Blur Busters Forums

Hello comrades. This is the first time I'm posting here, though I've been secretly reading this forum, more so when I got convinced I have to change my old Dell U2317HM for a new gaming panel.

This is what I've chosen as a first try: Alienware AW2518HF (since I see no sense in G-Sync for a 240Hz monitor). What I encountered was a strange bordered oval-shaped figure on a black screen in a dim room conditions. I got a replacement — same model, but this time it had a "borderless" oval figure with bleeding at the center. I got my money back. And I changed the retailer store and brand completely. Yesterday I got a Benq XL2546 and it was fine for a whole day. But today after I powered up my PC similar oval figure with left and right borders appeared again and in larger scale. It is not as obvious as in AW2518HF photos, because the room isn't that dim, but it's still there.

What are your thoughts on this, guys? I've never seen something like that. Is there something that could be done about it, or should I keep looking for a monitor without such problems?

AW2518HF №1 https://imgur.com/a/wwKrWyz
AW2518HF №2 https://imgur.com/a/bPqsfZF
XL2546 https://imgur.com/a/7kEvu0u

It's called "clouding." Some displays have it. 240Hz displays are not exactly focusing on quality. Their focus isn't to look good, but to give you high Hz. eSports players do not care much about image or screen quality.

Phantasmagoria wrote:But today after I powered up my PC similar oval figure with left and right borders appeared again and in larger scale. It is not as obvious as in AW2518HF photos, because the room isn't that dim, but it's still there.

A cold LCD will show more visible pressure-mounting distortions in black colors (e.g. overly tight metal casing around LCD)

Warm up your LCD for 60 minutes to get rid of most of the pressure-induced black inconsistencies.

(It's the same type of behavior that occurs if you press LCD with your thumb -- pressure-induced color inconsistencies -- but instead the black inconsistency caused by pressures of how the LCD is mounted inside the monitor, like bezels, stand, casings, etc. Pressure inconsistencies are much more visible on cold LCDs of monitors that have been turned off all night, especially in winter or air-conditioned room).

This issue noticeably affects both VA and TN LCDs. They're very temperature sensitive and pressure sensitive. The fastness of the LCD has a way of exacerbating this problem too.

But it's sometimes temporary; try running your monitor 24/7 for a couple days to allow the liquid of the liquid crystal display to stabilize at its new gravity (being vertical for the first time). A monitor being shipped/store flat often has bigger problems stabilizing and sometimes needs a week to recover from such a bad shipment creating sustained pressurepoints on the LCD. And sometimes never -- requires an RMA.

If bad enough it might be a warranty claim but your photos seem to be well within the "normal" margins AFAICT -- at the moment. And if it fades away after then you're good. Now, if you just unboxed your monitor and it gradually get worse and doesn't improve after a 60 minute warm-up, and persists this way for a few days despite running 24/7 -- then perhaps there is something to it -- new permanent severe pressure points on the panel edges or corners caused by the monitor being stood-up or the first time -- sometimes panels or bezels are just overtight in certain corners or edges.

Most of the time it tends to stabilize after breaking in your monitor at high temperatures in its new position/angle (keeping your monitor warm & running at max brightness unattended) but if it doesn't resolve itself and gets permanently worse even for a fully-warmed panel, there can indeed be a legitimate RMA claim.

Phantasmagoria wrote:(since I see no sense in G-Sync for a 240Hz monitor).

The GSYNC cost premium pays for quite a few things:

(A) Certification by NVIDIA, leading to an average of fewer bugs/issues (not always)
(B) Variable overdrive for variable refresh rate, which makes GSYNC look better with less ghosting.
(C) Wide refresh rate range that properly captures your entire framerate fluctation range. e.g. 40fps-200fps is fully "caught" by 240Hz GSYNC.
(D) Some of the industry's best motion blur reduction modes (ULMB)
(E) Anecdotally, seem to stutter less -- better absorption of stutters of fluctuating framerates;

Not everyone believes the GSYNC cost premium is worth it, but it's useful to know that some of us feel that the premium is definitely worth it.