Best monitor for competitive gaming (CS:GO, Rocket League, etc.)

[frosti]

Hello! I can't decide which one monitor should I pick.

Im playing only online games, mostly competitive on high level (CS:GO, Rocket League, COD) and other games like GTA 5, DBD (only multiplayer games).

Currently using Acer Predator XB271HUabmiprz (TN, 144hz, 27', WQHD) and I need upgrade to 240hz. WQHD is overkill for me in this games.

Setup: GTX 1080 & i7 8700k

I need monitor with fast response time and lowest input lag (CS:GO is my main game). I will use it only for games and browsing internet/yt.

Im looking on:
- BenQ ZOWIE XL2546
- Gigabyte Aorus KD25F
- Asus ROG Swift PG258Q
- HP Omen X 25

@edit
Ooor maybe IPS panels?
- MSI MAG251RX

I hope that I will find my best pick, have a nice day!

[speancer]

Since you asked me to respond here in another thread, here are my opinions:

•BenQ ZOWIE XL2546 - unless you care about backlight strobing (anti-motion blur) I'd not recommend this. It has great ergonomics, good built quality, pretty good colours for a TN panel, horrible viewing angles, typical for TN panel DyAc is actually THE best anti-blur tech I've tried, no brightness impact, manageable crosstalk, but this monitor is fairly old already (2017), and my unit actually produces pretty significant amounts of overshoot on both overdrive (AMA) settings (although not very visible in CS:GO). It also has significant ghosting issue with AMA off (undershoot, smearing). My unit (and not only mine from what I've found recently) suffers from really noticeable pixel inversion artficats. Overall, I am very disappointed with XL2546 at this time, perhaps I'll try a different unit, but I think it's just how this monitor is.

•Gigabyte AORUS KD25F - I do not recommend this, mediocre monitor that loses a direct fight with new gen 240 Hz IPS panels. As for a TN panel, its performance it a disappointment, in my opinion. You can compare test results from Hardware Unboxed review.

•Asus ROG Swift PG258Q - Not recommending this one. It's an old TN panel from 2017, its overall performance does not really match up to current new gen 240 Hz IPS and newer TN panels anymore (from what I see on TFT Central and RTINGS tests, it has input lag even more than twice as high comparing to some newer monitors, you probably would not feel it, but still). There's just no sense in getting yourself into having and old boy like this one. There are better options available now, if you ask me.

•HP Omen X 25f - I'd recommend this one, actually. I have not tested it myself, but I've seen reviews for it, and they were very encouraging. I'm actually thinking of buying this one and test it myself. According to RTINGS, X 25f achieves 2.1 ms average GtG response time, which is amazing and top-class TN performance. Input lag is also very low.

•MSI MAG251RX - I own this monitor and I recommend it. It's the new gen 240 Hz IPS panel with TN-like performance, but free of typical TN downsides, like worse picture quality and bad viewing angles (colour shifts). I recommend you watch Hardware Unboxed review for this one on YouTube, it's a detailed review with response times, etc. At the moment, I actually like this monitor more than I thought I would. If you want the best of the two worlds, these new 240 Hz IPS panels are the way to go.

Also, you might be interested in other new gen 240 Hz IPS panels, like ASUS TUF VG259QM. It's also basically TN-like performance IPS panel with maximum refresh rate of 280 Hz. I tested the bigger version of this monitor and it was pretty cool for competitive FPS. I also recommend Hardware Unboxed, TFT Central's and RTINGS reviews about ASUS TUF VG279QM (the results are probably close between the size options). Dell Alienware AW2521HF is also an interesting 240 Hz IPS specimen. There's a review from RTINGS about it.

And for the last, you might want to wait till September, I heard Zowie is about to uncover their new flagship monitor then, that is going to replace XL2546S, as it was discontinued and is no longer produced. Zowie has redirected their resources to make the new model for XL2546 series. You can read about it here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6206

Hope this helps

[frosti]

Since you asked me to respond here in another thread, here are my opinions:

•BenQ ZOWIE XL2546 - unless you care about backlight strobing (anti-motion blur) I'd not recommend this. It has great ergonomics, good built quality, pretty good colours for a TN panel, horrible viewing angles, typical for TN panel DyAc is actually THE best anti-blur tech I've tried, no brightness impact, manageable crosstalk, but this monitor is fairly old already (2017), and my unit actually produces pretty significant amounts of overshoot on both overdrive (AMA) settings (although not very visible in CS:GO). It also has significant ghosting issue with AMA off (undershoot, smearing). My unit (and not only mine from what I've found recently) suffers from really noticeable pixel inversion artficats. Overall, I am very disappointed with XL2546 at this time, perhaps I'll try a different unit, but I think it's just how this monitor is.

•Gigabyte AORUS KD25F - I do not recommend this, mediocre monitor that loses a direct fight with new gen 240 Hz IPS panels. As for a TN panel, its performance it a disappointment, in my opinion. You can compare test results from Hardware Unboxed review.

•Asus ROG Swift PG258Q - Not recommending this one. It's an old TN panel from 2017, its overall performance does not really match up to current new gen 240 Hz IPS and newer TN panels anymore (from what I see on TFT Central and RTINGS tests, it has input lag even more than twice as high comparing to some newer monitors, you probably would not feel it it, but still). There's just no sense in getting yourself into having and old boy like this one. There are better options available now, if you ask me.

•HP Omen X 25f - I'd recommend this one, actually. I have not tested it myself, but I've seen reviews for it, and they were very encouraging. I'm actually thinking of buying this one and test it myself. According to RTINGS, X 25f achieves 2.1 ms average GtG response time, which is amazing and top-class TN performance. Input lag is also very low.

•MSI MAG251RX - I own this monitor and I recommend it. It's the new gen 240 Hz IPS panel with TN-like performance, but free of typical TN downsides, like worse picture quality and bad viewing angles (colour shifts). I recommend you watch Hardware Unboxed review for this one on YouTube, it's a detailed review with response times, etc. At the moment, I actually like this monitor more than I thought I would. If you want the best of the two worlds, these new 240 Hz IPS panels are the way to go.

Also, you might be interested in other new gen 240 Hz IPS panels, like ASUS TUF VG259QM. It's also basically TN-like performance IPS panel with maximum refresh rate of 280 Hz. I tested the bigger version of this monitor and it was pretty cool for competitive FPS. I also recommend Hardware Unboxed, TFT Central's and RTINGS reviews about ASUS TUF VG279QM (the results are probably close between the size options). Dell Alienware AW2521HF is also an interesting 240 Hz IPS specimen. There's a review from RTINGS about it.

And for the last, you might want to wait till September, I heard Zowie is about to uncover their new flagship monitor then, that is going to replace XL2546S, as it were discontinued and is no longer produced. Zowie has redirected their resources to make the new model for XL2546 series. You can read about it here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6206

Hope this helps

Amazing, really helpful for me!
After your opinion I order MSI MAG251RX right now. Anyway I think it's gonna be way better than my actual (Acer Predator XB271HUa).
If Zowie uncover so far better monitor than this MSI - I will buy it and move MSI to 2nd monitor.

Sooo, overall, in short - MSI MAG251RX is good pick for competitive gaming and daily use (yt, browser)?

Again, thank you sooo much!

[frosti]

You can also send me your MAG251RX monitor settings - I will set everything same like you

[speancer]

Amazing, really helpful for me!
After your opinion I order MSI MAG251RX right now. Anyway I think it's gonna be way better than my actual (Acer Predator XB271HUa).
If Zowie uncover so far better monitor than this MSI - I will buy it and move MSI to 2nd monitor.

Sooo, overall, in short - MSI MAG251RX is good pick for competitive gaming and daily use (yt, browser)?

Again, thank you sooo much!

Yeah, that's a good pick, in my opinion. It's a very decent display. Performance wise it's one of the best IPS. You should be able to see noticeable difference in motion clarity against your current 144 Hz display, as MAG251RX has 240 Hz refresh rate with 100% refresh rate compliance on "Fastest" overdrive option, averaging at 3.21 ms GtG response time, which is really fast, with only minor faint overshoot. I'm sure you will notice and appreciate image quality improvement and good viewing angles as well, especially that you come from TN.

Feel free to let me know how you like it when it arrives

[frosti]

Amazing, really helpful for me!
After your opinion I order MSI MAG251RX right now. Anyway I think it's gonna be way better than my actual (Acer Predator XB271HUa).
If Zowie uncover so far better monitor than this MSI - I will buy it and move MSI to 2nd monitor.

Sooo, overall, in short - MSI MAG251RX is good pick for competitive gaming and daily use (yt, browser)?

Again, thank you sooo much!

Yeah, that's a good pick, in my opinion. It's a very decent display. Performance wise it's one of the best IPS. You should be able to see noticeable difference in motion clarity against your current 144 Hz display, as MAG251RX has 240 Hz refresh rate with 100% refresh rate compliance on "Fastest" overdrive option, averaging at 3.21 ms GtG response time, which is really fast, with only minor faint overshoot. I'm sure you will notice and appreciate image quality improvement and good viewing angles as well, especially that you come from TN.

Feel free to let me know how you like it when it arrives

I want to contact with you, but u disabled private messages here. If it's possible - pm me and show me your settings.
Have a nice day!

[speancer]

I want to contact with you, but u disabled private messages here. If it's possible - pm me and show me your settings.
Have a nice day!

I don't change much in settings. For general use (browsing, movies, single player games) I only changed brightness to 80, default was 70. That's just personal preference, I like it bright. I also set Response Time to "Fastest". Everything else is default.

Important thing. If you use Adaptive-Sync, remember to adjust Response Time setting (overdrive). Only use "Fastest" if you're closer to 240 fps (like 180-240 fps maybe). Also, it's a general recommendation that you should limit your framerate to a value just below the max refresh rate, like 237 fps, to stay within Adaptive-Sync range, and to not let it exceed its range. If you have around 144 fps or less in Adaptive-Sync mode, change overdrive setting to "Fast". Otherwise you'll notice overshoot (inverse ghosting).

For CS:GO I use fixed 240 Hz, so Adaptive-Sync is disabled, default Game Mode "User", overdrive "Fastest", Night Vision "Normal". I also use Vibrance GUI and set in-game colour vibrance to 100% for CS:GO. Thanks to these settings I see everything and everyone, always, no hiding spots! I set no frame cap as well (fps_max 0).

[frosti]

I've got my new MSI MAG251RX and I think I've won IPS panel lottery. 0 backlight bleed, 0 bad/sub pixels. On first look - amazing!

[purplew]

I've got my new MSI MAG251RX and I think I've won IPS panel lottery. 0 backlight bleed, 0 bad/sub pixels. On first look - amazing!

cool!! also could you open a white screen (e.g. open firefox and type "about:blank" in the URL bar)
and check for yellow tint or blueish whites

my mag251rx has zones where it's much yellower than the rest
id be interested to know if I'm the only one with this issue

also as @speancer said, use "Fast" if you're getting below 200fps, "Fastest" if above (I actually just use "Fastest" as it gives the lowest reponse time, but "Fast" is compliant with 200hz and below). Also if you use "Anti Motion Blur" make sure to set the correct response time ("normal"/"fast"/"fastest") BEFORE activating Anti Motion Blur as it locks it, and yes e.g. if you use "normal" instead of "fastest" before activating AMB the results are much different, you can test on testufo.com yourself too. Also if you find the screen too dim with AMB you can use Night Vision - "normal" or stronger in Gaming OSD - it makes darks brighter but compresses the range of colors so you don't lose information. I also prefer contrast 50 instead of 70 for all situations (AMB on/off, i always use 50) because 70 clips bright objects.

[frosti]

Nothing on white screen.
Im looking for the best serttings for CS:GO.