Blur Busters Forums

I've spent the past week reading and searching here, and it's been a great help! Sometimes I feel like the more I read, the more questions I have though, and thus we have this long winded post, ha!



I've been using an XB270HU since 2015. I was never totally satisfied with it, mostly I think the motion clarity wasn't quite there. Things would get a bit confused during high speed / movement scenes. I play mostly FPS, but no competitive titles like CS:GO or Overwatch. More like Far Cry, Doom, Ghost Recon, etc.

Cue today, I’ve got a new AMD system. 2700x and Vega 64. I’m looking to make a change in monitor now too. Before finding this site, I was thinking about an XG32VQ. I’ve been using 1440p for a long time, and it’s a great resolution for desktop use. After reading here though, I think the VA panel may not be a good choice for me due to smearing concerns. I decided to order the XG2530 because I was set on adaptive sync, but now I’m having second thoughts after reading reviews on some Benq models and seeing the UFO test screenshots, I’m very interested in strobing.

Below is my short list, and would love some input on my thought process, your thoughts, feedback, anything! I think with any choice I make, I’d probably add a cheap smaller IPS/VA as a second monitor to help with desktop use.

XG2530 – Pros here are 240hz Freesync. Reasonable price, seems to have good reviews. 24.5” is a good size for gaming. 1080p would be less demanding to run than 1440p. I’d pick it over the AW2518HF for the looks I think. Cons are there is no strobing technology. I’ve been using gsync for so long though I’m worried about going to a monitor without adaptive sync. I realize it’s one or the other with strobing and adaptive sync, and this I think is the crux of my issue deciding. Unfortunately I never used ULMB with the Acer so don’t have experience with ULMB vs gsync. The other big con is for desktop use 1080p is a big change for me.

XL2546 – Pretty much the same as the above, but here I would be trading Freesync for Dyac and be neutral to AMD vs Nvidia for future GPUs. The dyac tech is super interesting to me. If I’m understanding things right, I could set the refresh rate to say 144 or 160hz, whatever I think my FPS will be consistently above, then cap my FPS to that refresh rate. Then I’d have the strobe in sync with my FPS. And any big dips in FPS would probably look weird or jarring.

XL2735 – Pros here are I’m back at 1440p. Much nicer to have this real estate in desktop use. Downsides are I’m going to take a hit to FPS, although I think this resolution/refresh is less CPU limited than 240hz at 1080p so it might better maximize my CPU/GPU combo. This monitor seems to have less headroom than the XL2546 though. If I understand things right, I’m looking at 120hz or maybe 100hz as the floor refresh where the strobing is going to work right. So if I’m dipping below that, I’m potentially looking at having to turn off Dyac and also have no Freesync. For both dyac models it seems like I could potentially need to do a lot of fiddling with settings to tailor things to the specific game I'm going to play.

jasoncd wrote:I've been using an XB270HU since 2015. I was never totally satisfied with it, mostly I think the motion clarity wasn't quite there. Things would get a bit confused during high speed / movement scenes. I play mostly FPS, but no competitive titles like CS:GO or Overwatch. More like Far Cry, Doom, Ghost Recon, etc.

Have you tried enabling LightBoost on your XB270HU before?

While it's an early strobe backlight not as good as most newer blur reduction technologies (although LightBoost is still better than some crappier generic implementations) -- it gives you at least a taste of blur reduction.

jasoncd wrote:Cue today, I’ve got a new AMD system. 2700x and Vega 64. I’m looking to make a change in monitor now too. Before finding this site, I was thinking about an XG32VQ. I’ve been using 1440p for a long time, and it’s a great resolution for desktop use. After reading here though, I think the VA panel may not be a good choice for me due to smearing concerns. I decided to order the XG2530 because I was set on adaptive sync, but now I’m having second thoughts after reading reviews on some Benq models and seeing the UFO test screenshots, I’m very interested in strobing.

VA can be a difficult tech, but sometimes some vendors do an amazing job of fixing VA flaws now. The newest firmwares on the Samsung CHG70 series -- (the H series, not the F series) -- has excellent strobing that is superior to LightBoost. The implementation is well done on that modes on newer Samsung monitor releases, and they have user-upgradeable firmwares which is a huge +++ in my book -- given the complexity of monitors.

That said, minus is it's VA (lag/smearing) but Samsung did a great job on the CHG70 series colors-wise and blur-wise. A strobed Samsung VA will always have less motion blur than an unstrobed TN, in some ways Samsung's excellent implementation compensating for the smearing.

But VA is avoided by eSports players due to input lag, but VA can be a great compromise since the Samsung implementation is so good compared to other VA competition. So I only recommend it if lag isn't too critical for you.

Now, if you want lower lag and faster pixel response, while still having "better-than-TN-average" colors -- the XG2530 is one of the better 240Hz FreeSync monitors, it depends on what your priorities are. You do lose the ability to have blur reduction.

Some are more sensitive to stutter/tearing (FreeSync helps this more) and others are sensitive to motion blur (strobe backlights help this more).

If you still have your Acer, you should give LightBoost a test spin. Although it's much harder to enable than a simple ON/OFF toggle in menus (like Samsung or BenQ ZOWIE), it at least gives you a taste of blur reduction.

jasoncd wrote:XG2530 – Pros here are 240hz Freesync. Reasonable price, seems to have good reviews. 24.5” is a good size for gaming. 1080p would be less demanding to run than 1440p. I’d pick it over the AW2518HF for the looks I think. Cons are there is no strobing technology. I’ve been using gsync for so long though I’m worried about going to a monitor without adaptive sync. I realize it’s one or the other with strobing and adaptive sync, and this I think is the crux of my issue deciding. Unfortunately I never used ULMB with the Acer so don’t have experience with ULMB vs gsync. The other big con is for desktop use 1080p is a big change for me.

XL2546 – Pretty much the same as the above, but here I would be trading Freesync for Dyac and be neutral to AMD vs Nvidia for future GPUs. The dyac tech is super interesting to me. If I’m understanding things right, I could set the refresh rate to say 144 or 160hz, whatever I think my FPS will be consistently above, then cap my FPS to that refresh rate. Then I’d have the strobe in sync with my FPS. And any big dips in FPS would probably look weird or jarring.

XL2735 – Pros here are I’m back at 1440p. Much nicer to have this real estate in desktop use. Downsides are I’m going to take a hit to FPS, although I think this resolution/refresh is less CPU limited than 240hz at 1080p so it might better maximize my CPU/GPU combo. This monitor seems to have less headroom than the XL2546 though. If I understand things right, I’m looking at 120hz or maybe 100hz as the floor refresh where the strobing is going to work right. So if I’m dipping below that, I’m potentially looking at having to turn off Dyac and also have no Freesync. For both dyac models it seems like I could potentially need to do a lot of fiddling with settings to tailor things to the specific game I'm going to play.

If you want lowest strobe lag -- XL2456
If you want FreeSync with lowest unstrobed blur -- XG2530
If you want blur reduction -- XL2546 or XL2735

Alternative:
If you prefer better colors while having FreeSync and blur reduction options (and willing to go laggier) -- I'm going to toss the Samsung CHG70 suggestion. It's FreeSync, it's got vendor-agnostic (Intel/NVIDIA/AMD) strobe backlight, it got great colors for non-competitive gameplay. Much better colors for non-competitive play that you describe. All of them will be least be less laggy than a very old XB270HU but will be laggier than all the new TN models mentioned.

Yes, you'll have to get a GPU with really high framerates. Strobed motion at wrong framerates just simply look amplified-stutter like CRT 30fps at 60Hz (the old double image effect), or feels extremely "jittery" with the mouse. Just like CRT 45fps@60Hz looked "stutterier" on a CRT than on an LCD because of lack of motion blur -- the same problem happens. CRT-style flicker makes stuttery motion a little more stutterier, so you ideally want perfect framerate-refreshrate synchronized motion for the beautiful motion.

Some people don't mind (e.g. 100fps-150fps at 120Hz strobed) as the lack of motion blur can still benefit, but it just amplifies stutter (100fps@120Hz strobed looks stutterier than 100fps@120Hz non-strobed). It does matter if you are sensitive to stutter. But the great thing is with a monitor with both FreeSync and strobed modes, you can switch between the two depending on a specific game.

The prevailing advice for motion fluidity tends to be:
- Run your graphics heavy, framerate-variable games with FreeSync or GSYNC
- Run your high consistent framerate games with blur reduction mode (strobed)

If you're playing solo, that ~10 millisecond extra lag (VA + strobing combined) is unimportant. The engineering that went into a monitor can sometimes outweigh its imperfections (e.g. VA imperfections) and Samsung did a really good job with CHG70. There's some smearing but it's not too bad on that model.

When you play solo + strobed, you definitely may have a preference with VSYNC ON (maybe combined with HOWTO: Low-Lag VSYNC ON) -- so definitely make sure you keep your framerates up. You can turn use FreeSync for your graphics-demanding games, and use strobed for your high-consistent-framerate games.

Have you tried enabling LightBoost on your XB270HU before?

While it's an early strobe backlight not as good as most newer blur reduction technologies (although LightBoost is still better than some crappier generic implementations) -- it gives you at least a taste of blur reduction.

Hi Chief! I've really enjoyed reading your posts, super informative! I had never tried ULMB before. Call me dumb, but back when I got the monitor gsync was supposed to be A M A Z I N G and I honestly didn't really know ULMB existed. I still have the monitor, not sure it's worth selling, so I connected to my old PC and fired up ULMB. Wow. ULMB at 100hz was crazy on the UFO tests. So clear! Brightness was an issue. Played some Doom with it on and enjoyed it more than gsync, but it was a bit dark.

VA can be a difficult tech, but sometimes some vendors do an amazing job of fixing VA flaws now. The newest firmwares on the Samsung CHG70 series -- (the H series, not the F series) -- has excellent strobing that is superior to LightBoost. The implementation is well done on that modes on newer Samsung monitor releases, and they have user-upgradeable firmwares which is a huge +++ in my book -- given the complexity of monitors.

That said, minus is it's VA (lag/smearing) but Samsung did a great job on the CHG70 series colors-wise and blur-wise. A strobed Samsung VA will always have less motion blur than an unstrobed TN, in some ways Samsung's excellent implementation compensating for the smearing.

But VA is avoided by eSports players due to input lag, but VA can be a great compromise since the Samsung implementation is so good compared to other VA competition. So I only recommend it if lag isn't too critical for you.

By H series, that means CHG vs CFG in the model numbers? I don't think input lag is a huge deal to me, I'm not an online competitive player. It's hard to describe, my issue with the XB270HU is like...it confuses my brain when things get going with fast action. So I feel like motion clarity is what I'm looking for. The 32" CHG would be very interesting. Any idea the range where their strobe is effective? I need to read some reviews.

Now, if you want lower lag and faster pixel response, while still having "better-than-TN-average" colors -- the XG2530 is one of the better 240Hz FreeSync monitors, it depends on what your priorities are. You do lose the ability to have blur reduction.

Some are more sensitive to stutter/tearing (FreeSync helps this more) and others are sensitive to motion blur (strobe backlights help this more).

The XG2530 came in. I ordered it before stumbling across this rabbit hole of blur reduction. First impression was 1080p at 24.5" is...headache inducing. On the desktop. Pushing the monitor back helps, I think I'm used to sitting closer with 1440p @ 27". Gaming, wow a ton better than the Acer with gsync. Now versus the Acer with ULMB...it's close. The resolution and size didn't negatively impact me in game but it might be hard to live with this resolution as my 'main monitor'.

If you want lowest strobe lag -- XL2456
If you want FreeSync with lowest unstrobed blur -- XG2530
If you want blur reduction -- XL2546 or XL2735

Of the above, I'm leaning toward the XL2735 due to resolution. Not sure if I would adjust to 1080p or not. Kinda weird because I use two 23" 1080p monitors at work without issue. Maybe it's the PPI at 24.5" that's throwing me off.

Alternative:
If you prefer better colors while having FreeSync and blur reduction options (and willing to go laggier) -- I'm going to toss the Samsung CHG70 suggestion. It's FreeSync, it's got vendor-agnostic (Intel/NVIDIA/AMD) strobe backlight, it got great colors for non-competitive gameplay. Much better colors for non-competitive play that you describe. All of them will be least be less laggy than a very old XB270HU but will be laggier than all the new TN models mentioned.

Yes, you'll have to get a GPU with really high framerates. Strobed motion at wrong framerates just simply look amplified-stutter like CRT 30fps at 60Hz (the old double image effect), or feels extremely "jittery" with the mouse. Just like CRT 45fps@60Hz looked "stutterier" on a CRT than on an LCD because of lack of motion blur -- the same problem happens. CRT-style flicker makes stuttery motion a little more stutterier, so you ideally want perfect framerate-refreshrate synchronized motion for the beautiful motion.

Some people don't mind (e.g. 100fps-150fps at 120Hz strobed) as the lack of motion blur can still benefit, but it just amplifies stutter (100fps@120Hz strobed looks stutterier than 100fps@120Hz non-strobed). It does matter if you are sensitive to stutter. But the great thing is with a monitor with both FreeSync and strobed modes, you can switch between the two depending on a specific game.

The prevailing advice for motion fluidity tends to be:
- Run your graphics heavy, framerate-variable games with FreeSync or GSYNC
- Run your high consistent framerate games with blur reduction mode (strobed)

If you're playing solo, that ~10 millisecond extra lag (VA + strobing combined) is unimportant. The engineering that went into a monitor can sometimes outweigh its imperfections (e.g. VA imperfections) and Samsung did a really good job with CHG70. There's some smearing but it's not too bad on that model.

When you play solo + strobed, you definitely may have a preference with VSYNC ON (maybe combined with HOWTO: Low-Lag VSYNC ON) -- so definitely make sure you keep your framerates up. You can turn use FreeSync for your graphics-demanding games, and use strobed for your high-consistent-framerate games.

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I appreciate the option I hadn't considered here. I like the safety net of having Freesync to fall back on. In my mind, I'm liking the Benq a lot right now. The S Switch or whatever it's called looks great, I hate going into most monitor menus. Love the idea of switching profiles on the fly for game vs desktop. But I'm sure it would be great to have the colors of the VA especially in non-gaming situations. The Benq, I worry I'll find games that I can't maintain whatever the minimum framerate is. The Samsung, I worry I'm a special snowflake or something who's going to see VA blur/smearing despite Samsung's efforts.

Really appreciate the advice!

Oh wait, I confused two Acers (GN246HL LightBoost vs XF270HA ULMB) -- but yes, you had ULMB.

Very good, now you understand how strobe-backlight-based can improve your motion clarity. And now you know it's important to you.

Yes, understandable concern but Samsung's high quality CHG70 strobing does seem to bypass ~75% of VA problems. The smearing is there but it's much better as long as you've let the panel warm up first (cold VA can ghost quite a lot more). Samsung's VA panel is much lower lag than most VA monitors. It actually already outperforms most IPS monitors, and even a few TN monitors. Though you get a bit of muddy ghosting in murky backgrounds (ala dungeon games).

It's not a perfect display by all means, but when lag is not important and you're in the Radeon Camp (AMD) then it is it's a current favourite Blur Busters recommendation (1440p + 144Hz + FreeSync + strobing(scanned) + VA colors + XBox1 support + user firmware upgradeable to fix monitor bugs.

Now if you want the _best_ blur reduction (above all other attributes) at 120fps on a TN panel with an AMD product, then a well-tuned BenQ ZOWIE monitor can do wonders. Blur Busters does have the Strobe Utility -- www.blurbusters.com/strobe-utility -- for end user DIY tuning of blur reduction. Mind you, it does seem to have less benefits with newer BENQ Zowies than the originals such as XL2720 which improves massively with the utility.

If you want the world's brightest strobing, go with the 240Hz DyAc or ULMB. All the 25 inch 240Hz GSYNC monitors as well as the XL2546 DyAc, produce approximately 300 nits in strobed mode. For comparison, the Samsung CHG70 produces 200 nits which is twice as bright as the early ULMB monitors (100 nits) and LightBoost (~50-75 nits). So you'll get brighter with a DyAc monitor or with the CHG70, than you're getting with ULMB on the older Acer.