4K Screen - Calling Monitor Geeks

Smffy · 28 Sep 2018 at 07:48

Hi there,

I’m currently rocking the Dell S2716DG (I think!) which is a 1440p G-Sync 144hz panel. For a while I’ve been thinking about going 4K but not had the confidence trade in/up, however I’ve recently received a nice new pair of 2080Tis so I think now is the time.

I’m not exactly a monitor guru and I know there are a lot of you on here with good knowledge and opinions so help me decide... The catch is I really fancy the new high refresh 4K panels, but the price right now is of course mental - I fully expect there to be more coming in the 100hz range and therefore what I’m after is a bit of a stop gap for a year or so which isn’t costing silly money. I’m looking for:

1. 4K in either standard or wide
2. Decent colours for a little design work but not critical
3. Minimum 27”, probably up to 32/34” but it’s not overly far from where I sit
4. Will be wall mounted, pretty sure all are VESA compatible but worth noting
5. G-Sync if possible, or if recommended
6. Overclocking of panel to presumably 75hz nice to have if it exists without causing high error rates

So should I do the above or should I wait it out with the current screen, do we expect more higher refresh panels or prices to slide any time soon?

Thanks in advance for any help given!

Legend · 28 Sep 2018 at 12:11

There is really only ONE monitor if you want G-Sync at 32", and that's the Acer XB321HK. If you want to forego G-Sync then there are a few other nice options, but 60Hz will be your cap. Although there is the Wasabi Mango UHD430.

I'm not aware of any existing 4K monitor that exceeds 60Hz, short of the stupidly priced Asus PG27UQ/Acer X27 as you've mentioned. We will be waiting until next year for faster 4K panels unfortunately. The Acer XB273K looks like an interesting prospect, and will be cheaper, but still only 27".

IT Troll · 28 Sep 2018 at 19:51

I came very close to buying the Acer XB321HK but got put off by all the reports of glitches, flickering and blackouts. Have a Google and you will see what I mean. Some claim it is bad cables, bad panels or the G-Sync module. Other monitors which use the same panel (AU Optronics M320QAN01.0), but don't have G-Sync, exhibit the exact same problem. So it sounds like a panel lottery to me.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are any other 32" 4K G-Sync monitors. There are a few 27" ones but they are a bit too small to use without desktop scaling.

In the end I decided to drop G-Sync from my wish list and went for the LG 32UD99-W.

Smffy · 28 Sep 2018 at 19:55

Legend said:
There is really only ONE monitor if you want G-Sync at 32", and that's the Acer XB321HK. If you want to forego G-Sync then there are a few other nice options, but 60Hz will be your cap. Although there is the Wasabi Mango UHD430.

I'm not aware of any existing 4K monitor that exceeds 60Hz, short of the stupidly priced Asus PG27UQ/Acer X27 as you've mentioned. We will be waiting until next year for faster 4K panels unfortunately. The Acer XB273K looks like an interesting prospect, and will be cheaper, but still only 27".

Thanks mate, as feared but good to get the recommendation.

IT Troll said:
I came very close to buying the Acer XB321HK but got put off by all the reports of glitches, flickering and blackouts. Have a Google and you will see what I mean. Some claim it is bad cables, bad panels or the G-Sync module. Other monitors which use the same panel (AU Optronics M320QAN01.0), but don't have G-Sync, exhibit the exact same problem. So it sounds like a panel lottery to me.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are any other 32" 4K G-Sync monitors. There are a few 27" ones but they are a bit too small to use without desktop scaling.

In the end I decided to drop G-Sync from my wish list and went for the LG 32UD99-W.

I was actually looking at that LG so I might hold out and see if there are any deals on Black Friday (have a probable buyer in the Dell so not too bad).

IT Troll · 28 Sep 2018 at 20:33

Smffy said:
I was actually looking at that LG so I might hold out and see if there are any deals on Black Friday (have a probable buyer in the Dell so not too bad).

You can get some really good deals on new sealed ones at a certain auction site. The (overdue) 32UK950 is due sometime which might also result in some discount deals.

Smffy · 1 Oct 2018 at 11:40

IT Troll said:
You can get some really good deals on new sealed ones at a certain auction site. The (overdue) 32UK950 is due sometime which might also result in some discount deals.

Thanks, sorry for the slow reply - will have a look around and make a decision, at this point I guess waiting for Black Friday isn’t far away either...

Legend · 1 Oct 2018 at 13:20

IT Troll said:
I came very close to buying the Acer XB321HK but got put off by all the reports of glitches, flickering and blackouts. Have a Google and you will see what I mean. Some claim it is bad cables, bad panels or the G-Sync module. Other monitors which use the same panel (AU Optronics M320QAN01.0), but don't have G-Sync, exhibit the exact same problem. So it sounds like a panel lottery to me.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are any other 32" 4K G-Sync monitors. There are a few 27" ones but they are a bit too small to use without desktop scaling.

In the end I decided to drop G-Sync from my wish list and went for the LG 32UD99-W.

I have one myself and so far it's been great. No flickering and very solid panel. No stuck/dead pixels or any serious BLB or glow. A tiny bit of glow evident if I turn all the lights off and look at a black screen, but that's going to be the case on any IPS. I've seen far worse that's for sure.

I'm a big fan of 4K for productivity, but it's nice to have G-Sync as well for gaming. A shame there aren't faster 4K panels yet, but we should see more next year.

IT Troll · 1 Oct 2018 at 16:51

Glad to hear you got a good one. I really wanted to buy one as G-Sync was high on my wish list, but I just got scared off by the reports of issues with the AUO panel. However, with the way Nvidia are going I may well be buying AMD in future and so will be glad of having Freesync on my LG.

Safetytrousers · 1 Oct 2018 at 16:58

Legend said:
I have one myself and so far it's been great. No flickering and very solid panel. No stuck/dead pixels or any serious BLB or glow.

Me too. Mine's been rock solid.