Overlord Tempest X270OC mini-review

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jackstar7

Gawd
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Since they are out in the world and more may be available at random times, I thought it might be worth a quick review from my novice opinion.

I received my non-PP OC last Thursday and after some harrowing and frustrating experiences*, I now have 110Hz of great PPI and I have to admit that firing up BF3 and getting to see Aftermath maps for the first time like this was awe-inspiring. I don't have everything maxed, but the game looks great at mostly all-High and avg's 90-100+fps. on my crossfired 7970s (still on 12.10 drivers at this point due to issues I think are specific to me and using ToastyX's tools to OC the monitor).

Also, I have no idea where the stuck pixels are on this thing and I'm not looking for them. Supposedly there are two (based on the QC sheet included in the box), but I've seen no indication that they exist, so I'm enjoying my ignorance on this one (which goes against every impulse in my being).

I have my stand on a stand to get a better eye-level experience and when I sit directly in front of it at about 1-1.5ft, I can't see any backlight bleed. There is a little if I get up closer, but really, why am I doing that? It's located bottom-right, but hardly a problem for me.


I hope this info is useful to folks and I encourage anyone curious to definitely check out Overlord's boards as well as 120Hz.net if considering purchasing an OC-able 2560x1440.



*To expand on the frustration, it turns out that my ASUS 7970 which was excellent for a triple DP monitor setup sucks rather hard at delivering a strong DVI signal. I made sure the bios switch was correct, and even tried both DVI ports to be sure, but the dual-link port was having issues giving me a good image at anything over 75Hz. This was even more of a problem as I was first setting it up and because the dual-link was not ennabled, I was getting nothing from the DVI to this nice big screen. Eventually I disabled Crossfire and tried the Sapphire stock 7970 and it worked great and eventually I got to the 110Hz and am now able to have two of my Samsung 120Hz's flank this beauty (using the mDP's on the Sapphire).

Here's how it looks... assuming this link works:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r8pz8e3zjing60x/IMG_1617.JPG

I'm pretty damn happy.


So for those still chasing the IPS+ >60Hz dragon, Overlord is set to have some for sale now and again over the next month or so, and Scribby has started to post some videos to both help with the OC process and demonstrate pixel defects for those interested.
 
Thanks for the info.

Mine is on its way, left yesterday.

How are the viewing angles? (I've been TN only up until now, so I'm expecting to be blow away based on all the TN bashing in the forums)

I'm glad you dont' see the pixels. I'm not too stressed about those either. If I have some "bright" ones, all you have to do is take a sharpie and black it out with a minuscule dot. A friend had done this on a older LCD and a black dot was better then a white one.
 
I had IPS before (before going 120Hz Eyefinity, I had 3 U2410s) and the viewing angles for me are excellent. From the extreme left you get a bit of the backlight bleed from the bottom corner, but since I'm the only user of my system, it's rare that I even need to look from that angle at anything.

Good luck on your OC! I've seen a few people easily getting to 120Hz, so while I'm not able to get there it seems, I have zero complaints at 110Hz.
 
I was glad to see a bunch of people report 110-120hz on complex setups.

I'm only running 1 screen with 1 reference 7970. So I think I'll be ok for 120hz.

Also,

I have a DP to Dual Link DVI adapter at home. I might run some tests and post results. But I noticed that my 7970 is a mini DP.. and my adapter is Fat DP.
 
I was very tempted to pick up a DP to Dual... but backed down when the Sapphire seemed stable enough to work with. It might be useful if I want to get any extra use out of the ASUS card, but odds are that I will just try to be patient and wait for a worthwhile next gen solution if I feel the need to upgrade.

I really do hope someone makes a DP-only 2560x1440 120Hz to minimize lag and have plenty of bandwidth to hit the high refresh.
 
I'll have to read some more on the DP to DL DVI adapters. I'm guessing they can run into pixel/clock rate limitations same as on-card DVI ports. The main difference should come from not having drivers/software limits on clock rate.

I'll definitely post something when I've tried the adapter out. Maybe it's high end enough that I can reach 240hz. :D (and then the DVI cable with catch on fire)
 
OP: Nice. I hope when I get mine it is as nice as yours. I'm picky and loathe panel lottery. This seemed the way to go.
 
Ya I got a non PP on the way, should be here next week. Right now I'm using a Catleap 2b and it owns! I just put my Sony FW900 CRT next to it today for head to head comparison and the Catleap 2B smashes the FW900 out of the water on every level. A new King of Displays is born and that king is the 120hz 1440p "2B" IPS displays!
 
l88bastard said:
Ya I got a non PP on the way, should be here next week. Right now I'm using a Catleap 2b and it owns! I just put my Sony FW900 CRT next to it today for head to head comparison and the Catleap 2B smashes the FW900 out of the water on every level. A new King of Displays is born and that king is the 120hz 1440p "2B" IPS displays!
Click to expand...

Let's not degenerate into total hyperbole, eh?

Congrats OP, great monitor.
 
hanabie said:
OP, is urs grade A or A-?

Let me know Thanks
Click to expand...

This was from the Grade A batch, but not Pixel Perfect as I didn't make the cutoff for the order and didn't want to wait for the next shipment.

The QC sheet says 2 pixels are off, but I have yet to find them, and don't care to look. This thing looks perfect to me.
 
jackstar7 said:
Also, I have no idea where the stuck pixels are on this thing and I'm not looking for them. Supposedly there are two (based on the QC sheet included in the box), but I've seen no indication that they exist, so I'm enjoying my ignorance on this one (which goes against every impulse in my being).
Click to expand...

You are a wise man. Do not look for them. You will always notice them after you know where they are.

I have a single stuck green pixel, which is probably the worst color for a stuck pixel, imo. It sticks out like a sore thumb on black or dark images on my 27 korean lcd.
 
jackstar7 said:
This was from the Grade A batch, but not Pixel Perfect as I didn't make the cutoff for the order and didn't want to wait for the next shipment.

The QC sheet says 2 pixels are off, but I have yet to find them, and don't care to look. This thing looks perfect to me.
Click to expand...

Don't even look for them AT ALL. Seriously , ignorance is bliss in this case. Just move on from this topic either wise it'll drive you crazy.
 
Believe me, I'm taking all that advice and just assuming that while in shipment it became perfect. Or they gave mine the wrong slip of paper.

This thing is a beauty.
 
ive been using mine for a week and it is amazing. Oh mine is at 120hz and its PP.
 
I'm going to take some pictures tonight.

For now,

-I can run 120hz with no (apparent) issues.
-Only 1 stuck green pixel. Can only spot it on black screen or very dark videos
-Quality sheet says 1 dead pixel which I have yet to find.
-Stand is a bit low, very hard to fit Monoprice 24awg dvi cable. It's mega bent 90degrees just to fit... I will build/buy a different mount to allow for more cable clearance.
-The higher I overclock it, the louder it buzzes. I will have to rectify that by trying the fixes online (epoxy/glue to chokes)

My biggest grippe so far (and the only one I was not expecting) is that the top 2/3rds of my screen is whiter then the bottom 1/3rd...

I noticed it right away on first power up. I calibrated to various white temperatures to see if I could get it to blend more, but I haven't reached a conclusion yet (hence why I plan on taking pictures tonight... to try and compare + show what it looks like). Greys and whites are where I notice it the most. Videos and Games I don't really notice anything unless I look for it.

Overall I'm happy with the purchase. I had purchased the first 120hz 1080p when It became available, this was basically my only upgrade path to retain 120hz and have more pixels.

Total cost delivered to Ontario Canada was :

Screen 459.99
Shipping 70
Taxes (at border) 58
Brokerage fee (at border) 10$'

P.S. I read once in a forum of a foolproof way to tell if frames are being dropped by the LCD. can anyone point me to how/where I could find that? Thanks,
 
Does their site ever say "in stock" or do they just leave it and expect you to order and wait?
 
Vicinity said:
Does their site ever say "in stock" or do they just leave it and expect you to order and wait?
Click to expand...

They actually have a shipment due in next week which is supposed to fill all the remaining pre-orders and possibly have a few left for new orders.

But the OC (Catleap 2B) is proving to be especially rare, so at their price it's not a bad deal at all. I'm seeing used going for $700-800.
 
Update: Got mine to 120Hz tonight.

Followed some CRU settings on the Overlord Forums and it was close, but with flicker. Did some slight tweaking and have what appears to be stable 120Hz.

I do hear the whine with lots of white on the page, but I figure I can minimize that by saving 120Hz for gaming and using 110Hz on the desktop.

This is with a 24AWG cable from monoprice and from a Sapphire 7970 original, paired with the ASUS in sig and both running at the ASUS stock timings of 1000/1400. BF3 might have actually looked nicer... but it was likely just placebo effect. I'll take it either way!
 
^--

How bent is your 24awg cable? hehe. That stand is not high enough for the big cable. I took it off mine I was afraid of damaging the PCB/DVI Port with the extra stress.

I had a short 28awg from my AW2310, runs 120hz fine.
 
The cable is definitely bent... and doesn't even work with my case... but knowing I can have 120Hz for gaming is worth it to me right now.

I might try a switch to the stock cable at some point... but not until I feel like I've gotten comfortable with this working solidly for me.
 
my 27oc is on the way, but won't make it for xmas i guess. ordered it following your advice here on [H], thanks guys.

so far everyone seems to be happy with the overlord?
 
Not sure where the backlight bleed complaints are coming from... but mine does not have that issue in any serious way at all.

But to answer the question, Overlord and 2B's are basically the same, but Overlord is trying to reverse engineer the PCB to keep the OC times rollin'.
 
jackstar7 said:
Not sure where the backlight bleed complaints are coming from... but mine does not have that issue in any serious way at all.
Click to expand...

I had very minor backlight bleed on the lower right corner of on my Catleap 2C, i flexed the screen carefully a few times and it remains fixed to this day. I began by putting up a black screensaver, then i flexed the the offending corner in the direction that made it look better (flexed that corner mostly backwards). There are different reasons for so-called backlight bleed but in my case it was probably due to some bad panel settling within it's own frame.

jackstar7 said:
But to answer the question, Overlord and 2B's are basically the same, but Overlord is trying to reverse engineer the PCB to keep the OC times rollin'.
Click to expand...
I remember earlier attempts in getting it reverse engineered, i hope he pulls it off because he has a unique product on his hands.

And since it is an item with sensitive components, i'll recommend a backup squaretrade warranty and plugging the power into a unit that explicitely states "AVR" capability (auto-voltage-regulation) because even minor power fluctuations will fizzle out the internal components. I've had this happen to enough of my electronics over the years, but anything on an AVR has always been spared. The day your monitor stops working is probably the same day you had a power event in your neighborhood, surge strips and vanilla UPS units won't do a darn thing, it needs to be AVR.
 
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Mine overclocked out of the box to 110hz with no issues. I ordered a non-pixel perfect one but there are no dead pixels and two stuck pixels that I can't find anywhere. Backlight bleed is also non-existent. My only complaint is that the DVI port is hard to access.

I had it preordered for months but it was worth the wait. My Achieva Shimian kept me happy during the wait.
 
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