What to look for/watch out for when buying a 24" monitor for gaming?

[Elliot B.]

What should I look for or watch out for when buying a 24" monitor to be used for gaming?

 

e.g. I've heard IPS technology is bad for gaming, I believe due to their slow refresh rates.

 

I won't be using 3D and I have no interest in ultra wide screen.

 

I imagine I'll be wanting 1920x1080 as anything higher are too expensive (1920x1200 are ?178+, 2560x1440 are ?329+, 3840x2160 are ?500+).

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

LED will be best (IMO) for gaming. I'm running on 2 x 23" Samsung SyncMaster S23B550.

 

Running at 1920x1080. I think 23" is wide, 24" is not. From what I remember. (correct me if wrong)

[Elliot B.]

LED will be best (IMO) for gaming. I'm running on 2 x 23" Samsung SyncMaster S23B550.

 

Running at 1920x1080. I think 23" is wide, 24" is not. From what I remember. (correct me if wrong)

95%+ seem to be LED backlit these days.

It seems all 24" monitors on Ebuyer are widescreen.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Scratch that philosophy....

 

Just don't get a TFT, ok? :laugh:

[+virtorio MVC]

My information might be totally out of date, but anyway:

 

TN panels have faster response times and are generally cheaper, while IPS panels look much better (viewing angles, colour accuracy, etc). If you want a 120Hz monitor it's probably going to be a TN panel.

 

For the kind of games I play, an IPS panel (with an LED backlight) is what I'd going for.

[Elliot B.]

My information might be totally out of date, but anyway:

 

TN panels have faster response times and are generally cheaper, while IPS panels look much better (viewing angles, colour accuracy, etc). If you want a 120Hz monitor it's probably going to be a TN panel.

 

For the kind of games I play, an IPS panel (with an LED backlight) is what I'd going for.

I play fast-paced FPS games.

[Ambroos]

Dear God. You guys need an introduction to "how to buy a monitor".

 

There's two important things you see in monitor specs: panel type and backlight type.

 

Panels

TN - cheapest, you get colour shift under angles, fastest response times (2ms or around that), ###### colours and contrast

VA (M-VA or P-VA) - one of the rarer types, really deep blacks, reasonably good colours and pretty good viewing angles, nowadays also pretty fast

IPS - most accurate colour-wise, best viewing angles, a bit slower in response times (10ms-20ms typically), most calm to look at because of the viewing angles

 

Backlights

CCFL - uses a lot of power, used to be able to get deeper colours, not used anymore

LED - power-efficient, nowadays just as good, all you'll find. Yes, every IPS/VA/TN monitor will have a LED backlight. Even if the specs don't list it.

 

Other important things to know

All flat panel monitors you buy nowadays are LCD, and they are all TFT too. All TN, VA and IPS monitors are TFT, and all TFT monitors are LCD. They're not exclusive. LCD is the large group, TFT is the most popular subset, and all the other panel types are subsets of that. So basically whatever you see (TFT/LCD), it's all the same. The panel type (TN/VA/IPS) is what matters.

 

What do you want to game?

Probably a TN monitor. They're fast, have the least issues with ghosting and aren't too expensive. If you have an nVidia GPU you could go for something with G-sync to get much smoother gameplay without the need for or performance loss you get with v-sync. What one exactly? Go for something recent. Asus has good ones, Dell too. Go to your favourite webshops, link a few you like at first sight and I'll tell you more about them. There's so much choice it's hard to recommend just a few.

[Elliot B.]

Almost every 1920x1080 IPS 24" monitor are 5ms so the benefits of TN for gamers (fast response times of 5ms or lower) are moot considering this, right?

 

If 5ms isn't good enough (is it?) and TN is a must, I have a lot of options, such as (all are 1920x1080 and 2ms):

 

BenQ GL2460 - VGA/DVI - ?107

Acer G246HLBBID - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?115

Benq GL2450HM - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?116

Acer K242HLABID - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?117

Iiyama ProLite E2483HS-B1 - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?118

BenQ GL2460HM - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?121

Iiyama ProLite E2482HS-GB1 - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?126

Iiyama ProLite E2481HS-B - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?129

Iiyama ProLite E2480HS-B1 - VGA/DVI/HDMI - ?131

 

The list goes on...

[primexx]

Dear God. You guys need an introduction to "how to buy a monitor".

 

There's two important things you see in monitor specs: panel type and backlight type.

 

Panels

TN - cheapest, you get colour shift under angles, fastest response times (2ms or around that), ###### colours and contrast

VA (M-VA or P-VA) - one of the rarer types, really deep blacks, reasonably good colours and pretty good viewing angles, nowadays also pretty fast

IPS - most accurate colour-wise, best viewing angles, a bit slower in response times (10ms-20ms typically), most calm to look at because of the viewing angles

 

Backlights

CCFL - uses a lot of power, used to be able to get deeper colours, not used anymore

LED - power-efficient, nowadays just as good, all you'll find. Yes, every IPS/VA/TN monitor will have a LED backlight. Even if the specs don't list it.

 

Other important things to know

All flat panel monitors you buy nowadays are LCD, and they are all TFT too. All TN, VA and IPS monitors are TFT, and all TFT monitors are LCD. They're not exclusive. LCD is the large group, TFT is the most popular subset, and all the other panel types are subsets of that. So basically whatever you see (TFT/LCD), it's all the same. The panel type (TN/VA/IPS) is what matters.

 

What do you want to game?

Probably a TN monitor. They're fast, have the least issues with ghosting and aren't too expensive. If you have an nVidia GPU you could go for something with G-sync to get much smoother gameplay without the need for or performance loss you get with v-sync. What one exactly? Go for something recent. Asus has good ones, Dell too. Go to your favourite webshops, link a few you like at first sight and I'll tell you more about them. There's so much choice it's hard to recommend just a few.

 

thank you! the amount of FUD was mindblowing. I'm surprised that people still don't understand the basics of what makes up a monitor on a tech forum.

 

I'd say that the IPS=slow=bad for gaming thing is pretty much negligible by now. It was recommended back when IPS had double digit response times. Yes, TN are still faster, but IPS is fast enough now that it doesn't really matter unless you're gaming competitively. And IPS is superior to TN in every way besides response time (and price, I suppose) so I will recommend getting an IPS panel.

 

Also note that response times are pretty deceptive anyway, all the manufactures are quoting the fastest number they can get (grey to grey) which doesn't really reflect what the actual performance is. The important thing is that they're fast enough.

Almost every 1920x1080 IPS 24" monitor are 5ms so the benefits of TN for gamers (fast response times of 5ms or lower) are moot considering this, right?

 

Dell Ultrasharps are 8ms, still good enough.

[Ambroos]

I can't recommend Dell Ultrasharps enough, yeah. They are consistently very good. Happy Ultrasharp U2412M owner here.

[Elliot B.]

thank you! the amount of FUD was mindblowing. I'm surprised that people still don't understand the basics of what makes up a monitor on a tech forum.

 

I'd say that the IPS=slow=bad for gaming thing is pretty much negligible by now. It was recommended back when IPS had double digit response times. Yes, TN are still faster, but IPS is fast enough now that it doesn't really matter unless you're gaming competitively. And IPS is superior to TN in every way besides response time (and price, I suppose) so I will recommend getting an IPS panel.

 

Also note that response times are pretty deceptive anyway, all the manufactures are quoting the fastest number they can get (grey to grey) which doesn't really reflect what the actual performance is. The important thing is that they're fast enough.

 

Dell Ultrasharps are 8ms, still good enough.

In that case, my IPS options are:

 

Acer G246HYLbd - 6ms - VGA/DVI - ?110

LG 24MP55HQ-P - 5ms - VGA/HDMI - ?122

AOC i2476Vwm - 5ms - VGA/HDMI - ?137

LG 24MB35PM - 5ms - VGA/DVI/DisplayPort - ?157

 

I'm not going for Dell because their cheapest 24" IPS display is ?181 and is 8ms. Rip-off, basically.

[T3X4S]

When someone doesnt know something about a particular topic - thats no big deal....everyone has to start there.  What is bad is when people dont have a clue and simply pass on what they have heard - propagating a chain of incorrect info.

We see it all the time about any given topic - people comment without knowing - the beginning of this thread looked like a train wreck might be coming before Ambroos put the wheels back on.


As far as the monitor - try and go to a brick and mortar to actually see the product as opposed to looking at a picture of it.  MANY times, price is a good indication of quality  (yes I realize there are good deals too)

OP - If you have good credit - get a Dell Ultrasharp 27" through Dell financing ! - 120 days no interest !

[Ambroos]

Also interesting: the iiyama PVA monitors. Really good value, good response times and even though you lack a bit of colour accuracy, the deep blacks are amazing for movies.

[Ambroos]

When someone doesnt know something about a particular topic - thats no big deal....everyone has to start there.  What is bad is when people dont have a clue and simply pass on what they have heard - propagating a chain of incorrect info.

We see it all the time about any given topic - people comment without knowing - the beginning of this thread looked like a train wreck might be coming before Ambroos put the wheels back on.

 

Blame the marketing. Once monitors swiched to LED all crappy TN monitors started using that to say "LOOK AT US WE HAVE SOMETHING NEW AND COOL", even though LED was inferior to CCFL at first. Then there's just simple evolution where people stopped calling them TFT monitors, ... It's hard to educate people. And store employees are even worse, they usually have literally no clue.

[Luc2k]

Here's another one for you to consider. The BenQ GW2460HW has a VA panel and the specs seem good for a gaming monitor, while also having deeper blacks than IPS. A friend bought it and he's very satisfied with it, but he doesn't game much (and I haven't got around to testing it), however you should find plenty of information about that around the web.

 

There's also this in-depth review of its predecessor which is fairly similar. The biggest difference between them seems to be the fact that the x60 solved the PWM issue. Again, there's plenty of discussions around the web about it to help you make your mind about it.

 

Fun fact: most of the IPS panels in monitors on the market are made by LG and the VA ones by BenQ.

[trag3dy]

Look into nVidias G-Sync. It looks absolutely amazing. The short product demo convinced me.

 

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/g-sync

[Boo Berry]

Look into nVidias G-Sync. It looks absolutely amazing. The short product demo convinced me.

 

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/g-sync

According to the OP's sig he has an AMD card, not a Nvidia card so G-Sync's probably out of the question.

 

What he should do is look up reviews for the various monitors and weigh their pros and cons.

[123456789A]

I can't recommend Dell Ultrasharps enough, yeah. They are consistently very good. Happy Ultrasharp U2412M owner here.

 

I like that screen so much I got 3 of them.

[trag3dy]

According to the OP's sig he has an AMD card, not a Nvidia card so G-Sync's probably out of the question.

 

What he should do is look up reviews for the various monitors and weigh their pros and cons.

 

Maybe so but it was just a suggestion. I was going to add that it would require a geforce card but I thought that would go without saying.

 

And if you're a gamer and want the smoothest possible gaming experience this is something that people would probably want to look into.

[Luc2k]

Maybe so but it was just a suggestion. I was going to add that it would require a geforce card but I thought that would go without saying.

 

And if you're a gamer and want the smoothest possible gaming experience this is something that people would probably want to look into.

I don't think a monitor with G-Sync and a new GPU fit into his budget.

[trag3dy]

I don't think a monitor with G-Sync and a new GPU fit into his budget.

 

Fair point but nothing says he needs to get both right now. He can get the monitor now and in 3-4-5-6 months get a new gpu when he can afford one if it's something he decides he's interested in.

 

And once again, it's just a suggestion. It's up to him if he wants to pursue it or not. He specifically asked for a gaming monitors and this suggestion fits that bill if any do.

[Elliot B.]

Fair point but nothing says he needs to get both right now. He can get the monitor now and in 3-4-5-6 months get a new gpu when he can afford one if it's something he decides he's interested in.

And once again, it's just a suggestion. It's up to him if he wants to pursue it or not. He specifically asked for a gaming monitors and this suggestion fits that bill if any do.

I have 2x 7870 XT which, when both perform at 90%+, rival the performance of a GTX 780 or Titan.

Therefore I won't be upgrading my video cards for at least a year or two.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I won't echo what most people in this thread have said already except for one thing: IPS. The colour reproduction is phenomenal and it's immediately noticeable if you're upgrading from a TN panel. When I first used my 23" IPS monitor, I marvelled at how great the colours looked and I changed my wallpapers a lot. I can't go back to a TN panel because it looks washed out and dull.

[Ambroos]

I won't echo what most people in this thread have said already except for one thing: IPS. The colour reproduction is phenomenal and it's immediately noticeable if you're upgrading from a TN panel. When I first used my 23" IPS monitor, I marvelled at how great the colours looked and I changed my wallpapers a lot. I can't go back to a TN panel because it looks washed out and dull.

 

Well, generally you're right, but there are some fantastic TN panels out there. My laptop has a TN panel with almost full AdobeRGB coverage, and I can promise you it looks amazing.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The best gaming monitors support high refresh rates (100hz+), backlight strobing for motion blur reduction and/or adaptative refresh rate (right now limited to G-Sync (Nvidia only), FreeSync should arrive next year). All of these are rather premium features though; as you're looking for an inexpensive monitor, it's unlikely any of that will fit inside your budget. In that case I would see if I could get at least an IPS panel; you'll get all the motion blur and vsync judder/tearing but at least colors will be good.