[Arglebarf]

Anybody tried this one or read any reviews? Coming up blank on tftcentral, rtings, pcmonitors, etc. 75 Hz QHD IPS looks good on paper, but I am nervous without any measurements of panel uniformity or input lag.

I’m in the market for a 27-32 inch QHD monitor, but so far nothing seems to fit the bill. My use case is 30% gaming, 50% reading/coding, 20% video. Accurate color is a must and I will hardware calibrate. Needs to be able to hit >= 72 Hz natively or by overclock. I play a lot of local co-op with the kids, so viewing angles are important.

For a bit of background , I am currently using a Dell U2414H (overclocked to 72 Hz), which I love save for the grainy anti-glare coating. It is feeling a bit cramped though at 24″ FHD, though. A few mod cons like USB pass-through wouldn’t go astray, either.

I have tried 3 of the AUO high refresh rate IPS panels (2 x AOC, 1 Asus PG279Q), but all were RMA’ed due to bright yellow BLB/glow in the corners. It might be OK in Overwatch, but try playing Elite Dangerous with a bright yellow bloom in one corner! I have a S2716DG, which is getting RMA’ed for a backlight defect (weird ~3mm bright light behind the LCD). It is reviewed really well for a TN and calibrates to the “pretty good” color accuracy level, but I just can’ handle the viewing angles and poor contrast ratio. Thought about the LG 32gk850g, but blurry text and wonky viewing angles are deal breakers. G-sync and 100 Hz+ would be nice, but its not worth the panel lottery and sacrifice to image quality. TBH, the 20% FPS boost from 60 to 72 Hz when I found out my Dell could be overclocked was good enough for me. Fallback I guess would be the (sadly not overclockable) U2715H, but I am curious how this panel performs.

[PCM2]

Hi Arglebarf,

It sounds from your previous experiences that a 75Hz WQHD monitor would make sense. I’m afraid I can’t shed any light on the HP Z27N G2. One of the reasons you don’t find reviews of any HP products from myself or many HP products from TFT Central and others is because they are seemingly uninterested in providing any samples to review. So you tend to need to rely more on user feedback, which can of course be useful in itself but in this case is still lacking. The only review on Amazon in the US essentially screams out to me that this monitor has obvious dynamic interlace pattern artifacts. Refer to this passage of a review of ours which discusses these for a good description of what that means. Alternatively it could have been something else the user was picking up on, he could’ve had a faulty unit or could’ve been sitting far too close to the screen.

If you’re interested in a solid WQHD monitor that can run happily at 75Hz, then I can recommend the Dell S2719DM. There were no dynamic interlace patterns on this one, either. I appreciate the lack of ergonomic flexibility and potentially price might not be ideal compared to the HP, but it’s a safer bet if those aspects don’t matter so much. Although you did mention finding the U2414H’s screen surface ‘too grainy’, so you may not be impressed by that aspect of this model. Tough to say, but it’s some way between the U2414H and the WQHD models you’ve already tried in that respect.

[Arglebarf]

Thanks! That explains a lot. I gather HP prefers to keep their heads down and push out volume to a primarily office-based customer base. Still, even their Omen branded stuff doesn’t show up in media as much as you would expect from a tentpole branding project.

The S2719DM seems nice, but the lack of connectivity options puts modding a VESA mount onto it into the “more trouble than it’s worth” category. I think I may wait a few months to see what the new LG IPS panels look like. It also seems like the Ultrasharps are due for a refresh any day now as well, so we’ll see.

I wouldn’t say that the U2414H’s AG is bad, just a tiny fraction too matte for my ideal case. The standard sort of semi-gloss/light matte that seems to be standard on IPS panels these days is about perfect for me. I really have found it to be a gold standard for a non-gaming/studio monitor, much like the beloved 5:4 Samsung that was the first non-CRT that I really got on well with.

[Minibjorn]

Greetings

You could look at the Iiyama XUB2792QSU. It’s hard to find any real reviews of it though, so if you go looking you’ll have to rely on user feedback. But it carries a nice price tag for a 27″ 1440p 3/4 bezel-less IPS monitor, that has a USB 3.0 hub & full VESA mount support, but it’s own stand does not seem too poor either.

Happy hunting 🙂

[PCM2]

That is certainly one to consider, but does this run happily at 72-75Hz? If not then it doesn’t really fit what the OP was looking for. In many markets it isn’t particularly cheap, either, and the BenQ GW2765HT (or HE) would be a better, more widely available and more widely praised choice. And apparently that does overclock to 75Hz with no issue (although as always, mileage may vary).

[Minibjorn]

I cannot answer for prices in his area, here in Denmark.
IIyama XUB2792QSU-B1 is ~390$
BenQ GW2765HT is ~375$
BenQ GW2765HE is ~315$
*All listed prices are with our 25% VAT & shipping*
So it is the most expensive of the three… but prices can vary depending on location. For a comparison the Dell S2719DM is ~450$ here.

As far as it running at ~75Hz, from what I have read it can be CRUed to do a 30-74Hz FreeSync range, which would also mean it would gain LFC support…
But I do not own one, so I cannot say from personal experience if they can all do that, or the people who posted had good examples.

[Arglebarf]

I wound up picking up an LG 32GK850G. So far, I mostly like it. The colors are great, with little discernible difference to my U2414H after calibration (RMS dE=0.27, max dE=0.97). I would agree with the Lim’s Cave assessment that colors look rich and natural without oversaturation. Viewing angles are pretty good, a far cry from the horror I was expecting from IPS proponents’ assessments of VA panels. The most noticeable effect is the coning that results in a slight dimming at the edges, but in all honesty I never found IPS’s illumination angles to be perfectly uniform either. I can handle angular variability of luminance, but I just could not deal with the yellow shift I was getting from the TN of the SD2716DG, just from tilting my head to the side.

Even at a relatively low contrast for VA of 2300:1 following calibration, video and games look amazing. I never realized how much more atmospheric things look with a bigger dynamic range, although there is some black crush that needs to be dealt with by in-game settings. Smearing is minimal, with nothing I can notice in games or movies. I do see some chromatic aberration and overshoot around the edges of black on white/white on black text while scrolling, but it is pretty minor and only perceptible when I concentrate on looking for it. Certainly nothing on par with the insane grey to black smearing on the OLED of my Samsung S2 tablet.

One thing that does bother me is the sharpness, which seems to have something to do with the subpixel layout. Fonts and sharp edges appear a little fuzzy, which on closer inspection is similar to the “screen door” effect you get with VR or looking closely at low resolution displays. In practice the fuzziness is visually similar to running at non-native resolution. Windows clear type settings improve readability somewhat, but I would absolutely not use this monitor closer than 70-80 cm. Although I have a shallow desk, I mounted it on an arm that folds up to a slim profile, which manages to keep the screen at an acceptable distance. The included stand has a massive footprint, which makes it unsuitable for any surface less than at least a meter deep.

Not quite a perfect monitor, but a lot to like. Heck, the bias lighting is less dumb than I thought it would be and can even be, dare I say, tasteful.

[PCM2]

I’m glad you’re enjoying the 32GK850G, your thoughts are very similar to my own. The text issue is subpixel and rendering related, although most users find it tolerable (especially from 70cm+ as you suggest). I find it preferrable to the jagged and heavily fringed output of some models with similar subpixels, such as the XG32VQ.

BTW “Rich and natural without oversaturation” is something I mentioned and explored. Not sure if Lim did as well, but that is a very fair description of the general colour output :).

And thanks for input on the Iiyama, Minibjorn. The S2719DM does tend to be overpriced. Perhaps because of the nifty slender design… Or Dell factor. Or fake HDR that they try to push out as a great feature. 😉

[Arglebarf]

Apologies for the misattribution, I have been reading too many monitor reviews! I did find your video review especially helpful – detailed and focusing on real world use cases without prattling about packing materials, etc. The LG is a strange beast, so close to perfect, but the fuzzy edges put it right on the borderline of acceptable. The lack of a dedicated power button is a bit odd as well, but the deep sleep function seems to work as advertised. If text clarity wasn’t an issue, this monitor would be an unreserved recommendation, consider no alternatives. I will say that I would be hard pressed to go back to IPS for a gaming panel after getting a taste for VA’s contrast, but until there is a low glow/bleed successor to the AUO M270Q series that is sort of a moot point anyway.

[PCM2]

What monitor were you using before the LG, out of interest? It’s very subjective because the text issue doesn’t bother most users. Some of them don’t even notice it looks any different to a monitor of this pixel density, others clearly dislike it.

[Arglebarf]

Dell U2414H, which I have taken to the office to replace my employer-supplied ancient Dell cheapo TN. Same pixel size, but sharper edges. This is one of the few times when good eyesight is not working in my favor. Certain fonts and text/background color combinations fair better than others on the LG. I am getting used to it for reading, but it is not ideal for content work. Great for games and video, though.

[PCM2]

Sorry, I can see you mentioned that in your initial post (doh!) Yes, coming straight from a monitor with ‘normal’ subpixels and similar pixel density to this one would make the comparison quite stark. Hopefully you can continue to ‘get used to it’, so to speak. Having reviewed the G-SYNC model and now using the FreeSync model it’s something I notice but don’t find bothersome. I personally much prefer a higher pixel density than this model anyway, regardless of subpixel issues, so for me it’s never going to satisfy my text clarity preferences regardless.

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