[robw09]

Ok thanks for the update. I will report back the gaming credentials once I am able to.

[Albertron]

Hello. I currently have an LG 27GL850-B which has several faults, and I am going to return it to amazon. I’m happy with this monitor overall, except for the excessive IPS glow. I know this is common for IPS monitors, but in this case it’s too much. I like that it has almost no ghosting or blurring. I have been looking at possible replacements and the one I like the most is the samsung g7. I don’t know if the curve will be uncomfortable (I only use the monitor to play), it would gain in contrast although it would lose in colors. The MAG274QRF-QD also catches my attention. It also has a good response time like my current Lg and the samsung g7, and worse contrast than the samsung but better than the LG. Any recommendation different to these 2 monitors? I only use it to play

[PCM2]

That’s very much an apples to oranges comparison really, between the Odyssey G7 and MAG274QRF-QD. The ‘IPS glow’ would typically be somewhat lower on the MSI in comparison, but it can vary depending on how much backlight bleed or clouding a monitor has. And it is still very much a ‘feature’ there. If you didn’t already try, with any monitor (particular IPS but still applies to VA) I would strongly advise making sure the room lighting is appropriate. And using bias lighting behind the monitor if the room isn’t particularly bright – doesn’t work miracles, but does help with perceived contrast and takes an edge off the ‘IPS glow’. As pointed out in reviews, sitting closer to a monitor and using a higher brightness setting also exacerbates ‘IPS glow’.

With respect to the Samsung, I’d recommend reading through this thread if you haven’t already. It covers the usual points and some you may not have thought about. Including some thoughts on the contentious 1000R curve, which is always going to be subjective but in my view can be overwhelming even for some gaming. Linked to in that thread is this section of another 27″ model with 1000R curve, where I share further thoughts on that aspect.

[robw09]

I can tell you my personal experience. I too had shortlisted the LG, but ended up getting a Gigabyte Fl27Q. I found it noisy, but also the IPS glow was excessive and had a horrible hue. The MSI I replaced it with is much better in this regard. At this price point the MSI seems well regarded at most review sites.

[Albertron]

Thanks for the help. My current LG I have it at 25% brightness. I don’t like to have high brightness either on the monitor or on the plasma in the living room, I prefer less bright screens. And when I play at night, I play with a very dim backlight. Now I’m playing dark games, and the LG makes the experience bad. Above all there is IPS Glow in the lower left corner, and it is very large. I don’t know, I’ll think about it a bit but I think I’m going to choose my first option which is the samsung g7. If I don’t get used to the curve, I can always return it within 1 month and buy the MSI.

[PCM2]

Sounds like a good plan to me. I’d love to know your thoughts on the G7 and its curve (please feel free to post any thoughts you have on it over in this thread 🙂 ). It’s certainly a good idea to give yourself a good bit of time to try to adjust to it, as I definitely find it becomes more normal and less noticeable over time.

[Albertron]

I have finally ordered the samsung g7, after having processed the return of the LG. A friend is now asking me for advice on buying another monitor, but he doesn’t want it to be curved. He also wants it to play and with the same characteristics 1440p 144hz. Is there anything better than the MSI MAG274QRF-QD?

[PCM2]

The best thing you could do for your friend would be to direct him to this thread so he can make an informed choice. He needs to consider his preferences for aspects such as vibrancy and also price and availability. But let’s just say you could do a lot worse than the MSI MAG274QRF-QD, I feel it remains a unique choice and the price in many regions makes it a much more attractive option now than when it first launched. I’ve received a bit of feedback over on YouTube and by email that isn’t published here, which has generally been very positive on that model. It actually seems above average if anything in terms of QC and people generally find my main complaint (gamma) to be inconsequential to their enjoyment for general purpose usage. Some people are fussy about that, though, and don’t want to fully calibrate the monitor themselves or don’t have the means to do so. I’m surprised that a competing manufacturer still hasn’t provided something that equals it, actually. But that’s how things stand at the moment. 🙂

[EsaT]

LG’s 27″ 2560×1440 “Nano-IPS” panel based monitors are big no for any dimmer room illumination.
Have no idea what LG is smoking when making those, but contrast is blast from 15+ years ago and best described as scrappy.
And that low contrast affects to base level of backlight bleed before any IPS glow is added.
Who knows if that panel’s low light blocking ability (behind contrast) even rises brightness increase from IPS glow…
(4K/3840×2160 variant has normal IPS contrast)

AU Optronics panel in MAG274QRF-QD has 40+% higher contrast.
Also colour gamut is wider than in anything LG makes currently and covers also AdobeRGB giving deeper greens/cyan.
That gives very vibrant foliage/vegeration and sky/water in games depicting nature.

[Albertron]

My friend does not understand much about computers, and since he knows that I understand something, he passes on the responsibility of advising him on what is the best thing he can buy. I think I will recommend that MSI, reading your positive comments is a good safe purchase. Thank you very much!!!

[EsaT]

For gaming really only thing to keep in mind with MAG274QRF-QD is different overdrive modes being optimal for different frame rates.
For 100/120 fps and below gaming Normal would avoid overshoot.
And for frame rates above that Fast mode is more optimal.
Though normal mode would be far from the sluggiest for higher fps gaming.
And vice versa fps at which (better than usual controlled) overshoot artefacts of Fast mode become troublesome is down to user preferences.

But different overdrive mode being optimal for different frame rates is really the rule with most monitors.
And often good/bad for some fps differences are far harder cut with either response time becoming hopelessly slow for Hz, or overshoots becoming extreme.

Until we finally have some self emissive pixel tech replacing LCDs, response time/overdrive issues are here to stay.
(there might be possible way around assuming communication speed between controller and LCD can be increased enough)

[PCM2]

Some thoughts from Albertron on the Odyssey G7 shared over on this thread.

[AliveNoMore]

Hello.

Purchase was delayed a bit but the time has come.

I’ve narrowed it down to two models: BenQ EX2780Q (thanks for the recommendation last time) and MSI MAG274QRF-QD. The former can be found for about 370 USD/EUR (price converted for convenience), whereas the latter is around 433 USD/EUR. It is a price difference I’m willing to pay, especially since the MAG274QRF-QD has good ergonomics, whereas the EX2780Q doesn’t, which may necessitate me purchasing a 3rd party stand which would negate the price difference.
There is also the LG 27GP850-B but it is around 556 USD/EUR, and would definitely require a different stand, as the one it has would protrude awkwardly where it would be placed, so the total price is north of 600 USD/EUR, and I doubt it is justified in this case.

So far I’m leaning towards the MAG274QRF-QD.

Uses: (somewhat casual) gaming, lots Internet browsing, light coding, light media consumption.

Thoughts?

[PCM2]

Yeah, I certainly feel with the pricing and superior ergonomics in mind that the MAG274QRF-QD makes more sense. Whilst the BenQ EX2780Q remains a model people enjoy and is still one I’m happy to recommend as a budget option, you can also enjoy superior pixel responsiveness and vibrancy from the MSI. If you aren’t swayed by the BenQ styling, integrated speakers and OSD remote then you don’t really ‘lose out’ in any way by going with the MSI, either.

[AliveNoMore]

The overall design is unimportant to me, the integrated speakers are of zero value to me, and so is the OSD remote. So, based on your reply, I will assume that you consider the MAG274QRF-QD to be the overall better monitor in this case. 🙂

There is also the Gigabyte M27Q P.
I read your opinion about the former in another thread that it isn’t really a straight upgrade of the M27Q, and considering it is noticeably more expensive, I will conclude that the MAG274QRF-QD is the better pick overall.

The only that worries me is that MAG274QRF-QD‘s colors can look oversaturated. At least according to RTINGS’s review. Is this something a casual user such as myself should be concerned about, or is it relevant to professionals?

[PCM2]

The strong saturation of the MAG274QRF-QD is something some will find very appealing. I’d go as far as to say most, actually, because we’re quite used to strong saturation from wide gamut smartphones and TVs these days. All of the models you’re considering have a wide gamut and will natively show some degree of oversaturation – it’s just that the MAG274QRF-QD’s gamut is particularly wide so takes this to the extreme, pushing particularly far for the blue to green edge of the gamut which enhances the vibrancy of sky blues, ocean blues, vegetation etc.

The MSI also offers a range of emulation modes which clamp the gamut to sRGB, DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB if you prefer a certain look with reduced saturation in various areas of the gamut. The DCI-P3 mode will get things looking a bit more like the other models you’re considering in terms of saturation. Very few gaming monitors offer the amount of flexibility that the MSI does in terms of colour spaces, so with this amount of flexibility (and GPU-side alternatives for emulation should you need them) you shouldn’t worry about it.

[EsaT]

Just forget that LG completely.
It should be far cheaper for what it is:
For some inexplainable reason contrast of LG’s 27″ 2560×1440 “Nano-IPS” panels is blast from 15 years ago.
And even at best IPS doesn’t have any too good contrast to start with.
Any darker content would look bad without good level of room illumination.
So such bad contrast panel should belong toward cheaper product category.

For comparison MSI has 40+% higher contrast.
(unless LG has done something to panel silently maintaining same monitor name)

Wide gamut is entirely overblown non-problem/minor issue.
Monitor’s “driver” actually installs only ICC profile, which tells any colour space aware software how big gamut of monitor is allowing them to show sRGB content pretty accurately without oversaturation.
https://www.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-MAG274QRF-QD/support
(extract files and right click inf-file to select install)

For example standard image viewer of Windows has long used colour managing.
And Firefox has been able to do same for web pages for years.

And games are hardly thing where absolute colour accuracy has ever mattered.
Heck, GPU drivers even have saturation adjustments and can see people cranking that up. (or in game setting)
Same for any video viewers.

And compared to what image “improvement” processing TVs have done there’s no problem.
Once saw (IIRC) Samsung TV whose image from out of box had vomit inducing ugly skin colours.
(besides about everything oversaturated to clipping)
Even MSI like super wide gamut monitor produces far more natural look, if input signal is just neutral.
I have used similar gamut monitor nearly nine years!

As for using monitor’s inbuilt modes without any colour management on PC I wouldn’t recommend DCI-P3 mode.
It actually wouldn’t help to the normally worst problem of oversaturation: That skin colour.
With DCI-P3’s strong emphasis on red extension it would distort skin colour far more than AdobeRGB mode.

[AliveNoMore]

So, the MAG274QRF-QD it is then! Many thanks for your insight!

[PCM2]

True enough, DCI-P3 will give a sun kissed or overly rich look to many skin tones and also give a red push to many brown and reddish brown shades (tree trunks, earthy browns etc.) Although Adobe RGB brings out oranges very strongly and can give certain red shades an overly orange rather than ‘pure red’ appearance, whilst also giving some greens of vegetation a bit of a neon look. Overdone yellowish greens and just an overly bright and eye-catching appearance to some green shades. Personal preferences will still dictate which is preferred – or of course the full native gamut, which as you say still gives a balanced and varied look which is unlike what you’d get with certain TV processing. IT’s also superior to what you’d get from a digital saturation boost (OSD saturation slider, Nvidia ‘Digital Vibrance Control’ etc.) which just pulls shades closer to the edge of the gamut without expanding the gamut itself. With that digital boost you lose variety and don’t gain the saturation levels provided by a wider gamut, either. I certainly like that the MSI gives the flexibility for all of these ‘looks’.

[PCM2]

A few posts have been moved over to this thread as it’s a more appropriate place. Please do share your thoughts on the model in the thread you’re currently viewing (“Making sense of the current 27″ 1440p ~144Hz IPS segment”) – this is a perfect place for such things. 🙂

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