Gaming Monitor

[banther]

So at the moment I'm awaiting delivery of a fairly expensive package from Overclockers.

The only thing I havent bought is a Monitor. I need it to be plugged into the PC but would also like an HDMI for my Xbox One (still a console fag at heart / the missus doesnt want it in the lounge any more).

I am not technically minded at all but the term 120hz has been thrown at me a few times. My budget is up to £250 which seems to give me some good options. I have been looking at some ASUS ones and the [h=3]AOC G2460PQU MyUltraSpeed[/h]Any good? Any recommendations?

 

[Brand86]

So at the moment I'm awaiting delivery of a fairly expensive package from Overclockers.

The only thing I havent bought is a Monitor. I need it to be plugged into the PC but would also like an HDMI for my Xbox One (still a console fag at heart / the missus doesnt want it in the lounge any more).

I am not technically minded at all but the term 120hz has been thrown at me a few times. My budget is up to £250 which seems to give me some good options. I have been looking at some ASUS ones and the AOC G2460PQU MyUltraSpeed

Any good? Any recommendations?

Banther - have you considered using a TV instead of monitor? I've got my LCD TV and surround sound, Xbox and PC all plugged together. The advantage of this is I can have a much better sized display versus most monitors and has a great resolution.

Obviously you need to ensure you've got HDMI out on your PC though

 

[banther]

Banther - have you considered using a TV instead of monitor? I've got my LCD TV and surround sound, Xbox and PC all plugged together. The advantage of this is I can have a much better sized display versus most monitors and has a great resolution.

Obviously you need to ensure you've got HDMI out on your PC though

I have quite a few TV's in the house but always assumed a monitor would be better as the response time is 1ms and can go all the way up to 144hz?

 

[Wilkeh]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-088-BQ&groupid=17&catid=1851

 

[banther]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-088-BQ&groupid=17&catid=1851

Tidy!

Bought. Mods can close thread if they feel necessary.

Thanks mate

 

[Brand86]

I have quite a few TV's in the house but always assumed a monitor would be better as the response time is 1ms and can go all the way up to 144hz?

Possibly mate - to be honest I don't play brand new games on my PC so if you've spent loads on a high spec rig then perhaps this might be a consideration. But a lot of TVs are 120hz or above now so could do the job. Why don't you try a TV if you've got one already and see how you get on mate? Could save you a fair bit of cash.

 

[banther]

Possibly mate - to be honest I don't play brand new games on my PC so if you've spent loads on a high spec rig then perhaps this might be a consideration. But a lot of TVs are 120hz or above now so could do the job. Why don't you try a TV if you've got one already and see how you get on mate? Could save you a fair bit of cash.

Its not that high end buddy - still cost near on £800 though but its my main (home) PC with the capability of gaming as well which is something I've wanted to do for ages.

The TV's lying about are just 22" and 24" Samsungs that are probably 3/4 years old. Im in for a penny already so may as well spend the pound, as it were!

My main TV is 120hz (Samsung 8000 series) but the missus hates me commandeering it in the evening when she wants to watch Keeping up with the Eastenders or some shitty hair program.

I didnt think £250 was too bad for what you get? £250 doesnt seem to buy you much TV nowadays.

 

[Wilkeh]

Tidy!

Bought. Mods can close thread if they feel necessary.

Thanks mate

No worries mate. There's also a 144hz Iiyama which is bigger at 27" but the monitor itself is not as good as the BenQ, hence why the BenQ's price "was" £319 RRP and the Iyama's was £269 RRP. But it's also the fact that the BenQ is 3D and the Iyama is not though. BenQ make amazing monitors and you'll be very happy with it guaranteed.

Don't forget to achieve 144hz you have to use a Dual-Link DVI cable which I would assume they supply with the monitor, just check though

 

[banther]

No worries mate. There's also a 144hz Iiyama which is bigger at 27" but the monitor itself is not as good as the BenQ, hence why the BenQ's price "was" £319 RRP and the Iyama's was £269 RRP. BenQ make amazing monitors and you'll be very happy with it guaranteed.

Don't forget to achieve 144hz you have to use a Dual-Link DVI cable which I would assume they supply with the monitor, just check though

Yeah prepare for a post on Thursday in the TIDL thread of me ranting about how I cant get the thing to work haha. Apparently the pic settings out the box are normally tosh so wil be spending some time getting them right.

I've sent them a quick email asking about the cable. Their customer service is fantastic in my limited experience. Talked this spaz through what I would need and my fretting emails!

 

[Wilkeh]

Yeah prepare for a post on Thursday in the TIDL thread of me ranting about how I cant get the thing to work haha. Apparently the pic settings out the box are normally tosh so wil be spending some time getting them right.

I've sent them a quick email asking about the cable. Their customer service is fantastic in my limited experience. Talked this spaz through what I would need and my fretting emails!

Yeah mate you'll definitely need to play around with the settings, took me a few hours to get mine just right.

I personally use a 27" monitor but at 1080p a 24" monitor is far more crisp. Let us know how you get on when it's all up and running

 

[banther]

Yeah mate you'll definitely need to play around with the settings, took me a few hours to get mine just right.

I personally use a 27" monitor but at 1080p a 24" monitor is far more crisp. Let us know how you get on when it's all up and running

I'll post some pics in the thread as I'm well excited about it all!! 27 would be a bit too big I think as otherwise would be moving my head around to look at the screen haha.

 

[Wilkeh]

I'll post some pics in the thread as I'm well excited about it all!! 27 would be a bit too big I think as otherwise would be moving my head around to look at the screen haha.

So go on then mate, spill the beans on the rest of the setup you bought from Overclockers!

 

[Steven103]

EDIT: Nvm, the TV vs Monitor discussion has been addressed

Banther - have you considered using a TV instead of monitor? I've got my LCD TV and surround sound, Xbox and PC all plugged together. The advantage of this is I can have a much better sized display versus most monitors and has a great resolution.

Obviously you need to ensure you've got HDMI out on your PC though

No no no. Not for gaming or photo editing etc.


It's an ok idea if you want to connect loads of devices in one place and you already have a TV, but if that's not the case and you have X amount of money set aside for this problem then forget it.


£250 gets you a high quality monitor designed to be viewed from 2 feet away. Lots of colours. Great contrast. Great response time & refresh rate etc. 1920*1080 or even 2560*1440 (probably out of price range) spread across 24 or 27" = X pixels per inch.

£250 on a TV is naff all. 1920*1080 spread over the best part of 40 inches = much worse PPI. I bet there's a fair chunk of interlaced TVs out there too for that sort of budget. Another common way (along with huge size and s*** quality) of getting clueless people to buy model X over model Y


Honestly go and look at your living room TV from literally 1 and half maybe 2 feet away. Now go and stare at frankly anything else from 2 feet.

 

[banther]

So go on then mate, spill the beans on the rest of the setup you bought from Overclockers!

Its essentially this;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-430-OE

With;

Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit
Red Case to go with my desk
250gb SSD
2 TB Hard drive

And an upgraded Graphics card but cant see it on my phone. I think its the one thats about £100 more expensive in the drop down list. VAT free too which helps

Any good?! Actually dont tell me....

 

[banther]

EDIT: Nvm, the TV vs Monitor discussion has been addressed





No no no. Not for gaming or photo editing etc.


It's an ok idea if you want to connect loads of devices in one place and you already have a TV, but if that's not the case and you have X amount of money set aside for this problem then forget it.


£250 gets you a high quality monitor designed to be viewed from 2 feet away. Lots of colours. Great contrast. Great response time & refresh rate etc. 1920*1080 or even 2560*1440 (probably out of price range) spread across 24 or 27" = X pixels per inch.

£250 on a TV is naff all. 1920*1080 spread over the best part of 40 inches = much worse PPI. I bet there's a fair chunk of interlaced TVs out there too for that sort of budget. Another common way (along with huge size and s*** quality) of getting clueless people to buy model X over model Y


Honestly go and look at your living room TV from literally 1 and half maybe 2 feet away. Now go and stare at frankly anything else from 2 feet.

Great input - I was under that impression.

Is the BenQ good in your opinion? I've just added my set up too if youre interested.

 

[Addicted]

The BenQ monitors are fantastic yes.

And as above, there's a lot of reasons you get £250 40" tvs vs £250 24/27" monitors!

 

[Steven103]

Yeah sorry about the timing - this thread got loads of replies whilst I was milling around in other tabs hence I didn't realise you'd got the gist of it nailed & one purchased!


I can't say I've used that particular monitor but BenQ have been consistently turning out class-leading/equalling monitors in that segment (medium-size high-spec) for probably 4 or 5 years now and retained their position through the move from LCD to LED tech.

My only gripe with mine (a slightly lesser spec 24" BenQ & getting on a bit now) is the viewing angle is quite poor which is just a tad less than perfect for PS3 or films but it's really pointless me speculating on that (mine's LCD not LED so arguably old tech, I'm comparing to my previous monitor which was also an industry leading brand yada yada).


On a different note I'm always very pleased for people who go for SSDs as well - often overlooked for the £/storage but once you own one you'll never go back. Keep your programs well sorted (OS & serious programs on SSD, all the we'll-force-you-to-have-it junk like iTunes Helper, a million auto-updaters & media on the 2TB) and your PC will still feel as responsive in 3 years as it does the first week.


Have you had this sort of spec (budget wise, obviously things move on at quite a rate) before or is this sort of performance new to you?


One last thing that springs to mind - you'll have to sort out a way of plugging the xbox into your PC speakers. Not familiar with the 360 (PS person) so I won't speculate too much but it's easily & cheaply done with some 2x male to 1x female headphone splitters.

 

[banther]

Thanks for taking the time for your reply.

Yeah the chap in customer services highly recommended the SSD backed up by a secondary drive for the more "boring" parts of the computing.

Im not so worried about viewing angles as I will be sitting at a 90 degree angle from the screen and it seems to have height adjustment - basically itll be on my desk!! haha.

Im already sorted on the speaker front - I have a Bose 2.1 system that can be plugged in via 3.5mm jack so I'm hoping that will be ok. Otherwise I got a pretty decent set of Sennheiser ear cans for christmas.

I cant wait to get it - supposed to be delivered on Monday next week but theres a chance it may be Friday. Hope so as I wont have time to touch it next week!

 

[Toypop]

Bit late to help you now but you never said WHAT you will be playing.

I have the Asus equivalent model of the BenQ. The settings were also utter b*llocks out of the box.

But anyway once it is calibrated properly it is only any good for multiplayer games and primarily FPS although there may be some other multiplayer "twitch" genres that benefit.

For everything else (i.e. single player and general PC activities) it is really really bad. I mean I talk about proper calibration but even when it's done the results are very disappointing versus an IPS screen.

I also have a 1440p IPS screen and yeah it is probably slightly slower (only 6 or 8ms versus 1ms) but the colour reproduction on an IPS is just so ridiculously good it blows a TN panel out of the water. This is no hyperbole, an IPS really does look amazing in comparison. So unless you absolutely need that thousands of a second benefit when playing COD online or something then really the 144hz TN panels are terribly second rate. Let's be honest too, most of the people you face in COD, Titanfall or CS are playing on 60hz anyway so if you are getting owned it is nothing to do with not having 144hz. I bet you are lot of the kiddies who are top of the table only have 60hz too.

As for TV's, in my experience when in game mode they are slightly more laggy than the IPS monitor but perfectly playable for single player games and multiplayer games where you are facing other TV users (e.g. on console).

If you are only going to play single player games I'd send back the BenQ as you can get a 24" IPS for a lower price.

 

[banther]

Oh s**t really?!

That post is fantastically informative, thank you.

And no - I'm s**t anyway!! Haha. I will mostly be using it for single player with some online.

I got so focused on hz and ms I guess I forgot to talk about the picture.

I'll do my research. I'm not even going to be in the country when its delivered so maybe I'll buy another when I'm away and return the Benq.

Any new recommendation?

 

[Toypop]

Yeah definitely get rid of the BenQ and get an IPS unit. You are paying a lot of money for the BenQ for a specialist pro competitive fps player attribute that you don't need and you pay a MASSIVE price in terms of image quality. I run at 60hz all the time unless I am playing CS or something. The image quality is actually better at 60hz than 144hz. I'm half tempted to get my IPS back out of the spare room as it sh*ts so badly over my ASUS. I personally feel that the 144fps thing was terribly over rated versus having a higher resolution or better colours. I mean I was playing F1 2013 today and my lap times were no better going from 60 to 144fps but it sure looked crap compared to my other monitor. Don't get me wrong, I can tell the difference between 60 and 144fps it just isn't make any difference to the gameplay.

My 1440p 27" IPS is a Dell and really good. It got really good reviews. I've seen Dell 24" Ultrasharp IPS Monitors for £217 on Amazon. Just search for "24" IPS". They have 4.5 out of 5 user scores but worth Googling proper reviews and looking up the response time versus other monitors etc then check where the best 24" IPS on the market is cheapest to buy.

Obviously when reading reviews of IPS monitors they are likely comparing the picture quality with other IPS monitors and not TN's so just remember that reviews are relative. A TN getting 8 out of 10 for image quality will still look sh*t compared to an IPS getting 7 out of 10. I think aim for single digit response time and you will be fine. I think the one I saw on Amazon is 8ms which is absolutely fine for single player, you won't notice blur or anything. It is 16:10 so higher resolution than your BenQ. Reviews I read said that monitor was really good but check for yourself to be safe.

Personally I wish I had got something like that as the 27 is a bit too big and some games don't support 1440p either. But I made the mistake of downsizing to the 24" TN at the higher refresh. So yeah if I could do it all again I'd get neither of my monitors and get what I am telling you to get - 24" 60hz IPS all the way.

 

[Wilkeh]

There's no doubting that the picture quality is better on an IPS panel but the OP was looking for a gaming monitor. I would much rather have the ability to play 120hz/144hz than better colours.

EDIT: @Nickson has recently bought one, ask him how he feels about his