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Hey, so since I got my new gaming rig, I've been thinking of upgrading my monitor. Right now, I have a 28" Samsung S27D360. It's treated me well, of course, but I don't think it was ever a monitor specifically built for gaming.

I'd be looking for something about the same size. Given the specs on my computer now, I'm pretty sure it's good for 4K gaming. Price range is probably no more than $500 (Canadian), if doable.

Any suggestions or recommendations?

Which GPU do you have, again? Because that's probably going to be the biggest determining factor.
Which brand and model?

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Which GPU do you have, again? Because that's probably going to be the biggest determining factor.
Which brand and model?

--Patrick

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If you mean brand and model monitor, no preference. I see BenQ monitors, which is a new brand name for me. Not sure if they're any good.

Copy/pasted from my recent order:

-AMD RYZEN 7 3700X 8-Core 3.6 GHz (4.4 GHz Max Boost
-Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000)
-ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 OC Edition 6GB GDDR6 VR Ready
-ASRock X570 PHANTOM GAMING 4 AM4 AMD X570 SATA 6Gb/s ATX AMD Motherboard

I discovered this one while browsing. Never had a curved monitor before, but I hear they're nice to have with gaming.

Kind of leaning towards this one. It's under my budget. And my friend recommended 1444p, 120hz, which this hits.

ThatNickGuy said:

I discovered this one while browsing. Never had a curved monitor before, but I hear they're nice to have with gaming.

MSI Optix G27C2 27" 144Hz LED Backlight Curved Gaming Monitor - Newegg.com

Buy MSI Optix G27C2 27" 1920 x 1080 1ms (MPRT) 144Hz DVI HDMI DisplayPort AMD FreeSync Widescreen Anti-Glare LED Backlight Curved Gaming Monitor with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

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Curved monitors are nice.


It's been awhile since I shopped for monitors, but the big things to look at are native resolution, refresh rate, and things like color depth, contest, active sync, etc. I'm in the minority that still believes 2k is the sweet spot for gaming monitors, with 4k only being preferable at very large sizes

6GB VRAM means you will always be able to play at up to 1440p, but you will have occasional issues with games at 4K if you turn on AA (Anti-Aliasing). Fortunately(?) 4K monitors are still relatively expensive, so I suppose that makes the decision easier, sorta.

Secondly, you have a GeForce-based card, so monitors which say "G-Sync Certified" or "G-Sync HDR Certified" are going to be better at doing Adaptive Sync than ones that aren't. Being certified like this means that they will cost more than ones that aren't, though. Sorry.

Next, decide what size monitor you want. 20/21in/52cm, 24in/61cm, or 27in/69cm? Larger = more expensive, of course, and I don't know how much room you have available atop your battlestation.

Refresh rate: This is also going to be a matter of personal preference. My recommendation is to not go below 100Hz, and to definitely not go below 120Hz if you intend to use 3D shutter glasses. Again, the higher the refresh rate, the higher the cost, but the smoother the action. On a related note, for gaming I would not bother with any monitor that advertises any Response Time (Also possibly labeled as "MPRT," "GtG," or "G2G") greater than 1ms.

--Patrick

ThatNickGuy said:

Kind of leaning towards this one. It's under my budget. And my friend recommended 1444p, 120hz, which this hits.

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The only potential problem I would have with this one is the 4ms response time, which is going to cause some ghosting, but if a similar model with 1ms is drastically more expensive I don't know that I would see it as that big a deal

Ravenpoe said:

The only potential problem I would have with this one is the 4ms response time, which is going to cause some ghosting, but if a similar model with 1ms is drastically more expensive I don't know that I would see it as that big a deal

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Honestly, I doubt I'll even notice a difference in response time. I would imagine it would still be leagues better than what I have now. Although I looked up old reviews for my current monitor and they were quite positive back in the day.

ThatNickGuy said:

I doubt I'll even notice a difference in response time.

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At 60Hz (16.7ms), you probably wouldn't. At 120Hz (8ms) or 144Hz (7ms), a 4ms response time is gonna start creeping in on fast-moving objects, or when you whip your view around in FPS-type games. That said, the 4ms is the GtG response time, which is the time it takes for a pixel to change color. The monitor is advertised as having a 1ms MPRT, which I assume means that the backlight supports strobing to cut down how much each frame bleeds over into the next. In other words, it shouldn't be an issue.

The monitor you've chosen is FreeSync, though. Not G-Sync. NVIDIA cards can still use FreeSync with modern drivers, you just have to turn it on in the NVIDIA Control Panel (even if it complains "ARE YOU SURE?" and all that)... HOWEVER you must use a DisplayPort cable if you want the full 144Hz! The spec sheet on that monitor says HDMI only allows up to 120Hz. If you're going to get a DP cable, might as well get one that's 1.4 certified. Your monitor might only be certified up to v1.2, but your GPU is certified up to 1.4 if you ever decide to upgrade your monitor again. Now that DP2.0 is out, the price difference between 1.2 and 1.4 should be minimal.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

At 60Hz (16.7ms), you probably wouldn't. At 120Hz (8ms) or 144Hz (7ms), a 4ms response time is gonna start creeping in on fast-moving objects, or when you whip your view around in FPS-type games. That said, the 4ms is the GtG response time, which is the time it takes for a pixel to change color. The monitor is advertised as having a 1ms MPRT, which I assume means that the backlight supports strobing to cut down how much each frame bleeds over into the next. In other words, it shouldn't be an issue.

The monitor you've chosen is FreeSync, though. Not G-Sync. NVIDIA cards can still use FreeSync with modern drivers, you just have to turn it on in the NVIDIA Control Panel (even if it complains "ARE YOU SURE?" and all that)... HOWEVER you must use a DisplayPort cable if you want the full 144Hz! The spec sheet on that monitor says HDMI only allows up to 120Hz. If you're going to get a DP cable, might as well get one that's 1.4 certified. Your monitor might only be certified up to v1.2, but your GPU is certified up to 1.4 if you ever decide to upgrade your monitor again. Now that DP2.0 is out, the price difference between 1.2 and 1.4 should be minimal.

--Patrick

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Sorry man, this is too much technical talk for me to follow.

Just gonna throw this out there. The TCL 50S425. Yes, it's a 50" TV. Yes it's 60Hz that cheats to get to "120". But it rates well as a PC and gaming monitor. When properly set, color is near spot-on. And Linus seems to like it:

ThatNickGuy said:

Sorry man, this is too much technical talk for me to follow.

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tl;dr:
-The monitor is not a bad choice. You will have to change some settings on your computer once you install it to get the most out of it, though.
-You should hook it up to your GPU using a DisplayPort cable instead of HDMI.
-Your DisplayPort cable (if you already have one) must say it supports a minimum of DisplayPort v1.2.
-If you have to buy a DP cable AND the cost difference is minimal, try to instead step up to a DP cable that says it supports DisplayPort v1.4.

--Patrick

it really is a mess for monitors today too, I have a new samsung monitor on order that has a HDMI port that supports 4K at 60Hz(which is all you are gonna get for awhile anyways at 4k) however you have to have a top of the line HDMI cable to do it(which i just ordered from amazon) this is fine by me as it is not my primary display for gaming(and my other DP is in use by my Oculus Rift >_>) also for pat(as he has been my go to guy on cables for high end monitors) i had an old "standard" hdmi cable and upgrade to one of the new "high speed premium" cables. HOLY SHIT THE NEW CABLES ARE SUPER THICK FOR THE SUPER HDMI SIGNALS!

Heh. By the time I get to upgrade any of the HDMI v1.2a-era entertainment stuff around here, they'll probably be up to HDMI 3.3 or something.

--Patrick

Necroing this thread, if a month might be considering a necro.

I am also looking for a new monitor. I want to stay under $400 and I'd like to get a 4K. I don't need one that large and am downsizing from my 50" to somewhere around 27".

I have a GTX1080 card.

Thoughts?

Looking at this one through Newegg.

Never fucking mind. $113 shipping on that monitor?!? Fuck that and whomever thought that would fly.

Dave said:

I have a GTX1080 card.

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I thought you had a GTX 1080 Ti?

Anyway if you're looking for a 4K monitor, you're going to have a hard time finding one that's higher than 60Hz but under $1000. How about a nice 2K? The one you linked was a 2K.

--Patrick

Yeah I'd PREFER a 4K, but at least a 2K.

I went with a Samsung.

Dave said:

I went with a Samsung.

| Nebraska Furniture Mart

www.nfm.com

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Dave I have its big brother the UH850, and its successor the UJ590, these are badass monitors and the very best Ive ever seen in 4k monitors! the one on the left is samsungs first large format monitor the T260, unfortunately the backlight just died so now im trying to source another 32 to replace it.

Dave said:

I went with a Samsung.

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That was fast.

Bones said:

here you can see them

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Ooo, heat the person, not the house!

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Ooo, heat the person, not the house!

--Patrick

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thanks man, i have no life, so this is my fun, I just locked down another UJ59, so ill have three of these monsters in about 10 days. I will admit, there are "better" monitors on the market than samsung, but they are a minimum of 600+ dollars and the only 32 inch 4k monitor ive seen running above 60 hz is a 1200 dollar unit from benq that I just couldnt stomach the price on.

Bones said:

ill have three of these monsters in about 10 days.

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I was referring to the two brooder lamps, but hey that works, too.

--Patrick

oh lol, those are for lighting when i record, im to cheap for studio lighting! i use an electric blanket when its cold hahaha.

i also have a monitor question. so the one im getting has two hdmi ins, one is 4k 60 hz the other is 4k 30 hz. im wondering if i am using an input at a lower resolution if I will be able to get 60hz because im not trying to drive a 4k source? its no biggie, im going to use the 30hz input for my switch and i just noticed that.

Bones said:

i also have a monitor question. so the one im getting has two hdmi ins, one is 4k 60 hz the other is 4k 30 hz. im wondering if i am using an input at a lower resolution if I will be able to get 60hz because im not trying to drive a 4k source? its no biggie, im going to use the 30hz input for my switch and i just noticed that.

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Yes, you'll be able to do 1080p @ 60Hz, if I found the correct manual (and in most cases). I think you can even do 2560x1440 @ 60Hz

wow thanks Pez!

Wouldn't that just be the difference between HDMI v1 and HDMI v2?

—Patrick

afaik that seems to be the deal, I dont play any fast twitch games on my stuff so im pretty sure it will be fine.

PatrThom said:

Wouldn't that just be the difference between HDMI v1 and HDMI v2?

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I try not to make assumptions. Especially with all the fine differences between 1.3, 1.4, 2.0 and 2.1. Especially considering that you can cheat out 4K60 over HDMI 1.4 by reducing the color from 4:4:4 to 4:2:0.

Hey if you want that really wiiiiiiiiiiide view, how about this $4K monitor?




It's 3840 x 600, or 58:9 aspect ratio. Perfect for anyone stuck inside their Robocop cosplay helmet, I guess.

--Patrick

Oh look, Linus did a video just for @Bones !




--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Oh look, Linus did a video just for @Bones !




--Patrick

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he basically reaffirmed all the things I learned, shorter is better for signal, the highest grade of cables are hard to find and stupid expensive to do what they need to do because of high failure rates. amazing this just showed up THIS WEEK!

It probably helps explain issues I've had with flickering, static, and outright loss of signal trying to play or even just start games at 4K. The cable I've been using is likely from when I built this PC's predecessor. In 2011. Beyond time to upgrade.

DarkAudit said:

It probably helps explain issues I've had with flickering, static, and outright loss of signal trying to play or even just start games at 4K. The cable I've been using is likely from when I built this PC's predecessor. In 2011. Beyond time to upgrade.

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it sounds crazy but find a cable that actually has the official stamp from the industry group that rates hdmi/displayport cables. it actually makes a huge difference!
this is the one i use
Amazon product

So this is making the rounds lately. Are you buying a cable/monitor/GPU/player/whatever because it says it supports HDMI 2.1? Before forking over your credit card number, ask yourself, “Does it? Does it really?”


—Patrick

PatrThom said:

So this is making the rounds lately. Are you buying a cable/monitor/GPU/player/whatever because it says it supports HDMI 2.1? Before forking over your credit card number, ask yourself, “Does it? Does it really?”

'Fake HDMI 2.1' doesn't really bother HDMI Licensing Administrator

Monitor-focused tech site TFT Central noticed a Xiaomi monitor with "HDMI 2.1*" in its specs despite only being 1080p (at 240Hz) and explaining in fine print it...

www.techspot.com

—Patrick

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You buy a no-name Chinese knockoff monitor, you takes your chances.

It’s more about how there’s no real mandatory differentiation between 2.0 and 2.1.

—Patrick