Where to compromise?

Ephraim · 22 Jun 2016 at 12:42

I'm considering a new monitor. My old one, a 23" Samsung Syncmaster 2333SW (1080p, 60Hz), is still OK, but it was released in 2009 and it feels like it might be time for a change. I've got a little old 18" Philips monitor that I use as a second screen for email, but I don't feel like I gain much from having it.

I'm planning to upgrade my graphics from the 7970 to one of the new generation of cards. I'm edging towards a GTX 1070/1080 but am holding fire for now to see what the 480 brings. I'm not a vastly competitive gamer, and rarely play stuff that's just released; but I am toying with jumping into VR with a Vive or OSVR headset in the next 12 months (hence the desire to change gfx).

So I'm looking at speccing a new monitor and am struggling to find all the things that I'd like in a single affordable monitor. I think my upper price limit is probably £500, and ideally I'd like to a 27" 144Hz, 1440p, IPS monitor with G-Sync or the AMD equivalent (depending on what card I end up going for). It looks from my initial investigation, that I can get, perhaps, 3 of the 4.

So, is it best to compromise on refresh, resolution, panel type (IPS vs TN) or the proprietary sync method? Or have I missed a silver bullet monitor that will give me everything at the price I'm after?

TIA

eddiew · 22 Jun 2016 at 13:08

Your problem seems to be IPS + any-sync seems to be a rare thing unless you go 4k... and if you go 4k, then the price shoots up.

That said, syncs are there for when the framerate drops, so you don't get a two-frame/one-frame stutter going. If you're not afraid of stumping up for a 1080 and 'only' want to run QHD, then you could nail a 60hz monitor to its 60fps cap pretty easily I think.

Warbie · 22 Jun 2016 at 13:15

It's tough man - there's always a compromise. I suggest basing it around the rig you're going to have and how often you upgrade. Things will be quite different if you go for a 480 over a GTX 1080, for example.

For what it's worth I had a 27" IPS 1440p 144hz freesync and swapped it out for a 34" IPS 2560*1080 75hz freesync and much prefer the ultrawide, despite the lower dpi and hz. Easier to run with my rig (390x pushes pretty much everything above 75fps) and the 21:9 aspect really is the dogs ********. £370 too

Ephraim · 22 Jun 2016 at 14:45

Thanks both. I don't really want to exceed 27" simply because any bigger will start to dominate the room, which is not my preference.

Do you think that a 144Hz G-Sync 1440p TN panel would look better than a 60Hz Non-G-sync 1440p IPS panel?

Ephraim · 22 Jun 2016 at 14:48

For the record, I am most likely to keep the monitor for another PC refresh after this. So, it'll be used with my current i5, 16Gb RAM + whatever new gfx card for about another 3 years; and then also be kept for the refresh after that which will likely be processor/RAM/Gfx and last 3 years.

Phil87 · 22 Jun 2016 at 14:58

I'm also looking for a budget monitor and am compromising wherever I can. It needs to have G-Sync, but that's about it. I'm happy with a TN panel because that's what I have already, and I can't see the improvements from an IPS panel being worth several hundred £.

Warbie · 22 Jun 2016 at 15:39

Ephraim said:
Do you think that a 144Hz G-Sync 1440p TN panel would look better than a 60Hz Non-G-sync 1440p IPS panel?

Totally. Get the Dell dude. Good customer support, they look great in the flesh (unlike pretty much every other gaming monitor!), and it ticks every other box. And you won't have to worry about ips glow.

leerogers00 · 22 Jun 2016 at 15:39

I'm in a similar position and I'm going to order a Dell U2715H.

I've gone round and round in circles. I've finally built my first rig after being a ps4 gamer. Anything over 30 FPS is going to look better for me. I also game on an OLED which doesn't have the greatest response time.

I mainly play single player games now so id rather have better colours and picture quality instead of smoothness which I've never experienced before.

eddiew · 22 Jun 2016 at 20:53

Ephraim said:
Do you think that a 144Hz G-Sync 1440p TN panel would look better than a 60Hz Non-G-sync 1440p IPS panel?

Personally, no. But I do digital art, so good colour reproduction is mandatory for me. If it was a screen just for competitive fps gaming where twitch reactions are crucial, yes. If it was for games where you want stuff to look gorgeous and it doesn't matter so much if you're 1/60th of a second slow, go IPS

Or... wait a bit. Save another couple of hundred and splurge on something all around magnificent