Is there a better monitor for gaming than the Asus VG248QE?

S

SharpHawk

n00b
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
27
I'm currently using an HP LP2475 I bought 5 years ago. IPS panel, wide gamut, fair amount of input lag/blurring (but not too bad compared to its contemporaries). I was aiming for a compromise between image quality and gaming-focused smoothness/responsiveness. I should note I never did any kind of professional calibration, merely copied a list of settings I found online on tftcentral or some such.

This time around, I want to focus on factors that will maximize my gaming performance. Low input lag for better reactions, less blurring so I can aim while strafing, etc. It sounds like TN is the way to go. Furthermore, I've heard that 120 Hz makes a dramatic difference in fluidity. The VG248QE seems to get the gaming stuff right, at the expense of image quality. Here are some questions I've got:

1. Coming from an uncalibrated (ish?) LP2475 wide gamut display, how hard will it be to adapt to this monitor's image quality?
2. I've heard that PWM technology causes headaches in some people. How worried should I be about this?
3. Are there any other monitors that I should be looking at that deliver similar gaming results?
4. How much will buying calibration hardware improve the image quality of this monitor?
 
Some comments:
The VG248QE is popular mainly because it's the most inexpensive LightBoost-compatible monitor. But it's not always necessarily the best.

-- Going from wide-gamut to any TN 120Hz will be a shock in the loss of color saturation. No way to avoid that, in general, unless you choose a specialty 120Hz monitor like the lovely (but high-priced) Viewpixx scientific model. Be prepared for a major tradeoff of color-vs-motion-resolution. Buttress yourself with GTX 780's and Titan's to make the tradeoff worthwhile, since LightBoost benefits rapidly degrade when framerate falls below refresh rate.

-- For this current crop, the more expensive 27" 120Hz models have better image quality than the 24" 120Hz, such as the ASUS VG278H which outperforms the VG248QE in image quality. The same LightBoost motion clarity (with only a smidgen more ghost that is not noticeable)

-- To avoid PWM, you can get BENQ XL2420TE. It uses the same panel as VG248QE, just costs about 1.5 times as much.

-- You can turn on/off LightBoost. It's worth knowing that strobing the backlight on these TN's completely bypasses the LCD's pixel speed limitations and the sample-and-hold effect is eliminated. So you get the CRT quality gaming. Regular 120Hz will have 50% less motion blur than 60Hz, and 144Hz will have 60% less motion blur. However LightBoost will give you 85% to 92% less motion blur. Even LightBoost 100Hz in the worst-case scenario has less motion blur than non-LightBoost 144Hz. LightBoost only adds an average of half a frame lag on the best-performing monitors, but some people like the motion clarity so much, that it improves their gaming scores (faster reaction time due to lack of motion blur). The input lag vs motion clarity tradeoff varies from person to person and gaming styles.
 
Mark Rejhon said:
-- For this current crop, the more expensive 27" 120Hz models have better image quality than the 24" 120Hz, such as the ASUS VG278H which outperforms the VG248QE in image quality. The same LightBoost motion clarity (with only a smidgen more ghost that is not noticeable)
Click to expand...

Is 1080p enough for 27"?
 
Mhm, so perhaps I should not dismiss non-120 Hz TN panels?

EDIT: Which do you recommend, the VG278H or VG278HE?

EDIT #2: Is it me or are some BenQ monitors rather hard to get in the US?

HeavensCloud said:
Is 1080p enough for 27"?
Click to expand...

I second this question.
 
1080p is terrible, even more at 27". Waste of screen space. You want at least 1440p. Some of the Korean monitors can be OC to 120hz @ 1440p if that's your thing.
 
I'm not a huge monitor snob myself and I'd have to agree that if you are going 27" 1080p sucks.

I have 27" HP LED monitor (2711x), it was cleap and works... bright as hell but that's about it. Huge ass pixels really distract, the small vertical viewing angle sucks as well.

I want to upgrade to an UltraSharp or some other higher end LED setup but it's a hard choice and im waiting till finances improve (just bought a house)
 
Sufu said:
Some of the Korean monitors can be OC to 120hz @ 1440p if that's your thing.
Click to expand...

Sure they can, but it's a gamble. AFAIK, there's no guarantee that the monitor you get will reach a good overclock.
 
If 27" 1080P reolution bothers you versus a 23-24" screen, just push the monitor a little further back on the desk. Accomplishes the same thing as far as your eyes are concerned.


SharpHawk said:
Sure they can, but it's a gamble. AFAIK, there's no guarantee that the monitor you get will reach a good overclock.
Click to expand...


And they still have really bad motion blur no matter how high you overclock it / doesn't change the slow pixel speed.
 
Sufu said:
1080p is terrible, even more at 27". Waste of screen space. You want at least 1440p. Some of the Korean monitors can be OC to 120hz @ 1440p if that's your thing.
Click to expand...

Depends, you can't run lightboost on a 1440p monitor. To some the tradeoff of being able to do 3d gaming and using lightboost is worth the visual hit.
 
Sufu said:
1080p is terrible, even more at 27". Waste of screen space. You want at least 1440p. Some of the Korean monitors can be OC to 120hz @ 1440p if that's your thing.
Click to expand...
Sufu, the motion blur on different 120Hz displays can kill resolution of fast-motion objects if you're a very active FPS player.

For motion that has 10 pixels of motion blur on a 60Hz LCD (e.g. 600 pixels/sec motion)
--> There is ~5 pixels of motion blur on regular 120Hz LCD
--> There is ~1 pixels of motion blur on a LightBoost 120Hz LCD (the "CRT effect")

Exercise (use Google Chrome)
1. Look at moving photo at www.testufo.com/#test=photo
2. Look at stationary photo at www.testufo.com/#test=photo&pps=0
These two only look exactly the same motion clarity on CRT and LightBoost displays.
The same thing happens during strafing/turning in FPS games during perfect framerate=Hz.
 
Last edited:
Too bad the brightness of LB isn't enough for some people and in really competitive games the vision clarity is more important
 
"I want to focus on factors that will maximize my gaming performance."
"Is there a better monitor for gaming than the Asus VG248QE?"
Id say that the answer is simply "no, none".
The Asus VG248QE or the benq 24" equivalents are simply the best performing non-CRT's for this purpose.
 
I personally love my 27" Samsung S27A750D. The colors are fantastic on the glossy screen, the 120hz (at 120fps) is superior to any 60hz screens, it is far and away a better gaming monitor than the 30" HP Zr30w it replaced.

And 1080p at 27" does not suck if you can maintain 4X+ AA levels! I find it to be perfect. I am interested in these Korean O/C models but from the reading I have done they have their own set of problems for gaming, such as higher input lag, response time and motion blur. It is tough enough keeping my 1080p monitor at 120FPS with eye candy and AA enabled.. although I suppose at 1440p one might not require as much AA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top