Calling all VA panel monitor owners... how are they really for gaming?

Richdog · 8 Jul 2020 at 18:54

Hi guys. I have been doing lots of googling and Youtubing to check out IPS vs VA strengths and weaknesses so now have a pretty good understanding of the technologies and the deep blacks of the VA's really appeal to me for gaming vs my IPS which just sucks for dark areas in Skyrim etc.

However, what I still cannot figure out is how bad is the smearing on VA panels... is it REALLY noticeable?

I do not play fast-paced twitch or multiplayer games, I play mostly:

RTS games (Total War Warhammer as example)
RPG games (Skyrim/Witcher 3 as examples)
FPS single-player games (FO4, Bioshock, and the soon to arrive Cyberpunk 2077 would be the kind of games)

My questions are:

With those kinds of use cases in mind, 99% no twitchy stuff, should I be fine if I buy a VA panel with 144hz and Freesync or will I likely still notice ghosting/smearing?
Is 27" or 32" for optimal size without moving your head too much?

My gut is telling me it will be fine, but I would please like some feedback from those who own them to reassure me.

Rroff · 8 Jul 2020 at 19:14

I think it is going to be somewhat subjective as to what any individual finds acceptable. I've found so far with VA even the good ones I eventually notice the smearing and once I see it I can't "unsee" it but it wouldn't ruin my experience for playing stuff like Skyrim on some of the better panels. On the other hand multiplayer BF4 for instance I'm not sure I could live with it long term.

Personally I don't tend to find IPS acceptable either for twitch gaming though and still use a high refresh TN for that kind of use with an IPS monitor along side it on the desk for other use.

iBSOD · 8 Jul 2020 at 19:30

I have this https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoc-...een-led-backlit-gaming-monitor-mo-05a-ao.html

I play mostly FPS (warzone, counter strike) RPG and racing. Blacks are way better and far more uniform than my previous TN monitor. It has more blur/smearing than I'd like, but its never distracting when gaming. I mostly notice it when moving windows around

Richdog · 9 Jul 2020 at 04:11

Thanks guys. In the end I took a chance and ordered an AOC CQ27G2U/BK for a great price (£260 in my country). I will have it next to an IPS on my desk so will get a good chance to compare them and can game on one and do photo editing on another. Best of both worlds, I hope.

IPS black levels suck so bad (at least on my Dell) that it completely ruins my immersion in Skyrim and similar games. Lets see if the VA panel can change that while not being too annoying with the ghosting and smearing. I am optimistic though due to seeing how many good reviews there are for the AOC CQ27G2U/BK. Plus, I did game with PS4 on my Samsung TV and found it fine.

iBSOD · 9 Jul 2020 at 20:24

Richdog said:
Thanks guys. In the end I took a chance and ordered an AOC CQ27G2U/BK for a great price (£260 in my country). I will have it next to an IPS on my desk so will get a good chance to compare them and can game on one and do photo editing on another. Best of both worlds, I hope.

IPS black levels suck so bad (at least on my Dell) that it completely ruins my immersion in Skyrim and similar games. Lets see if the VA panel can change that while not being too annoying with the ghosting and smearing. I am optimistic though due to seeing how many good reviews there are for the AOC CQ27G2U/BK. Plus, I did game with PS4 on my Samsung TV and found it fine.

Thats a great deal. Let us know of your thoughts vs IPS when it arrives

Phixsator · 9 Jul 2020 at 23:43

I cannot speak for the new Samsung G7 and G9 but after owning several VA's from Dell's S3220DGF, a premium Viewsonic one, Asus MX34VQ, the newer Lenovo X34 and some cheapo ones from Samsung I would say they are all garbage. Response times for the darker shades are just dreadful and look extremely bad and in your (my) face and some even have issues with colors like red and purple as well. Hopefully, Samsung has managed to improve the panels enough in the new G7s and G9, it looks like they have. Time will tell when proper reviews are out.

Rroff · 9 Jul 2020 at 23:49

Phixsator said:
I cannot speak for the new Samsung G7 and G9 but after owning several VA's from Dell's S3220DGF, a premium Viewsonic one, Asus MX34VQ, the newer Lenovo X34 and some cheapo ones from Samsung I would say they are all garbage. Response times for the darker shades are just dreadful and look extremely bad and in your (my) face and some even have issues with colors like red and purple as well. Hopefully, Samsung has managed to improve the panels enough in the new G7s and G9, it looks like they have. Time will tell when proper reviews are out.

I tried a couple of the newer gaming VAs (I think using Panasonic or Philips panels but I'm not 100% on that) and the smearing was more of a dithering/stipple like effect that you (or at least I) didn't notice at first but once I did notice it I couldn't not notice it

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 06:11

Phixsator said:
I cannot speak for the new Samsung G7 and G9 but after owning several VA's from Dell's S3220DGF, a premium Viewsonic one, Asus MX34VQ, the newer Lenovo X34 and some cheapo ones from Samsung I would say they are all garbage. Response times for the darker shades are just dreadful and look extremely bad and in your (my) face and some even have issues with colors like red and purple as well. Hopefully, Samsung has managed to improve the panels enough in the new G7s and G9, it looks like they have. Time will tell when proper reviews are out.

Well they do have many happy users, get good critical reviews and sell a ton of units, so they can't be all that bad. It's like a very personal thing according to what sensitivities you have. I'm hoping I don't hate it.

Phixsator · 10 Jul 2020 at 06:33

Richdog said:
Well they do have many happy users, get good critical reviews and sell a ton of units, so they can't be all that bad. It's like a very personal thing according to what sensitivities you have. I'm hoping I don't hate it.

How a monitor with over 25ms of pixel transition times in some shades can be called a "true" 144hz experience is beyond me. It's over 17ms to slow for that. But it's true some people are not bothered by it and I guess that makes it easier for them to get a monitor cause the market of flooded in VA's in all sizes and resolutions. Personally I just find it a bit dishonest to the customer to claim a Hz that the screen technically isn't fast enough for. Guess I'm a "sensitive" type a guy then for wanting the product I buy to be within spec of what is promised

. In any case, I hope for the best for those who do venture out and get a VA cause there are certainly some bonuses to the panel tech that IPS and TN don't offer.

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 09:32

Phixsator said:
How a monitor with over 25ms of pixel transition times in some shades can be called a "true" 144hz experience is beyond me. It's over 17ms to slow for that. But it's true some people are not bothered by it and I guess that makes it easier for them to get a monitor cause the market of flooded in VA's in all sizes and resolutions. Personally I just find it a bit dishonest to the customer to claim a Hz that the screen technically isn't fast enough for. Guess I'm a "sensitive" type a guy then for wanting the product I buy to be within spec of what is promised . In any case, I hope for the best for those who do venture out and get a VA cause there are certainly some bonuses to the panel tech that IPS and TN don't offer.

Well I wouldn't say it's dishonest per se, but it does not compensate for the inherent weaknesses of VA like it does with other screen technologies. In the end VA has good colour accuracy and deep blacks and for me some level of ghosting/smearing may be preferable to what I currently have with my IPS. In any dark game (eg: Skyrim) the IPS glow is simply unbearable and I pretty much cannot see anything unless I pup the brightness/game up which makes it look pants. I am hoping the VA will address this while still providing acceptable performance. Let's see and I will give my feedback here whether good or bad.

Minstadave · 10 Jul 2020 at 09:41

Phixsator said:
I cannot speak for the new Samsung G7 and G9 but after owning several VA's from Dell's S3220DGF, a premium Viewsonic one, Asus MX34VQ, the newer Lenovo X34 and some cheapo ones from Samsung I would say they are all garbage. Response times for the darker shades are just dreadful and look extremely bad and in your (my) face and some even have issues with colors like red and purple as well. Hopefully, Samsung has managed to improve the panels enough in the new G7s and G9, it looks like they have. Time will tell when proper reviews are out.

I feel similarly although not quite as strongly.

I currently use a relatively decent VA Samsung C34J791 alongside a Dell U2515H which is IPS. The Samsung is 100hz, pretty smeary, deep blacks but still some black crush, and something about VA just makes text look poor - I believe its the subpixel layout.

Its 100% sRGB but doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the U2515H, particularly the whites dont look great.

On a plus the lack of IPS glow is nice and VA seems less prone to backlight bleed I think overall, but on balance I prefer IPS currently.

I haven't seen the new Samsungs, maybe they address some of these issues.

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 10:32

Minstadave said:
I feel similarly although not quite as strongly.

I currently use a relatively decent VA Samsung C34J791 alongside a Dell U2515H which is IPS. The Samsung is 100hz, pretty smeary, deep blacks but still some black crush, and something about VA just makes text look poor - I believe its the subpixel layout.

Its 100% sRGB but doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the U2515H, particularly the whites dont look great.

On a plus the lack of IPS glow is nice and VA seems less prone to backlight bleed I think overall, but on balance I prefer IPS currently.

I haven't seen the new Samsungs, maybe they address some of these issues.

Heh I also have the U2515H, the colours are awesome but the glow is awful. It's such a shame that there is no ideal all-round panel technology... I guess MicroLED could be the saviour when it eventually arrives as it seems to tick all boxes in terms of technology. Cost will be crazy at the start though.

koeiwong · 10 Jul 2020 at 11:42

Minstadave said:
I feel similarly although not quite as strongly.

I currently use a relatively decent VA Samsung C34J791 alongside a Dell U2515H which is IPS. The Samsung is 100hz, pretty smeary, deep blacks but still some black crush, and something about VA just makes text look poor - I believe its the subpixel layout.

Its 100% sRGB but doesn't look anywhere near as nice as the U2515H, particularly the whites dont look great.

On a plus the lack of IPS glow is nice and VA seems less prone to backlight bleed I think overall, but on balance I prefer IPS currently.

I haven't seen the new Samsungs, maybe they address some of these issues.

I never own a VA monitor, but my family got the aoc cq32g1 last week. Text look poor away from middle but okay for web browsing or video.

I played dead space to test the monitor, colour do look more vivid than my current 27gl850 but definitely can see black crush or smearing, i have watched youtube about VA issues before but only understand it now when seeing one in front of me.

For my family they are fine with it because the monitor bigger and have better colour than the tn they had before (my old s2417dg

). But for me I still prefer ips for now.

This is my personal preference but I really don't like curved screen at all.

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 12:55

Check this review... the guys raves about it and says he didn't notice excessive ghosting... https://techteamgb.co.uk/2020/03/20/the-best-cheap-1440p-144hz-gaming-monitor-aoc-cq27g2u-review/

Just got a notice that my order has been delayed so I am not sure whether to keep it or cancel now.

Minstadave · 10 Jul 2020 at 12:58

Richdog said:
Check this review... the guys raves about it anbd says he didn't notice excessive ghosting... https://techteamgb.co.uk/2020/03/20/the-best-cheap-1440p-144hz-gaming-monitor-aoc-cq27g2u-review/

Just got a notice that my order has been delayed so I am not sure whether to keep it or cancel now.

He says "ghosting is present but not much" which doesn't fill me with huge confidence.

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 14:18

Minstadave said:
He says "ghosting is present but not much" which doesn't fill me with huge confidence.

Another interesting review on Reddit from someone who went form an IPS LG 27GL850 to a VA AOC CQ27G2 and loves it for gaming... https://www.reddit.com/r/Monitors/comments/hmzj8u/bought_an_aoc_cq27g2_to_replace_my_lg_27gl850/

sadbuttrue · 10 Jul 2020 at 15:44

If you have an IPS right now and aren't appalled at how bad motion clarity is compared to the good old days of CRT, you may be fine with VA.

Phixsator · 10 Jul 2020 at 19:40

@Minstadave @Richdog
That AOC screen has been reviewed by PCM2 on pcmonitors.info and from what I've seen in his youtube review I'm not impressed. For response time talk skip to around the 32:00 mark on this youtube video. To be fair, I am very demanding when it comes to response times. Not so much that it has to be something silly like 0.5 ms but more than its fairly low and consistent across dark - medium and light shades. Even my 240hz TN shows some response time weakness when scrolling text and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Also in that video from Pcmonitors.info take a look at 33:43. Look at the gun just behind the front hand. You can see clear smearing when he sidesteps. Yuck

.. okay okay I'll stop now and be nice to the poor VA panels.

Richdog · 10 Jul 2020 at 22:21

sadbuttrue said:
If you have an IPS right now and aren't appalled at how bad motion clarity is compared to the good old days of CRT, you may be fine with VA.

CRT may have been good with motion, but they were also absolute hell on the eyes and even as a kid they gave me hellish headaches and eye strain after long gaming sessions. LCDs are far preferable to me.

Phixsator said:
@Minstadave @Richdog
That AOC screen has been reviewed by PCM2 on pcmonitors.info and from what I've seen in his youtube review I'm not impressed. For response time talk skip to around the 32:00 mark on this youtube video. To be fair, I am very demanding when it comes to response times. Not so much that it has to be something silly like 0.5 ms but more than its fairly low and consistent across dark - medium and light shades. Even my 240hz TN shows some response time weakness when scrolling text and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Also in that video from Pcmonitors.info take a look at 33:43. Look at the gun just behind the front hand. You can see clear smearing when he sidesteps. Yuck .. okay okay I'll stop now and be nice to the poor VA panels.

35:00 was where it got noticeable for me.

sadbuttrue · 11 Jul 2020 at 13:04

Richdog said:
CRT may have been good with motion, but they were also absolute hell on the eyes and even as a kid they gave me hellish headaches and eye strain after long gaming sessions. LCDs are far preferable to me.

True, although I get eyestrain trying to follow motion on my reasonably fast IPS panel (Acer XB270HU).

Amusingly, I have a first generation 120hz TN Samsung 2233rz which provides better motion clarity - it's 11 years old!