Monitors

[Ace]

So I've been absorbed in the task of expanding and/or refreshing my monitor setup. I was wondering what y'all use in terms of monitors. Feel free to mention what you do (gaming vs blogging etc) on said monitors as well.

As for me, I currently have a Dell 3007WFP. It's 30", 16:10 at 2560x1600. I was thinking about adding smaller 16:10 monitors on either side to make a portrait:landscape:portrait setup. I was also thinking of replacing the Dell for a similar monitor at 120Hz. In some extreme part of my mind, I'm even considering an ancient IBM T221 monitor.

[andrewjoy]

The T221 is very old but it is the only option for 16:10 super high res, its also not very useful for anything but desktop use.

I unfortunately would recommend going for a more modern 16:9 display , it sucks i know but nobody makes 16:10 in anything higher than 1600p, your going to struggle for high refresh rate and things like g-sync.

At the moment i have 2 displays a HZ27WB and a HP LP2475w, I too am looking for an upgrade and i think i have very similar requirements to yourself.


16:10 = Not going to happen
IPS/IPS like display
27 inch or 30 inch
GSYNC
VESA mountable
120 htz preferred

For 27 inch you are going to want the

Acer Predator XB271HU
or
Asus ROG Swift PG279Q

Both are pretty much the same display.

If you want something fancy at 30 inch its going to have to be 4k.

Dell have an OLED 30 inch 4k 120htz display in the works ( i get all excited just thinking about it) but expect to have to re-finance your house to get one.

There is the XB321HK ( 32 inch) from acer but again eyewateringly expensive.

There is the Samsung U32E850R , but this is freesync no g-sync for people who are still under the illusion that AMD can make graphics cards and not space heaters.

I don't have a good answer for you , there is just no 1 perfect monitor out there.

IPS 30 inch 1600p 120htz with g-sync , thats what i want , go make it !

[ramnes]

BenQ BL3200PT here. Best bang for bucks.

[chzel]

How about LG 27UD68P? Haven't seen it live, but reviews sound good.

[seebart]

I've been using the HP ZR42w for some time and quite happy with it!

http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/publ ... -c02023931

Not sure if they still sell it, this seems to be a follow up product:

http://www8.hp.com/in/en/products/monit ... id=5164375

[XMIT]

Have any of you, ever used an IBM T221?

I have. We used to have a bunch of them at work. They were interesting from a driver implementation perspective.

A couple of reasons why you probably, don't really, want an IBM T221 "Big Bertha":
- Requires up to 2 or 4 DVI and/or dual link DVI connections;
- Very low refresh rate - 48Hz if you're lucky and drive it in some special mode, 24Hz is more likely;
- It has a fan! Fans are loud!
- Very slow panel - granted you don't notice much with a slow refresh rate, but still...

If you find one, and by some miracle it still works, you're still talking about a 2001-era LCD panel: dim, ghosting, poor viewable angle.

My favorite choice is any 30" 2560x1600 monitor with a quality Korean IPS panel (using a Monoprice at the moment but Dell and HP monitors have them too). My photo and coding workflow benefits too much from 16:10 to have me consider much else.

[andrewjoy]

Have any of you, ever used an IBM T221?

I have. We used to have a bunch of them at work. They were interesting from a driver implementation perspective.

A couple of reasons why you probably, don't really, want an IBM T221 "Big Bertha":
- Requires up to 2 or 4 DVI and/or dual link DVI connections;
- Very low refresh rate - 48Hz if you're lucky and drive it in some special mode, 24Hz is more likely;
- It has a fan! Fans are loud!
- Very slow panel - granted you don't notice much with a slow refresh rate, but still...

If you find one, and by some miracle it still works, you're still talking about a 2001-era LCD panel: dim, ghosting, poor viewable angle.

My favorite choice is any 30" 2560x1600 monitor with a quality Korean IPS panel (using a Monoprice at the moment but Dell and HP monitors have them too). My photo and coding workflow benefits too much from 16:10 to have me consider much else.

but are there any high refresh rate 30 inch 1600p displays with g-sync ?

[adhoc]

I previously used 2x U2412. Recently, I upgraded to 2x U2415. Not a dramatic change, OSD is on touch screen and has some additional goodies, but the main thing is U2415 does not use PWM anymore!

Do you like the ability to see? Yeah, me too.

Go with zero flickering screen. For the price, I'm sure U2415 is the best in this category. 16:10 resolution (I can't stand 16:9 for work), IPS panel and no flickering. Love these screens!

Did I mention they come factory calibrated? They come factory calibrated. No fear of dead pixels on arrival, no fear of no way to calibrate them equally due to different panel batch or whatever.

Love them. Probably not the best for gaming due to only 60Hz refresh, but I could not care less. The view angles, the backlight (lack of) bleeding and excellent colour representation makes these screens top price/performance screens by my criteria.

HP zr24w and lp2475w are great screens, but quite dated now.

If you're asking yourself if you need higher refresh rate than 60 Hz you probably don't. If you did, you'd know.

[andrewjoy]

The lp2475w is still one of the best screens i have ever seen in the flesh, i agree its dated and would not recommend one today but if you get the opportunity and see one on ebay for cheap it may be worth it. Don't forget it has almost every connection on the back of it 2xDVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, S-video, composite and component. That is an INSANE amount of connectivity. I am never getting rid of mine , even when i upgrade the hazro to a high refresh rate screen i will keep the HP as a second screen and sell the hazro ( or demote it to KVM duties).

[adhoc]

Definitely great, but due to their age I couldn't recommend them anymore over the U2415, unless you'd get a great deal on ebay like you said. Today, I wouldn't recommend ANY screen with PWM, to be honest.

[andrewjoy]

So the 1600p 120htz search continues ! Any ideas anyone , the monoprice 30 inch is a lie , it drops frames for > 60htz

[seebart]

So the 1600p 120htz search continues ! Any ideas anyone , the monoprice 30 inch is a lie , it drops frames for > 60htz

I don't think there's really much available, that Monoprice is crap:

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comme ... n_monitor/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8895/mono ... b-keyboard

There are those Korean QNIX QX2710 panels:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/qnix_qx2710.htm

http://blog.patshead.com/2015/07/should ... -2015.html

Also this Asus:

https://www.asus.com/Commercial-Monitors/PQ321Q/

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit ... 21q-review

[XMIT]

Monoprice is a reseller. They are middlemen. They are barely technical and far from experts.

If you are looking for fact and truth, look upstream to the suppliers. A 120Hz 2560x1600 monitor will require a panel with a low enough refresh rate and a scaler (driving motherboard) to match. Who makes these? What other monitors offer these features?

Just as with keyboards (and many other fields), try to differentiate truth and craftsmanship, from marketing press and fluff.

[LewisR]

I had been thinking about getting a 1440p/144hz monitor and did a ton of research and I am still unsure, as no monitor really fulfills my desire to have the higher refresh rate, while also having a good image quality. The latest 144hz+ ones that are IPS-like (AHVA) use AU Optronics panels which look pretty shoddy due to light bleed and nasty yellow "IPS-glow". Hopefully, LG will start producing true high-refresh IPS panels at some point (if they haven't already).

I have decided to milk my Asus PA248Q 1920x1200 monitor for awhile longer. If this where to break, I think I would just get Dell's mainstream 8-bit 1440p 60hz offering. If I can keep my monitor for awhile longer, I may just see about going from 1920x1200 straight to 4K, unless some better 120hz+ options become available. I'm probably going to be using Win 7 (and even XP) for awhile longer as well, so I will have a need for the lower PPI screens even when 4K becomes standard. I may always try to keep one for use with legacy applications.

[Hak Foo]

From what I understand, the issue wasn't necessarily the panels, it was the control boards.

A few monitors (early Yamakasi Catleaps) were 1440p IPS panels and had control boards that could be fed up to 120Hz. Later ones only took 60Hz; some people were buying the older-style control board and swapping it onto the (much cheaper) 60Hz model. However, nobody would guarantee 120Hz officially, since it was really outside published specs all over the place. If you got a good panel, though, 120 was possible.

When it became clear people would pay for "120Hz", a second generation of monitors came out with boards that accepted a 120Hz synch, but discarded the extra frames. These seemed to be commonly be with the Samsung PLS panels.

I'm not sure what's the deal with the AUO panels, because the image quality was apparently so poor I just noped away from the entire category. Sort of a huge disappointment when they called it AHVA because I expected it to be another type of VA panel, and I like the dark blacks of VA panels.

[andrewjoy]

You can always calibrate away the yellowness of the AHVA panels, as for backlight bleed in my opinion thats a small price to pay for IPS like performance. I have also not seen that yellow in any of the reviews of stuff that uses that AHVA screen but you can never tell until its on your desk.

I am looking at two VA panels right now ( in work), two BenQ VW2235, the colour on them was pretty shit when i got them, but thats the advantage of working in a digital arts sector , we have some nice monitor calibration hardware (Datacolor Spyder5ELITE) it cost more than both the monitors , but they look amazing now! i have order over 16 of this panel over the last year or so , for 1080p is super good value.

[seebart]

LG Launches 27UD88-W 27-Inch 4K LCD Monitor With USB Type-C port

Might be something for you to look at Andrew?

http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27UD88 ... ed-monitor

https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-2 ... B01CDYB0QS

[davkol]

derp

[andrewjoy]

I have done more looking at this problem ( no decent 16:10 displays), looks like for my setup i am going to have to settle for 16:9, the asus PG279Q is the best i can find that has all the bells and whistles.

[davkol]

derp

[Ace]

I love the form factor around 30" 16:10, perhaps with some 20" 3:4 on the sides (they're quite cheap these days). It provides enough horizontal space for multiple at least 1200px-wide windows, and I appreciate the 1600px height (more rows of text).

This is exactly what I was thinking about doing in the beginning of this thread, and it's pretty much what I've decided on. Since I currently use a Dell 3007WFP (30" 16:10), the upgrade should be cheap. It's also one of the most perfect PLP setups I've seen on the Internet. I think there's a tiny PPI difference between the 16:10 and 4:3, but I'm hoping it won't show.
Let me know if you have any advice on this.

any 32" 4k monitor (around $800), i.e., 3840×2160 @ ~140 ppi (= basically the same size as 16:10 30", only with pixel density of a high-end pre-retina laptop)

This is the second thing I'm considering. Note, I am a gamer before anything else. Although there may not be many options out there right now, these are very likely to start coming out with higher refresh rates + G Synce. So what's holding me back? Well, other than the money needed, it's the fact that it doesn't have any good PLP counter parts. As graphics cards get more powerful, I'd like to add smaller screens on the side. Unfortunately, I don't think any good PLPs exist for this. Let me know if I'm wrong.

[davkol]

derp

[tp4tissue]

4K + IPS + ULMB

As soon as they make that, it's the feature set to jump in on.

[tp4tissue]

I love the form factor around 30" 16:10, perhaps with some 20" 3:4 on the sides (they're quite cheap these days). It provides enough horizontal space for multiple at least 1200px-wide windows, and I appreciate the 1600px height (more rows of text).

This is exactly what I was thinking about doing in the beginning of this thread, and it's pretty much what I've decided on. Since I currently use a Dell 3007WFP (30" 16:10), the upgrade should be cheap. It's also one of the most perfect PLP setups I've seen on the Internet. I think there's a tiny PPI difference between the 16:10 and 4:3, but I'm hoping it won't show.
Let me know if you have any advice on this.

any 32" 4k monitor (around $800), i.e., 3840×2160 @ ~140 ppi (= basically the same size as 16:10 30", only with pixel density of a high-end pre-retina laptop)

This is the second thing I'm considering. Note, I am a gamer before anything else. Although there may not be many options out there right now, these are very likely to start coming out with higher refresh rates + G Synce. So what's holding me back? Well, other than the money needed, it's the fact that it doesn't have any good PLP counter parts. As graphics cards get more powerful, I'd like to add smaller screens on the side. Unfortunately, I don't think any good PLPs exist for this. Let me know if I'm wrong.

I'm using a 3007 as well.. but after seeing ULMB, I've come to realize how blurry all LCDs without ULMB are..

Motion blur sigh..............

[andrewjoy]

is ULMB that good ? Is it worth giving up adaptive refresh from something like g-gync ?

For me frame rate is very important , i even feel 60htz is a bit low

[shreebles]

I use the Iiyama GB2488HSU,the B1 revision (not the Red Eagle).
The reason is that ever since trying gaming at 120hz I never want to go back, and instead wanted to see what more was possible.
This is, as far as I have seen, the fastest refreshing, lowest latency LCD available today.
It does lack color accuracy and contrast, but for gaming I found no monitor could beat it.
BenQ doesn't even come close to the fantastic Overdrive speed this has. It's incredibly lifelike.
I tried

BenQ XL2420Z (OK)
BenQ XL2720z (nice size, but 1080p is unbearable on 27")
Iiyama GB2488HSU-B1 (holy shit that is fast overdrive!)
Iiyama GB2488HSU-B2 Red Eagle (this has great speed, better colors and contrast than the B1, and FreeSync, but its Overdrive is not as mind-blowingly fast)

In the end, I sold the 2720z for 250 and got the B1 for 235€. Good service from Iiyama also when I had a problem with the DVI input. I use DP anway, but knowing that the DVI input was defective I had it replaced, they did a 1:1 swap at my doorstep, very convenient.

[andrewjoy]

GB2488HSU is TN right ? I am sure its decent , but once you have gone IPS there is no going back.

[shreebles]

Depends of what you looking for, there are good TNs and bad, just as there are good IPS and bad ones.
For instance, if gaming is your priority you're going to get a TN anyway, because the good fast gaming panels are TN.
You can get gaming IPSs, but getting one of decent quality can be a lottery.
If you game, and have seen 120hz or more, there's also no going back.

I also like IPS displays and have always appreciated having them on work laptops, smartphones and tablets. But my home PC is also my gaming rig and it will keep the Iiyama until something better, yet still affordable comes along.
On that note, there are some excellent VA panels as well, which are great especially for their black level and contrast, in which they beat IPS. I used an Iiyama XB2483 HSU as main work monitor and it's great, especially for the price.

It may sound like advertising but that company is relatively unknown compared to Samsung or BenQ, and they have good customer service. After the XB I also got the HSU from Iiyama and while neither was top-of-the-world fantastic, both were excellent for the price, and underappreciated.

[tp4tissue]

ULMB is night and day difference.. Fast motion is almost completely clear..

The one disadvantage of ULMB is that on the fastest setting (there are levels you can set), the screen is much more dim, so you can't use it in a room that's brightly lit.. But you can use the 10% setting, while not as clear as the highest, it's still much more clear than non-ULMB..

But eventually, they'll make even brighter ULMB monitors, so this should alleviate soon enough..


At least 100hz is a requirement for ulmb, but the hz feature itself is not a direct comparison.


the refreshrate is just what the monitor is capable of.. ULMB, is cutting off the backlight when the pixel is in transition state.


So when one pixel changes color into another pixel, it's temporarily the WRONG color.. this is the cause of ghosting/ image blur.

ULMB turns off the back light while the transition is happening, so you don't see it, and only turns it back on when the pixel is either almost completely the right color, or just a little after it IS the right color..

There are different methods by different manufacturers..


But the result is you get a very clear MOTION perception this way through the use of the backlight blanking phase..

[tp4tissue]

INcidentally ,, this is also why OLED is total crap for gaming.. because it doesn't have the ability to be backlight blanked, as it produces it's own light, it can not ever achieve the motion clarity of ULMB.. it will always have some ghosting..

We're still 10 years away from an OLED monitor that can do the same motion clarity as current LCD technology..

OLED is not bright enough as yet to be blinked at high rate, it will not generate nearly a bright enough image.. OLED requires HOLDING the pixel for much longer to generate enough light.. this necessarily introduces significant blurring.