BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

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X9Destro
Posts: 1
Joined: 21 Jul 2015, 03:56

BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by X9Destro » 21 Jul 2015, 04:23

I want to upgrade my monitor for a new one, but i can't decide which one is better.

I prefer 27", but the EIZO has VA panel, not TN.
Primary game is CS:GO, sometimes Dota 2, but also i'm editing video, and using Photoshop.
Now i have a MSI GS60 with GTX860M (2Gb), but in the future i want to buy a PC with GTX960 (4Gb) or GTX970.

Which one would be better?

I know BenQ has a 144Hz panel, and EIZO only has 120Hz, but EIZO has a VA panel, so it has better colour, contrast, and viewing angle. On their website it says both monitors response time is ~1 ms.
Also NiP in CS:GO changed from BenQ to EIZO,this might mean something, or just EIZO payed much more then BenQ for them?

BTW: which connection is the best? HDMI, DisplayPort or DVI? On YouTube I Saw at pro championships the monitors connected via DVI.

Sorry if my english is bad, im foreign. :)

Thank you for your answers!

Falkentyne
Posts: 2805
Joined: 26 Mar 2014, 07:23

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by Falkentyne » 21 Jul 2015, 05:00

Previous firmware on Z series had a displayport loss of signal bug. This was fixed in version V4. DP is fine now..

I would prefer XL2720Z with version 4 f/w. There is another AMA mode hidden within AMA high that I can only describe as "lightboost AMA" or "AMA low", you can access this by turning on blur reduction, moving to AMA, highlighting "high" if high is already selected, then instead of pressing enter, pressing "Back" (Button #3), or moving to AMA off/premium and back to high. This will require lowering contrast to 0-15 for best results. Comparing Lightboost mode (100hz) with Blur reduction with AMA high toggle and Vertical total 1500 tweak (100hz), both look bad at default contrast (37 for lightboost, 50 for normal). Setting both to '0" gives best results but low contrast ratio and look identical, except better colors in Benq MBR mode.

Unfortunately, this is not available in non blur reduction mode.
However some people on Skype told me that on V4 firmware, non blur reduction AMA was improved significantly on the 24" monitors than the older V2 and V3 firmwares. This does not seem to apply to the Xl2720Z. But only the XL2720Z has the "AMA low" type V4 hidden setting that makes it like lightboost AMA.

I would avoid the Eizo FG2421 for quality/build issues and inconsistencies.

Blural
Posts: 26
Joined: 20 May 2014, 17:08

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by Blural » 21 Jul 2015, 13:14

I have the fg2421 and i can't live with the contrast of tn panels anymore. The black level is very good and the whites look white without sacrificing contrast as the tn panels i used look pinkish without jacked contrast settings.

Nip is partnered with eizo so i would not pay any attention to that.

With strobing, the eizo has a frame of lag so may not be the ideal competitive monitor but like you said, top level cs go clans use them so maybe it's not a big deal.

I only wish the eizo had the strobing configurability of the benq monitor.

Also the price. I would feel a lot better about the eizo if it costed half as much. The problem is you have to pick your poison between monitors. Neither is really better.

Falkentyne
Posts: 2805
Joined: 26 Mar 2014, 07:23

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by Falkentyne » 21 Jul 2015, 16:43

What do you mean a frame of lag?
You mean the input lag is increased by 1 frame? (e.g. 16 ms at 60hz refresh rate, 20 ms at 50hz, 8.3 ms at 120hz, etc?)

Blural
Posts: 26
Joined: 20 May 2014, 17:08

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by Blural » 21 Jul 2015, 17:03

Basically, yes. According to tftcentral's test of the monitor with turbo240 enabled the total display lag is 18 or just over a frame of lag.

Falkentyne
Posts: 2805
Joined: 26 Mar 2014, 07:23

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by Falkentyne » 21 Jul 2015, 18:37

Blural wrote:Basically, yes. According to tftcentral's test of the monitor with turbo240 enabled the total display lag is 18 or just over a frame of lag.
This is the same input lag as the Benq XL2720Z if strobe phase is set to 000.
Setting strobe phase to 100 improves input lag by 1 frame, essentially making it identical to non strobed (empirical evidence; no way to prove it directly).

This is most easily testable at 50hz refresh rate with single strobe on, using a custom vertical total 1360 tweak (this works over DVI but ONLY with a vertical total tweak; do NOT use single strobe at 50hz without a VT tweak, you can damage the backlight and strobe will NOT activate--just the backlight voltage will be increased). I could not get this to work over displayport: the monitor doesn't even show out of range...it just goes into power save mode. I think this is an issue with the horizontal total over DP; it may work with a lower Horizontal total (2080 vs 2200). But when testing 50hz vsync on, single strobe on, VT 1360, in call of duty advanced warfare, I could see a pretty huge game input lag at strobe phase 0. When I bumped strobe phase to 100, input lag improved by 20 ms.

The monitors come default with strobe phase set to 100, which gives the lowest input lag and has the top of the screen looking the best for strobe "crosstalk" but this comes at the expense of the bottom of the screen being a complete mess. Using a vertical total 1500 tweak (at 100hz, 120hz, etc) improves this but limits the maximum strobe phase value you can use.

flood
Posts: 929
Joined: 21 Dec 2013, 01:25

Re: BENQ XL2720Z or EIZO FG2421?

Post by flood » 21 Jul 2015, 18:54

eizo has 10ms input lag even without strobing

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