Monitor for both gaming and office job?

Bloodrayne · 10 Apr 2016 at 19:53

Hi all,

Is there a monitor that can offer a reasonable balance between being a step-up from the bog standard monitors in terms of gaming (I've heard good things about 144hz - for example), whilst a the same time offering a strong performance on the more mundane office side of things (email, word, excel, bit of photoshop, etc... colour depth important but not to a graphic designer level)

I work from home on occasion and it would be great to have a single monitor that could be plugged into my home PC all the time, and then with a spare input/lead for my laptop whenever I'm working at home.

Budget - would say sub-£400?

Thanks!

xchaotic · 11 Apr 2016 at 14:09

In that price range, the best you can get is a 27" 144HZ TN panel, for example this one:
Acer Predator - you'd connect your gaming PC via displayport and you work laptop via HDMI (+adapter if needed)
Is your PC GPU card from AMD or NVIDIA (gsync vs freesync)? Is it powerful enough to drive 1440p at 144fps?
If you stretched your budget a bit further you could get an IPS screen which offers a much nicer colour reproduction.

Bloodrayne · 11 Apr 2016 at 14:30

Thanks for this - yes I have a GTX 980 TI,so should be okay?

I could go smaller than 27" (unless this is what's needed/standard) - how much further is a bit further? Another £100?

melmac · 11 Apr 2016 at 17:19

Bloodrayne said:
Thanks for this - yes I have a GTX 980 TI,so should be okay?

I could go smaller than 27" (unless this is what's needed/standard) - how much further is a bit further? Another £100?

You are talking a lot further to get a 144Hz IPS, Gysnc monitor, over £150 more.

If your budget is around the £400 then consider this monitor :-

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/dell...reen-led-monitor-midnight-grey-mo-084-de.html

You have a 980Ti, it's a great card. Getting a 1080p monitor is a waste of time. With a 1440p monitor you have the extra desktop space which is great for work and games.

xchaotic · 11 Apr 2016 at 19:11

melmac said:
You are talking a lot further to get a 144Hz IPS, Gysnc monitor, over £150 more.

If your budget is around the £400 then consider this monitor :-

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/dell...reen-led-monitor-midnight-grey-mo-084-de.html

You have a 980Ti, it's a great card. Getting a 1080p monitor is a waste of time. With a 1440p monitor you have the extra desktop space which is great for work and games.

You have a capable nVidia card, so Gsync monitor.
I agree that the Dell will be a better choice than Acer, mostly due to better build quality.

Bloodrayne · 12 Apr 2016 at 14:31

Thanks - so at a mimimum £550? Don't think I could stretch to that!

If it helps for comparison purposes, I currently have a ACER S230HL - which I only have as my last monitor died and I needed to get a cheap replacement from a local PC retailer and this was the best option (not that I had a whole lot of choice!) - so imagine that most things will be a step up from this?

The Dell looks good though, thanks for the recommendation

foster grant · 12 Apr 2016 at 14:51

You may have to remove the competitors name

Bloodrayne · 16 Apr 2016 at 10:24

I was wondering about this as I Was about to buy the Dell - is TN definitely the preference regardless of which type of games I play? I rarely play online, and rarely FPS games, so is the refresh rate important - or would an IPS monitor with better colour reproduction be better if I spend most of my days playing games like Witcher 3 (with the occasional dabble on Fifa as probably the most reaction-heavy game)

Sorry if it's a stupid question, just got around to reading some reviews on another site and wanted to make sure I was making the right choice!

anthony566 · 16 Apr 2016 at 10:42

Bloodrayne said:
I was wondering about this as I Was about to buy the Dell - is TN definitely the preference regardless of which type of games I play? I rarely play online, and rarely FPS games, so is the refresh rate important - or would an IPS monitor with better colour reproduction be better if I spend most of my days playing games like Witcher 3 (with the occasional dabble on Fifa as probably the most reaction-heavy game)

Sorry if it's a stupid question, just got around to reading some reviews on another site and wanted to make sure I was making the right choice!

Hi I read a lot of reviews when I was looking to replace my monitors and like you I don't play a lot of FPS games ( but I do play a few ) and this was the page and conclusion that help me the most.

Taken from

https://pcmonitors.info/articles/lcd-panel-types-explored/

There are three main categories of panel used on modern LCD monitors; TN, VA and IPS-type. TN is currently the most prevalent, offering decent image performance and high responsiveness at a decent price. VA sacrifices responsiveness, generally being the slowest current panel type but offer excellent contrast and improvements in colour performance over TN technologies. IPS and PLS are the kings of colour offering the most consistent and accurate performance in this area whilst sporting excellent viewing angles, respectable responsiveness and reasonable contrast. Really it is up to the individual user to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of the monitors they are comparing; understanding the general performance characteristics of different panels is a great starting point.

I have not seen any speed issues on this monitor at all for what I use it for and everything about it is better than my previous Asus 24" screens ..

melmac · 16 Apr 2016 at 13:29

Bloodrayne said:
I was wondering about this as I Was about to buy the Dell - is TN definitely the preference regardless of which type of games I play? I rarely play online, and rarely FPS games, so is the refresh rate important - or would an IPS monitor with better colour reproduction be better if I spend most of my days playing games like Witcher 3 (with the occasional dabble on Fifa as probably the most reaction-heavy game)

Sorry if it's a stupid question, just got around to reading some reviews on another site and wanted to make sure I was making the right choice!

It's not just about reaction time. A Gsync monitor removes tearing, games appear smoother. It allows you to use higher graphical settings than you would normally find playable. Which means the game looks better.

The main difference between TN and IPS is viewing angles, if you sit mainly in front of your monitor then the colour shift shouldn't bother you. It might not be a problem for you anyway.

I just think it would be a huge waste to spend so much money and not get a gsync monitor.

Bloodrayne · 19 Apr 2016 at 19:35

Thanks for that additional info - I do sit directly in front on my screen, so it should hopefully not be an issue.

Thanks again