1440p IPS or 120hz?

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Hey guys,

I need a new monitor, and was interested in going from 1080p to 1440 for games such as BF4 as I heard 1440p looks beautiful xD

I've not had an IPS or 120hz screen before. I understand IPS picture quality is better and I am a big fan of games looking good on screen, however I also understand 120hz screens are good too.

Anyone got first hand experience they can provide, and also any recommendations regarding a monitor would be appreciated. I would budget for around £400.

Cheers
 
Most people can't tell the difference between 60Hz and 120Hz screens. You also really can't tell the difference between <5ms (good TN) and 20ms (typical IPS) screens. Which is why in my opinion several IPS screens are good choices as gaming monitors. You have to choose a model with no overshoot, ghosting etc though.

For 27" 1440p you have to choose between:
-Iiyama XB2779QS (same as dell but glossy) currently 400GBP offer at OCUK
-Dell 2713HM (same LG's panel with Iiyama) 480GBP at ocuk
-Asus PB278Q (PLS) around 450 I think too
-some AOC and DMG models to be considered, also cheaper. (around 300+)

The thing is if you want TN 1440p you have to wait for world's first TN of that resolution in April, the Asus PG278Q. This is out of you budget however since it will be around 600GBP.

I personally own a Iiyama XB2779QS for around 10 days now but I am returning it on Monday due to backlight bleeding issues (pretty frequent with that model, Dell is said to have issues from time to time as well). The higher resolution is visibly better than my previous 24" asus pa246q (also IPS) and the image feels crispier.

I assure you that the proper IPS monitors are perfectly fine for gaming, you will never notice the difference unless you are an obsessed pro fps gamer. Some others terrible ofc, you just need to read reviews (since IPS is mostly aimed for photographers and only now its becoming mainstream for gamers).
 
There are many threads about this currently.

As it stands today there are no 1440p monitors with a high refresh rate. The first one will be the asus rog swift pg278q which will be out soon, however it is likely to be above your budget.

Some people say 1440p is nice, others say 120/144hz is better.....as said in other threads its a subjective thing as I think monitors are a personal thing.

Also higher frame rates only make sense if you have the hardware to power them, if your GPU is not up to much then its a waste of time.
 
There are many threads about this currently.

As it stands today there are no 1440p monitors with a high refresh rate. The first one will be the asus rog swift pg278q which will be out soon, however it is likely to be above your budget.

Some people say 1440p is nice, others say 120/144hz is better.....as said in other threads its a subjective thing as I think monitors are a personal thing.

Also higher frame rates only make sense if you have the hardware to power them, if your GPU is not up to much then its a waste of time.

Yes actually you should try to skim through the recent threads in this forum. Many related to this.

Cheers for the advice gents.

I am not against increasing my budget for a monitor and the PG278Q seems very nice. That's expected to be around £600?

I am planning an SLI of either a high end GTX, or x2 R9 290 TRI-X's
 
My monitor recently died so have been looking around to see what I want

Am I right in thinking that if I buy a 120hz monitor, if I turn on vsync, it will lock to 120 instead of the 60 it does now?

Hardware and game dependant of course : )
 
First time I played with a 120Hz screen (have 144Hz now) I thought it was like as if I was cheating. If you have a computer than can push the framerate then it's definitely a plus, I don't think I'll ever go back to 60Hz. Maybe Gsync will change that, wait and see, eagerly waiting to see what the Asus ROG 27" will be like.
 
120hz all the way. Its like night and day and once you get one you will never go back to 60hz

I did. As long as I'm sitting at 60fps at 1440p I'm happy. However I'm not a competitive fps gamer. I did try the Titanfall beta and felt my screen was perfectly fine for that.
 
I did. As long as I'm sitting at 60fps at 1440p I'm happy. However I'm not a competitive fps gamer. I did try the Titanfall beta and felt my screen was perfectly fine for that.

I have to agree that higher resolution for me wins out, but as I have said some people want 120/144hz......
 
So what benefits does a 120/144hz screen bring in an FPS environment?

I am looking at running x2 R9 290 tri-x's so should easily achieve the required FPS.

I've never seen or used a 120/144hz so cant make a comparison to my 60hz monitor.

Are the colours really much worse than an IPS monitor that can pump 60hz + ?
 
OP, right now in the market only 2 things make sense. You either go big with a quality IPS 1440p or you buy something that doesn't cost hundreds. The reason for which I would never buy a 120Hz screen is because they ask WAAAYY to much for it. Look an the new 1080p 120Hz BenQ its 370GBP!! Put another 30-60GBP and you get a top quality 1440 IPS. For me its a no-brainer.

A well designed 120Hz will reduce the impression of blurred image when you turn your screen quickly around (thus mainly in FPS games), even if you are not playing at 120FPS you may still notice things are smoother.

Personally I barely noticed the difference when I tried one, and only because someone was showing me the difference and explaining it to me.

So you just need to ask yourself: do you want 120Hz because of small blur-reduction benefit (and then put high motion blur in the game option lol!) or do you want 60hz IPS with HUGE improvements in the sharpness and colours which result in a totally new experience. The effect is like you were playing on a miserable laptop (TN 1080p) and you suddenly jump to a 50" home cinema system.

Even if you decide to go fo the PG278Q coming in April, 600GBP for a quality TN panel is laughably too much as well. And in case you wondered, even JJ (asus rep) said himself that the colours on this 8-bit TN (world first too I think) cant match the image impression you get from a good IPS. (Cba to find the link now)
 
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OP, right now in the market only 2 things make sense. You either go big with a quality IPS 1440p or you buy something that doesn't cost hundreds. The reason for which I would never buy a 120Hz screen is because they ask WAAAYY to much for it. Look an the new 1080p 120Hz BenQ its 370GBP!! Put another 30-60GBP and you get a top quality 1440 IPS. For me its a no-brainer.

A well designed 120Hz will reduce the impression of blurred image when you turn your screen quickly around (thus mainly in FPS games), even if you are not playing at 120FPS you may still notice things are smoother.

Personally I barely noticed the difference when I tried one, and only because someone was showing me the difference and explaining it to me.

So you just need to ask yourself: do you want 120Hz because of small blur-reduction benefit (and then put high motion blur in the game option lol!) or do you want 60hz IPS with HUGE improvements in the sharpness and colours which result in a totally new experience. The effect is like you were playing on a miserable laptop (TN 1080p) and you suddenly jump to a 50" home cinema system.

Even if you decide to go fo the PG278Q coming in April, 600GBP for a quality TN panel is laughably too much as well. And in case you wondered, even JJ (asus rep) said himself that the colours on this 8-bit TN (world first too I think) cant match the image impression you get from a good IPS. (Cba to find the link now)

Thats some really good advice there, thanks. I genuinely think I would prefer a good IPS monitor as I'm very pro 'good looking games'. Could save some money and drop a card too as I presume an SLI for an IPS monitor would be overkill?
 
If you have an Apple Store or a Curry's / PCWorld shop in your area you can always have a look at the Apple Thunderbolt 27" display. Either just the display or the AIO pc with display (iMac is it?) as long as its not the touch enabled one.

That apple display is the same LG AH-IPS panel as the Iiyama and Dell (xb2779qs, 2713hm) so you can get the exact idea of "colours".

I still haven't returned my problematic Iiyama but I just received the Dell one hour ago, they are equally good although I can see a slight difference of "colour burst" from the glossy screen (also due to Iiyama's extremely high possible brightness). Since I've had the chance to have both same LG panels in glossy and matte versions I can safely say I prefer the way the matte panels look but the glossy does stand out in its own way. The thing with the matte panel, I find, is that its sooo smooth looking to the eyes especially for reading text on the internet.
 
I will say this. You can game perfectly fine on an IPS and enjoy brilliant colours.

If you are really into online fps 120hz + WILL give you a significant advantage if you're an advanced player.

During motion tracking of a player your eyes don't have to extrapolate information quite as much, it seems as though you literally are 'heightened' in the game.

That's my experience
 
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Just ordered a AOC G2460PQU for £199 which seems like a bargain. Been looking for something better than my hp 23xi for ages and this is right on budget.
 
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