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

[RLCSContender*]

to start things off. ULMB for the acer predator xb273x. ULMB is only compatible @144hz, @120hz, and @100hz refresh rates. Unlike the MSI MAG251rx or the acer predator xb253qg x where you can strobe at 240hz, ULMB unfortunately can only go as high as 144hz for the g-sync 240hz predator.

Nvidia tuned ULMB quite well, the crosstalk is fairly feint.

ULMB @144hz refresh rate

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ULMB @120hz refresh rate

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ULMB @100hz refresh rate

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G-sync @ 240hz refresh rate (variable overdrive) ( no backlight strobing)

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[Makie]

I have the acer xb273x on order and arriving on Monday. I currently have the Mag251rx. My usage is mix console and pc. I’m going to try the xb273x out and will only keep one. The one that has the best response and lowest input lag. One of these monitors will be my permanent monitor for the upcoming PS5/XSX consoles and new 3000 series gpus when I build a new pc in the fall.

So far the Mag251rx has done well hooked up to my PS4PRO playing a lot of modern warfare and warzone online. I use the faster setting with adaptive sync on. I did notice a huge difference with adaptive sync off at 60hz but the trade off for smoothness vs low input with screen tearing wasn’t worth it and ended up just sticking with adaptive sync on.

I’m really excited to see how the xb273x performs against my Mag251rx.

[jnashville]

WELP, ive confirmed it.
Acer didn't bother adding any refresh rates and codecs when playing on hdmi. Basically they're HDMi 2.0 ports are useless for this panel


This explains why acer didnt provide any HDMI cables inside the box.
To me, it's very important necause i intended to play games via ps5 and series x on the moni
For the 98% of ppl, most dont find that a big deal and will enjoy the fast response times and low input lag.

Guys, the msi mag251rx is still king of 240hz ips. Even if the g sync predator can get over 60hz via hdmi, i hated the fact that i had to move my eyes so much since the screen size was too big. Eye movement=it will seem like u are playing on slow motion from the opponent's point of view.

Excessive Eye tracking and difficulty having the right focal point cost me plenty of games. I will never go back tp 27" 1080p.

i remembered weeks earlier u were arguing your point that 27inch 1080p is no difference to 25 inch 1080p and u can sit further back bla bla or push the monitor further. Now you change your mind?

we all along had mention that for 1080P, 25 inch is the max size to go due to peripheral vision and u blatantly argued. Now u changed your mind? lmao.

lol you okay man? Do you always patronize people based off your past vendettas?

But yes, given the choice of a 24.5" monitor vs a 27" at 1080p NOW, i will choose the former. So i stand corrected.

There, is what what you wanted me to say? You win i guess. congrats LOL. Gotta love blurbusters, they do have some nutty characters in this forum.

[Moderator Note to RLCSContender: Please see this post about forum warning]

Now u resort to name calling. Upbringing man. Upbringing.

I am just letting u know that previously you had argued super strongly on your 27 inch 1080P stance while everyone knows that 1080P obviously is best max up to 25 inch. Just pointing it out to you causes you to name calling over the internet. Haha

Anyway cheers. Let's not argue over minute issues.

[Chief Blur Buster]

Steering strictly ONLY to productive topics...Commentary Time!

to start things off. ULMB for the acer predator xb273x. ULMB is only compatible @144hz, @120hz, and @100hz refresh rates. Unlike the MSI MAG251rx or the acer predator xb253qg x where you can strobe at 240hz, ULMB unfortunately can only go as high as 144hz for the g-sync 240hz predator.

Nvidia tuned ULMB quite well, the crosstalk is fairly feint.

It's indeed an excellent ULMB tuning job. I jumped the 144Hz to the YouTube 1080p, freezeframed YouTube, and used YouTube "," and "." keyboard keys to single-framestep to reasonably good pursuit frames which exists at instantaneous points through the video.

Here's a curated framegrab, from careful freezeframe selection following Handwave Smartphone camera accuracy error margin best practices.

Acer Predator XB273X ULMB 144Hz

strobed-capture-zoom-acer-xb273x.jpg (546.6 KiB) Viewed 9029 times

(Zoomed framegrab of RLCSContender video, 99% quality JPG, preserving the original smartphone/YouTube compression artifacts)

Good capture. Though, I shake the "Angry Monkey Fist" at the YouTube's recompression/overcompression artifacts (annoyingly obscuring visibility of faint strobe crosstalk mostly below the noisefloor of compression artifacts).

As NVIDIA and Blur Busters has partnered on a few things in the past -- I'll have to send another recommendation that NVIDIA unlocks the strobe range (rather than just 3 or 4 refresh rates). Combined with other requirements for Blur Busters Approved, this probably would handidly pass the rigorous testing parameters of Blur Busters Approved. I wish we would see more monitors with unlocked strobe ranges, rather than hardcoded refresh rates.

Now, that said, ULMB does have a few hidden hacks available. One special request, does this monitor support the ULMB custom-Hz hacks (48Hz-155Hz), as well as the GSYNC+ULMB hacks? Could you run these hack-tests on this monitor? (If you're familiar with ToastyX Custom Resolution Utility)

<Pursuit Camera Commentary>
Alignment was sufficiently good enough (subpixel handwave tracking error over the duration of this specific particular selected freezeframe), that you actually captured the ULMB stroboscopic scrolling-screendoor effect (which only becomes visible at <1ms MPRT). While the sync track is still very slightly disjoint (less than 1 pixel error margin though), this is why I specifically chose this freezeframe; the compression artifacts were a bit less in this one, and the stroboscopic-scrolling-screendoor-effect actually was successfully captured.

Smartphone behaviour is slightly fighting against pursuit uniformity; the sideways rolling-scan sensor nature is visible (strobe-flicker bands, in bright/dark waves, like a flickering CRT tube recorded on video). When playing, you've got flicker-bands visible -- that's a widely known side effect of video-recording an impulsed display like CRTs and strobed screens. It's tricky to compensate, though diminishing visibility of this might be done by roughly doubling camera exposure length while halving ISO sensitivity (e.g. 1/120sec ISO 400 might become 1/60sec ISO 200), if you are using a SLR-adjustable camera app. Handwaves become much harder to find accurate freezeframes, but might erase part of those smartphone-auto-everything behaviours fighting against pursuit camera accuracy. Tough call; improved tracking accuracy versus improved integration (better simulation of human eye averaging behavior of multiple stacked refresh cycles)

Interesting Smartphone Camera Sensor Scanout Interaction Artifact
This freeframe of pursuit photo captured 2.5 refresh cycles, it looks like your smartphone only partially exposed 1 strobe (since the strobe turned off mid-camera-sensor-rolling-scan), an interaction between the global flash nature of strobe backlights, and the sequential rolling-scan nature of smartphone camera sensors. Since smartphone camera sensors are often recorded one pixel row at a time too, as a camera-sensor equivalent of display scanout behaviour (where an LCD refreshes 1 pixel row at a time sequentially). During portrait, your smartphone camera sensor is sideways-scan readout, exposed 3 strobes at left edge but only 2 strobes at right edge. Which explains why there's 3 tickmarks at left, and 2 tickmarks at right. So it's a less perfect emulation of human-eye refresh averaging behavior, creating brightness nonuniformities, but still fairly accurate WYSIWYG blur-wise (subject to capture chain flaws). Fortunately, it's not a huge error margin to WYSIWYG-ness of the resulting photo; the majority of the error-distortion is YouTube/smartphone camera compression artifacts; so this is still a validly-scientifically-analyzable pursuit camera photo (freezeframe grab from smartphone handwave video). Longer camera exposures per video frame compensates (1/36sec recommended for 144Hz with a 4-tickmark sync track) -- at the cost of increased difficulty finding good camera freezeframes.

Color adjustment job is better on this specific clip. Analysis is a bit easier on landscape videos, but handwave pursuits are easier with portrait phones (I prefer landscape.... But I prefer portrait pursuits with a few good freezeframes, over shakier landscape portraits with no good freezeframes)
</Pursuit Camera Commentary>

[RLCSContender*]

I have the acer xb273x on order and arriving on Monday. I currently have the Mag251rx. My usage is mix console and pc. I’m going to try the xb273x out and will only keep one. The one that has the best response and lowest input lag. One of these monitors will be my permanent monitor for the upcoming PS5/XSX consoles and new 3000 series gpus when I build a new pc in the fall.

So far the Mag251rx has done well hooked up to my PS4PRO playing a lot of modern warfare and warzone online. I use the faster setting with adaptive sync on. I did notice a huge difference with adaptive sync off at 60hz but the trade off for smoothness vs low input with screen tearing wasn’t worth it and ended up just sticking with adaptive sync on.

I’m really excited to see how the xb273x performs against my Mag251rx.

here's a rule of thumb. See if you can get a 120hz signal with or without adaptive sync on native resolution on your ps4pro. With my xbox one x, i was able to connect at 120hz, but PC via HDMI, i really had to make my own custon resolutions to be able to connect at 120hz via HDMI. The acer predator xb273 x HDMI 2.0 is a little bit wonky because this is one of the first native g-sync monitors to have HDMI 2.0. if you you can't get a 120hz signal on your ps4 pro on the acer predator xb273 then there's really no reason to keep the predator over the MSI MAG251rx because this will prove problematic if you intend to get the ps5 or xbox series x in the future.

I think the ONLY TN that can stand toe to tow with the acer predator xb273x is the acer predator xn253qx because like other xb3 models, they benefit from having negligle processing delays(although the predator TN has more input lag because it uses the AUO M250HTN01.A and not the AUO ips 25" models that the MAG251rx/xb253qgx/vg259qm/aw2521hf uses(which has the lowest natural monitor latency M250HAN01.3)


There are a lot of other things you have to keep in mind though.


this means you have to sit way further for the 27" monitor to have the same focal point as a 24.5" monitor to reduce this latency.

Again, each monitor has their strengths and weaknesses, but generally speaking


MSI MAG251rx vs Acer Predator XB273 x

mag251rx HDR=YES, it can get up as high as 500 nits
XB273x HDR=NONE
MAG251rx brightness=up to 500 nits if hdr is on, or 400 nits for SDR
xb273x brightness=350 nits(it's closer to 300 nits)
MAg251rx Color uniformity=PERFECT, no yellow tint or black
XB273x color uniformity=has yellow/warm looking tint if u are looking at a white background but not grainy
MAG251rx response times=3ms-3.1 g2g @ 5-6% overshoot
MAG251rx input lag=2.2ms @240hz, 25ms @60hz (17ms mandatory input lag @60hz+4ms monitor lag) .ALL M250HAN01.3 24.5" 240hz ips monitors are equal in input lag(aw2521hf, vg259qm, mag251rx, xb253qgx)
xb273x response times=2.5-2.6ms g2g @ 1-2% overshoot(yes folks, i did see overshoot transitions on my oscilloscope, it's not 0%)
xb273x input lag= NONE (native g-sync is in charge of new frames from the front buffer of the GPU, not the other way around). 0ms processing delay 0ms refresh delay=NONE
mag251rx colors=12 bit color depth(10 bit+FRC) (saturation from 108% srgb to 133% srgb depending on the panel lottery)
xb273x colors=8 bit color depth. TRUE 99% SRGB (unfortunately, there's no oversaturation)
MAG251rx gaming app/OSD=Yes
xb273x gaming app/OSD=NONE
MAG251rx backlight strobing=240hz, 144hz, 120hz, 100hz
XB273x backlight strobing=144hz, 120hz, 100hz
MAG251rx price=$360 USD (MSRP)
XB273x price=$500 USD (MSRP)
MAG251rx PIXELS per INCH =90 ppi
xb273x PIXELS per INCH=81 ppi
MAG251rx size=24.5"
xb273x size=27"

Unwanted reaction time delays is plagued with 27" monitors, i first realized this when playing. Reaction time latency is the time it takes for your retina or your eyes to MOVE relative to how big the monitor is. I went on rocket league and ran a play where it requires me to move my eyeballs/retina more than half the screen and saved that replay, then did the same thing with the MSI MAG251rx. Let me tell you, because 27" is a much larger screen than 24.5", there was A LOT of retinal/focal point disadvantages when reacting to stimuli that required retinal/eyeball movement from the 27" predator compared to the 24.5" MSI.

[jon52800]

Hey everyone,

Been lurking on this forum for awhile since wanting a 240hz IPS monitor. I am considering the VG 259qm, MAG 251rx and maybe the Alienware 25 ". I don't have much interest in the XB273x or any other 27" 1080p since I can't handle text looking pixelated at that size.

Can anyone confirm the color gamut and accuracy out of the box between the three? A YouTube review of the Asus recently said the out of box calibration was terrible whereas Hardware Unboxed said the MSI had great out of the box calibration. Just wondering how bad is the VG's colors out of the box and am I going to need to buy something like a colorimeter just to have good color accuracy with the Asus? I know not everyone cares about colors compared to performance but I do use my monitor for work/media consumption as well.

I'd also like to know how the Asus is when its 200hz or less since I play a few games where the fps can reach 280 but others where I can't get anywhere close to 280 fps. I play a mix of everything from e sports, aaa singleplayer, indie, emulators for older consoles, consoles, etc. It seems the MSI is easily tuned for 144fps or less gaming. Just wondering if the same applies to the VG?

Thanks!

[speancer]

Seems like the Acer Predator XB273 X is only available in the USA/Canada right now. It's a new display on the market, right? When did it release in the USA? I really wanted to buy it, but I can't. I mean, I could order it from Amazon, but shipping expenses are high, and if something was wrong with it, I'd have to pay much to send a return. I wonder if I should wait or get something else. Still waiting for Acer support to clear this out, the availability in my country.

[Spacepotato87]

Unwanted reaction time delays is plagued with 27" monitors, i first realized this when playing. Reaction time latency is the time it takes for your retina or your eyes to MOVE relative to how big the monitor is. I went on rocket league and ran a play where it requires me to move my eyeballs/retina more than half the screen and saved that replay, then did the same thing with the MSI MAG251rx. Let me tell you, because 27" is a much larger screen than 24.5", there was A LOT of retinal/focal point disadvantages when reacting to stimuli that required retinal/eyeball movement from the 27" predator compared to the 24.5" MSI.

moving your screen further away from your retina won't solve this problem?

[axaro1]

I just recorded 280hz ELMB-Sync with no VRR at 280hz to test top/bottom strobe crosstalk, here's the result:

phpBB [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYYKNgmZv7Y

On this monitor you should either play at:
- 240hz OD60/40 or 280hz OD60 | best input lag, 280hz OD60 is IMO the best, I find OD80 and OD100's coronas to be very annoying during fast movements, in games like Overwatch you tend to lose track of the enemies due to it and the outlines of the allies create obvious coronas.
- 280hz ELMB-Sync ON (= OD80) with Adaptive Sync OFF, strobing at 280hz is honestly impressive.
- 240hz ELMB-Sync ON (= OD80) with Adaptive Sync OFF (alternative if you can't consistently hit 280hz)

Don't use ELMB-Sync + Adaptive Sync!

[Blehhh]

Alienware AW2521HF review(peak performance tests and general observations only), the freesync 240hz IPS monitor with some sort of variable overdrive.

Tools used

1. $500 digital oscilloscope
2. photosensor
3. data extrapolation to determine input lag

what is being measured?

pixel response times 10%-90%

1.
FAST overdrive @240hz

2. Super-fast overdrive @240hz (NO g-sync)



3. Super-fast overdrive @237hz (g-sync compatible on)






points of reference

^ Review is not done by me all credits goes to RLCScontender for posting it ^

This is a very Beautiful review. I like it Good job RLCScontender and keep it up!
Will there be a review like this for the VG 259qm or the Acer XB273x?
If there is im very excited to see the full detail review for these 2 monitors.
Or did i miss it by accident? if i did please let me know i'll search for it.