1440p Monitor Selection

[Darr Valen]

Howdy all. Looking for some input on what 1440p monitor to grab. I can't hit the 60FPS target that makes PC Gaming PC Gaming, so UHD/4k is out, and I don't think I can do VR with recovering eyestrain issues..

So, that being said. It's time to send my Asus VS278q off to the side of my desk where it belongs. I've mostly settled on a 27" 1440p (2560x1440) G-sync monitor that is TN, though I'm not against IPS. My concern with IPS is the eyestrain from retinal burns caused by that backlighting. I tried gaming with the 2 IPS we have here, and I dunno if it's just the size of them (22" and 23"), the cheaper panels (acer and lenovo), or the existing eyestrain that was being treated.. But it was not a pleasant experience. I ended up finishing the Witcher 3 on my old Samsung B2330HD. My Acer information screen had some good color, but it was so dark. Blacks were too black at night in the game.

So that being said, my primary options are:

ASUS ROG PG278Q - TN Panel
ASUS ROG PG279Q - IPS Panel
Acer XB270HU bprz - ? Panel
Acer XB271HU bmiprz - IPS Panel

I'm for sure Going 1440p and Gsync. I had planned to order an EVGA 1080 FTW (highest base clock, no need to OC) to replace my 780 SC ACX, but everywhere worth buying from is OOS, and Amazon is charging a $100+ premium to buy it. No thanks. The TitanXP doesn't seem like great cost/value for a single card, considering what I'm using it for. I have no plans to go Freesync, and I want this monitor to last me well into the UHD era, so 5 years or so. I don't plan to go any smaller than 27". 24" screens are too small for me. I enjoy the 27" size for gaming. It's more enveloping. I'm fine staying TN, since I game directly on, and TN angle isn't that big of an issue as such. I don't mind not having multiple inputs, as I have a SUHD I can use for gaming on consoles. My pc monitor is a pc monitor only. I don't do much FPS gaming, but that's in part because my of 27" being a bit junk for fast movement.. it's developed some ghosting issues as the panel started failing.

Any thoughts, comments, concerns, or suggestions would be appreciated. Would just love some feedback, especially from those on 1440p already or have experience with them or gaming IPS. Regardless of panel type, I plan on going gsync, as stutter causes my motion sickness to flare up.

Thanks in Advance!

[TorTorden]

I'm the weird guy who picked a VA panel when I got a new screen, TN is out for me due the 6 bit colour resolution, And I much prefer slightly deeper blacks than IPS grey.

As with any monitor these days, finding something that lets you adjust the backlight brightness is highly recommended.
Honestly a requirement these days.
Oddly enough the guys who wrote the interface for mine has never touched screens before so the brightness setting actually sets the brightness setting, instead of like normal control black level threshold.

But basically when I first got the screen I immediately had to set this from it's arbitrary 80% to 20% something before I could look at it without squinting, it was just to darn bright, after dropping the light output it's fine.

Doesn't really matter, any LCD type screen these days are SUPER BRIGHT!.

I did then pick http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-s34e790c-review it's biggest problem is a little ghosting for gaming but nothing more really than my older TN's. And backlight uniformity is going to be bad on everything unless you get an OLED, and then you switch that for poor white uniformity.
Of course not for you since this isn't Gsync, but just throwing my two cents in.

And it's not really seeing it's justified use now that I do most gaming in VR ;P
Which I find simply awesome.

[Darr Valen]

I'm the weird guy who picked a VA panel when I got a new screen, TN is out for me due the 6 bit colour resolution, And I much prefer slightly deeper blacks than IPS grey.

As with any monitor these days, finding something that lets you adjust the backlight brightness is highly recommended.
Honestly a requirement these days.
Oddly enough the guys who wrote the interface for mine has never touched screens before so the brightness setting actually sets the brightness setting, instead of like normal control black level threshold.

But basically when I first got the screen I immediately had to set this from it's arbitrary 80% to 20% something before I could look at it without squinting, it was just to darn bright, after dropping the light output it's fine.

Doesn't really matter, any LCD type screen these days are SUPER BRIGHT!.

I did then pick http://www.trustedreviews.com/samsung-s34e790c-review it's biggest problem is a little ghosting for gaming but nothing more really than my older TN's. And backlight uniformity is going to be bad on everything unless you get an OLED, and then you switch that for poor white uniformity.
Of course not for you since this isn't Gsync, but just throwing my two cents in.

And it's not really seeing it's justified use now that I do most gaming in VR ;P
Which I find simply awesome.

New TN panels like the Asus model are 8bit.

Since I'm going to be panel gaming, Gsync really is a requisite of any monitor I get. The Witcher 3 has really made that a future proof requirement.. VR really isn't a consideration in my purchasing this time. Maybe in 2-3 years.

My current 2 primary use screens are Asus and Acer. Neither properly allows the direct backlight control, which is a pain.

OLED isn't in my budget. I just don't see the point of OLED screens before 2018.

I'd considered 21:9, but decided again it. The only Gsync, or over-60Hz screens are $1100 here. And I really don't want a 34" screen. If samsung made a gsync monitor that would do 100Hz, I'd buy it.. but they don't. I love Samsung panels otherwise.

If I had a VR HMD, I'd get a large panel that just looked good for cinema mode, but I'm going to game on a screen first and foremost.

Thanks for the input though. I just hate not knowing if my IPS issues are IPS in general, the eyestrain I was under, or just this cheap Acer IPS.

[RadioActiveLobster]

I have the XB27OHU (it's an IPS panel BTW) and it's amazing. Best monitor I've ever owned.

I don't have any issues with the eyestrain you are talking about (and I had to have eye surgery my vision was so bad) but I highly recommend this monitor.

My only regret with this monitor is that it's not a 21:9 monitor. The 21:9 1440p G-Sync panels are way too expensive.

[Darr Valen]

I have the XB27OHU (it's an IPS panel BTW) and it's amazing. Best monitor I've ever owned.

I don't have any issues with the eyestrain you are talking about (and I had to have eye surgery my vision was so bad) but I highly recommend this monitor.

My only regret with this monitor is that it's not a 21:9 monitor. The 21:9 1440p G-Sync panels are way too expensive.

Do you know if it backlight controls? The 270 is one of the 4 I'm actively looking at. My biggest hesitation with Acer is the customer support. Had an acer laptop years ago, and it required constant repairs, and the support was atrocious.

And yeah, the 1440p 21:9 are too much. Heck, $800 is too much, but eh, I don't want to be on a 1080p monitor in 5 years. Feels like we can thank HMDs for this pricing.. "Price this to compete with a VR headset, and add more to that price" seems to be the current logic. Unless 1440 panels are somehow that much more expensive to manufacture.

I wish I could easily goto a big box store and just checkout the monitors plugged into an awesome gaming rig.. but that's no longer the case. Half the time the monitors are unplugged completely. How that's support to help inform a decision is beyond me.

[RadioActiveLobster]

I don't think you can control the backlight on this monitor.

You can do the normal stuff. Brightness, contrast, color values, etc...

It does support the ULMB which does something to the backlight but I never use it because you can't use G-Sync with it enabled.

[Darr Valen]

I don't think you can control the backlight on this monitor.

You can do the normal stuff. Brightness, contrast, color values, etc...

It does support the ULMB which does something to the backlight but I never use it because you can't use G-Sync with it enabled.

Yeah, Gsync on is one of the main reasons I'm buying a new monitor, so ULMB will be disabled.
Have you tried running Gsync with vsync turned off and if so, how was it? I'd read that you can disable vsync with gsync on now.

Another session of The Witcher 3 and terrible stutter makes me wish someone had a 1080 FTW in stock locally.. It's just not getting better. Waiting for stock to refresh stinks. Buying anything in Q3 stinks for that matter.. worst time of year to buy tech.

[blazingmaniac]

This thread could not have popped up at a better time for me, I am torn as to what monitor to go for as well. I just cannot decide between the Ultra wide 1440p or the full 4k.
I am currently running 3x 24" 1080p Samsung monitors and I do love the surround view. GPU is a 980ti and it runs pretty much everything rock solid, GTA being the exception unsurprisingly.
I have been very seriously contemplating the ASUS PG348Q for UWQHD 21:9 which is also G-Sync compatible.
For 4k alternative, probably something along the lines of the Acer Predator 321HK again this comes with G-Sync.

I know I wont get full frame rates with my current card but I am happy to wait until the 1080ti's make an appearance then probably jump to one of those at some point.
At least with G-Sync it will run smoothly on either screen. My reservations are if I get the 1440p screen will I ultimately then want to change again when 4k really takes off which it inevitably will.

Ideally i'd like to see these in the flesh and hooked up to a PC so I can make a better informed decision but that's seemingly nigh on impossible here in the UK.

[Darr Valen]

This thread could not have popped up at a better time for me, I am torn as to what monitor to go for as well. I just cannot decide between the Ultra wide 1440p or the full 4k.
I am currently running 3x 24" 1080p Samsung monitors and I do love the surround view. GPU is a 980ti and it runs pretty much everything rock solid, GTA being the exception unsurprisingly.
I have been very seriously contemplating the ASUS PG348Q for UWQHD 21:9 which is also G-Sync compatible.
For 4k alternative, probably something along the lines of the Acer Predator 321HK again this comes with G-Sync.

I know I wont get full frame rates with my current card but I am happy to wait until the 1080ti's make an appearance then probably jump to one of those at some point.
At least with G-Sync it will run smoothly on either screen. My reservations are if I get the 1440p screen will I ultimately then want to change again when 4k really takes off which it inevitably will.

Ideally i'd like to see these in the flesh and hooked up to a PC so I can make a better informed decision but that's seemingly nigh on impossible here in the UK.

I would like to do 4k60 without gsync if it was UHD. It would be ideal in most games, minus Elite that needs more than 60FPS to make the SRV.. bearable. (sim sickness is real..) But I don't think I can achieve the target frame rate with a 1080, and my 780, while able to run 4k.. couldn't run it well. I dunno if I want to risk 4K on the off chance of getting a 1080, an titan X Pascal, or 2 1080/1080ti down the road. I am essentially gambling on SLI being better than SLI is, and games supporting that. Or I'm paying $1,200 for a single GPU, that isn't twice the performance of the 1080, and would possibly be unable to achieve 4k60 in the games that are out now anyway. 4k60 w/Gsync would be doubling the price, but unlike the 2k144, I likely would be unable to get to 60.

If I knew the Ti's were coming in the next month or two, I'd find a monitor and wait for a GPU.. It's really a crapshoot at this point, since September is normally early for GPU releases from Nvidia. But my 780 needs to be replaced.. I hate having to turn on motion blur, but I've done it. The Witcher 3 in Toussaint is so stutter-y that when I turn my head, it was making me sick after a while. I just can't keep the 60fps target without dipping.. Then again, I never meant to stay single gpu with this rig, and it wasn't worth upgrading later. If my current monitor had gsync, it would be a non-issue.. but this is quite an old panel for what it is. Besides, it's time to move on and get something new that will allow me to max TW3, and run titles decently high for another 3-5 years.

As to the best path, I am still completely undecided.. I wish Captain Hindsight would travel back from the future and tell me.

[CMDR Abil Midena]

This thread could not have popped up at a better time for me, I am torn as to what monitor to go for as well. I just cannot decide between the Ultra wide 1440p or the full 4k.
I am currently running 3x 24" 1080p Samsung monitors and I do love the surround view. GPU is a 980ti and it runs pretty much everything rock solid, GTA being the exception unsurprisingly.
I have been very seriously contemplating the ASUS PG348Q for UWQHD 21:9 which is also G-Sync compatible.
For 4k alternative, probably something along the lines of the Acer Predator 321HK again this comes with G-Sync.

I know I wont get full frame rates with my current card but I am happy to wait until the 1080ti's make an appearance then probably jump to one of those at some point.
At least with G-Sync it will run smoothly on either screen. My reservations are if I get the 1440p screen will I ultimately then want to change again when 4k really takes off which it inevitably will.

Ideally i'd like to see these in the flesh and hooked up to a PC so I can make a better informed decision but that's seemingly nigh on impossible here in the UK.

I am lookinig at the same monitors and looked at 1440p or 2160. Currently running 3x32" 5760x1080 on a EVGA 1080. Also have SSD, 16 GB ram, SBz sound, and i7 2700k.
I thought about getting the 4k and running 1440p if my system couldn't handle 4k for a particular game, but I've read that running 1440p on a 4k looks bad/blurry. Also, running 1080 on a 4k can look worse than 1080 on a 1080 depending on the monitor.
Even with the EVGA 1080, I don't think I'll be able to run games at 4k, and definitely not at 4k with max graphics settings. IRC, I set SS in ED to 1.5 to simulate 4k load (pixel count 6.2M @ 5760, 8.3M @4K, 9.3M @ 5760 w/1.5 SS) and saw 40's in the stations. And planets are always worse than stations, and they will add planets with atmos, which will be worse than that...
I play Witcher 3 at 5760 and get mid 50's...4k would probably be in the low 40's.
It just seems like there's no way to game at 4k right now. With the shit "improvements" in CPU's over the last 4 yrs, I doubt a newer CPU would help much.
This puts me back at 1440p like the OP, and I get in a feedback loop about it not being much better than 1080 and wanting 4k.