 strictly to enjoy Valorant and whatever other fps games I want to play, but am willing to hold out for maybe another 3-6 months for a quality 1440p 240hz monitor ONLY IF it is comparable to the best 1080p monitors in terms of clarity, response times, and motion blur.

[Ogmilkman]

Is there any reason to wait for the newer 1080p 240hz 24.5in panels over buying the VG259QM?

LG LM245WF9-SSA2 in Q4 2020 and the AU Optronics M250HAN01.A in Q1 2021

[Chief Blur Buster]

I have been strongly considering the benq 2546 or 2746 strictly to enjoy Valorant and whatever other fps games I want to play, but am willing to hold out for maybe another 3-6 months for a quality 1440p 240hz monitor ONLY IF it is comparable to the best 1080p monitors in terms of clarity, response times, and motion blur.

Anything 2019-and-prior IPS is generally not esports-competitive-enough. You need modern 2020-era "1ms GtG IPS" (new faster IPS panel tech that gets much closer to TN).

This catapults IPS into esports-usable territory, with some esports IPS monitors having less lag than several esports TN monitors (the venn diagram fully overlaps now). There's a big improvement between 2018-era 165Hz IPS and 2020-era 165Hz IPS, and you should be getting at least 240Hz anyway for Valorant.

Even 280Hz and 360Hz can give Valorant advantages too, given 360Hz has about half the display motion blur of 165Hz at full framerates, given the rule of doubling refreshrate & framerate halving display motion blur (assuming realworld GtG isn't bottlenecking badly).

That said, the BenQ XL2546 series are really good for Valorant too, low lag and low blur, with good 240Hz strobing. That said, if you don't use strobing, upcoming wide-gamut 240Hz fast-IPS with saturated colors can make it easier to see camoflaged enemies. Just make sure you keep framerates really high (identical to 1080p) to have 240Hz 1440p similar lag as 240Hz 1080p. Fortunately, that's not impossible for Valorant, given its CPU-limited nature on newer GPUs.

Sorry I have not made your decision simpler. There's multiple legitimate upgrade paths including 2020-era IPS with less blur and less lag than older BenQs such as the XL2420G

[RLCSContender*]

RLCScontender, I wanted to say that I read this forum over the past couple of days and I appreciate all the testing/posting results you've compiled. I play competitive Warzone on console and I will probably be buying/building a higher end PC next year - I was looking at the AW2521HF, MAG251RX, and Xb253QGx. I know how highly you rate the MSI, but its still oos at the retail price. What would the pros and cons be between the Predator and Alienware for console gaming?

Also, if you don't mind, what are your thoughts on the VG259Q 144hz? Would this be a good option for next-gen consoles? Even higher end PCs have a hard time running this game above 150fps.

NO, do NOT get a 165hz or 144hz monitor. WAY TOO MUCH MOTION BLUR.

Most people will say "it's hardly much of a difference from 144hz to 240hz. I beg to differ.( I would probably lose EVERY esports professionanal MATCH if i played at 144hz or 165hz refresh)

I put the fastest 1440p IPS 165hz monitor to the test the Nano LG viewsonic w/ variable overdrive (4.1ms g2g average) against my 240hz IPS monitor Alienware aw2521hfl

This is what 165hz vs 240hz looks like(keep in mind, this is among the fastest 1440p IPS monitors, the viewsonic NANO(which is slightly faster than the LG, so this isn't some "random" monitor, this is one of the fastest 1440p IPS monitors

Way too much motion blur for the 165hz viewsonic nano IPS. Whereas my 240hz alienware, although had some motion blur, it's good enough to not obstruct the way i play.

Dell Alienware AW2521HFL 240hz 1080p monitor



Viewsonic NANO IPS XG270QG 165hz 1440p monitor



here's the video i took. (if in case the skeptics here think i'm bsing)

viewsonic nano IPS

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Alienware 240hz monitor (aw2521hfl)

phpBB [video]

sorry TN, no amount of fast response time(assymetrical blur) will save you from MOTION BLUR. The 360hz PG259QN will smash any TN in motion clarity, or any upcoming 360hz monitor.

asymmetrical blur aka ghosting based off my tests are INVISIBLE and extremely difficult to spot) especially if the refresh rate is above 200hz since you have less time viewing motion image retention artifacts

[js27]

Is there any reason to wait for the newer 1080p 240hz 24.5in panels over buying the VG259QM?

LG LM245WF9-SSA2 in Q4 2020 and the AU Optronics M250HAN01.A in Q1 2021

Impossible to know, but they might have fixed the image retention issue or they could be faster, hopefully both.

[Chief Blur Buster]

240Hz is also good for more than just games too. It is also is fun for web browser scrolling. It has one-quarter the scrolling motionblur of a 60Hz LCD, and one-half the scrolling motionblur of a 120Hz iPad. But I sometimes don't want to downgrade my colors to get max Hz.

Nowadays, increasingly, you can begin eating having cakes and eating it too, thanks to the arrival of wide-gamut high-Hz IPS, stuff that are fun for PhotoShop and Visual Studio programming, yet can leap into esports or enjoyable low-blur casual game the next moment. Just don't buy any high-Hz IPS whose first-release date before year 2020, though. The IPS-esports-quality clear demarcation line is "pre-2020 IPS" and "2020 and later IPS". TN was vastly superior to IPS for years.... until 2020. TN clearly has its place for some but for most people I now recommend IPS as the entrypoint to high-Hz if they can afford it. Those who earn money competitively have to choose hard and may need TN for some attributes but you can now win esports with IPS in year 2020.

One problem is 1440p is not widely available in 240Hz. But with RTX 3000 series and 1440p 240Hz NanoIPS coming early 2021, it's likely going to quickly become my favourite Jack-of-all-Trades display. 1080p should be seriously considered too, but 1440p 240Hz will be the new 1080p 144Hz for some games, until 4K 480Hz is the new 1440p 240Hz.

Another problem is higher resolution usually means lower frame rates which adds lag. But esports isn't necessarily staying at 1080p forever, much like yesterday's esports was VGA (640x480). You can also use a lower resolution and scale, too. More and more options.

RLCScontender, I wanted to say that I read this forum over the past couple of days and I appreciate all the testing/posting results you've compiled. I play competitive Warzone on console and I will probably be buying/building a higher end PC next year - I was looking at the AW2521HF, MAG251RX, and Xb253QGx. I know how highly you rate the MSI, but its still oos at the retail price. What would the pros and cons be between the Predator and Alienware for console gaming?

Be noted that RLCS stands for Rocket League Championship Series, as RLCSContender major focus is Rocket League, if you aren't currently aware.

Warzone does not depend on motionblur nearly as much as RLCS does, because of the fixed-gaze-at-crosshairs. Thus, 165Hz vs 240Hz is less important. However, I do now highly recommend skipping 165Hz if you plan to play competitively.

But I am going to play Cyberpunk 2077 with RTX ON and G-SYNC on modern NanoIPS-type 1ms 165Hz 1440p IPS monitor, unless the 240Hz 1440p IPS monitor arrives here first.

NO, do NOT get a 165hz or 144hz monitor. WAY TOO MUCH MOTION BLUR

RLCSContender advice is very correct for Rocket League which is extremely blur sensitive compared to many games such as Valorant.

Valorant is not as critically refreshrate dependant (though benefits from higher Hz, in large part due to less lag) - it is more stationary-flick-stationary-flick-stationary while staring only at crosshairs aimed at mostly stationary targets.

But Warzone? Depends on if you have other needs for the monitor + you're playing sufficiently professionally and if it can get framerates up to the stratosphere. I stick to my "have-cake-and-eat-it-too" wide-gamut color monitors because I am still waiting for 240Hz wide-gamut sweetness for solo casual gaming. Historically, high-Hz was really poor colors, but this is no longer the case.

Mind you, 165Hz is beautifully better for a console gamer used to 60Hz. That said, get the highest Hz you can afford, especially if you're able to slap an RTX 3000 series or Radeon 6000 series into your box.