XL2411Z Best sub-$300 monitor?

[TenmillionDead]

I've really been scouring the internet for advice on a new monitor, and after reading the forums here for a few months I've decided to make an account and ask you guys for help.

Currently I have 2 670's in SLI (which I'm hoping to sell for either a 970 or 980 when the prices drop a bit), and what I consider to be an extremely disappointing monitor (Asus ve247h). As a college student I'm pretty tight on cash, so I was looking for something under $300, and the BENQ XL2411Z has kept coming up over the past few months. My question is, with an icc profile installed and the use of the blur busters utility, would this be a good upgrade based on your experiences/knowledge?

*EDIT* : I'd also like to add that I'll be playing console games as well (ps4 and x360)

[Falkentyne]

Does the 11Z have a HDMI connection?
the 2420Z has DVI DP and HDMI so it will work fine on a console, but I know the 11Z does NOT have displayport. I don't know if it has HDMI or not, but if it doesn't, you won't be able to use it on a console.

Why not grab the 2420Z? It's worth it for the extra connectors.

[TenmillionDead]

Thanks for the quick reply. The 2411z has an hdmi connection. I've never used displayport for anything... is there anything about it that warrants the extra $60 for the 2420z? Another question I meant to ask is how the color quality is as far as TN panels go. I know a lot of this is personal preference, but is there any circumstance where it would be acceptable to give up the higher refresh rate for the better colors of an IPS? Sorry for all these questions, but the last thing I want to ask is, since I'm going to be using whatever monitor I buy for quite a while, would it be a better idea to save up more money for a gsync monitor or something like overlord's overclockable ips panels?

[Falkentyne]

Well it's hard to say. Displayport allows higher bandwidth than DVI, and some video cards are known to not have DVI connections (though afaik, all reference cards do have it). The ROG Swift gsync monitor for example, ONLY has displayport, and I don't think any of the gsync monitors have dvi (the VG248QE's gsync module doesn't have dvi) I don't even think gsync allows dvi as a spec, which is a problem (while gsync works well, makes you wonder if people will jump ship after freesync comes out).

I personally would make sure I have all the connectors on a monitor or card, just in case.

[flood]

we need a new forum for "which monitor to get"
someone should compile a spreadsheet comparing the various options

[TenmillionDead]

Yea haha, I'm just afraid I'll be unhappy no matter what I get. Stupid brain.

[Ranzear]

we need a new forum for "which monitor to get"
someone should compile a spreadsheet comparing the various options

The answer is, generally, the 2411z unless you have gripes about the overaggressive anti-ghosting, which is a very understandable hangup. At profiled 120hz it has much better colors and contrast than the ASUS offerings in trade for the much better Tracefree implementation.

None of these monitors are beyond 1080 yet, so Displayport isn't needed. Displayport is only necessary for 1440+ at greater than 60hz or for the two-way communication of G-Sync and some other features relating to color calibration IIRC.

[TenmillionDead]

OK so basically I'm down to 2 options, the benq or one of those x-star korean monitors. The question I have now is whether the overclocking on the Korean monitors (specifically the x-star dp2710 PLS) is really just frame skipping.

[phixion]

If you buy online you always have DSR (Distance Selling Regulations) to fall back on if you decide you aren't happy.

[aeliusg]

OK so basically I'm down to 2 options, the benq or one of those x-star korean monitors. The question I have now is whether the overclocking on the Korean monitors (specifically the x-star dp2710 PLS) is really just frame skipping.

It's not frame skipping, but qualitatively an OCed IPS and a proper TN gaming monitor are quite different. The former will still be quite blurry, and the latter will literally pale in comparison in terms of still image quality.

Still, if you play any CS or FPS at all seriously, I'd go with the gaming monitor.