[Freesync] Benq XL2730Z -- 144 Hz, 1440p, 27 inches.

finrep

Weaksauce
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The first prices for the Benq XL2730Z has arrived in Sweden and it's a bummer. It's only 50 dollars cheaper than Swift(using Swedish prices ex VAT, not Newegg). Then again, there are only two resellers. For the Swift, we're talking about 10+. As more competition comes in, I'm guessing the prices will drop to 500 dollars or so instead of the 650 that they want for the monitor now(excluding VAT etc, which the 'muricans don't have). It should be noted that in Sweden, the prices on the Swift fell about 200 dollars within the first month. So while I don't expect that kind of dramatic pricedrop, I'm expecting it'll get closer to 550 dollars or so within not too long.

One thing that is positive is a 2 year warranty. From what I've heard, a lot of Swift buyers only got 1. Still too little, though, 5 year should be standard.

I probably wouldn't buy it even at 500 dollars, but I'm interested in this monitor in the sense that it could push down the prices overall, especially for the Asus MG27 IPS display.
It'll also be interesting to see how a direct Freesync competitor to the Swift actually performs, using the same exact specs.
 
companies can say anything about the warranty.

but aslong as you live in Europe your good. Europe has better customer protection then other countries.

it's written in the law that we get 2 year warranty on basicly anything.

pretty sure Apple got accused of only offering 1 year in The Netherlands which later got changed if i remember correctly.
 
Once the warranty has expired, you can also demand a reasonable service life in the UK at least.
You probably have to pay shipping costs but repairs and replacement are free if a court would decide that its life should not have ended yet. You may even be due a refund.
You likely wont need a court, pointing out the law can make them do "the right thing".

More info
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/mar/25/consumernews.howtocomplain

A spokeswoman for the DTI says: "There is a common misunderstanding that the EU Directive requires a two-year guarantee to be given, but that is not the case. UK law in practice provides better protection for consumers than the two-year minimum required by the EU - consumers are able to pursue relevant claims for up to six years (five in Scotland)."
 
1 year warranty on the Swift? I thought it was 3 for like, everyone. I got 3 in France anyway. I do think it should be 5 for a high-end product like this though.

And yeah it's often possible in Europe to get some sort of service even when the warranty has expired. I know that Logitech does this with mice for example. I don't know much about the law to be honest as I've never really needed to worry about it (I can't say I've have many products die after the warranty had expired...) but I know of more than one success story.
 
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They have to be paying more for these extended warranties. It's included by law so your essentially forced to buy an extended warranty if you want the product. That or margins on these products aren't as high in these in the EU.
 
Torn between one of these or an ultrawide 1440p.

Very torn.

Just make sure you have an AMD card. ;)

I would like my next video card to be an AMD one, to support them and FreeSync, but I worry a bit about AMD. They don't seem to do well financially. Hopefully their 3XX line up is not a failure...
 
So Sweclockers are reporting that the first few batches are coming in in the beginning of February. Again, the price hasn't changed, about 50 dollars(exl. VAT) less than ROG Swift.

Pretty sure the etailers have gone into a cartel. Sweden doesn't have Amazon because we have a lot of small, niche etailers that are very competitive but can also be pretty collaborative when they need to(like in this instance).

AMD said about 150-200 dollars less for Freesync compared to G-Sync. When the first Freesync 4K monitor came out in the UK, it was 170 dollars less. So a 50 dollar reduction smells like a markup. They're probably counting on the fact that the people interested in this monitor have the cash to pay the extra price, and they're probably right.
 
Hm, hard to get excited about this monitor after all the Acer news of 144Hz without TN.
 
Yup, the announcements of these 144Hz IPS flavours has kinda veiled the interest in this for me. Still a nice option to have though for someone who wants ultra low response times and high resolution.
 
Pre-order price in Australia is exactly the same as the Swift, so much for Freesync monitors being cheaper.
 
Which might Free-Sync actually more expensive, depending on how well it works compared to G-Sync...
 
Pre-order price in Australia is exactly the same as the Swift, so much for Freesync monitors being cheaper.

Which might Free-Sync actually more expensive, depending on how well it works compared to G-Sync...

In Europe the price of the Benq freesync monitor is almost $200 cheaper than the Swift.

And I would say the reason that there are no reviews is that BenQ have released the monitors early and caught everyone by surprise.
 
Actually I later found out on overclokers uk that freesync drivers are released on 19th :D So that explains lack of reviews.
 
I just saw the BenQ XL2730Z go on sale at Newegg here in the US just this morning. The monitor price is $629.99. The BenQ XL2730Z has almost identical specs of the Asus ROG Swift except for the fact it's a FreeSync monitor. And the price of the Asus ROG Swift is still $799.99 at Newegg (and $779.89 at Amazon). I am hoping Asus wakes up and get's corporate on the line to reduce the price of the Swift fast! $150-170 price difference is no joke. I am an Nvidia fanboy for the most part, but really do have respect for AMD cards, especially the hardware architecture. The only killer for me as to why I have stayed green is because of AMD's absolutely horrible graphics drivers. I know that issue has improved a lot over the past year, but then GSYNC came along and enthralled me for a bit longer. Now that FreeSync monitors are finally coming to market, I may rethink my ways as the price differences are crazy and not at all what I expected. I had assumed Nvidia would be ready with a sales strategy to negotiate with the manufactures to reduce the GSYNC monitor prices once FreeSync monitors became available. To be fair, the BenQ XL2730Z was just released today in the US. I'm hoping Asus, Acer, BenQ and the other GSYNC monitor manufacturers respond in kind with a drastic price reduction in their current GSYNC monitor products :D
 
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$630 lol...Now this is just my opinion but I feel like BenQ's monitors are way too overpriced for what you're getting. $630 for this TN panel when the Asus MG279Q is also a freesync 1440p high refresh rate monitor but with an IPS panel for $599.
 
Ordered this from Newegg just now.

I ordered mine yesterday. Looking forward to it. I have the Benq 1080p 120hz monitor now that I'll use for my spare rig. I could have waited for the Asus MG279Q however I was disgusted with the quality problems of the PG279Q that I went for Benq. My current Benq has been issue free. Yeah, the new Benq isn't IPS but I bet this panel will be almost as nice and will have slightly higher refresh at 144hz.
 
$630 lol...Now this is just my opinion but I feel like BenQ's monitors are way too overpriced for what you're getting. $630 for this TN panel when the Asus MG279Q is also a freesync 1440p high refresh rate monitor but with an IPS panel for $599.

LOL are you kidding? The Benq is $170 cheaper than the $800 Asus PG279Q quality disaster.
 
$630 lol...Now this is just my opinion but I feel like BenQ's monitors are way too overpriced for what you're getting. $630 for this TN panel when the Asus MG279Q is also a freesync 1440p high refresh rate monitor but with an IPS panel for $599.

Where does it say it'll be $599?
 
Waiting for this to hit Amazon. Looks like it has a ton of extra features that Asus and Acer don't have.
 
LOL are you kidding? The Benq is $170 cheaper than the $800 Asus PG279Q quality disaster.

The $170 cheaper is because it's freesync. The XL2720G is a whopping $600 and that's only a 24 inch 1080p monitor due to G Sync. If this had G Sync I assure you it will cost just as much if not more than the Swift.
 
Been using this monitor for a couple days now.

After some messing around with the color I am getting used to it, but I think I have a long way to go before I will be satisfied with how it looks in CSGO.

The little features like adjustable height and tilt are great. Using the blur reduction makes the screen very dark as expected so I am trying to find a good middle ground in the OSD. The handheld controller makes this task so much easier. Once they add some profiles for this monitor the software should be nice too.

I am kind of bummed that the blurbusters program doesn't work with this monitor (yet?).

Overall, I like it!
 
Been using this monitor for a couple days now.

After some messing around with the color I am getting used to it, but I think I have a long way to go before I will be satisfied with how it looks in CSGO.

The little features like adjustable height and tilt are great. Using the blur reduction makes the screen very dark as expected so I am trying to find a good middle ground in the OSD. The handheld controller makes this task so much easier. Once they add some profiles for this monitor the software should be nice too.

I am kind of bummed that the blurbusters program doesn't work with this monitor (yet?).

Overall, I like it!

Thanks for your follow up.. any noticeable ghosting?
 
Some thoughts on ghosting would be great, pcper seemed to suggest it had bad ghosting but I'm not sure how in depth they tested the panel.
 
only ones who measured (some) pixel transitions on the XL2730Z so far seem to be hardware.info
here is a table comparing it to the Swift and two 60hz IPS and a 60hz VA
http://uk.hardware.info/comparisontable/products/276860-223664-211814-235038-197766
with OD off all of them are slow, the highest OD setting causes ungodly overshoot on most screens including the BenQ (when will manufacturers finally learn that these extreme overdrive settings are completely useless)
"Response time OD opt." is the only section that has practical use and there it looks like the BenQ is on average not much faster than the IPS/VA brethren, and significantly behind the ROG Swift (which has a bit more overshoot though)
tftcentral will come up with excellent response time tests when their review for the XL2730Z is out so you better wait for that to be sure
 
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But in what mode they measured that ?

That pcper observed ghosting should only manifest in lower frequency ranges of freesync mode.
 
good question, it is possible they measured all panels at 60hz and that the BenQ gets significantly faster @144hz (like the Acer)
that's why I'm looking forward to the detailed tftcentral graphs but looks like its gonna take ~3 more weeks until that review is up
 
Amazon is selling it:

BenQ XL2730Z 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor
by BenQ
Be the first to review this item
Price: $629.99 & FREE Shipping. Details
Usually ships within 1 to 2 months.

Should I jump on it? I'm looking for a 144hz 1440p monitor.
 
Amazon is selling it:

BenQ XL2730Z 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor
by BenQ
Be the first to review this item
Price: $629.99 & FREE Shipping. Details
Usually ships within 1 to 2 months.

Should I jump on it? I'm looking for a 144hz 1440p monitor.

Might as well wait for some proper reviews. I'm in the same boat as you.
 
Amazon is selling it:

BenQ XL2730Z 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor
by BenQ
Be the first to review this item
Price: $629.99 & FREE Shipping. Details
Usually ships within 1 to 2 months.

Should I jump on it? I'm looking for a 144hz 1440p monitor.

Not just yet. It won't ship for another 1 or 2 months as listed so just wait a bit longer for some other monitors to hit the scene and see which is better. There's the Acer XG270HU and Asus MG279Q to look out for.
 
Can someone test if VT (vertical total) tweaks work with this monitor? You can test DP or DVI mode but I don't know if DVI will run 100 or 120hz at 2560x1440.

You will absolutely NEED The AMD or Nvidia pixel clock patcher.
http://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-AMD-ATI-Pixel-Clock-Patcher
Try to see what the VT limit is before you get an out of range signal.
Masterotaku calculated that at 1440p, the equivalent of a 1500 VT (which is used at 1080p; the maximum VT is 1502; 1503 goes out of range), is 2000 VT.

Try to test if you can use 2000 VT (you can test the ghosting page here.

http://www.testufo.com/#photo=alien-invasion.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=-1&test=photo


The instructions for a 1350 VT is here:
http://www.blurbusters.com/benq/strobe-utility/
But 1500 VT works fine (120hz with 1500 VT on the 1080p screens needs a horizontal total of 2080 at 120hz, but 2200 (the default) works at 1500).

It will be different for the 27" 2730z. So far no one has done a full test of VT tweaks yet.
 
Wow.....been close to a month and no replies...I guess no one is using this monitor?
 
TN is for gaming. I would never buy an IPS panel for gaming. Why are you people so concerned with perfect color reproduction? Get a real IPS if that is what you want. Overdrive is a gimmick.
 
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