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Displays PC display recommendations

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by DeckerdBR, 12 Sep 2020.

  1. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Hi All,
    I'm after recommendations for a new pc monitor to pair with my current GPU, an MSI RTX 2070 Ventus GP.

    I currently use a Dell u2724m (I think), which is 1920*1200, and an IPS panel.

    I think I'm after a 1440p (2k?) Screen, with gsync/freesync perhapse, and 144hz.

    Main uses are for gaming and editing of my drones 2k video's and photo's.

    Budget is up to £600 but I'd prefer £300-350 if possible but I'm open to recommendations.

    To start off I was looking at:
    https://www.scan.co.uk/products/27-...2560x1440-srgb-5ms-350cd-m-hdmi-2xdisplayport

    https://www.scan.co.uk/products/27-...65hz-1ms-freesync-1500r-30001-400cd-m-hdmi-dp

    https://www.scan.co.uk/products/27-...0x1440-144hz-1ms-freesync-400cd-m-hdmi-dp-usb
     
    Last edited: 12 Sep 2020
  2. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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  3. Lankius Maximus

    Lankius Maximus Minimodder

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    Have a look at the Dell 2721dgf if you are already in their camp. Currently down to around £320 from £400. Haven't seen a review yet though.
     
  4. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Appreciate the recommendations.
    Since my post I have done some more research and confess I'm probably more confused!

    That Gigabyte G27Q also comes in a curved format, the G27QC. Seems to be very similar, but is a VA (instead of IPS) panel and 165hz instead of 144hz.
    Are the VA panels any good?

    Best I can tell is the VA panels have good colours and blacks/contrast but can suffer ghosting. Where as the IPS panels don't suffer the ghosting but perhaps not as strong on the colour/blacks front at this price range?
     
    Last edited: 17 Sep 2020
  5. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Yes, VA has better contrast but can suffer ghosting.

    Personally I'd stick with the IPS version of the Gigabyte one as I don't see any value in having a 27" 16:9 being curved, that only really becomes relevant with ultrawides.
     
  6. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    Why is it so hard to find the refresh rate range? None of the links tells me the lowest refresh rate when running adaptive sync.

    If it can only do 100-144, kindda makes whole adaptive sync pointless when GPU struggles to keep up.

    Sorry. Both Gigabyte and Dell looks very tempting, but struggling to find more info on those. Spec sheet simply says maximum frequency.
     
  7. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Can't find it either unfortunately, but going by other Gigabyte monitors VRR seem to uniformly start at 48hz.
     
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  8. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Well, I took a punt on both the VA and IPS gigabyte screens as I could not decide and was curious if 165 Hz would be hugely better than 144 hz. Both panels are a massive upgrade from my older 1080p dell panel, vivid colours, gsync compatibility seems to work great and the HDR in titles like the new hitman games look great. 1440p and 27 inch seems like a lovely combo - I love how crisp and smooth it all seems. I didn't really see ghosting on the VA penal (although I did not test any FPS titles to be sure of that).

    But sadly I'm going to have to send both panels back due to really bad backlight bleed and shoddy top plastic, which is inconsistent and gappy along the top, this affects both of the panels. Very disappointed as otherwise they are great, and it's a great screen for the money.

    I don't know if this is just bad luck, or poor QC from gigabyte but I'm going to look at other manufacturers now.
    So I'm still on the hunt!
     

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    Last edited: 18 Sep 2020
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  9. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    Thanks for posting, interesting to hear about the QC issue.

    Might worth looking at the Dell posted above?
     
  10. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    I tried to upload a bunch of pictures but the forum says they are too large to upload. But I was able to observe the bleed in a bunch of benchmarks and scene transitions and in gameplay, not just in pitch black scene's. I think the term is clouding?
    From what I can tell, this seems to be a manufacturing fault?

    I will take a look at the dell panel, although I'm not a fan of the new styling, my existing dell panel has been very reliable for many years now!

    Be honest with me, am I just asking too much from a monitor at this price point?
     
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  11. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    Dump the images on imgur and then post a link?

    Anyway, unfortunately there is always a lottery with backlight on monitors as it can vary quite a lot from one monitor to the next even if they come out of the same factory and is an industry wide problem.

    The plastic thing however...smells of pure QC issue Gigabyte needs to work on and really sucks that they got something that basic wrong.
     
  12. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    It's a real shame about the gigabyte panels, without the BLB, they'd be great bits of kit for the money and are currently occupying a very good price point for the features - but once bitten twice shy!

    So after some obsessive research I just could not find any other IPS panels to meet my needs and have boosted by budget another £50, ordering the Dell S2721DGF as posted above by Lankius Maximus.

    Every monitor review /comments/reddit discussions I have seen suggest either Backlight bleed or IPS glow is, as you have said Anfield, a bit of a lottery. 3rd time is the charm hopefully!
    New monitor is not going to be delivered until the 8th of October by the looks of things but I will do an update once it has arrived and I have tested it.

    Thanks for the help all.
     
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  13. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Well, to my delight I got a notification to say UPS were delivering my new Dell screen today, 8 days earlier than planned!

    First impressions -
    Out of the box was a bit of a mixed bag tbh. As the panel suffers from a bit of IPS Glow, although it's actually much better that the cloudy back light bleed from the Gigabyte panels, it's noticable from very dark to light transitions and back. It also has a worse osd menu (less options, less well laid out) and the desktop companion software seems more limited.
    Also because the panel has 90 degree rotation to both the left and right, it felt a bit 'wobblly' when plugging cables and USB sticks into the hub. Although the base is very stable and it's actually fine when using the osd and power control buttons.

    All that being said however, the dell screen is much brighter than either of the Gigabyte panels, and the anti glare coating on it is so much better then both Gigabyte panels, especially the VA panel. It's very comfortable to use in bright daylight for example.
    The standard mode on the dell panel didn't seem to have quite the contrast and punchy blacks of the VA panel but once I switched it to the 'rpg' preset, it gives a really nice mix of brightness, contrast and colours, with none (of the allbeit very minor) ghosting of the VA panel. And the HDR 400 seems to look better than the HDR ready from the gigabyte panels. Most noticeable in the Hitman 2 in game benchmarks for example.

    The NVIDIA control panel also recognises the dell screen as officially gsync compatible, unlike the gigabyte panels. Although since gsync did work well on the gigabyte panels, I presume it just not had the official certification from Nvidia yet.

    The only weird thing I have seen is for some odd reason, world of warships (which is hard capped at 75fps unless you mod it) now runs at a solid 60 instead of a 71-75fps. Not sure if this is to do with the screen or the recent rtx30 series driver update but that's an oddly large FPS drop.

    It's definitely a nicer quality screen, none of the shoddy plastic screen edging of the gigabyte panels and the base takes up a lot less desk space. Without the 20% discount, it would be a bit over priced IMO. It's nicer than the gigabyte panels for sure but it's not nearly £200 (or £100 with current discount) nicer. I guess only the buyer can decide which compromise to accept at what costs!

    Overall I'm pretty pleased with it, and appreciate the recommendation. It feels good to have another Dell IPS screen :)
     
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  14. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    Thanks for the update. So the Dell is a keeper then.

    What refresh rate range do you get on the Dell? How low does it go?
     
  15. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Yes, a keeper for sure.

    Assuming i'm looking at the correct stats from here, I think its 30Hz-165Hz. :
    https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/da672043

    I also looked at this very in-depth review, seems to confirm the similar, but they differ by 10Mhz between them:
    https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/dell/s2721dgf


    I am also apparently a muppet, Freesync was enable by default, and for the few games I tested, it was capping 60 FPs, soon as I disable free-sync, Armoured Warfare for Example jumped to 148 FPS. But this disable g-sync status too. Then I realised windows had the graphics refresh rate capped at 60. After changing this to 165 Hz and re-enabling the monitors freesync toggle, it all seems correct. although weirdly the hitman 2 benchmark ran uncapped on the old settings!
     
    Last edited: 2 Oct 2020
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