Some advice on a new monitor would be appreciated.

[SALIGIA]

Hi, I've spent the last week trying to make my mind up on what monitor is best for my budget. In doing so I have gotten myself rather confused and could do with some help.

I'm currently building my first rig here:

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/SALIGIA/saved/NDHbt6

I have approximately £200 give or take for a decent monitor.

It'll be used primarily for gaming, Star Citizen being the main focus but also Zbrush, Photoshop and Illustrator. Colour is very important to me but saying that I've had an alienware M17 gaming laptop for the last 5/6 years so I'm not used to using anything fancy, most panels will be an improvement I'm guessing.

Looking in the range of 24" I don't want to go too large.

I have been looking at these monitors:

AOC G2460PQU
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/aoc-monitor-g2460pqu

BenQ XL2411Z
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/benq-monitor-xl2411z

I almost bought the AOC today but when I saw other AOC monitors on display in store was appalled by their colour. I don't know if this is just the out of the box calibration and this can be improved upon?
There are lots of mixed reviews on the internet on which of the BenQ or AOC have better colour representation and I cant find any BenQ monitors for me to view in store. Now I'm now considering IPS panels but these have worse refresh rates from what I understand but I don't know if I'd even notice having been used to a the old laptop! I'm getting really confused.

Especially since this was just thrown into the mix tonight:

ASUS VG248QE
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe

Which is supposed to be better than the two listed above!

Could someone help me understand a happy medium between fast gaming and nice colour. I'm not asking for perfection at a low cost. I just don't quite understand what's the best thing to go for to suit my set up and needs.

Thank you for any help/guidance you can offer.

[aeliusg]

If color is important to you for professional reasons you'll want to stick with IPS. Look at getting an overclockable Korean monitor if you can afford the slight premium for higher refresh. The 24" TN displays all use essentially the same panel and their color quality will be similarly bad even with calibration (though out of box they are very bad).

[SALIGIA]

If color is important to you for professional reasons you'll want to stick with IPS. Look at getting an overclockable Korean monitor if you can afford the slight premium for higher refresh. The 24" TN displays all use essentially the same panel and their color quality will be similarly bad even with calibration (though out of box they are very bad).

The colour representation is more of a thing which I have an eye for,It was the thing I was initially weary of and it was what stood out instantly in store. I don't do much digital work professionally, just the odd thing now and then so I wouldn't have thought it would effect me too much in that way!

I'm also weary of buying any electronics from overseas and I've heard too many mixed reviews over Korean monitors for me to take a chance.

It is interesting, however, that you say most TN displays are essentially the same quality. A lot of my friends use TN displays and I have never had the same reaction to the ones I saw in store! Maybe its something to do with the in store lighting or having other monitors to compare them to which made them look so bad and its something I wont notice so much at home.

[aeliusg]

If color is important to you for professional reasons you'll want to stick with IPS. Look at getting an overclockable Korean monitor if you can afford the slight premium for higher refresh. The 24" TN displays all use essentially the same panel and their color quality will be similarly bad even with calibration (though out of box they are very bad).

The colour representation is more of a thing which I have an eye for,It was the thing I was initially weary of and it was what stood out instantly in store. I don't do much digital work professionally, just the odd thing now and then so I wouldn't have thought it would effect me too much in that way!

I'm also weary of buying any electronics from overseas and I've heard too many mixed reviews over Korean monitors for me to take a chance.

It is interesting, however, that you say most TN displays are essentially the same quality. A lot of my friends use TN displays and I have never had the same reaction to the ones I saw in store! Maybe its something to do with the in store lighting or having other monitors to compare them to which made them look so bad and its something I wont notice so much at home.

If you do color work in a non-essential capacity, I guess TN is passable. Like you said the defaults on these monitors are quite bad and don't help the situation at all. If you were to take a look at it again, try changing the onboard settings yourself, maybe the AOC is bad in particular. But, yes, most of these 6-bit TNs are pretty much the same in terms of performance, so if you're satisfied with what you've seen of your friends' monitors it should be OK for you.

[SALIGIA]

If color is important to you for professional reasons you'll want to stick with IPS. Look at getting an overclockable Korean monitor if you can afford the slight premium for higher refresh. The 24" TN displays all use essentially the same panel and their color quality will be similarly bad even with calibration (though out of box they are very bad).

The colour representation is more of a thing which I have an eye for,It was the thing I was initially weary of and it was what stood out instantly in store. I don't do much digital work professionally, just the odd thing now and then so I wouldn't have thought it would effect me too much in that way!

I'm also weary of buying any electronics from overseas and I've heard too many mixed reviews over Korean monitors for me to take a chance.

It is interesting, however, that you say most TN displays are essentially the same quality. A lot of my friends use TN displays and I have never had the same reaction to the ones I saw in store! Maybe its something to do with the in store lighting or having other monitors to compare them to which made them look so bad and its something I wont notice so much at home.

If you do color work in a non-essential capacity, I guess TN is passable. Like you said the defaults on these monitors are quite bad and don't help the situation at all. If you were to take a look at it again, try changing the onboard settings yourself, maybe the AOC is bad in particular. But, yes, most of these 6-bit TNs are pretty much the same in terms of performance, so if you're satisfied with what you've seen of your friends' monitors it should be OK for you.

Thanks I will look into it further.

Regarding my monitor choices, am I going down the correct route for my setup?
I've been looking for a 120/144hz monitor 1080p 1-2ms refresh rate and low lag. I have been struggling between deciding on 120/144hz or 1440p (I don't think having both is within my price range). Not sure which would be better. I'm not an overly competitive player but I don't want to have spent a lot of money on a good GPU to then not use its potential. I hear playing at 120hz degrades the colour also.

[aeliusg]

Thanks I will look into it further.

Regarding my monitor choices, am I going down the correct route for my setup?
I've been looking for a 120/144hz monitor 1080p 1-2ms refresh rate and low lag. I have been struggling between deciding on 120/144hz or 1440p (I don't think having both is within my price range). Not sure which would be better. I'm not an overly competitive player but I don't want to have spent a lot of money on a good GPU to then not use its potential. I hear playing at 120hz degrades the colour also.

120/144 hz won't degrade color on any PC display that does that natively. The panel would be designed to handle full color at that refresh rate.

If you can afford to, you should get a better monitor. You've got G-sync now that would go great with your card. If I were you I'd think about skimping on the 4790K for a 4690K and maybe even the 980 for a 970 and getting a G-sync monitor that'll let you play smoothly at higher quality settings even with lower fps. Eventually even the 980 isn't going to be pushing over 100 frames in any given game, and that's when G-sync will help a lot in maintaining the smoothness of gameplay that's so important for immersion.

[Blackeye]

Since you can "tune" the colors with icc profiles and driver settings TN's are good enough as far as i'm concerned. I didn't saw one TN with very good blacks though...

[SALIGIA]

120/144 hz won't degrade color on any PC display that does that natively. The panel would be designed to handle full color at that refresh rate.

If you can afford to, you should get a better monitor. You've got G-sync now that would go great with your card. If I were you I'd think about skimping on the 4790K for a 4690K and maybe even the 980 for a 970 and getting a G-sync monitor that'll let you play smoothly at higher quality settings even with lower fps. Eventually even the 980 isn't going to be pushing over 100 frames in any given game, and that's when G-sync will help a lot in maintaining the smoothness of gameplay that's so important for immersion.

The parts on that list are paid for and on their way/in front of me already, so its a little too late for alterations.. after the stress and effort of researching and putting that thing together I would be hesitant to start back tracking anyway. This is my first ever build and I didn't really know much about computers before starting it!

A G-sync monitor is Ideally what I'd like to have but it's just that bit over budget. I have been toying with the idea of waiting and saving so that I can afford one but this would mean buying something really cheap for the time being as I don't have any other option.
This is the closest G-sync monitor to my price range I could find in the UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00L ... lurbust-21

are there any others you know of or would recommend?

[SALIGIA]

Since you can "tune" the colors with icc profiles and driver settings TN's are good enough as far as i'm concerned. I didn't saw one TN with very good blacks though...

Thanks Blackeye, but what are icc profiles...
..actually why am I asking.. going to look it up now!!

[aeliusg]

A G-sync monitor is Ideally what I'd like to have but it's just that bit over budget. I have been toying with the idea of waiting and saving so that I can afford one but this would mean buying something really cheap for the time being as I don't have any other option.
This is the closest G-sync monitor to my price range I could find in the UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00L ... lurbust-21

are there any others you know of or would recommend?

Looks decent from the reviews. It will be like the TN monitors you were looking at previously, but with the addition of G-sync capability. For gaming it's really an experience that you have to try, so I'd save up a little while and go all the way. The difference is really like going from integrated graphics to an actual video card in terms of improving your overall experience.