Really tempted to order AOC G2460PQU - Few Questions

[chivs688]

Ok so first off, I'm looking at the AOC G2460PQU, which will be mainly used for gaming, as well as general use. Now I'm not too bothered about graphics in games in terms of picture quality (shadows, lighting, resolution etc), although obviously the nicer the better. However, I'm super aware of and bothered by things such as stutter and screen tearing.

At the moment I'm using a 60Hz LG W2361V, and with every game I try to make sure that it's a solid 60fps constantly, to make it as smooth as possible.

My current GPU is an Asus 7970 Matrix Platinum, and I've got a 2500k overclocked to 4.5GHz.

So, bearing that in mind, my queries:

Obviously some intensive games that I play I cannot get a solid 144fps without making it look terrible. So in order to get the same, or better, smoothness as I get with a game locked to 60fps on my current 60Hz monitor, would I need the game to run at 144fps (or half that at 72fps) or would it still be an improvement in smoothness if the game is running at say 100fps on the 144Hz monitor?

I ask this as I'm pretty sure that when I play games now that go even slightly above 60fps they're not as smooth as if it were locked at 60, even though the fps is higher, which isn't just the result of screen tearing making it seem less smooth. So is that because the framerate is going above the monitors refresh rate, or because it's not right on the refresh rate?

I.e. Would my gaming experience be smoother regardless of fps by getting a 144Hz monitor, or only if the FPS is stable at 144fps (or multiple of that)?

And so with the resulting answers to that, is this monitor a good purchase for me?

Thanks.

 

[stulid]

Hi.

I have the same monitor and currently have a i5 4670K+R9 280X running it. An R9 280X is a renamed 7970Ghz edition.

My CPU is at 4.5Ghz.

I can play BF4 with pretty much everything set to maximum.

The 144Hz refresh of the screen gives a great smoothness to motion in games, to movie watching and even just moving the mouse pointer around. You dont need to be matching the frame rate to the screens refresh rate to see an improvement over a 60Hz screen.

To get the monitor to work at 144Hz you have to use the duallinkDVI connection.

 

[ShakeNBake]

if you are running a game at anything over 60fps on a 144Hz monitor, it will look smoother than anything you can see on a 60Hz monitor.

going over the maximum refresh rate of a monitor generally tends to **** the display up, so best to lock the framerate to maximum refresh rate of monitor with v-sync or w/e. stops your system from working overtime for no reason too.

so yeah tl;dr anything you run between 60-144fps should look much smoother than anything you see on a 60Hz screen and it shouldn't be stuttery at all.

 

[PCM2]

Just to throw a spanner into the works. Have you read about G-SYNC? If so you will understand that whenever the frame rate fails to match the refresh rate of the display there is a degree of stuttering (VSync on) or tearing (VSync off). Some users are much more sensitive to these issues than others - some people simply can't stand anything but frame rate locked dead on the refresh rate.

I personally much prefer the refresh-locked situation, I am highly sensitive to stuttering and can't stand tearing at all even on a 120/144Hz display. I do still enjoy the smoothness benefits of 120/144Hz monitors compared to 60Hz monitors when the display runs above 60fps, however. For poor sensitive mugs like me G-SYNC is a very exciting prospect, but for many users you should just enjoy the rises above 60fps on a 144Hz monitor and you should still notice a positive difference coming from a 60Hz monitor.

 

[chivs688]

Just to throw a spanner into the works. Have you read about G-SYNC? If so you will understand that whenever the frame rate fails to match the refresh rate of the display there is a degree of stuttering (VSync on) or tearing (VSync off). Some users are much more sensitive to these issues than others - some people simply can't stand anything but frame rate locked dead on the refresh rate.

I personally much prefer the refresh-locked situation, I am highly sensitive to stuttering and can't stand tearing at all even on a 120/144Hz display. I do still enjoy the smoothness benefits of 120/144Hz monitors compared to 60Hz monitors when the display runs above 60fps, however. For poor sensitive mugs like me G-SYNC is a very exciting prospect, but for many users you should just enjoy the rises above 60fps on a 144Hz monitor and you should still notice a positive difference coming from a 60Hz monitor.

Hi PCM2,

Yeah I've heard a lot about G-Sync, which does sound great, except I have an AMD 7970 which I just bought hah. And I know they've got their FreeSync alternative potentially coming at some point, will be keeping an eye on its development, although doesn't seem like it will be a thing for a good while yet.

I, like you, am super sensitive to stuttering and screen tearing. I end up spending the first half and hour of playing any game tweaking and changing settings, v-sync, capping FPS etc., just to get it as smooth as possible.

And this has been the biggest part of my search for a new monitor, and it's been hard to get a definitive answer on so far. At the moment, on my 60Hz monitor, pretty much only a solid 60fps is comfortable for me, and I'll reduce graphical settings and either cap it or use v-sync to make sure it doesn't go above or below 60.

So with this in mind, I guess my question would be: will I get a more smooth experience than 60fps locked on my 60Hz monitor on a 144Hz monitor when the fps isn't consistently 144fps?

Would having a variable framerate between say 90 and 120 on the 144Hz be less smooth and fluid than 60fps on 60Hz?

On this point, doesn't capping the framerate at a multiple of the refresh rate make it more smooth due to the outputted frames from the GPU "fitting" with the refresh rate? And if so, wouldn't capping fps at 72 at 144Hz be smoother than 60 at 60Hz? Or setting the monitor to 120Hz (which I believe you can do easily on the Benq XL2411Z which I'm looking at potentially getting) and capping the fps at 80 providing it won't ever dip below?

And would 60fps capped on the monitor set to 120Hz be smoother than 60fps on 60Hz? Or does that become identical between the two?

Or is it more convoluted than that, with some aspects making it smoother and other making it less?

Hopefully I made some sense there, I'm definitely no expert in how it all works but I'm (annoyingly) sensitive to smoothness and stutter, so have strong feelings on it all but can't really express it properly hah.

Thanks.

 

[PCM2]

That's a tough one. The overall benefits in fluidity (decreased motion blur, more connected feeling to the game) will generally make things feel 'smoother' even at 90-120fps with a 144Hz setting compared to 60fps @ 60Hz. To some extent it also depends how wildly the frame rate fluctuates (between 90 and 120 fps) as the relative drops can sometimes make things feel a bit dodgy.

Setting a 60fps cap at 120Hz will be quite similar to running 60fps on a 60Hz monitor. The only advantage really is a reduced 'input lag penalty' if you're using VSync. If your frame rate is quite predictable then setting a cap with multiples of the refresh rate in mind can be beneficial. You have to look at how high the frame rate will reach and how often it reaches it, because if you cap it at 72Hz (for example) there is a lot of wasted potential if your frame rate is actually able to climb beyond that at times. Many '60Hz' monitors, including IPS models, will happily run at 72Hz so it's a bit of a waste for these 144Hz models really. 100Hz and 120Hz are definitely worth playing around with, but you may be surprised at how decent you find 144Hz even at 90-120fps.