Are gaming monitors worth it?

QuantumPion

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
6,010
1
76
They are a trade off. Better motion clarity but worse colors and contrast. If you play mostly competitive shooters they can be worth it.
 

kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
2,416
2
81
They are a trade off. Better motion clarity but worse colors and contrast. If you play mostly competitive shooters they can be worth it.


I thought they give better colors and contrast to immerse the gamer into the game... 0.0
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,504
12
0
There's two basic types of LCD out there: Twisted Nematic (TN) and In-Plane Switching (IPS).

Generally, IPS is the far superior technology. It produces accurate colours with excellent (for LCD) contrast ratios, as well as superior viewing angles. The trade off is refresh rate. While IPS is improving in that aspect, ghosting is still noticeable on very high speed games running at 60fps or higher. I see it in Sonic Generations sometimes.

TN on the other hand offers the fastest refresh rates (again for LCD), but doesn't have quite the same colour accuracy, and has poor viewing angle.

IPS is probably the best technology for most people. Prices have come down quite a bit too. I'd only go for TN if you're a competitive player or looking for something really cheap.
 

kyrax12

Platinum Member
May 21, 2010
2,416
2
81
There's two basic types of LCD out there: Twisted Nematic (TN) and In-Plane Switching (IPS).

Generally, IPS is the far superior technology. It produces accurate colours with excellent (for LCD) contrast ratios, as well as superior viewing angles. The trade off is refresh rate. While IPS is improving in that aspect, ghosting is still noticeable on very high speed games running at 60fps or higher. I see it in Sonic Generations sometimes.

TN on the other hand offers the fastest refresh rates (again for LCD), but doesn't have quite the same colour accuracy, and has poor viewing angle.

IPS is probably the best technology for most people. Prices have come down quite a bit too. I'd only go for TN if you're a competitive player or looking for something really cheap.

Ah ok. I am guessing IPS is like the SSD of the monitors.
 

Borealis7

Platinum Member
Oct 19, 2006
2,914
205
106
Ah ok. I am guessing IPS is like the SSD of the monitors.
I think it's the other way around. IPS is like an HDD - slower, but can hold a lot more content.
TN is like an SSD - fast, but you get less content (colors).

I have a Samsung 120Hz monitor. it wasn't cheap, but to me it's worth much more because i don't play too demanding games so i can achieve 120FPS and it's got pretty good colors.
 

Veliko

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2011
3,597
127
106
Unlikely, unless you're playing online FPS games at the highest level.
 

motsm

Golden Member
Jan 20, 2010
1,822
2
76
There's two basic types of LCD out there: Twisted Nematic (TN) and In-Plane Switching (IPS).
I'd add VA to that list, as other panels contrast ratios are still completely unacceptable. Of course it's always a trade off with LCD's, since VA's typically have slower response times than TN and IPS, the one exception being the $600 Foris FG2421.

It really comes down to where your priorities stand, because no matter what LCD you choose, you end up sacrificing something in a huge way.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
4,762
0
76
Gaming monitors really are good for gaming because they don't go blurry when you move.A lot of people have the perception its all about the refresh rate but it isn't, actually its the motion blur and latency you notice most with a high quality TN gaming monitor. The massive reduction in motion blur is enormously obviously, suddenly you can move and shoot again just like you used to with a CRT. The reduction in latency makes the games feel more in control and when you die you know you were the reason. Combine that with the added motion clarity of higher refresh rates and you can see why they are very popular with gamers.

IPS comparatively is all about colour gamut (the range of colours it can provide). But the main problem with IPS is its very large amount of motion blur. On a good TN monitor you are looking at about 1-2ms for the pixel to switch, on IPS its more like 14-25ms, which is longer than a frame even at 60 fps (16.6ms). That alone adds to the latency perceived but it also means in motion the image is blurry and you are pretty much always looking at the pixels changing rather than having them settle. Only a few IPS monitors have had decent overdrive added to reduce this but its still not competitive with TN yet.

If what you need is 100% sRGB colour gamut or even Adobe colour gamut then you know that already and you'll be buying an IPS, because full 8 bit or 10 bit colour is what they provide. A current gaming TN is 6 bit + FRC, and they tend to run about 80% sRGB which is what games use. So of course there is the obvious problem that 20% of the colours are missing on a TN, which is noticeable. But its only really fair to compare on a static image, because its there where the TN looses out. But the moment you move and the image changes the TN looks better, its got less colours but its clear whereas the IPS isn't. The question you have to ask yourself is really in a game do you mostly look at the same static image or is it constantly changing?
 

xantub

Senior member
Feb 12, 2014
717
1
46
depends on the person. Personally, I don't notice a difference (or if I do, it's not worth the difference in price). IMHO There's plenty other better things to spend your extra money on (SSD, memory, video card), and even if you already have the other things, just save it or invest it instead, unless you're already a millionaire.
 

Stringjam

Golden Member
Jun 30, 2011
1,871
33
91
There's two basic types of LCD out there: Twisted Nematic (TN) and In-Plane Switching (IPS).

I'd add VA to that list, as other panels contrast ratios are still completely unacceptable. Of course it's always a trade off with LCD's, since VA's typically have slower response times than TN and IPS, the one exception being the $600 Foris FG2421.


I picked up an IPS and a VA panel earlier this year. The VA panel (BenQ GW2750) looked significantly better in color quality and contrast. The IPS just sucked with the blacks.

I don't play "competitive" shooters, so I don't know what to say there...but I have noticed zero difference from my old TN panel in how I perform in games like BF with the VA panel (which traditionally aren't viewed as gaming monitors).
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
Most people won't tell the difference between the two. Just get a IPS and you be fine. I had a TN 144Hz but sold it because no difference to me in any type of games.
 
Mar 23, 2014
63
0
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I'm not sure if the gaming monitors are worth it. The monitor I use is a cheap $150 Asus monitor. The only problem I have with it is the ghosting. I would like to get a 120Hz monitor sometime.
 

QuantumPion

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
6,010
1
76
I picked up an IPS and a VA panel earlier this year. The VA panel (BenQ GW2750) looked significantly better in color quality and contrast. The IPS just sucked with the blacks.

Which IPS? There are cheap IPS's (e.g. eIPS) which have the good viewing angles but similar color and contrast to TN.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
4,762
0
76
You really have to spend on an IPS to get both a decent reduction in motion blur and to get full 8 bit colour or otherwise all you gain is viewing angles, which for a monitor isn't that important. The cheap IPS monitors are strangely enough expensive for what they provide, if you want that colour gamut improvement from an IPS monitor its going to cost a lot more than a gaming 144hz TN monitor, if its less its most certainly rubbish.

If you think you have found a hidden gem go search for it on tftcentral.co.uk - if they don't list it don't even bother buying it. Those guys have reviewed pretty much every decent monitor there is and their testing of everything is the best around. Every one of their reviews is an exercise in learning about monitors for someone who hasn't read their reviews before. When you look at those motion blur images its really apparent how bad most IPS monitors are, the best case is regularly awful and once the colours are calibrated many of them aren't even much more accurate than most TNs.
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
325
126
Most people won't tell the difference between the two. Just get a IPS and you be fine. I had a TN 144Hz but sold it because no difference to me in any type of games.

What you need is a monitor that can do strobing. That and enough GPU to get into frame rates high enough to matter. If you can't even make 60fps a 144hz strobing monitor will be a minor improvement. If you turn down settings to get into good frame rates a strobing monitor is like putting on glasses for the first time. Suddenly everything is so crisp. People who don't see the difference are either extremely uncritical, don't play games that show much fast motion (like a RTS player probalby won't really care) , or just doesn't have the hardware to make use of it.

This is still my favorite test, and it doesn't require a big PC
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=toronto-map.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=0

On my 144hz strobing monitor at home I can read the fine text like just like it was stopped. My work 60hz POS monitor I can't read jack.
 
Last edited:

skipsneeky2

Diamond Member
May 21, 2011
5,035
1
71
This is still my favorite test, and it doesn't require a big PC
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=toronto-map.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=0

On my 144hz strobing monitor at home I can read the fine text like just like it was stopped. My work 60hz POS monitor I can't read jack.

Very interesting, my eyes start to ache even attempting to catch anything that is said on that map as its impossible. Stare at it attempting to read anything for more then a few minutes for me causes a headache. No joke.
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
What you need is a monitor that can do strobing. That and enough GPU to get into frame rates high enough to matter. If you can't even make 60fps a 144hz strobing monitor will be a minor improvement. If you turn down settings to get into good frame rates a strobing monitor is like putting on glasses for the first time. Suddenly everything is so crisp. People who don't see the difference are either extremely uncritical, don't play games that show much fast motion (like a RTS player probalby won't really care) , or just doesn't have the hardware to make use of it.

This is still my favorite test, and it doesn't require a big PC
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=toronto-map.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=0

On my 144hz strobing monitor at home I can read the fine text like just like it was stopped. My work 60hz POS monitor I can't read jack.

Yah did all that stuff when I had it, no noticeable difference to me.
 

rstrohkirch

Platinum Member
May 31, 2005
2,434
367
126
Going to a cheaper 120hz TN over my nice but older IPS was very noticeable for me. I'd probably care less though if I didn't spend most of my time playing FPS like tf2/css/etc.
 

Grimbones

Senior member
Jun 12, 2004
551
0
0
Almost seems like there is no winning when it comes to desktop monitors. I actually used to love my CRT monitors, and since those went away it seems like I am more and more disappointed...

Seems like you have to spend a large amount of cash in order to get a rig capable of running a 144hz monitor, or a 4k monitor (I can't even imagine)...but if you are running 4k you got no shot of running it very smoothly...

I keep waiting to upgrade so that video cards catch up to monitor technology as well as graphics, but I am not sure that is going to happen anytime soon. I would love to have a 4k set to be "future proof" but the chance I would be able to run that on something like The Witcher 3 would probably be pretty low...

Could just be a bad time to be in the market to be upgrading. Hard to say, I just feel like there are not too many clear cut monitors that are a 'go to' gaming monitor for certain amounts of money...
 

Midwayman

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2000
5,723
325
126
Yah did all that stuff when I had it, no noticeable difference to me.

Did you have a strobing monitor? When I turn off strobing, its better, but not OMG better. Turn on strobing and you'd have to be blind not to see it. 120hz is only like 50% less blur radius. Strobing is over 90% less.
 

AMD64Blondie

Golden Member
Apr 20, 2013
1,660
140
106
God I miss my old 2003 HP A7217A 24-inch wide screen CRT.
(Re-badged Sony FW900).


(It sadly died in June 2013-I'd had it since mid-May of 2007..)

If Sony would start making brand-new 2014 FW900 CRT monitors(so I wouldn't have to worry about them dying so soon)..I'd happily ditch my 27-inch LG 27EA33 IPS LCD.

I know that's about as likely to happen as Ford making brand-new 2014 Model T cars(the Model T was made starting in 1908..)...but I would love to have a brand-new Sony FW900.
 
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