Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

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hiimdoug
Posts: 9
Joined: 26 Mar 2019, 08:07

Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by hiimdoug » 26 Mar 2019, 08:44

Hi all, I'm hoping you all could help me find the best 240hz monitor for CSGO.

After a 10 year hiatus I have gotten back into the competitive CSGO scene. After a little research I was going to purchase the BenQ Zowie XL2546 primarily for the dyac and the overall use rate in the CSGO community. And then I stumbled up you guys!

My current setup consists of an i7 7700k & 1050ti and I use 1440x1080 ingame with graphic settings optimized for performance. I avg between 275-325 FPS, occasionally dropping as low as 200. However, I do intended to upgrade my 1050ti in the not to distance future as well.

After doing some reading here, the Alien AW2518Hf now looks quite appealing. My question with this choice would be does the ULMB work well with the now G-sync compatibility and would this be a recommended combo for a game like CSGO?

Are there any other monitors, besides the AW2518Hf or the XL2546 worth considering for CSGO game-play? And is there anything else I should be taking into consideration when making this decision?

Thanks All

(edit 1) One more thing: I have a monthly budget of $400 for "toys" so obviously the lower the price the quicker I'm able to get my gaming setup where I want it to be, but I also don't want to regret not getting the best option available as well.

(edit 2) After doing a little more digging it looks like I was incorrect about the AW2518Hf having ULMB, it does not. The AW2518H (the G-Sync Model) does have ULMB.

So it looks like its between:

AW2518H (G-Sync + ULMB)
XL2546 (dyac)

XB252Q & XG258Q are also possibilities but they look inferior elsewhere.

Accelero
Posts: 8
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 19:53

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Accelero » 26 Mar 2019, 22:13

So far I cannot recommend the XG258Q. I bought this display and it has terrible OD artefacts.

Afaik the AW2518H does only support ULMB up to 144hz. If you go for 240hz, I think you might wanna run it at that refresh rate, so ULMB can't be used in that case. The only display I know, that supports motion blur reduction at 240hz is the XG248Q. So if you wanna use motion blur reduction, it's probably better to not buy a 240hz display, since it could only run at 144hz anyway and there are cheaper, more and better 144hz displays out there than current 240hz display ran at 144hz. The XG248Q is the exception, but I don't know much about that display and don't know if it's recommendable.

edit: I think 240hz displays aren't generally great at this point in time, but with newer panels that might change. That said, I also play mainly CS:GO and I feel like I'm aiming very slightly better at 240hz than 144hz, just due to the higher fluidity of the motion when doing fast mouse movements. You can react better to any drift of your crosshair when moving fast. I found this during a side by side comparison of the XG258Q to an AOC G2590PX 144hz, I lend from a roommate.

Notty_PT
Posts: 551
Joined: 09 Aug 2017, 02:50

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Notty_PT » 27 Mar 2019, 03:44

Hi there. For counter strike a 240hz monitor is defo the best option because you will easily sustain the required framerate.

Now, as Accelero said, current 240hz panels are pretty much crappy. There isn´t a single model that stands out like we can find on 144hz where 2 or 3 models are defo the way to go and almost "perfect".

With that being said, the persistence/motion clarity + input lag advantages that we find on 240hz and specifically on an old engine like Counter Strike, can easily justify using a "flawed" 240hz monitor.

While on 144hz I would immediatly reccomend Viewsonic XG2402 because it is simply superior to everything else, on 240hz I must give you options and talk about the disadvantages and advantages of each one.

The models I would consider, without any specific order:

AlienWare AW2518HF

. Good price
. Gsync 100% compability tested by me
. Great/best contrast from all the 240hz
. Good colours for TN panel
. Awful overshoot/inverse ghosting on every preset, to the point that you will notice it on bright colours while in game. Won´t even mention on websites, is painful to use this monitor sometimes. Decreasing Contrast helps to aliviate the problem a bit, but you will still notice it on some colours. There are some people that have a kind of "fix" by toying with CRU and other software; but all those fixes are really bad as they have bad secondary effects

Asus XG248Q

. Good price
. Gsync 100% compability tested by me (officially supported by Nvidia)
. Smaller size is good (not even 24 inches, it is 23,8 wich is different from the usual 24. Compared to 24,5 you will notice the increased PPI/Detail
. Very good input lag, faster than AlienWare and almost every model apart from one
. Awful contrast and colours
. Backlight bleed/Clouding issues are very likely to happen, some samples are totally unaceptable, you will take a risk of returning it
. You will need a lot of tweaking to eliminate perceived blur because the panel coating is so aggressive that the grainy/smearing effect will bother a lot
. Overshoot = almost nothing, the best model on that department, very hard to detect it
. strobing at 240hz! Works at 100%, but input lag increases a lot (I can notice it)

Asus XG258Q

. Not a good price
. Gsync 100% compability and now officially supported by Nvidia too on their website
. Acceptable contrast, way better than the XG24; colours are acceptable too
. Backlight bleed free, clouding almost inexistant
. Fastest 240hz monitor input lag wise, to the point that you can really notice side by side with another 240hz model
. Wonky overdrive again. You will need to use "User Mode" or "FPS mode" and tweak colours/gamma from there. The other modes have awful lack of sharpness and on moving objects the blur is completly unaceptable. It is aceptable at "UserMode or FPS" with "Warm" colour mode and with contrast around 60. Risk of overshoot artifacts on some colour gradients
. Some models come bundled with a wrong DisplayPort cable and it will cause this model to show an white screen each 5 min or less. This is VERY concerning and totally unaceptable. Asus is aware of this now and bundling the correct cable, but be aware you can get an older sample



I would pick one from these 3. I think XG258Q ends up being the best choice for serious competitive gaming due to its input lag, but it has flaws and a lot of tweaking to do (I can share my settings if you get this one).

XG248Q is the best buy if you want strobing or better image definition/PPI

AlienWare can be irritating because of the massive inverse ghosting problem (wich varies from sample to sample) and is laggier, but still a good option and the cheapest one. I doubt it would make you play way worse than the other ones.

Didn´t bother to mention Benq XL24 (because they are laggy as you can see on Rtings too, they are barely faster than a 144hz monitor like the XG2402 - 4,1ms vs 3,7ms). I also don´t like Benq overdrive a single bit. I think when we buy a 240hz monitor, we don´t want a model that barely beats a good 144hz monitor input lag wise right? I would stay away from Benq 240hz models.

Didn´t bother to mention ViewSonic Xg25 because it is a really bad model with frameskipping issues (wich can be fixed), high input lag and really bad overdrive. Same with the Acer and AOC models. They have new versions now on the stores, but they are still too slow for my taste.

There is one model I never tested, wich is the MSI Oculux NXG251R. It uses the same AUO panel. MSI has been doing a great job with their recent VA 144hz monitors so who knows how well they did with the NXG. But I didn´t see a single review yet and it is not being sold at an acceptable price here in Europe (500€+, wich is way overpriced)
Last edited by Notty_PT on 27 Mar 2019, 12:42, edited 1 time in total.

hiimdoug
Posts: 9
Joined: 26 Mar 2019, 08:07

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by hiimdoug » 27 Mar 2019, 08:35

Thanks for the responses!

I think you might have talked me into getting the XG2402 for now and maybe waiting a year to see if a superior 240hz monitor finally comes onto the market. However, the XG258Q looks like its the way to go if I decide I want to go 240hz.

Thanks again for taking the time to write up these detailed responses.

Stitch7
Posts: 86
Joined: 27 Mar 2019, 08:26

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Stitch7 » 27 Mar 2019, 11:39

Accelero wrote:So far I cannot recommend the XG258Q. I bought this display and it has terrible OD artefacts.

Afaik the AW2518H does only support ULMB up to 144hz. If you go for 240hz, I think you might wanna run it at that refresh rate, so ULMB can't be used in that case. The only display I know, that supports motion blur reduction at 240hz is the XG248Q. So if you wanna use motion blur reduction, it's probably better to not buy a 240hz display, since it could only run at 144hz anyway and there are cheaper, more and better 144hz displays out there than current 240hz display ran at 144hz. The XG248Q is the exception, but I don't know much about that display and don't know if it's recommendable.

edit: I think 240hz displays aren't generally great at this point in time, but with newer panels that might change. That said, I also play mainly CS:GO and I feel like I'm aiming very slightly better at 240hz than 144hz, just due to the higher fluidity of the motion when doing fast mouse movements. You can react better to any drift of your crosshair when moving fast. I found this during a side by side comparison of the XG258Q to an AOC G2590PX 144hz, I lend from a roommate.

There are multiple monitors that strobe at 240Hz.
The BenQ 240Hz models, the LG 27GK750F-B and the Asus ELMB 240Hz models.

Notty_PT
Posts: 551
Joined: 09 Aug 2017, 02:50

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Notty_PT » 27 Mar 2019, 14:03

The problem with strobing at 240hz is that you automatically eliminate what is the key and best advantage of using 240hz -> input lag.

Accelero
Posts: 8
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 19:53

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Accelero » 27 Mar 2019, 14:37

Stitch7 wrote:
Accelero wrote:So far I cannot recommend the XG258Q. I bought this display and it has terrible OD artefacts.

Afaik the AW2518H does only support ULMB up to 144hz. If you go for 240hz, I think you might wanna run it at that refresh rate, so ULMB can't be used in that case. The only display I know, that supports motion blur reduction at 240hz is the XG248Q. So if you wanna use motion blur reduction, it's probably better to not buy a 240hz display, since it could only run at 144hz anyway and there are cheaper, more and better 144hz displays out there than current 240hz display ran at 144hz. The XG248Q is the exception, but I don't know much about that display and don't know if it's recommendable.

edit: I think 240hz displays aren't generally great at this point in time, but with newer panels that might change. That said, I also play mainly CS:GO and I feel like I'm aiming very slightly better at 240hz than 144hz, just due to the higher fluidity of the motion when doing fast mouse movements. You can react better to any drift of your crosshair when moving fast. I found this during a side by side comparison of the XG258Q to an AOC G2590PX 144hz, I lend from a roommate.

There are multiple monitors that strobe at 240Hz.
The BenQ 240Hz models, the LG 27GK750F-B and the Asus ELMB 240Hz models.
Yeah I read up on this a little and it seems the benq does motion blue reduction on 240hz, as I said for ASUS the XG248Q is the only one which can do ELMB at 240hz and the LG I didn't even look up since 27" 1080p is nothing I would ever buy or recommend. I think about 24" is best for serious gaming and larger screens need more resolution. I've seen 27" 1080p panels. I'd never buy one. But yeah I there was a little misinformation on my part.

I still have the XG258Q laying around, but I'm gonna send it back. I think the firmware is poorly programmed aswell. All this RGB stuff is so badly implemented. It doesn't turn off when the display enters sleep mode and when you turn off the display manually, the lights don't turn on again the next time you turn the display on. In the OSD menu it still says the Aura RGB and the light in the stand is still on but it doesn't work. You have to change the setting in the menu to something else and then change it back for the light to work again (I'm talking about the Aura RGB on the back and the "Light in Motion" under the stand). I think that greatly shows how bad the firmware of this product is made.

I wonder if the PG258Q is better. I saw this post on reddit
and he also remarks that anything beyond OD level 2 is terrible on the XG258Q (default setting is OD3). The PG258Q is better in his opinion, even though it should be the same monitor just with GSync. Maybe the Firmware and OD implementation is better. Prices dropped for the PG258Q in my country quite a bit, but it's still a good bit higher than XG258Q (thanks to true GSync).

Notty_PT
Posts: 551
Joined: 09 Aug 2017, 02:50

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Notty_PT » 27 Mar 2019, 15:30

No , do not trade the xg258q for the pg. The pg25 has noticeable input lag and some bad artifacts on some colour gradients. There is a thread on this forum showing it on fortnite, for example, and is a very recent thread too.

For xg258q overdrive you need to use either UserMode or FPS. Then go to colour and use Warm. Turn down contrast to 70 overdrive level 3 and use the cable that came with the monitor.

Let me know if it improved anything. It did A LOT on my unit.

DO NOT use racing mode because it induces 0 sharpness and even static text will be blurry

mewthree
Posts: 5
Joined: 28 Mar 2019, 06:26

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by mewthree » 28 Mar 2019, 06:27

Notty_PT wrote:Now, as Accelero said, current 240hz panels are pretty much crappy. There isn´t a single model that stands out like we can find on 144hz where 2 or 3 models are defo the way to go and almost "perfect".
What are those, may I ask?

Accelero
Posts: 8
Joined: 20 Mar 2019, 19:53

Re: Best 240hz Monitor for Competitive CSGO

Post by Accelero » 28 Mar 2019, 11:35

Notty_PT wrote:No , do not trade the xg258q for the pg. The pg25 has noticeable input lag and some bad artifacts on some colour gradients. There is a thread on this forum showing it on fortnite, for example, and is a very recent thread too.

For xg258q overdrive you need to use either UserMode or FPS. Then go to colour and use Warm. Turn down contrast to 70 overdrive level 3 and use the cable that came with the monitor.

Let me know if it improved anything. It did A LOT on my unit.

DO NOT use racing mode because it induces 0 sharpness and even static text will be blurry
I always used User Mode with RGB all set to 100. Text was sharp enough for me, but it's sad there is no sharpness setting on it's own in the menu. I tried FPS mode aswell. I couldnt see much difference from user mode, but I'm fine with the sharpness level and colors anyway. My only problem are OD artefacts and overshoot. Artefacts are there in certain test images and on some Grid UI elements. With color setting warm or RGB all to 90 I can get rid of the artefacts on the Grids, but never fully on the test images. Overshoot happens for me from OD3 and up. I can see my cursor having a black shadow tracing him on dark UIs (e.g. GtG pixel switch from ~255 to 57) with OD3, that's why I was using OD2.

So I won't try the PG in that case. I always thought it's the worse deal to buy that after Gsync compatibility was announced.

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