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

[RLCSContender*]

out of the three, it goes like this

1. MSI. Not available or too expensive?
2. Asus 25", not available or too expensive?
3. Alienware 25", not available or too expensive?

dont' waste your money on anythign else but these three.

They will soon add "zero latency" on the MSI gaming app for the msi mag251rx as well.

Ty for your advice. What will the "zero latency" do?

to me, backlgiht strobing is pretty darn important.

Why don´t you always enable it? The monitor is too dim for you if enabled or any other reason?

also, the MSI can get a 12 bit color depth signal via HDMI @120hz

Source?

What do you think about the Predator XB253Q GX? https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/p ... .KX3AA.X03

Edit: Another question: Do any of the 240Hz IPS panels have True 10bit?

predator? input lag is incredible and it's very snappy. It's slightly faster than the LG 27gl850-b which is considered the fastest IPS monitor at 1440p from 144hz and below...VRB is also fun to use and it's just as good asthe MSI's backlight strobing. Again, acer played it too safe with its OD tuning unfortunately, but this time, it's undershoot(black level smearing artefacts) and not inverse ghosting(coronas) that u have to deal with. But in practice, i didn't notice anything off, it was buttery smooth. I borrowed this monitor from my cousin for a week. Let me tell you, the input lag felt like i was playing OFFLINE on an ONLINE match.


TRUE 10bit? i'm sure the MSI MAG251rx is 10bit+FRC or 12 bit color depth. How i found this out was by accident. i realized that my MSI MAG251rx was playing on its non-native resolution, and although it says 1920x1080, it still wasnt' labeling it as "native" resolution and because of that, the GPU scaling was used instead of display scaling (which adds input lag), so i went on cru and tried HDMI to tweak a few settings. and voila, guess what i found?

@120hz at 1920x1080, i'm able to get 12 bit color depth(or 10 bit+FRC) (this only works if connected to HDMI, MAKE sure u don't use any other HDMI cable bcuz ONLy the came it came with can get TRUE 10 bit signal (or 10 bit+FRC) aka 12 bit color depth



do you guys see that resolution? the "TV" resolution on the monitor is considered the "NATIVE" resotion even if you use your PC. This resoltion won't allow you to choose 240hz, and if you scroll down, there's a 1920x1080 resolution made for "PC" but it doesnt' say "native" on it which means, the MSI was scaling off the GPU the entire time. So i HAD to make a custom resolution through CRU by simply adding 240hz. once you do that, the "PC" section of the resolutions under 1920x1080p will show "NATIVE" resolution. That is the resolution you want to be in because the computer will scale to your MONITOR and not the GPU(which adds in put lag)

so to any FUTURE MSI owners, you HAVe to do these TWO important things to start up

1. download cru and create a custom resolution of 1920x1080p at 240hz refresh rate. Once you do that, exit the screen and go to nvidia control panel and under "PC" it will show 1920x1080 as NATIVE instead of the HD/4k/etc. This means it will use display scaling isntead of GPU scaling which reduces input lag

(credits to pedrodd for providing this photo)





2. For the ICC profile, the best one. Use this link

https://www.msi.com/Monitor/support/Optix-MAG272

the mag272 driver, there's an ICM profile in there and that in my opinioni s the absolute best ICC Profile for the MSI MAG251rx. You want the deepest blacks and vibrant beautiful colors just like the NANO 133%^ srgb 98% dci-p3 panels?



3. for backlight strobing. I suggest you use the "control my monitor" app https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/control_my_monitor.html

this way, you can adjust the brightness withuot sacrificing color accuracy by using nvidia. And unfortunately, the MSI, u cannot adjust the brighness if you strobe. the controlmymonitorapp however does control brightness without sacrificing any colors or weird looking mismatches of color banding

or (which i don't recommend) go to nvidia control panel and incrase the brightness level from 50-70. Sadly, the color space will become inaccurate.


it may seem a lot of work but you can EASILY do this in under 30 mins. The results are nothing short of fabulous

phpBB [video]

viewing angle of msi, (picture of TN)

[RLCSContender*]

Can you check the input lags (not g2g) with G-Sync on (v-sync off) FPS @240 (or below) and set the AW2521HF on Extreme Overdrive. I think the AW2521HF will have better results. You should also check my results on Site 39.

lol don't be fooled. EXTREME OD on the aw2521hf is 3.4-3.5ms g2g if g-sync(yes, i really think this is NATIVE g-sync) is on the alienware. G-SYNC on the aw2521hf in my opinion should be TURNED OFF AT ALL TIMES. There's a risk of flickering or blackouts(mine, whenever i touch my keyboard, the screen goes black). If you're getting over 240hz FPS, i dont' see the reason to use any form of adaptive sync. Then again, everyone has a preference. The alienware however has very good input lag, slightly snappier than the MSI MAG251rx(especially on consoles at 60hz fixed refresh

Like i said the aw2521hf has a unique scaler on its DP. It really does have some sort of variable overdrive where the chip fixes the inverse ghosting to match the optimal variable overdrive setting of each refresh rate. Variable overdrive may be useful by optomizing consistent performance accross the refresh rate range, but when it comes to PEAK PERFORMANCE, the MSI/Asus are simply superior. The overdrive tuning for the alienware played it way too safe(then again, the AW isn't as bad as the acer nitro xv273 x or the xb253q where "normal" is around the mid 4ms g2g. (black level smearing will show)

TBH, i prefer 3ms g2g on the MSI MAG251rx with 5-6% inverse ghosting artefacts above the 25" alienware at 3.5ms g2g with 0% overshoot errors BUT has ghosting. 0.5 response time difference is quite small, but if you look at these ufo tests, it really isn't. In practice though, i really didn't see a difference.

"super-fast" on the alienware however is playable at 240hz. From y recollection it was around 2.7ms g2g and 20%-25% error rate. I hardly saw any artefacts and TBH, the trade off of a sharper image but added feint inverse ghosting artefacts is worth it especially if u can keep the FPS above 240hz.



click on the image if you want to see it

[Ryno24]

RLCScontender, pulled the trigger on the MSI Optix MAG251RX, can you please share your ICC profile?

Dang that was quick!

Haha ya, after hearing opinions from yourself and RLCS, I was definitely sold on it lol. I should be getting it in 5 days, can't wait!

Heck yeah thats awesome!

[Makie]

RLSCcontender, what’s the difference between the hdmi cable that came with the Mag251rx and any other hdmi 2.0 cable to allow it full 12bit? Am I better off using the cable that came with the Mag251rx or the cable that came with my ps4pro that is hdmi 2.0 compatible. Do you notice a difference?

[Blehhh]

out of the three, it goes like this

1. MSI. Not available or too expensive?
2. Asus 25", not available or too expensive?
3. Alienware 25", not available or too expensive?

dont' waste your money on anythign else but these three.

They will soon add "zero latency" on the MSI gaming app for the msi mag251rx as well.

Ty for your advice. What will the "zero latency" do?

to me, backlgiht strobing is pretty darn important.

Why don´t you always enable it? The monitor is too dim for you if enabled or any other reason?

also, the MSI can get a 12 bit color depth signal via HDMI @120hz

Source?

What do you think about the Predator XB253Q GX? https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/p ... .KX3AA.X03

Edit: Another question: Do any of the 240Hz IPS panels have True 10bit?

predator? input lag is incredible and it's very snappy. It's slightly faster than the LG 27gl850-b which is considered the fastest IPS monitor at 1440p from 144hz and below...VRB is also fun to use and it's just as good asthe MSI's backlight strobing. Again, acer played it too safe with its OD tuning unfortunately, but this time, it's undershoot(black level smearing artefacts) and not inverse ghosting(coronas) that u have to deal with. But in practice, i didn't notice anything off, it was buttery smooth. I borrowed this monitor from my cousin for a week. Let me tell you, the input lag felt like i was playing OFFLINE on an ONLINE match.

Are you mentioning about this Acer Predator XB253Q GX? Wasnt sure if your reply is towards Predator XB253Q GX. If so, Since it has very little input lag, overall do you consider this Predator XB253Q GX a contender to the top 3 IPS monitor u posted? Alienware AW251HF, MSI 251RX and VG259QM?

[jeffogu]

My VG259QM looks grainy like your VG279QM you used especially in text. Although I tried many calibration settings and turned on the cleartype settings, I still couldn't solve the problem. I tested the Vividpixel setting individually at each level, but it sharpens the edges and ends of the images rather than the text and images themselves. Above all, even at level 50, especially in games, it tires my eyes too much. I also was suffered from the same problem with the Asus VG258QR model I used before and then I returned it. When I put my XG240R model monitor, which I am still using, there is no such problem although it's a TN Panel and everything seems sharper and clearer than my VG259QM model monitor.

[ProX]

@RLCScontender, when will you have measured the response time and input lag of the VG259QM?
I would really like to see a matrix with the response time and input lag of all your tested monitors (AW2521HF, VG259QM, MAG251RX).

[Ryno24]

1. download cru and create a custom resolution of 1920x1080p at 240hz refresh rate. Once you do that, exit the screen and go to nvidia control panel and under "PC" it will show 1920x1080 as NATIVE instead of the HD/4k/etc. This means it will use display scaling isntead of GPU scaling which reduces input lag

(credits to pedrodd for providing this photo)





Thank you for this info but is there anywhere that explains this easier for a dummy like me?

[sanoff]

Thank you for this info but is there anywhere that explains this easier for a dummy like me?

It's easy, remember to restart the system later when you do it.

[sanoff]

@RLCScontender

Why do you have more options in the MSI application? I have the latest version of the application and I also have the MSI MAG251RX monitor. See what my application looks like are definitely different from yours. i no have 'zero latency' 'black tuner' How best to set up this monitor for fps? Maybe you could send your profile, several people asked about it. Why Asus VG259qm will you 2nd permanent monitor Is this better than MSI?