Ultimate Gaming Monitor? Overlord Tempest X270OC

[exar333]

Sound's like this checks-off pretty much all the boxes that we want, for a good gaming monitor. Only complaints are that it isn't 'guaranteed' for 120hz and is DVI-only connection supported.

Wow, what a GREAT panel and feature set for <$500.

-IPS panel
-27''
-120hz* (should hit this freq)
-1440p
-8-bit panel
-Amazing out-of-the-box calibration and white/brightness uniformity
-TN-like response time (23ms absolute input lag)

AMAZING if you want >60hz and IPS.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overlord-tempest-x270oc-monitor,3879.html

 

[jackstar7]

I've had mine for over 1.5 years now. Enjoyed it for gaming and for productivity. Switched it to secondary position when I found myself sensitive to Lightboost performance.

I know they are working with nV to get a g-synch model eventually, too.

Solid experience from a small, but feisty company.

 

[n0x1ous]

Can this be purchased at major e-tailors? This is a positive step.

Now they just need to make a 4K + Gsync version and I'll be throwing money at them

 

[exar333]

Can this be purchased at major e-tailors? This is a positive step.

Now they just need to make a 4K + Gsync version and I'll be throwing money at them

Not that I have seen yet, but I would imagine it will be at most major sites soon.

 

[mutantmagnet]

Not that I have seen yet, but I would imagine it will be at most major sites soon.

It won't. Their tech is based on the overclockable korean panels from 2 years ago. They don't see the market for overclockable IPS as large enough to bother. They also don't like the fact that these monitors exists because the original control boards were designed with incorrect specs that violate their standards. That's why we have these small time makers exclusively selling these panels.

Gsync is proprietary and more expensive but manufacturers were more willing to jump on that idea even though it is 9 months old.

 

[3DVagabond]

It won't. Their tech is based on the overclockable korean panels from 2 years ago. They don't see the market for overclockable IPS as large enough to bother. They also don't like the fact that these monitors exists because the original control boards were designed with incorrect specs that violate their standards. That's why we have these small time makers exclusively selling these panels.

Gsync is proprietary and more expensive but manufacturers were more willing to jump on that idea even though it is 9 months old.

Who is they?

 

[Capt Caveman]

I got one a month ago. A little bit too much back light bleed in the bottom right hand corner when the screen is black but for gaming, it's pretty awesome.

 

[Termie]

I got one a month ago. A little bit too much back light bleed in the bottom right hand corner when the screen is black but for gaming, it's pretty awesome.

Hey, saw your reply to my post in the Asus 144Hz thread, but didn't want to distract further from the discussion of the Asus model there.

So you like your Overlord? You mentioned in that thread that you upgraded the DVI cable. Did you actually use a standard DVI cable and find performance lacking? Just interested to know if that makes a significant difference.

I've been reading reviews of every 120-144Hz monitor out there, and just need to decide which one to get. The Overlord sounds great, but it's a lot of money to drop on a product from a small company without a huge track record (versus Asus or even BenQ, for example).

 

[Capt Caveman]

Hey, saw your reply to my post in the Asus 144Hz thread, but didn't want to distract further from the discussion of the Asus model there.

So you like your Overlord? You mentioned in that thread that you upgraded the DVI cable. Did you actually use a standard DVI cable and find performance lacking? Just interested to know if that makes a significant difference.

I've been reading reviews of every 120-144Hz monitor out there, and just need to decide which one to get. The Overlord sounds great, but it's a lot of money to drop on a product from a small company without a huge track record (versus Asus or even BenQ, for example).

I was originally using a standard dvi cable that came with the monitor and was getting 120hz but I had to place an order for a mess of cables on monoprice and the 24AWG dvi cable was only $9 so I ordered one.

Looking for a 27" 2560x1440 monitor that you can overclock above 60hz, the other options up til now have been those Korean monitors you can buy on ebay. I thought I'd spend a little more to get an IPS panel and better support with Overlord being in the US.

 

[Black Octagon]

Can this be purchased at major e-tailors?

Amazon.com yes but no bricks and mortar stores

 

[hawtdawg]

I am absolutely getting one of these.

 

[toughtrasher]

If I could afford that $450 price tag, I'd pounce asap. For now, I'm rolling with the one I've had for almost 1.5 years now Still great

 

[BrightCandle]

I saw this review on Tomshardware and I mentioned it in the peripherals sub forum but there is a good reason to be cautious around this monitor and the claims. Tomshardware didn't do sufficient testing to confirm the monitor is actually running at 120hz properly. A lot of the 120hz IPS monitors turned out to not be displaying the frames and I can't find an objective measure of the blur or the frame count anywhere for this model. It simply hasn't been reviewed by a reliable mechanism that confirms the overclocking works. You have Tomshardware's subjective "it looks better" but unfortunately that isn't sufficient to confirm it works as its meant to.

It might work, but without knowing how much motion blur it has you may find it doesn't look much better compared to 60hz. I would argue the motion blur reduction of the 144hz lightboost monitors is more important than the higher refresh rate from a gaming perspective and IPS is still going to blur a lot more. So you will still have worse colour in motion than you would with a high quality high refresh TN monitor. I would want a quality reviewer to review this monitor and to do proper testing on the claims of the monitor before purchasing it. Send tftcentral.co.uk an email to request they do it and if they receive enough of them they probably will do a review.

Its also worth noting in and around the forums of the web you will find a lot of people saying they can't get 120hz and that overclocking is producing a lot of coil whine. Its one of the hazards of getting an overclocking monitor, they don't all reach good speeds and the fact the Toms received a cherry picked perfect 120hz with no issues is one of the reasons to distrust the company sending them out. Because there is every chance that is quite rare and not necessarily the experience you will receive.

I think personally for this 120hz overclocked IPS sales to really work the companies need to pretest the monitors and then band them so if you wanted you could get a guaranteed 120hz screen that they are covering by warranty and guaranteeing the speed of. You might need a higher quality cable etc but they can always ship that with the monitor. I think it remains a poor showing to continue to sell these monitors on the basis of 120hz when an unknown quantity don't make it. The ones reviewers seem to without issues. Its just like when Intel sent out 4.9 Ghz capable 3930k's to all the reviewers and then the reality sank in that the real CPUs were 4.4Ghz, dishonest and deceptive.

 

[3DVagabond]

I saw this review on Tomshardware and I mentioned it in the peripherals sub forum but there is a good reason to be cautious around this monitor and the claims. Tomshardware didn't do sufficient testing to confirm the monitor is actually running at 120hz properly. A lot of the 120hz IPS monitors turned out to not be displaying the frames and I can't find an objective measure of the blur or the frame count anywhere for this model. It simply hasn't been reviewed by a reliable mechanism that confirms the overclocking works. You have Tomshardware's subjective "it looks better" but unfortunately that isn't sufficient to confirm it works as its meant to.

It might work, but without knowing how much motion blur it has you may find it doesn't look much better compared to 60hz. I would argue the motion blur reduction of the 144hz lightboost monitors is more important than the higher refresh rate from a gaming perspective and IPS is still going to blur a lot more. So you will still have worse colour in motion than you would with a high quality high refresh TN monitor. I would want a quality reviewer to review this monitor and to do proper testing on the claims of the monitor before purchasing it. Send tftcentral.co.uk an email to request they do it and if they receive enough of them they probably will do a review.

Its also worth noting in and around the forums of the web you will find a lot of people saying they can't get 120hz and that overclocking is producing a lot of coil whine. Its one of the hazards of getting an overclocking monitor, they don't all reach good speeds and the fact the Toms received a cherry picked perfect 120hz with no issues is one of the reasons to distrust the company sending them out. Because there is every chance that is quite rare and not necessarily the experience you will receive.

I think personally for this 120hz overclocked IPS sales to really work the companies need to pretest the monitors and then band them so if you wanted you could get a guaranteed 120hz screen that they are covering by warranty and guaranteeing the speed of. You might need a higher quality cable etc but they can always ship that with the monitor. I think it remains a poor showing to continue to sell these monitors on the basis of 120hz when an unknown quantity don't make it. The ones reviewers seem to without issues. Its just like when Intel sent out 4.9 Ghz capable 3930k's to all the reviewers and then the reality sank in that the real CPUs were 4.4Ghz, dishonest and deceptive.

Actually you are taking a known instance (taking your word for it here. I hadn't read about it prior to now.) of sending ringers out for review and then saying this is the same thing. You are accusing them of being dishonest and deceptive when we haven't had it proven yet.

 

[BrightCandle]

Actually you are taking a known instance (taking your word for it here. I hadn't read about it prior to now.) of sending ringers out for review and then saying this is the same thing. You are accusing them of being dishonest and deceptive when we haven't had it proven yet.

Question really is do you believe the guys on other forums are lying about the problems they had with their monitors, especially when its the OP. I have a tendency to believe these posters when they say they received a monitor that couldn't achieve 96hz and had coil whine, got it replaced and received another unit with the same issue.

But its the problem with overclocking reviews I am trying to point out. You can't rely on overclocking results especially when the manufacturer has the ability to cherry pick the units for review so that the best case scenario is shown. The fact that Toms received a perfect monitor...and this is a quote from toms:

... Natively, we're dealing with a 60 Hz IPS panel. But thanks to Overlord&#8217;s custom PCB, it can run at up to 120 Hz reliably.

Yet some of the people receiving can't do that. Multiple posters over the web and saying their monitor wasn't capable of those speeds. Yet Toms has been told that Overlord have made a monitor that can reliably hit 120hz, and by reports around the web that isn't true. So there is something deceptive and dishonest going on here.

 

[Attic]

DVI only is pretty big drawback IMO. Otherwise 3 of these would be nice. Also needs guarunteed 120hz to be asking close to $500....

 

[jackstar7]

Have also heard from Scribby that these may soon be for sale via Newegg as well as the Amazon.

 

[Grooveriding]

Have also heard from Scribby that these may soon be for sale via Newegg as well as the Amazon.

If they show up on Amazon I'll likely get one. Hopefully that works out.

 

[lavaheadache]

DVI only is pretty big drawback IMO. Otherwise 3 of these would be nice. Also needs guarunteed 120hz to be asking close to $500....

Ips 27inch 2560x1440 at say 100 or 110 hz wouldn't be worth it?

 

[SnuggleTheBear]

I'm not meaning to hijack this thread, but this gets me wondering as I never can seem to make up my mind.
Which of these type of monitors would suite me best.
1. This or similar monitor >60hz (although I would like about 30 inch)
2. 1440p 16:9, Gsync monitor (or Freesync when it comes out)
3. 21:9 60hz like the LG reviewed earlier on this site. (I like the idea of ultra wide.)
4. 16:9 4k (approx. 30inch) at 60hz (or should I wait for Gsync or Freesync)

Realistically I will probably wait until new GPUs are announced, and I realize if I went 4k I would need a new PSU and two GPUs.

Edit:
Geez, forgot the important part. I usually play games like Skyrim, Borderlands 2, and MMORPG (currently Wildstar).

 

[Black Octagon]

BrightCandle:

Your concerns about motion blur are very likely warranted.

Your concerns about whether the 120Hz OC is real are not. Individuals, including myself, have verified with both TestUFO and Refresh Rate Multitool that the 120Hz being reported by Windows is a true case of 120 screen refreshes per second by the monitor. The Tempest X270OC does NOT skip frames when OC'd. Happy to post video footage proving this, provided you will, in fact, be satisfied by said footage...

Coil whine can be an issue for some OC'd screens, including my own. A relatively straightforward fix is available by applying epoxy to the two excessively-vibrating diodes on the TCON board. I did this successfully despite being all thumbs, and posted the process on Overlord's forums.

I...love...these screens. Educate yourself before buying, for sure, but don't miss out on gaming bliss just because of a risk-averse mentality

 

[Capt Caveman]

fwiw

BF4 - not sure why but in resolution options, I can also select hz

 

[Xed]

I'm on the fence between this monitor and the swift. I'm ready to move on from 1080p. This disclaimer makes it more tempting though.

July 18, 2014: All pre-orders will receive, while supplies last, pixel perfect units. Note this is not a warranty of no pixel anomalies during the monitor's warranty period, but rather monitors that are perfect during our bench testing.

If Amazon does wind up stocking them (not third party) it'd be a no brainer to try out since I wouldn't have to worry about being screwed on a return if it didn't live up to its promises.

 

[Black Octagon]

fwiw

BF4 - not sure why but in resolution options, I can also select hz

That BF screenshot can be achieved on a screen that skips frames (I.e., one whose overclock is fake) but the prior image from TestUFO is proof that your OC is a real 120Hz

 

[omeds]

Great display, I like it a lot. Best all rounder imo. Not quite on par with other 120/144hz panels when it comes to motion clarity, but it's a great compromise, one that I'm willing to bet most would happily make.