Apple 27" Cinema Display for gaming?

J

Jawa III

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Mar 14, 2011
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Interested in knowing how gaming is on this display. I used to have a u3011, but sold it because I didn't like the AG on it. I loved the high resolution though, being able to have so many windows and programs open at the same time was great. Games looked phenomenal too.

However, then I sold it and bought the Samsung s27a950d 120 hz monitor, because I got bit by the 120hz bug. Honestly I just really wanted to see what 120 hz was all about. Even though I like the smoothness of it, I find that more and more I'm missing the high resolution of my u3011.

The samsung has a glossy display, which I've very quickly grown to love. So after doing research the only two glossy 1440p monitors are the Apple, and the Hazro HZ27WC. I haven't been able to find any sites that will ship the Hazro to the US, so I'm out of luck with that one. That leaves me with the Apple. Does anyone here have one and has used it for gaming? Is there any noticeable ghosting or input lag or anything like that? I'm aware of the fact that it only has a mini displayport input, and that's fine, I'll only be using it with my PC.
 
Hey Jawa,

I seriously found myself in the EXACT same situation as you. I bought the DELL U3011 and loved the resolution, but I RMAed it due to the AG. That left me with the Hazro HZ27C which doesn't ship to the US (and I have heard mixed reports on Hazro quality control), and the Apple ACD27". Bought the Apple display for my PC along with a DisplayPort capable GTX 580 and it works great. I absolutely love it for gaming. I play tons of Witcher 2, Skyrim, StarCraft 2, L4D2, etc. and haven't had any problems with ghosting or input lag. Obviously it isn't going to look as "smooth" as a good 120Hz TN, but for me that wasn't a high priority --- I just wanted a good high res display with no AG for PC gaming, and the Apple display was the only product I could find that fit the bill.
 
They do look gorgeous, but after using mine for the better part of a year I found that on the most extreme graphics ceiling settings I'm capable of on the most modern PC games, the response time pixel blurring is obnoxious on FoV movement. The extreme texture detail, depth, and "3d" depth via bump mapping gets smeared out, and with the physical FoV of my eyeballs vs the size of the panel it can give an "IMAX-like" almost seasick effect when the extreme detail textures smear. This happens on most 60hz LCDs to one degree or another. I think the ACD has a 10.x - 12ms response time which prob makes it worse than even a low response time 60hz TN though.
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In simpler textured games like L4D2 its not a big deal, and starcraft is isometric/overhead so that prob wouldn't be bad either. The witcher2 has some extreme graphics detail but its 3rd person gameplay is usually more of a "set" design(like a play) rather than an open world type so I'm not sure how it would fare. I'll have to test it (bought on steam over the holidays). Some people don't mind the blurring on FoV movement so I'm not trying to speak for everyone. I have very acute vision and it does bother me (on the most extreme detail games), especially with the monitor filling much of my own eyeball FoV. It wrenches my eye's focus "lock" away, and my eyes always try to focus away blur. I tend to be a fast FoV "looker" in games rather than a slow turret turning look type which doesn't help.
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Still, I would not sell my ACD and I have no real regrets as it is awesome for what it is best at - goregeous desktop imagery, desktop/app real-estate, high ppi +high rez + size, color quality, screen uniformity, (and less extreme detail games). However for gaming I am going to test out my 22.5" widescreen crt at 1080p 100hz + borrowing a 21.5" 60hz lcd for each side in LLL eyefinity, and I have a 27" 120hz input samsung TN on order to test as well. I'll end up having the ACD as my desktop monitor, and one of the other two setups as my gaming monitor (on the same pc at the same desk). It might end up being the 27" ACD and the 27" samsung, both are 27", 16:9, and glossy so physically they should pair up nice. I'll have to test out the 120hz performance and see how the FoV blurring compares , and how the eyefinity setup fares before I make a decision.
 
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Elvn - good point about the blurring. I had forgotten about that. I just recently got myself a 120 hz display, as I really wanted to see what kind of difference a 120 hz display would make for gaming, since I'm anal about my fps. ;) Once I tried Serious Sam out on my 120 hz display, the difference was immediately noticeable. Holy crap was it smooth and it allowed for much tighter and more precise controls. And while the viewing angles, color uniformity, and colors are nowhere near as good as my Cinema Display, the graphics, overall, looked so much clearer in my games!
 
thanks for the responses, I guess I'll have to see if I notice the blurring that Elvn was talking about. Looking forward to playing around with the monitor.
 
Are you sure you want an IPS for gaming? I love IPS but viewing angles and color accuracy means almost nothing for gamers, i'd probably get a 120hz panel for gaming to be honest. Viewing angles doesn't really mean anything with dead on viewing either.

120hz is more immersive for me personally (while gaming), unless you really want the 2560x1440 resolution.
 
uunut said:
What about the DoubleSight DS-277W?
Might be a good alternative to the Ultrasharps...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ors+-+LCD+Flat+Panel-_-DoubleSight-_-24185025
Click to expand...

The DoubleSight DS-277W uses the same AG as the DELL U2711. And yes, I agree with elvn, there is some blurring with games on my Apple display, but I don't really find it any more problematic than my DELL U3011. For me, 27" of real estate @ 2560x1440 trumps having a faster 1080p TN display, but it's ultimately just personal preference.
 
The only blurring/smearing i've ever noticed is in top-down games such as Starcraft when I am panning around the map, or 2d sidescrollers; and even then its minimal. Although i'm sure its still occurring in other games as well, I have never once noticed it, nor has it detracted from the game experience.

The same can't be said about the mediocre black levels, although that is a problem that all LCD's suffer from, not just the ACD. Overall I highly recommend the ACD for gaming!
 
My roomie is VERY picky and he games for hours (WOW) everyday on a 27" iMac (same screen as the ACD right?) and he has zero complaints. And he often complains about things I don't even notice.
 
The blur is not as obnoxious on simpler textured games like WoW, L4D2, TF2, etc though it is still noticeably there, especially if you are panning your FoV around a lot all the time like I do (always looking around quickly).. Its really bad if you turn your camera to auto so its always swimming back to center (of course I disable smart cam in games).. . I noticed the blurring much more on extreme detail games with very high graphics ceilings that I'm able to hit now, like RiFT, TheWitcher2, etc at near their highest graphics settings (both are gpu crushing).. The response time of the panel is just slow at 10.xx to 12ms ompared to a "2ms" 60HZ TN or especially a 120hz 2ms input TN at the "fastest" response time setting. You can still play games on it but the faster FoV movement smears out the detail and blurs the whole panel while you are moving the FoV fairly quickly or very quickly... and with a large 16:9 FoV in front of you can be almost a seasick effect from it, (worse when combined with the shaky cam on dead island.. ugh that was terrible). Btw I removed the motion blur effects from the graphics settings on both dead island and the witcher2 of course, so I'm not confusing that. ;)
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Other than that the ppi and rez/real-estate are awesome, as is the uniformity, and the imagery gorgeous.
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The black looks "black" and dark after tweaking settings, helped by the glossy screen - as does the black on my new 120hz samsung TN. Where they both really show the black weakness is detail in blacks. Just like old lcd tv tech - you pretty much have to decide if you want more detail in blacks with a brighter screen/contrast that results in paler blacks, or keep the blacks darker and lose a lot of detail in blacks. You can edit your video settings or video player settings so that video plays at a different brightness/contrast/gamma which helps - though I would rather watch any video of more than a few minutes length on my (VA type LCD panel) TV in the living room which has much better blacks and detail-in-blacks. In desktop and games having it set at a decnt black darkness looks very good to me.

By the way you would prob get more feedback from the actual 27" cinema display thread, and it would allow more people subscribed to that thread to benefit from any discussion about it.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1504231&page=17
 
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the_real_7 said:
are the black level bad compared to a regular lcd ? ive read the apple get 0.18 that really not to bad
Click to expand...

It seems average when it comes to black levels. Although, I do have an AMOLED screen phone, and Local Dimming LED LCD TV... so, maybe I just expect too much.
 
Many TVs (like my glossy samsung B7000 series) are VA type LCD panel which will have much better detail in blacks, which allows the blacks to be darker without losing detail. IPS and TN won't have that kind of detail if you try to keep the black very dark, and won't have as good of a black depth regardless. IPS and TN both have several other tradeoffs that make them superior in other regards though. The cinema display blacks are dark enough for me in images and desktop use.. they aren't grey or anything and appear to be a fairly dark black (glossy helps in this regard I think). Its still nothing like the detail-in-blacks at the dark blacklevels of my VA LCD tv, or what a plasma or crt could do. I can't stand watching HD movies on it when I've seen the same movie on my tv due to the difference in detail-in-blacks, but then again I don't really want to watch video of any feature length at my desk. The ppi, rez, desktop real-estate, color quality, uniformity, and gorgeous imagery are what is awesome about the ACD for me.
 
quatrain said:
overclockers UK will ship the Nezros
Click to expand...

What is a Nezros? If you mean Hazro, I've already talked to them they won't ship them to the US.

As to the OP, have you looked into the Samsung S27A850D PLS? It doesn't have a glossy panel but it does have a much better "semi-gloss" anti-glare coating that is supposedly way better then LG's sparkly matte.

It also has some really good reviews out there for gaming. It has reported 5ms GTG and supposedly low ghosting for what it is. If you absolutely want glossy Samsung is using that same PLS panel in their new S27A970 that is suppose to release in March:

http://www.techpowerup.com/158082/Samsung-Preparing-a-27-inch-WQHD-(2560-x-1440)-Monitor.html


I use a Sony FW900 CRT which is obviously the best monitor for gaming ;), but I am looking for a side-monitor for desktop use and web browsing. I will most likely end up with one of those PLS Samsung's as I cannot stand LG's IPS coating and I don't particularly care for greedy Apple in general nor their mini-DP only connection and software based brightness control.
 
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