Recommend a 27" Monitor

[PowerPie5000]

I'm seriously considering an upgrade to a 27" monitor after playing BF3 on a friends 27" IPS screen @ 1440p (some strange brand imported from Korea). At the moment i'm using a 23" LG IPS235V screen which is pretty good, but not brilliant (it uses the same IPS panel as the Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM).

I have a few questions first:

1. Does anyone know of any 3D or 120hz IPS screens?

2. Are TN based 3D/120hz screens any good or will i notice a drop in picture quality over my current IPS screen?

3. Is there a noticeable difference when gaming at 120hz instead of 60hz?

4. Will my 3GB HIS 7950 IceQ Boost be enough for gaming at 1440p with
decent (high) detail settings? It seems to cope perfectly fine at 1080p with everything maxed in all games i've played so far.

I was considering getting one of those cheap 27" Korean IPS screens that many people keep raving about, but i think import charges and the fact it might break easily in the post puts me off a bit (not sure what warranty they have either). Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced 27" 1440p IPS screen? I would settle for a 120hz TN screen if it's good enough (and the price is right ).

 

[Surveyor]

Is your priority 2560x1440 or 120Hz/3D?

I may be mistaken but as far as I know there isn't a monitor you can buy in the UK which does both so you'll have to decide which you want.

As far as I know even the imported 2560x1440 monitors which are supposed to do >60Hz don't do 3D.

 

[PowerPie5000]

Is your priority 2560x1440 or 120Hz/3D?

I may be mistaken but as far as I know there isn't a monitor you can buy from the UK which does both so you'll have to decide which you want.

3D is not really important, but 120hz interests me if it makes a huge difference (and not some kind of placebo effect). I originally wanted a 27" IPS 1440p screen... But my rig's main purpose is gaming.

EDIT: I think 3D is out of the question as it seems OCUK only stock 3D monitors for nVidia cards (unless i've missed any?) . Ok, so it's between a 120hz 1080p TN panel or a 60hz 1440p IPS panel (both 27")... I hate these kind of decisions .

 

[martynpd]

take the 1440p panel, trust me its breath taking compared to a TN. the difference is insane

 

[kissenger]

I've owned and LG 246 TN, a Dell U2312HM and now I have a Yamakasi Catleap and I can tell you that the Catleap blows the others absolutely out of the water. There's no comparison. Your 7950 will be made to work harder by 1440p, but it is still up to the job. You should be able to max BF3 and similar games with an OC'd 7950 at 1440p. The 3gb Vram is very handy at that resolution.

Regarding customs fees I just imported one and paid 10 quid customs. The seller will put whatever you want on the invoice.

 

[james_2k]

i play games on my 1440p, its beast and (imo) better than 120hz. which ive also tried

although dont get me wrong, both are good.

you cant max lots at 1440p (not if you want 60fps). even games such as alan wake wont run maxed on one card. (unless its a 690)

source:

http://www.techspot.com/review/550-best-gaming-graphics-cards/page4.html

think kissenger is a bit optomistic, unless you are happy with 40fps

p.s.
get http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_s27b970d.htm

expensive, but awesome

 

[kissenger]

i play games on my 1440p, its beast and (imo) better than 120hz. which ive also tried

although dont get me wrong, both are good.

you cant max lots at 1440p (not if you want 60fps). even games such as alan wake wont run maxed on one card. (unless its a 690)

source:

http://www.techspot.com/review/550-best-gaming-graphics-cards/page4.html

think kissenger is a bit optomistic, unless you are happy with 40fps

p.s.
get http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_s27b970d.htm

expensive, but awesome

Yeah, I mean for some games (e.g. Metro, Crysis) you will struggle a lot, but I would argue that's more to do with those games being particularly poorly coded or resource-intensive for no good reason. E.g. you wouldn't maintain 60FPS in Metro even on a 7970 and at 1080p!

With a game like BF3 you would still struggle to keep 60FPS but it would probably still be very playable and not worth the upgrade (IMO). But the thing with these super high resolution monitors, you really can afford to turn down MSAA and not degrade image quality due to the high pixel density, so I'm sure you could easily maintain BF3 at Ultra, but with MSAA off (or at 2x), at 60FPS.

 

[PowerPie5000]

I've owned and LG 246 TN, a Dell U2312HM and now I have a Yamakasi Catleap and I can tell you that the Catleap blows the others absolutely out of the water. There's no comparison. Your 7950 will be made to work harder by 1440p, but it is still up to the job. You should be able to max BF3 and similar games with an OC'd 7950 at 1440p. The 3gb Vram is very handy at that resolution.

Regarding customs fees I just imported one and paid 10 quid customs. The seller will put whatever you want on the invoice.

That's the Korean branded monitor my friend bought (although i'm not sure which model, but it's a 27" IPS screen). Does your one have any dead pixels and how solid is the stand? Also, what is the optional 'ad board' thing all about?? His one only has a single DVI-D port and no speakers (even though it still has speaker grills/holes on the back).

 

[martynpd]

i play games on my 1440p, its beast and (imo) better than 120hz. which ive also tried

although dont get me wrong, both are good.

you cant max lots at 1440p (not if you want 60fps). even games such as alan wake wont run maxed on one card. (unless its a 690)

source:

http://www.techspot.com/review/550-best-gaming-graphics-cards/page4.html

think kissenger is a bit optomistic, unless you are happy with 40fps

p.s.
get http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_s27b970d.htm

expensive, but awesome

you say you play games on your 27'' but its that samsung is it not? isnt there lots of input lag? what games do you play?

 

[kissenger]

That's the Korean branded monitor my friend bought (although i'm not sure which model, but it's a 27" IPS screen). Does your one have any dead pixels and how solid is the stand? Also, what is the optional 'ad board' thing all about?? His one only has a single DVI-D port and no speakers (even though it still has speaker grills/holes on the back).

I got one of the cheapest models and it still turned up with zero dead pixels. Even if you get one with a couple of dead pixels its not as big a problem as with lower res monitors. A dead pixel on a 1440p monitor is 50 percent smaller than one on a 1080p monitor. The stands pretty crap though. Mine actually came faulty. It won't tilt, but the bezel is way nicer than I thought so it's swings and roundabouts. I don't know what an ad board is, but the model to get is the most basic one possible with no HDMI, speakers etc, because that one has the lowest response time (6ms, which is pretty good).

 

[PowerPie5000]

I got one of the cheapest models and it still turned up with zero dead pixels. Even if you get one with a couple of dead pixels its not as big a problem as with lower res monitors. A dead pixel on a 1440p monitor is 50 percent smaller than one on a 1080p monitor. The stands pretty crap though. Mine actually came faulty. It won't tilt, but the bezel is way nicer than I thought so it's swings and roundabouts. I don't know what an ad board is, but the model to get is the most basic one possible with no HDMI, speakers etc, because that one has the lowest response time (6ms, which is pretty good).

It might be worth a gamble as the prices seem quite good. I've seen a Crossover model that looks identical to the DGM IPS-2701WPH that OCUK sell... I wonder if there's any difference apart from the price and possibly the warranty? The Achieva models look ok too. I don't want a flimsy stand though (my LG IPS monitor has a fairly flimsy stand, not the worst i've come across though).

Does your screen handle FPS games well? Do you notice much ghosting/blurring with fast games?

 

[kissenger]

It might be worth a gamble as the prices seem quite good. I've seen a Crossover model that looks identical to the DGM IPS-2701WPH that OCUK sell... I wonder if there's any difference apart from the price and possibly the warranty? The Achieva models look ok too. I don't want a flimsy stand though (my LG IPS monitor has a fairly flimsy stand, not the worst i've come across though).

Does your screen handle FPS games well? Do you notice much ghosting/blurring with fast games?

No ghosting. Minimal input lag. Lowest of any IPS I've seen.

I've heard the Crossover has the best stand out if the bunch BTW.

 

[Lighters]

I have the catleap monitor at 100hz and its amazing! will try for 120hz when I get the right gpu but I have 3 screens atm, only running one as I havent even got around to using all 3.

I think I could only run 2 anyway depending on the gpu I get!

 

[james_2k]

I have the catleap monitor at 100hz and its amazing! will try for 120hz when I get the right gpu but I have 3 screens atm, only running one as I havent even got around to using all 3.

I think I could only run 2 anyway depending on the gpu I get!

nothing to say its actually going faster than 60hz (ie. true higher refresh) and not just saying so.. never seen any proof of this monitor doing more than 60.

you say you play games on your 27'' but its that samsung is it not? isnt there lots of input lag? what games do you play?

no lag that i can see, and pretty much all types of games

 

[PowerPie5000]

I think i'll avoid the Catleap after looking at my friends one again... Half of the buttons on his don't do anything (and there's no OSD) and the stand is VERY cheap and flimsy! I'm surprised it can actually hold the monitor to be honest. I'm not sure if his is defective, but it only seems to support 1440p and 720p resolutions and nothing else... Is this normal?

The picture quality is amazing though! No dead pixels or backlight bleeding, but there is a tiny amount of ghosting/blur when playing certain games (such as BF3), but's it's hardly noticeable and no worse than my LG IPS235V (which is fine for gaming ).

I'm really tempted to go for the Crossover model with adjustable stand (it looks solid enough).

 

[Lighters]

james_2k - I used to use a viewsonic vx2268wm monitor at 120hz for a year and due to playing fps games I can tell the difference between 120/60 hz by night and day.

I was sat behind my friends 23inch samsung? monitor that was 120hz the one with the orange x stand while he was on desktop/LoL and I said mate ur not even running it at 120hz! he was like eh? went to desktop settings and low and behold he was on 60 lmfao!

The quickest way for myself to see is the trail behind the cursor when it moves, its like slow motions and the almost flicker like movement/blur of the screen when panning across in games etc.

It is by no-means as fast as 120hz as I was not expecting it to be but playingcod at 250fps and 100hz its not far off, if I ever got to 120hz I imagine it would be very similar to my viewsonic vx2268wm 120hz.

Agreed on that PowerPie5000, I ahve never had to use the buttons for anything and the only calibration I did was the custom colours/tweaks on the website - I bought a benq24 120hz which everyone rated so highly and I instantly sent it back as I had buyers remorse moving from a 22inch 120hz viewsonic from 1680 x 1050 to 1920 x 1080 it just wasnt much better.

Now this 27 120hz is amazing and the resolution is great. The stand is very very flimsly/cheap but I have a marvel/long desk and its perfect as it swivels which is the only adjustment I need to make as I move from my chair/bed (Its very cheap though)

Mine seems to support all those resolutions going into my desktop settings, I do know that I need to run a custom profile to hit 100hz so imagine it could do any setting at a guess.
1920 x xxxx
1680 x xxxx etc

Agree that the pixel quality is amazing - cant comment on the crossover but I remember it being cheaper than the cherry picked 120hz ones - unless ur 100% sure I would avoid the catleaps but I am very happy with all 3 of mine, 1 has a tiny bit of backlight bleed which isnt noticable unless looking for it and the other has a bit more and a dodgy pixel but it took me ages to notice it even when searching for one!

 

[PowerPie5000]

Do your Catleaps also have glossy screens? I don't mind if it's semi-glossy (basically not like glass), but i hate too may reflections! My LG uses an agressive AG coating which is slightly noticeable, but it rewards me with absolutely zero reflections in all lighting conditions (which is great!).

Some of these Korean monitors seem to be creeping up in price and some of the sellers have bumped up their ridiculous dead/stuck pixel policies to 20! I would certainly be a bit peeved if i had 20 dodgy pixels! I guess i'll have to pay extra for a 'pixel perfect' model . Another seller 'tests' for dead pixels at a 50cm distance and declares it 'pixel perfect' if none are seen at 50cm (would i trust his eyesight?)... I'd be eyeballing the monitor much closer for dead pixels.

 

[Lighters]

I dont think it has too many reflections as I dont notice but I am also not facing the window directly so cant remember. Turning on the lick and looking for a reflection on black surfaces I can tell but its not as "stand out" as I thought it may be. Not to sure if I have now gotten used to it though. I think there was 2 versions where one had glass and the other didnt.

Thats the problem with these so called cheap monitors! if you could bare a dodgy pixel at that price then I would just risk it, if not then I would probably get a top brand instead!

 

[PowerPie5000]

I dont think it has too many reflections as I dont notice but I am also not facing the window directly so cant remember. Turning on the lick and looking for a reflection on black surfaces I can tell but its not as "stand out" as I thought it may be. Not to sure if I have now gotten used to it though. I think there was 2 versions where one had glass and the other didnt.

Thats the problem with these so called cheap monitors! if you could bare a dodgy pixel at that price then I would just risk it, if not then I would probably get a top brand instead!

Ok, so i should be fine with it as long as it's not as reflective as glass (i wouldn't get a glass model anyway as many people are complaining about dust trapped behind it).

I don't mind the odd couple of dead pixels on a cheap 1440p screen as it won't be very noticeable, but some sellers think around 20 dead or stuck pixels is acceptable

 

[james_2k]

trapped dust is not just for glossy screens.

my asus 1440p had 2 bits of dust trapped in. one of which i saw, and the second the rma checker guy saw! :O

samsung has 0 dust. but one would expect that (and more) for the price