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sherlock
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Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:25 pm

Hi, I am building my first Gaming Desktop and is having trouble deciding on a 24" IPS monitor as the output for my GTX670FTW(ASUS Top sold out at newegg and from what I understand it don't significantly outperform FTW anyway).

I currently looking at

Dell UltraSharp U2412M Black 24" 8ms LED Backlight Widescreen LCD IPS Panel Monitor $319.99

HP ZR2440w Black and Brushed Aluminum 24" 6ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED-Backlit IPS LCD Monitor $389.99

ASUS PA248Q Black 24" 6ms (GTG) HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor $339.99

Seems like these are the only choice I have for 24" <$400 without horrible latency(the Acer 299.99 offer have a 14ms latency), help me pick one and state your reason, Price is not a factor unless you are recommedning a $400-500 model and it better justify that large premium.
New egg for $300-400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... =BESTMATCH

New egg for $400-500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... =BESTMATCH

If you think I have enough from one GTX670FTW to sustain a 120HZ on BF3 Multiplayer gameplay, please let me know. I have been told this can't be done without some heavy CPU/GPU OC and as a beginner I am not confortable with that yet. In a few month I might upgrade to GTX690 and 120HZ but not now.
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:48 am

For serious gaming, I would still suggest a 120Hz monitor, because of the way it handles vsync, even if your PC can't produce frames fast enough to run at 120fps
If you don't play with vsnyc on, and you like tearing graphics all over the place, ignore this post - but then if you like horrible tearing graphics, why are your worried about high details in the first place?

On a 60Hz screen, if your PC cannot handle 60fps, it'll drop to 30fps which feels like a night-and-day difference; It's either silky-smooth or juddering along at 30. If it can't handle 30 it'll drop to 20, which is horrible.
On a 120Hz screen, if your PC cannot handle 60fps, it'll drop to 40fps, which is almost smooth enough to not distract you. You'll notice that it's not as smooth, but it won't bother you anywhere near as much.
If it's really struggling, it'll then drop to 30, but it'll again use 24fps before it drops to 20. Now, 24fps isn't exactly smooth, but it's good enough for cinema.

Not only are the 120Hz screens much better for gaming at 60fps because of the larger range of vsync framerates, their pixel response is faster, so the individual frames during motion are sharper.
I now game on an IPS screen and it's good enough for my non-competetive gaming, but I wouldn't want to play in any tournaments without a TN screen using overdrive.
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ordskiweicz
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:57 am

Hi. I bought a Dell 2412 3 weeks ago to replace a TN Benq which was good for gaming but not good to look at otherwise. The Dell has proved out to be great for just about anything. No serious lag with Crysis 2, good frame rates. I recommend it highly. (Not much noticeable difference from my Dell 2409 which also works fine for gaming but the 2412 is much cheaper)

Came quickly from the Egg, no dead pixels, solid stand, easy setup. Though it does take some calibration - there are many sites that will give you good starting specs if you don't have calibration tools.

My graphics card is a Radeon 5850 which has no trouble with anything I've thrown at it. I have thought about another graphics card but all comments suggest I'd gain little from an upgrade. So I got a monitor!
 
sherlock
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:56 am

Chrispy_ wrote:
For serious gaming, I would still suggest a 120Hz monitor, because of the way it handles vsync, even if your PC can't produce frames fast enough to run at 120fps
If you don't play with vsnyc on, and you like tearing graphics all over the place, ignore this post - but then if you like horrible tearing graphics, why are your worried about high details in the first place?

On a 60Hz screen, if your PC cannot handle 60fps, it'll drop to 30fps which feels like a night-and-day difference; It's either silky-smooth or juddering along at 30. If it can't handle 30 it'll drop to 20, which is horrible.
On a 120Hz screen, if your PC cannot handle 60fps, it'll drop to 40fps, which is almost smooth enough to not distract you. You'll notice that it's not as smooth, but it won't bother you anywhere near as much.
If it's really struggling, it'll then drop to 30, but it'll again use 24fps before it drops to 20. Now, 24fps isn't exactly smooth, but it's good enough for cinema.

Not only are the 120Hz screens much better for gaming at 60fps because of the larger range of vsync framerates, their pixel response is faster, so the individual frames during motion are sharper.
I now game on an IPS screen and it's good enough for my non-competetive gaming, but I wouldn't want to play in any tournaments without a TN screen using overdrive.


Yeah I am feeling that way right now. I am searching for a good & reliable 120Hz 2ms for my GTX670FTW and I find the ASUS VG236H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 22%20120hz tagged at 329.99 after rebate on newegg a good value plus I heard a lot of good things about ASUS 120hz. Is that the best option for me or should I pay the Premium for BenQ or Samsung?

p.s regarding my Graphic card, my 120hz thread was derailed by one guy persistently trying to sell me on the MSI GTX670PE over my GTX670FTW, is the PE better than FTW, significantly?
 
Chrispy_
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:44 pm

You have multiple threads, I'm starting to get confused over which one is which.

As long as you understand the differences between tech, you will probably be able to decide one way or the other for yourself. Monitor reviews are MASSIVELY subjective and it's rare that everyone is ever in agreement. Go to a store and take a look at some for yourself.

IPS:
Fast enough for most games, commonly targetted at professionals and therefore frequently includes scalers that add input lag to the equation. Richest colours, true 8-bit (IPS and S-SIPS) panels also give smoother gradients, though many games do not utilise this well - gradient banding is still present because of texture compression or alpha-blending shortcuts. Viewing angles are good for spectators as well as yourself but IPS exhibits an off-angle glow outside a tight sweet spot, meaning that dark scenes aren't as detailed as you'd expect given how much praise gets heaped on IPS for colour accuracy.

TN:
Much greater range from bad to good, and there are many bad models out there. Most TN screens with scalers will usually have a game mode or low-lag mode since this is an obvious market. 120Hz is possible. Most 120Hz TN screens are fast enough to make texture detail stay sharp, whereas the fastest IPS screens still smear details slightly when scrolling. The early Benq's are the exception to this rule, check out TFTcentral.co.uk for more in-depth info. Colours can still be rich but accuracy is out, and can sometimes look artificially vivid. You are guarateed gradient banding because all TN screens are now only 6-bit (like e-IPS). Contrast ratios are usually much higher because the black levels are much lower. This means moodier and richer dark scenes but the effect of this can be ruined by noisy dithering on some models. Off angle viewing is awful, especially from below the ideal viewing position. The solution is to sit in front of your screen (I guess you were planning on doing that already, but it's worth mentioning).

is the PE better than FTW, significantly?

Significantly, no.
Subjectively, yes/no/maybe - it depends who you ask.
Should you care? No. If you spend too long thinking about it something better will get released anyway.
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TheEmrys
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:34 pm

Get a good IPS panel from HP or Dell. Or pick up one of the mondo Korean ones that was talked about here.

As for the other thread, I'll make a post there. But the long and short of it is that there is very minute differences between brands of the same gpu. Anyone who swears by the vast superiority of one brand over another is.. well, a brand loyalist. Disregard them.

As for the serious gamer bit... serious gamers tend to cap their maximum fps at 60 or 120 fps, even at a 60 hz framerate. Your 670 is not going to have an issue hitting 60 fps on most every game you play. And if being a "serious gamer" is that important, you won't have any AA or AF turned on.
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cegras
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Re: Help me pick a 24" monitor, can my setup handle 120HZ?

Sat Aug 11, 2012 9:17 am

Actually, there are objective monitor reviews.

Prad.de, anandtech, and tftcentral.co.uk.

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