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

[PixelDuck87]

Although I agree specifically if you only play Rocket League --

Wait, so if I play competitive games and I get ~170fps i should put it on 144hz instead?

Do you know a single pro/exceptional player that does that? Your answer should be in there...

[purplew]

Although I agree specifically if you only play Rocket League --

Wait, so if I play competitive games and I get ~170fps i should put it on 144hz instead?

Do you know a single pro/exceptional player that does that? Your answer should be in there...

No but pro players usually don't know jack about monitors and do what their friends tell them to do

[speancer]

Although I agree specifically if you only play Rocket League --

Wait, so if I play competitive games and I get ~170fps i should put it on 144hz instead?

I'd say it strongly depends on the game you play. If you don't feel stutters and you don't see or don't care about tearing, then it's fine and up to you to leave it at 240 Hz with fps below refresh rate and unsynced frames. If you use G-SYNC or Free-Sync, it's even more fine to leave it at 240 Hz, as Adaptive-Sync methods are designed to be used in such situations as yours. Just test what works best for your performance. Also, the higher the refresh rate, the lower input lag gets (regardless of the frame rate), so in a competitive setting it's something you definitely want.

[RLCSContender*]

Although I agree specifically if you only play Rocket League --
In general, I disagree, because not everyone uses monitors in the same way.

1. 240 Hz is not just for games.
Ergonomics. There are some of us with motion blur headaches / eyestrain. A 240 Hz monitor has clearer browser scrolling. Even buying a 240 Hz monitor just for web browsing has ergonomic benefits for some of us who are sensitive to eyestrain. The upcoming 360 Hz monitor by ASUS is reportedly covering most of the DCI P3 color gamut, so it is increasingly possible to have cake and eat it too. On a 240Hz monitor, browser scrolling is 75% clearer than on a 60Hz monitor with only one-quarter the scrolling motion blur. That's twice as clear scrolling as a 120Hz iPad, when you use smooth-scroll features such as keyboard arrows or mousewheel scrolling.

LOL you're right. I've been exclusively using 240hz monitors for so long that i took these small conveniences for granted. My first impression of getting my first 240hz monitor was that eye tracking is noticeably way more comfortable. Whether it's moving my mouse, or simply typing this sentence right now. I took these small conveniences for granted. I got so used to it that my brain no longer registers these small conveniences. But to someone who does general computer task, these small conveniences will help that person be more efficient.

not gonna lie though, as a competitive gamer, the only thing i cared about when i bought these 240hz monitors were motion clarity and input lag. But to have these small conveniences such as better eye tracking due to better motion clarity for general use is a huge bonus and is something i subconsciously appreciate without knowing it since i benefit from these conveniences daily.

2. Refresh rate headroom for improved strobe quality[/b]
Some monitors are tuned in such a way to get superior low-Hz strobing. Well-tuned 120fps@120Hz strobing on a 240Hz panel can be superior to well-tuned 120fps@120Hz strobing on a 144Hz panel. This does not happen to all panels (Example: ELMB-SYNC algorithms) but when the panel is tuned to their absolute scientific maximum potential for flashed-backlight motion-blur-reduction algorithms, the way GtG can be hidden between refresh cycles, is easier with faster-velocity refresh cycles with longer-delays between refresh cycles. (120Hz = half of the time refreshing, half of the time idling to finish GtG, during a 240Hz operation)

3. Flexibility for variety of games
You can manually switch to a fixed-Hz 144Hz operation which often has better overdrive than 144Hz VRR.

4. FreeSync quality varies a lot
Some of them have reasonably serviceable VRR overdrive, better than the worst native G-SYNC (even native G-SYNC can vary in quality).

5. Lower input lag for lower Hz
Framerate-capped VRR is a very good "low lag VSYNC ON" technique. This is useful for fixed-framerate games as well as emulators.

There are other reasons to get high refresh rates that are application specific or doesn't even have anything to do with games.

with freesync monitors; the quality of the scaler and overdrive tuning is hit or miss. Yeah, i can cap the refresh rate to a lower refresh rate, but certain freesync scalers have wonky scan rates/scan times or wonky overdrive tuning(example. switching to TF 40 because TF 20 has more inverse ghosting). I generally stick to games that i get 240hz FPS easily and that is rocket league. I do play other games where the framerate is below the refresh rate and in my opinion, the microstutters that i've experienced and the ghosting(because freesync monitors tend to have a fixed voltage) was way too annoying for me to tolerate. I generally PREFER not to use a freesync monitor for gaming if i cannot match the FPS i get from the game to the 240hz refresh rate. I switch to my g-sync monitor (Xg270qg) if i play games where the FPS is lower than its max refresh rate.

i just assumed that when ppl buy these 240hz monitors, they too have the framerate to match. but boy I was wrong. I guess some people are more tolerant to micro stutters and tearing than I am.

Speaking of strobing and adaptyve sync/vrr, i will address those things on my next post when i write the vg259qm/mag251rx/vg279qm/odysseyg7 reviews. I'm just waiting for TFT to post the odyssey g7 review first.

[Thasios]

I'm sorry, this might be stupid but i am a bit confused

So are you saying you litarally lowered the RGB to 5 or 10 (which you have written in another post as wall) As in 5-5-5? That looks really dark and weird. Or the more probable meaning, do you mean that you lowered it by 5 or 10, e.g. getting 93-93-94?

Or is RGB gain not the color temperature setting, but some other setting i am not finding?

The MSI, i just reduced the RGB gain to 5 or 10. Every unit is different and you have to experiment

i've bought 4 MSI MAG251RX's and every single one of them have different requirements when adjusting the RGB temperature to match the 6500k white point AND to reduce overshoot.

[Stevie66]

Got my AW2521HF, and also noticed those weird lines on the top of the screen only when some images/url/tabs are open,very odd, seems to be a thing with this panel but my MSI MAG didn't have the same thing. Odd. I go to a tab and I see the lines, go to a new tab and it's gone, old tab is back.
But if I don't go full screen in Chrome the lines are gone. Not sure if I should exchange it or it will resolve it self, saw other people mention the issue with the Acer Predators here too and one that had 4 of these Alienwares with the same thing.

Edit: seemed to have fixed it for now, still strange, maybe they all have this issue just everyone uses a different ICC so it doesn't get triggered, can't seem to trigger it now with the images/tabs that previously did.

[jimbus80]

Got my AW2521HF...

How is the monitor compared to the MAG251RX in terms of stuttering when the fps oscilate? What about smoothness? And, in general, do you feel it's better than the MSI?

[ropeadope]

Hoping it's okay to ask for monitor/purchase advice here, if not I guess this post won't be approved - which I will understand, there's just not many places to ask, and you guys certainly know your stuff about monitors.

My current monitor is 8 years old (good ole' Dells last forever! ). I'm not a competitive gamer, so response times are not super important to me (although I do want at least 144hz, but we're talking 240hz monitors here, which would also be great), I'm just looking for a high quality 24" IPS monitor with great colors and great viewing angles. I haven't found "the one" yet. Currently leaning towards the AW2521HFL due to my long loving relationship with Dell monitors. I remember reading the AW2521HFL is actually an improvement over the AW2521HF, even though it's mainly just a different color monitor casing, but supposedly it has better overdrive tuning and lower input lag?

I think the AW2521HFL is due for a price drop soon, so I might grab one if it goes on sale.

I really wish they made a 24" version of the new S2721DGF, that would be perfect for me, but I don't think Dell has any plans to do that

[Chief Blur Buster]

Purchase advice is allowed. We just have a mandatory forum post approve queue for New Users, due to the large amount of paid outsourced spammers/marketers that post semi-legitimate forum posts that they later retroactively edit to insert spam info / links / etc. Those are now almost more common than easily-filtered automated spambots. It's an endemic problem for many discussion forums...

[Stevie66]

Got my AW2521HF...

How is the monitor compared to the MAG251RX in terms of stuttering when the fps oscilate? What about smoothness? And, in general, do you feel it's better than the MSI?

I preferred the LG over the MSI so I returned the MSI, now testing the Alienware vs the LG, all 3 I noticed no stutter but I play games in the 200+ range and if a game is below that I typically use Gsync