[PCM2]

I don’t have any experience with the AOC AG251FZ2 nor any user feedback to share. It isn’t actually available from AOC Europe, so isn’t a product that serves my region. It uses a newer panel variant than the Alienware, so it should have some pixel response time improvements for some of those “slower transitions” which we describe on some of our reviews. The ViewSonic XG2530 is a good reference for that, because it uses the same panel as the Alienware and there are some transitions which are noticeably slower than optimal at 240Hz. They’re not super-slow, mind, and most transitions are still fast enough for a solid performance – you can see that from the UFO Motion Test pursuit photos.

[ccgb]

I went with the Alienware AW2518HF, hope it suits me!

Thanks for the help, I’ll post my review when it arrives.

[PCM2]

Any thoughts to share, ccgb?

[sykiie]

Hey guys, i want to write my thoughts about XL2411P. Firstly, thanks to Adam Simmons (PCM2) so much i got help from him and he answered my questions really fast. Why i bought this monitor?
I bought it because i’m a tryhard fps player so i dont need gsync or freesync because they are adding input lag so i dont like them. I just needed the best monitor for gaming and Adam suggested this monitor to me. [XG240R and XG2402 isn’t available on my country.] Its true that colors are washed out but i did a few settings and its really good now. I didn’t try this monitor on gaming. If you have any questions to me, please ask from this thread.

[PCM2]

Thanks for posting, sykiie and I’m glad you’ve managed to get an acceptable image out of the monitor. I look forward to your thoughts when you’ve managed to do some gaming on it as well, I hope you enjoy the experience. 🙂

[MK]

The current PCMonitors recommendation is the XG2402 or XG240R. I think this should be changed.

I tested two XG2402‘s. Coming from a BenQ XL2411z (older version of XL2411p), the viewing angles are much worse to the point where there is no distance/angle from the monitor I can sit at in order for it to display accurately. Nothing seems better on the XG2402. The motion blur is pretty bad, and even my “slower” VA panel seems to have less motion blur (not counting the smearing of blacks). The colors are no better than the XL2411z once you change the XL2411z from the bad default settings. Nothing seems better on this monitor. The XG2402 and XG240R seem to be rated higher on various sites solely due to being technically faster, as well as having Freesync feature.

1. If they really are faster, it’s a trivial amount. I’m a long-time high-level competitive FPS player and the differences even among VA, IPS, and TN seem trivial with the exception being where it manifests in an obvious way, such as the high contrast smearing on my AOC C27G1 VA.

2. I think Freesync is highly overrated. Most competitive gamers don’t use it, and I would argue that for casual games vsync is fine. And you can’t even use it if you have motion blur reduction on.

I think the recommendation should be changed to whatever 144hz TN monitor has the best viewing angles, blacks/contrast ratio, and least back light bleed and other defects.

I am thinking the BenQ XL2731, 27″, 144Hz, 1080P $270-330, might be a better option.

The XG240R not having a 27″ version is also something to keep in mind. 27″ is much more immersive in games, and 1080p in games seems fine, and you have to pay hundreds more (double the cost of a good 1080p GFX card) on a better graphics card to get high FPS on 1440p.

[PCM2]

I appreciate your feedback, but disagree with your conclusion. The recommendation is based not only on my own personal experiences with the ViewSonic XG series, BenQ XL series and various other models sharing the panel. But also a significant volume of feedback from users, some of whom have also compared BenQ’s XL models to the ViewSonic XG and other related models.

– The BenQ XL2411Z and ViewSonic models use exactly the same panel. The AUO M240HW01 V8. There shouldn’t be significant viewing angle differences if both models are calibrated in the same way. Although with the absolute inconsistency of the panel used it wouldn’t surprise me if there was something of a lottery going on between units in here. The difference here may be the gamma calibration or something else related to image setup as well – if contrast is lower or gamma is lower, shifts are going to be less noticeable.

– Due to massive gamma variation between panels, there can be gamma issues with the BenQ that can’t be effectively overcome in the OSD. The flexibility you get with the ViewSonic models makes a big difference for some users, you’re able to counteract dodgy gamma more effectively. The BenQ’s gamma tracking is highly unconventional and needs to be corrected by profiling in most cases. The XL2420Z is very similar so a good point of reference in terms of how weird (and uncorrectable in the OSD) the gamma behaviour is.

– The main issue with responsiveness on the BenQ is overshoot. If you don’t notice it, that’s good. But many users do and they dislike it.

– Quite a few gamers play a mixture of competitive and casual games and appreciate Adaptive-Sync.

Having said that, for competitive gaming only I don’t think the BenQ models are a bad choice at all. The XL2411 series offers a decent strobe backlight setting as well. The ViewSonic models lack such a setting entirely. Not all competitive gamers care for this and some prefer not to use such a setting – some also prefer higher frame rates and refresh rates without such a setting, which is the experience 240Hz models provide. I’m aware you don’t care for them yourself and not everyone sees or feels a positive difference, but there are plenty who do appreciate the 240Hz and very high frame rate combination.

[MK]

Yeah, I bought the BenQ XL2731, 27″, 144Hz, 1080P TN and it does have the same viewing angle problem as the XG2402, but maybe because the panel is bigger and thus I can put it further away, it’s reduced a bit.

Possibly the contrast ratio is a bit better, but the backlight evenness isn’t great.

It also has the same AOC C27G1 smearing/flickering issue on high contrast areas, but just to a much smaller degree.

I think my AOC C27G1 has more backlight bleed than the one you tested. With less BLB on the AOC I think it would be the clear winner because the medium amount of motion blur on the TN panels has a similar impact as the smearing/flickering in that it forces you to not focus while panning, so maybe nullifies/evens out the VA issue a bit.

[PCM2]

We didn’t test the C27G1 (I assume you were comparing to the C24G1 we tested?) There are of course similarities between the two, but some differences other than size to be aware of as well. Just for reference.

[freedom117]

Interested in what you guys recommend for gaming (CSGO). Benq seems to be the standard for pro players. I will take whatever I can afford. My budget is 150£ -200£ what should i pay for the best bang for my buck?

[PCM2]

Hi freedom117,

I’ve merged your thread with this one as it’s a suitable place. It hasn’t been updated for a little bit and I appreciate the pricing and availability of some of the options has changed a bit now. And some further models are now available. With that said, if your primary focus is rapid pixel responses and low input lag then the BenQ ZOWIE XL2411P or newer XL2411K would fit your usage profile and budget. Frankly, though, I’ve recommended models like the EX2510 even for competitive play and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. It has lower overshoot than the BenQ ZOWIE XL series models which even some CSGO players can appreciate. Whilst the pixel responses are still rapid overall and input lag nice and low. It has good flexibility with its pixel response settings, actually more so than the BenQ ZOWIE XL series models.

The Blur Reduction mode (strobe backlight) is also quite well-implemented should you wish to use that. Although I’d say the same about the XL2411P in that respect and also the DyAc setting on the XL2411K. We’re currently reviewing the 27″ MOBIUZ (EX2710) which should give you and others reading this thread a good idea of what to expect from the smaller and cheaper EX2510 as well. The MOBIUZ models I’d tend to recommend more to users who care about a mixture of colour quality and responsiveness, but as I’ve said I’ve received good feedback from users who do game on them competitively. And this is backed up by reviews of the EX2510 and will be reinforced by our review of the EX2710, too.

[PCM2]

Relevant to this thread – our review of the BenQ EX2710 has been published.

[freedom117]

I thought you would like to know I bought the samsung 27″ CRG5 240Hz and its pretty sweet

[PCM2]

I’m glad you’re enjoying the experience it offers! 🙂 This is also why I often tell users to give VA models a chance, including the CQ27G2(U) which we recommend. Weaknesses in pixel responsiveness are there on both of these models, but they don’t bother everyone. And the image they produce, especially in terms of contrast, can certainly be attractive. Plus there are nice benefits to the high refresh rate on models like the CQ27G2(U) even if pixel responsiveness isn’t optimal.

[mokal]

I need a new budget monitor for casual CSGO gaming and I decided to go with the AOC 24G2U but it is now sold out in many shops in my country with the price now being £185. Would you still recommend this screen or would another one be a better choice considering the higher price for the AOC? For example, the price for the BenQ EX2510 is £230 but I have also looked at ASUS VG259Q (£200) and VG249Q (£185).

[PCM2]

I recommend the EX2510 through our review of its 27″ brother and also the dedicated recommendations section where it’s listed alongside it as an alternative. It has very good pixel response tuning, better than the other models you’re considering. And is a nicely calibrated monitor with good OSD flexibility and a nice featureset.

[mokal]

Thank you. I did read your review of the 27″ EX2710 but thought it was difficult to tell how much better than the 24G2U it was, and if it was worth the extra price. Thanks for clarifying that to me. I think I will buy the BenQ then.

[PCM2]

Whether it’s “better” is subjective and depends what you want from the experience really. I’d recommend reading this post which compares the 24.5″ AUO panel used in the EX2510 (and Acer XB253Q GP used as an example there) with the 23.8″ Panda panel of the AOC 24G2U we reviewed. The 24G2U was used as a reference for responsiveness in the EX2710 review and was clearly a bit weaker than the BenQ at 144Hz. It wasn’t the sort of dramatic difference everyone would notice, but it was certainly there and demonstrated in the review. The other differences stem from colour gamut and consistency, as described in that post I linked to which compares those AUO and Panda panels. 🙂

Don’t get too bogged down in all this, though. If the BenQ is available and you’re happy with the price then just go for it and don’t look back. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience as many others I’ve recommended the monitor to have done as well.

[Isabella]

I’ve been using Alienware 25 AW2518Hf Monitor and it is one of the best monitor I’ve used. It has 240 Hz refresh rate, 24″ display, and you can also increase your brightness to 450 nits. It’s been almost 6 months that I’ve bought this monitor. If you want to go this monitor I’m 100% sure you will be more than happy with this monitor and you will not regret this.

[PCM2]

Hi Isabella,

Glad you’re enjoying the monitor! I slipped your post into this thread as it’s discussed earlier in this thread. But I realise you may not use it for FPS gaming, specifically. I’ve certainly received some good positive feedback on that model over the years, it’s a well-built monitor that people tend to enjoy for gaming.

Just to note that the AW2518HF has been discontinued in most regions and replaced by the AW2521HF, which we recommend.

[Author]

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