So, I realise this topic is a bit dull for most people, but for anyone interested, here is my mini-review of the samsung SA27950D. I like to complete my threads, in the interests of anyone doing searches in the future.
For a gamer, this is surely pretty much as good as it gets. Great vibrancy and brightness. Really white whites. Good contrast. Good blacks. Excellent motion handling. Very good viewing angles too, which is unusual for a TN panel. The design is fantastic, and the build quality is first rate. It makes a change for a gaming monitor to be this well put together. It's the 'Apple' monitor of PC gaming. Any super high quality PC is deserving of this design.
So, the negatives. It does indeed suffer from backlight blooming in both bottom corners. Not an issue for gaming, but potentially a problem for people watching 2.35:1 aspect ratio movies, as the black bars would definitely fill with bloom in a darkened room. It's also not compatible with Nvidia 3D Vision, and relies on other 3D software. I have not yet got into the 3D side of it, so can't comment on the impact of that. It's also expensive. I paid around £580 delivered, but IMO it is worth every penny. Some users may also prefer a higher resolution (this is 1920x1080) but personally I feel that 2560x1440 isn't a sustainable resolution for gaming at a reliable c.50-60fps. I'd hate a mental game to be released in the near future that forced me into using a non-native resolution.
Overall I'd say that not many gamers would be disappointed with this monitor. The 120Hz and 'fastest' refresh rate setting result in melted butter motion with anything running at decent frame rates. Skyrim is so smooth it's preposterous. It also has an ability to make 40-50fps look much smoother than it normally would.
10/10 from me as a 2D 120hz gaming panel. I'll experiment with 3D in due course.
