New monitor wanted - bit out of the loop - 4k IPS/VA 27/32/40 vs 100Hz IPS ultrawide

crinkleshoes

crinkleshoes

crinkleshoes

Permabanned
Joined
9 Jun 2009
Posts
11,924
Location
London, McLaren or Radical
I'm a bit out of the loops on monitors at the moment and am hoping someone can point me in the right direction regarding pros/cons of the following monitors please.

I currently have a ROG Swift 2560x1440 144Hz G-Sync screen and for FPS gaming, I love it... the refresh rate is awesome... but for photo editing and general desktop use - it could be better.

I've had a craving for 4K for a while now, and with some decent discounts coming up, I think it's time to take the plunge... I'm interested in:

£415 - Philips BDM4065UC
£417 - Dell P2715Q
£628 - BenQ BL3201PT
£841 - Acer Predator X34

Although buying over here, returns for "I just don't want to keep it" are subject to a 10% restocking fee... so I'd like to make my mind up pretty well before dipping my toes in the water.

I have something of a strong dislike for LED flicker, also not too keen on the general temperature of the light compared to older cathode backlighting... but that's something I am going to have to get used to. I've read reports of people struggling with backlight flicker on the Philips and while that seems like a great monitor, it might annoy me on the flicker front + I'm thinking it might be a little too large.

100Hz IPS on the X34 sounds like something I could happily replace my Swift with and sell the swift on, all other three - I will have to keep the Swift for FPS gaming. But I think the price of it is insane (even the Swiss price, UK price is even worse)... it, and other ultrawides, seem to follow the moto that annoyed me back when things moved from 16:10 to 16:9 of selling you less monitor for more money. There won't be any 100Hz+ full 4k 16:9 monitors available for a while yet, so this seems like the best resolution/hz combination available at the moment.

I've heard good things about the BenQ, but don't know too much about it... IPS and a reasonable 4K dot-pitch at 32" seems like a good way to go.

The Dell was the first well-priced IPS 4k screen on the market and I think it's still good competition to the others on the market. 27" will fit well with my Swift... but I think the dot-pitch might be a little too small to make the most out of the full resolution and it'll be more like an Apple Retina screen where it's nice to look at, but not as useful as it could be for certain things.

What am I missing? :)
 
Seeing as you're going from the swift I'd say you are looking at better visual quality, which really means go for the BenQ as it is heads above the others. You don't need swift for FPS gaming, just get any decent £200 144hz monitor, it will do just as well. Of course, if when you say FPS gaming you're talking about single-player FPS then visual quality would probably matter more but usually for that 60hz is good enough.

If you're not doing photo editing professionally then it might be worthwhile to keep your swift and get a cheap 4K monitor for general use.

And if you're buying in the UK then you can also find retailers who won't charge re-stocking fees for returns.
 
I'm set on keeping the Swift, unless I can directly upgrade it and the only option there would be the X34... a cheapy 1080p 144Hz without G-Sync won't keep me happy after owning the Swift.

For other games, I fancy the extra detail/IQ - but for first person shooters... I find low latency and high refresh rates to trump higher resolutions and even contrast ratios (actually, I think that the lower contrast ratio can be helpful and things closer to the middle can be clearer).

Not pro editting... but I can tell the difference between good and bad displays and so a cheapy cheapy 4K monitor wouldn't suit me... although these already are cheap 4K monitors ;) The one I'd really like though is the Dell 5K screen... but they're selling for such an insane premium (especially when you factor in how much they cost within the iMac retina) it's just not an option at the moment.



I won't be buying this in the UK, the price differential is too large... even if I buy 3 monitors and return two of them with the restocking fee, it'll still be cheaper to buy over here (with the exception of the Dell which is only 10% cheaper than current price).
 
Have done a bit more reading.

Having taken a closer look, I see that the dot-pitch of the 40" is not that much smaller than 2560x1440 @ 27"... I'd like something smaller than that, really.

For a while now, I've preferred resolutions of about 1920x1080 on ~15.6" laptop screens... basic maths tells me, that the 31.5-32" offerings will be spot on for my favoured dot-pitch.

So, the BenQ looks favourable... but now I'm also considering stumping up the extra cash for a:

- Samsung U32D970Q
- Dell UP3216Q

There are also some offerings from Acer, Philips and Acer - but from some quick reading, the above two seem to stand out from what's available.

The Samsung is PLS and the Dell is IPS.

I can't remember the last time I used a PLS monitor... I'm not sure if I've even taken a solid look at one in the past. I know that I like IPS tech.

The Dell is a bit more expensive than the Samsung... more reading.
 
Are you happy with that monitor crinkleshoes?

I am in the market for a 4K 32" monitor. Eying up the BenQ BL3201PT at the moment, but the lack of wide-gamut is putting me off a little.
 
Yes, loving it - it's gorgeous... happy with my choice :(

Not happy that they just knocked another 70 quid (100chf) off the price I paid... lol

The improved colour spectrum is why I was looking for the Dell or Samsung instead of the BenQ... the difference in price was only about 100 quid too...
 
Thanks... I thought about it and fancied something a bit more specialised to photo editing and similar things just for a nice base picture and looooads of usable space.

The X34 was definitely a contender... I just didn't want to go back a step to 100Hz (still good) - but I know I would have felt the difference to 144Hz.

So it seems to make more sense to keep the Swift and have two monitors for two different things.

Only annoyance is having to switch between them as primary monitors when I want different things - so my icons go all over the place. Could install fences... I just don't want to.

I think Ultramon used to be able to force things to open on different monitors... maybe I should give that a try.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom