** ASUS DO IT AGAIN: IPS, 144Hz & FREESYNC!!! Asus MG279Q thread **

[Nexus18]

Why not? IPS panels generally have higher contrast ratio (TN is usually around 800:1-1000:1 at best where as IPS is 900:1-1300:1 at best), although I wouldn't say that TN or IPS are ideal for dark games/films anyway.

If blacks and contrast ratio are really important then imo there is only one choice and that is VA monitors, which have a 2000:1-4000:1 contrast ratio with very inky blacks.

Yes, IPS glow can be a pain if you get a bad monitor, however, TN also has a glow to it.

One thing, which reduces the appearance of IPS glow etc. is attaching a LED strip to the back of the monitor, it makes blacks etc. look a lot better.

I only go by PCM2 and badass's reviews when it comes to response time and input lag as they seem to be the only ones with the proper equipment to truly test those things out and give "accurate" results as to what we can expect in real world usage.

IIRC badass stated that the rog swift had some minor ghosting where as the acer IPS didn't have any so it came down to preference in the end.

 

[andybird123]

There is one issue in this logic. The overall marketsize (including freesync and gsync also preference for IPS and TN) remains the same. Having more than one alternative will increase competition hence it can result in decreases in price.

It can, if nvidia owners suddenly switch to buying AMD GPU's, but there is no indication that is happening, AMD seem to be the ones losing big chunks of sales at the moment.

At the moment there is only one TN gsync 1440 and one IPS gsync, so there is no competition.

I cant see freesync affecting gsync prices until the next full round of GPU's are released and more people possibly start buying AMD gpu's again.

 

[andybird123]

Why not? IPS panels generally have higher contrast ratio (TN is usually around 800:1-1000:1 at best where as IPS is 900:1-1300:1 at best), although I wouldn't say that TN or IPS are ideal for dark games/films anyway.

If blacks and contrast ratio are really important then imo there is only one choice and that is VA monitors, which have a 2000:1-4000:1 contrast ratio with very inky blacks.

Yes, IPS glow can be a pain if you get a bad monitor, however, TN also has a glow to it.

One thing, which reduces the appearance of IPS glow etc. is attaching a LED strip to the back of the monitor, it makes blacks etc. look a lot better.

I only go by PCM2 and badass's reviews when it comes to response time and input lag as they seem to be the only ones with the proper equipment to truly test those things out and give "accurate" results as to what we can expect in real world usage.

IIRC badass stated that the rog swift had some minor ghosting where as the acer IPS didn't have any so it came down to preference in the end.

Yes, i would be willing to give VA a go. And yes IPS glow, my IPS monitor doesnt even have particularly bad glow but side by side with my swift it is very noticeable and no amount of adjustment gets rid of it, where as my swift with the right adjustment, the washed out quality is gone entirely (small dab of negative gamma adjustment in Nvcp).

Ive done The Led strip thing too and didnt work out for me.

 

[Phixsator]

Yes, i would be willing to give VA a go. And yes IPS glow, my IPS monitor doesnt even have particularly bad glow but side by side with my swift it is very noticeable and no amount of adjustment gets rid of it, where as my swift with the right adjustment, the washed out quality is gone entirely (small dab of negative gamma adjustment in Nvcp).

Ive done The Led strip thing too and didnt work out for me.

Except with the swift you get shifting in the top and bottom parts of the screen just by nodding your head a tiny amount. Drove me crazy, which was the final nail in the coffin leading me to return it.

 

[Arcane]

I wouldn't own another VA panel, the whole true blacks thing may be great in theory but you get a horrible jpeg compression type thing going on with it and there's absolutely no real detail within the shadows, I don't miss the Eizo at all, I actually prefer the Swift's panel. would still get a 144hz IPS though if it has g-sync, just not the Acer one. TN colour shift and IPS glow doesn't bother me tbh.

 

[mz/x]

It can, if nvidia owners suddenly switch to buying AMD GPU's, but there is no indication that is happening, AMD seem to be the ones losing big chunks of sales at the moment.

At the moment there is only one TN gsync 1440 and one IPS gsync, so there is no competition.

I cant see freesync affecting gsync prices until the next full round of GPU's are released and more people possibly start buying AMD gpu's again.

I was not talking about a small number of alternatives (e.g., as you mentioned currently 1). I was referring to the scenario when consumers have a variety of options. At the moment, there is no real "competition".

 

[Doogles]

Why should the Swift price change?

Well this coming out is better in every way so why wouldn't it? The swift will be one of the worst 144hz 1440p monitors after Acer and Asus release the IPS equivalents.

I'm working with Asus to sort a review sample asap. expect at least a couple of weeks, but should hopefully get one before, or very close to the release date

Note to those asking about freeSync vs G-sync, it really comes down to what graphics card you have. FreeSync is for AMD users, G-sync for NVIDIA. the G-sync module costs a fair amount which is why the cost of compatible monitors is higher, and part of the selling point of freesync for AMD in fact

don't forget that G-sync screens also feature an ULMB (blur reduction) mode which is a very useful extra, and FreeSync screens don't support that unless the monitor manufacturer adds it on as extra. benQ did with their own Blur Reduction mode for the XL2730Z, but Asus haven't done anything like that as far as i know with the MG279Q

Okay thanks badass, will be looking forward to the review as always!

 

[Nexus18]

I wouldn't own another VA panel, the whole true blacks thing may be great in theory but you get a horrible jpeg compression type thing going on with it and there's absolutely no real detail within the shadows, I don't miss the Eizo at all, I actually prefer the Swift's panel. would still get a 144hz IPS though if it has g-sync, just not the Acer one. TN colour shift and IPS glow doesn't bother me tbh.

I think those issues are more down to that panel used in the eizo, VA has come along way and imo surpasses IPS now, the panels used in the philips 40" and samsung 34" are amazing.

With a good VA panel, which has been calibrated, you should see more detail in dark areas/shadows than any calibrated IPS and TN panels. Also, some of the blocky issues could just be down to poor graphics/art work in games.

I personally hate excessive IPS glow and TN contrast shift

OLED monitors can't come soon enough!

Yes, i would be willing to give VA a go. And yes IPS glow, my IPS monitor doesnt even have particularly bad glow but side by side with my swift it is very noticeable and no amount of adjustment gets rid of it, where as my swift with the right adjustment, the washed out quality is gone entirely (small dab of negative gamma adjustment in Nvcp).

Ive done The Led strip thing too and didnt work out for me.

Hmmm, I would say if it is very noticeable in comparison to the swift then your IPS monitor is pretty bad for IPS glow

The only way to really reduce IPS glow is to lower brightness, I prefer a luminance of about 80-100 so generally have the brightness set very low anyway.

LED strip has made a massive difference not just to the blacks but also made viewing the screen in a dark room much easier on the eyes, I can't use any monitor without one now!

 

[Cold_And_Miserable]

The only way to really reduce IPS glow is to lower brightness, I prefer a luminance of about 80-100 so generally have the brightness set very low anyway.

Aren't LG releasing panels with A-TW polarisers soon?

1. IMO IPS glow makes anything over 27" unusable so those polarisers are needed badly.
2. Samsung PLS panels generally have less glow and bleed than LG panels.

 

[Nexus18]

Aren't LG releasing panels with A-TW polarisers soon?

1. IMO IPS glow makes anything over 27" unusable so those polarisers are needed badly.
2. Samsung PLS panels generally have less glow and bleed than LG panels.

No idea.

Although these UW freesync screens have a black stabilizer adjustment setting, which looks pretty damn good:

@2.15

But if you own a monitor with a bit of IPS glow atm, reducing the brightness and adding a LED strip to the back are the only things you can do to reduce it

My 29um65, has noticeable IPS glow in the bottom and top left corners if I increase the luminance to 150+. My dell u2311h wasn't too bad, maybe a bit worse than my 29um65, when it came to dark content, the dell looked more washed out overall though.

 

[andybird123]

Except with the swift you get shifting in the top and bottom parts of the screen just by nodding your head a tiny amount. Drove me crazy, which was the final nail in the coffin leading me to return it.

really? to see any shift I have to set mine to a solid colour, purple being the worst iirc, and move by a good few inches... in normal use I don't get any noticeable shift

Hmmm, I would say if it is very noticeable in comparison to the swift then your IPS monitor is pretty bad for IPS glow

The only way to really reduce IPS glow is to lower brightness, I prefer a luminance of about 80-100 so generally have the brightness set very low anyway.

LED strip has made a massive difference not just to the blacks but also made viewing the screen in a dark room much easier on the eyes, I can't use any monitor without one now!

so you think the swift, a TN monitor, should have worse IPS glow than an IPS monitor?

When I bought my 2560x1440 monitor I actually bought 3 different models and kept the one with the least glow, I also then bought 3 of them and when I switched to the swift as my main gaming monitor I kept the one with the least glow... in my experience of 5 different IPS monitors of 3 different makes/models, my IPS has the least glow I've seen, and that is before adding in the various ones I've seen with horrendous glow

you can try and talk up IPS all you want, but it just isn't going to work on me, comparing the two I can get an image I like to game on out of the swift, but not out of my IPS

 

[Nexus18]

I haven't seen the swift in person, but have seen plenty of other TN panels and they all have a "glowy" effect to them too, not as bad as an IPS monitor with "lots" of IPS glow but worse than an IPS monitor with "little" IPS glow. With TN, it is more of a blue hue than the white/orange glow on IPS.

What IPS monitor did you compare to the swift?


"Talking up IPS"?

Not really, just pointing out obvious facts....

Spoiler

There is the one of the best TN panels against one of the best IPS panels and as you can see the IPS comes out better for black depth and contrast ratio.

Here is a photo comparison of them showing black screens, which obviously isn't 100% accurate and won't be the exact same for every other rog/lg screen out there:

Spoiler

As you can see, neither one is exactly better than the other and these UW monitors are regarded as being pretty poor when it comes to "IPS glow" so the smaller and newer/better 16.9 24-27" IPS monitors would most likely be a bit better than that UW LG monitor.

The only time TN blacks will look a lot better than IPS blacks is from an extreme angle, this is where IPS glow is very problematic.

If you are happy with your TN panel then that is great but don't try to make it out like IPS is awful in comparison to TN for blacks when it really isn't.

 

[Tute]

The $1m question for me:

Is it worth waiting to see which technology out of GSync and Freesync wins before taking the plunge into a screen that has support?

I wouldn't want to buy this only for GSync to win out and vice versa, plus I don't want to support this kind of ridiculous childplay between the two companies either.

 

[Nexus18]

I don't think either will win out, at least not for quite a while, if one did..... I would imagine it would be freesync purely because of how quick it is being adopted compared to gsync which is down to it being free and a universal standard for display port now, no need for extra hardware.

I personally think nvidia will try to get rid of whatever stock they have for the gsync modules and support "adaptive sync" (freesync is just AMD's "brand" name) or who knows, they might even support adaptive sync AND keep with their gsync module for certain monitors.

 

[Gibbo]

Well this coming out is better in every way so why wouldn't it? The swift will be one of the worst 144hz 1440p monitors after Acer and Asus release the IPS equivalents.



Okay thanks badass, will be looking forward to the review as always!

If Asus can charge £600 and it sells, they don't need to change the price, Asus could not give a monkies about other panels if sales remain strong.

Also the TN panel in the ROG is a rare panel produced in smaller numbers, bumps cost up, faster response and of course G-Sync.

The price wont move unless worldwide sales take a massive drop, right now Swift absolutely flies of the shelfs and FREESYNC only works on AMD who have less than 25% market share.

So that would suggest the £600 Swifts will continue selling very well.

 

[andybird123]

Nexus, I wouldn't have any problem if you were posting facts, but you are cherry picking to suit your argument, that swift image isn't how I have my swift set up, so its an invalid comparison.

The IPS image youve chosen is pretty similar to my ips though with bright spots in the corners, with my swift set up correctly I get none of that.

Your cherry picking the aspects of Ips that marginally beat the swift and then ignoring the bits you dont want to hear. Great for you, but you cant actually just force your opinion on other people as fact, it remains opinion. And as Gibbo says, sales figures speak for themselves.

 

[Watlinguk]

Well this coming out is better in every way so why wouldn't it? The swift will be one of the worst 144hz 1440p monitors after Acer and Asus release the IPS equivalents.

I'm sorry but this is a load of rubbish. IPS panels are not for everyone. The 4ms is rather nice for an IPS but hard-core and competitive gamers want the fastest panel possible.

So 144hz, 1ms G-Sync will continue to sell very well for a long time imho

 

[Awahwah]

If Asus can charge £600 and it sells, they don't need to change the price, Asus could not give a monkies about other panels if sales remain strong.

Also the TN panel in the ROG is a rare panel produced in smaller numbers, bumps cost up, faster response and of course G-Sync.

The price wont move unless worldwide sales take a massive drop, right now Swift absolutely flies of the shelfs and FREESYNC only works on AMD who have less than 25% market share.

So that would suggest the £600 Swifts will continue selling very well.

Just not from me Gibbo. The Swift, although a very good Monitor, is around 100 notes more than I feel it's worth. An IPS at that price, coolies sign me up but a TN....

 

[Nexus18]

Nexus, I wouldn't have any problem if you were posting facts, but you are cherry picking to suit your argument, that swift image isn't how I have my swift set up, so its an invalid comparison.

The IPS image youve chosen is pretty similar to my ips though with bright spots in the corners, with my swift set up correctly I get none of that.

Your cherry picking the aspects of Ips that marginally beat the swift and then ignoring the bits you dont want to hear. Great for you, but you cant actually just force your opinion on other people as fact, it remains opinion. And as Gibbo says, sales figures speak for themselves.

Hardly cherry picking when I could have picked another IPS screen, which has even lower black depth and higher contrast ratio and have a more black appearance...

You can go on tftcentral and look at all the reviews of IPS and TN and see for yourself, the results are always the same so unless you have some proof then please go ahead and post it, until then, all you have is "your word" against badass's "accurate results" using proper testing equipment, which is far more accurate than our eyes.

So if you don't like the results then take it up with him and question his ways of testing...

BTW I presume when you compare your TN and IPS screens, you have a calibrator to get the exact same luminance for both screens in order for it to be a fair test?


Also, I am not discussing about asus swift sales, yes it is a great monitor and has been for the past year for those wanting the best gaming screen but it has had no real competition until now so I expect that gibbo and other etailer sites will see quite a big drop in their rog swift sales over the next few months.

Also, where am I "cherry picking the aspects of Ips that marginally beat the swift and then ignoring the bits you dont want to hear"?

- The only thing I am comparing here are blacks and glow aspect, I haven't mentioned about IPS having superior viewing angles or better image quality/colours over TN until now
- I have already said that the TN panel on the likes of the asus are still better than these 144HZ IPS panels, however, chances are most people won't notice the difference in "real world" usage unless they are pro CS gamers

 

[andybird123]

Reviewers have a set "standard" they review against, which is fine but it doesn't replicate all usage scenarios. What is good for you isn't good for me, I have tested various IPS panels for MY usage and they don't fit as well as my latest TN (in the past the IPS I have won, but not this round so I've happily switched to TN and solved my glow issue).

It doesn't matter what the exact luminance value is, I have my Swift set to about 40 on brightness and it gives me a better non-glowy image than my IPS does when set to 0.

All monitor tech is currently an imperfect choice and you have to choose what sacrifices you are willing to make. I'm not asking you to take my word for anything, I'm explaining my experience and the choice I made because of comparing monitors side by side for MY usage. You are trying to tell me that my eyes are wrong and that photos taken in a completely different scenario make me a liar.

I didn't even mention black, I said dark games, that doesn't mean true black as per your images, so again its irrelevant to what I actually said.