[PCM2]

Hi pretoastedwaffle,

That’s ultimately too subjective. It’s good enough for most users, some prefer stronger pixel responsiveness. The responsiveness is explored in quite some detail in the review and comparisons with a Nano IPS model are drawn. The review will give you the best idea of what to expect short of using the monitor yourself. There’s nothing more I can add to that, really. Threads like this one draw further comparisons.

[supersood]

I appreciate your suggestion for the Gigabyte M27Q. I’ve taken a look at it and it seems like a wonderful monitor, however like you said, the 10w USB-C power delivery is an issue. Since you mentioned there is a gap in the market, I hope that there soon will be monitors in 2021 that provide a 1440p panel with sufficient power delivery through a USB-C port. Something along the lines of 60w would be great. My question for you now is, are there any 27 inch 1080p/144hz monitors with a USB-C port that have sufficient power delivery to charge laptops? I know there are plenty of 4k/60 panels that have USB-C ports which provide 60PD such as the LG 27UN850-W. In fact, I was considering this monitor as well but after some thought I really wanted to enjoy FPS games like COD/Destiny 2 at 120fps on the Playstation 5.

I’d say, my main priority is providing a “one cable solution” to my laptop for displaying video and sufficient charge. Gaming comes after this priority. Therefore, it’s either I go 4K/60 or 1080p/144hz since there are currently no 1440p monitors that provide enough USB-C PD. I found that the MSI Optix MAG274R is a relatively new monitor that provides 1080p/144hz with a USB-C port as well. However, the PD through this USB-C port is only 15w which still seems too low for charging a laptop. My thought process now is, since there are no 1440p monitors that provide enough PD through USB-C, I’m fine with settling for either 1080p/144hz or 4k/60hz as long as the monitor has a USB-C port that provides sufficient power. Both of these resolutions are supported by the Playstation 5 too which is great. It seems like it’s just very hard to find a 1080p/144hz or 1440p/144hz monitor that has a USB-C port with enough PD. I understand this gap though since majority of the consumers of these monitors are using PCs capable of handling high frame rate games through HDMI or DisplayPort and don’t really have a need for the USB-C port. I suppose I’m part of a very niche community which makes this a bit of a problem for me.

[PCM2]

Unfortunately the gap extends to high refresh rate Full HD models as well. It’s really only something manufacturers add to productivity-oriented screens, so the only high refresh rate models I’m currently aware of offering decent PD via USB-C are UltraWides. 100Hz ones, also aimed at productivity.

[supersood]

Ah I see. I don’t know much about UltraWide monitors in terms of support with the Playstation 5 as well as overall gaming on them. I guess my only option is to just settle for a 4K/60 panel with a USB-C port capable of sufficient PD. I imagine playing FPS shooters at 60fps will still be a refreshing experience as I’ve been used to the 30fps on old generation consoles. Like I said I’m no competitive gamer who needs the fastest response times or 240hz+ frame rates. I was hoping for a 144hz panel but given the gaps in the market, I’ll purchase a a 4k/60 and just keep hoping something will release in the future that fits my needs. I’ve found two options, the previously mentioned LG 27UN850-W as well as the Phillips Brilliance 272P7VUBNB. Both of these panels are 4k/60hz IPS panels with USB-C ports capable of 60-65w PD and both have response times of 5ms(GtG). I understand that this isn’t the ideal 1ms response time gamers would prefer, but do you think I’ll actually notice a difference that would make playing games unenjoyable?

[PCM2]

1ms response times are a load of misleading rubbish anyway. And entirely unnecessary on a 60Hz monitor even if they were actually possible on an LCD for more than just a select few transitions (complete with ridiculous levels of overshoot). As noted in the same article, UltraWide support is non-existent on games consoles. As a secondary use with the console you can run them as a smaller 16:9 screen, but I think it’s better to stick to an actual 16:9 screen really. The large black bars at the side can be a nuisance and there’s just too much wasted physical space. Some people would find that too annoying, but as with many things it’s subjective.

It’s a fair point that you’re quite used to a ~30fps experience so having ~60fps more of the time would feel like a nice upgrade. The LG 27UN850 is just a newer version of the 27UL850 and should be very similar, just like the 27UK850 before it. I’ve made quite a few comments on those models elsewhere on the forum, they’re decent all-round performers and seem to tick the important boxes for you. I couldn’t say how the Philips 272P7VUBNB compares as I haven’t compared it or gathered any user feedback on it. One thing that sticks out to me on the Philips is the 122% sRGB colour gamut – it will give a more saturated and vibrant appearance to the image than the LG, but not to an extreme degree. This could be desirable or undesirable depending on how you prefer the image to be represented.

[supersood]

I’ve decided to drop the Phillips from my choices as I’ve previously owned an LG monitor and had a great experience throughout the ownership, therefore I’ll stick with LG. I also did find another model to consider, BenQ EW2780U. This is a 4K/60hz IPS Panel with a USB-C port capable of 60w PD, just like the LG. However, they’re selling for around $50-$130 more than the LG model. I’m trying to see if the difference in price is worth it. So far the specifications seem to be quite similar among the two. The BenQ offers “Cinema HDRi, Flicker-free Technology, Low Blue Light, Brightness Intelligence Plus (B.I.+), Color Weakness, ePaper, Eye Reminder, Smart focus and super Resolution.” If I’m being honest, I don’t know what any of that really means and they sound like a bunch of marketing nonsense, I could be wrong though. The LG model has a huge plus for me which is that it is equipped with USB downstream ports. Also, the LG comes with stand that has more adjustability than the BenQ. Can you catch any valuable differences that justify purchasing the BenQ over the LG? Also, since the LG 27UK850, 27UL850 and 27UN850 are nearly identical with release dates being the main difference, this makes it easier for me to find a model at a lower cost. However, do you think I should prefer a “UL” or “UN” model just because LG will probably be supporting those models with firmware updates longer than the “UK” model? Or, is there any other reason to prefer the “UL” or “UN” such as the HDR 400 certification?

[PCM2]

The LG ‘UK’ series models did indeed lack VESA HDR 400 support, but that was the only real difference introduced with the ‘UL’ models. And frankly the HDR support is so weak on any of these models that it isn’t worth differentiating them based on that. LG hasn’t made any noteworthy changes aside from that from their UK to UL series or UN series so don’t expect a mere firmware update to do anything miraculous. In terms of HDR they don’t offer a particularly high luminance, the colour gamut is far too narrow and they offer no local dimming. Most users would simply leave them set to SDR because their HDR implementation is flawed. The BenQ EW2780U shares these limitations.

I’d recommend reading our review of the EX2780Q and EW3280U for more about B.I.+, HDRi and BenQ’s Low Blue Light (LBL) implementations. The latter is good – better than what LG offers due to the flexibility and better balance to the image after activating it. But the LG models still offer a useable LBL setting (‘Reader Mode’) and the other BenQ features are, in my view, pointless additions. I wouldn’t pay extra for the EW2780U based on those features and I think elsewhere the LG models are too similar really. The integrated TreVolo speakers on BenQ models are usually relatively good as well, at least compared to most integrated speakers. Maybe not a feature you care about and with the EW2780U you don’t get the integrated subwoofer found on the other BenQ models I just highlighted.

[pretoastedwaffle]

Thank you for replying, I guess it might just come down to me ordering the BenQ and testing it with the Xbox Series X.

I have a question about response times as well: what I’ve noticed from some rtings.com reviews is that a few monitor’s will have an incredibly quick response time at 120hz but a relatively slow response time at 60hz. If I was using one of these monitors with a 60fps game on the Xbox series X , would I get the response time at 120hz or would I get the response time of 60hz as it would only be 60fps?

The VG27AQ is one example where the response time is very slow at 60hz even though it is very fast at 120hz.

[PCM2]

Make sure you pay attention to the overdrive setting being used, it’s usually different and that explains why the figures are very different. The reason RTINGS will often select a lower overdrive setting for a lower refresh rate is to minimise overshoot. The pixel response time requirements for a good performance at 60Hz are much lower than at higher refresh rates. So using the same strength of overdrive (same voltage surges) as at higher refresh rates makes no sense. It generally just introduces overshoot without offering any real benefit in terms of reduced perceived blur. This is why we often bring up the concept of variable overdrive when talking about Adaptive-Sync in reviews (including that of the BenQ EX2780Q) and why the pursuit photographs often show a different overdrive setting being optimal at 60Hz vs much higher refresh rates.

[pretoastedwaffle]

Yeah I was quite confused as I couldn’t tell if it was the refresh rate or the FPS that determined the pixel response time for 60fps games.

So to clarify, the VG27AQ would not be the most suitable choice for playing Xbox series X games at 60fps (even when 120hz mode is on) as the pixel response time is not very good?

[PCM2]

That’s right. It’s not well balanced at 60Hz, which is why RTINGS settled for an ‘Trace Free’ (overdrive) level of ‘0’ at 60Hz. That gave slow pixel responses, but any higher (‘Trace Free = 20’) gave too much overshoot, so you can’t really get a good balance for 60Hz like you can with the EX2780Q.

[gunner7]

Hey man,

I had a question that I hope you could help us out with around freesync variable refresh rate. On the Series X for example, a game like Warzone will jump between 60-120 fps, so VRR is advantageous, but other games play at a pretty consistent 120fps like Cold War or Gears 5 (may dip to 110 in some fights for a second). Would there be any good reason to keep it enabled? I’m under the impression VRR adds a minimal amount of input lag, so for competitive play, would it be beneficial to turn it off in games that don’t have big fluctuation in fps?

[PCM2]

The Xbox Series X (and consoles in general) usually use VSync when VRR isn’t in use. VSync is applied if running a monitor at 120Hz with VRR enabled as well, if the frame rate reaches 120fps. So at a solid 120fps there’s no difference whether VRR is on or off. And counter-intuitively, with VRR on you’d get slightly lower latency during the dips and would also benefit from a lack of stuttering when that happens. In this scenario the technology is applied instead of VSync and confers a lower latency penalty. Having said that, I believe the Xbox Series X will sometimes disable VSync when the frame rate dips (VRR off, VSync off). But I don’t know how much it would need to dip for this to occur and which titles this would happen with. With VSync disabled (VRR off, VSync off) you’d get tearing that would be avoided when using VRR but you’d also get slightly lower latency.

I suggest trying both and seeing what you prefer. If you don’t feel/notice the difference yourself then what’s the issue? Most people are far less sensitive to latency than they think and it has much less of an effect on the competitive ability than they expect it will. I know it’s comforting to know it’s as low as it can possibly be, but don’t overthink it.

[gunner7]

Thanks for your detailed posts; I know many people appreciate it who are learning as I am. I had one more question I was hoping you could shed some light on – Regarding playing 60fps capped games on a higher refresh rate display (144hz), is there a benefit to having the console set to 120hz, or should it be changed to 60hz? If I left it at 120Hz, do you recommend Freesync on or off, or would it not make any difference in this scenario? Thanks for your time!

[PCM2]

Unless the monitor specifically has high input lag at 60Hz vs. 120Hz (some do), you could just leave it set to 60Hz. The EX2780Q‘s input lag is somewhat higher at 60Hz, for example, but not exactly “high”. With FreeSync you don’t need to worry about what refresh rate to set the monitor it really, other than the fact this will act as your upper limit, the whole point is it will set itself to an appropriate refresh rate matching or below what you set anyway. If you’re not using VSync or FreeSync you’ll get tearing in all cases, whilst setting the monitor to 120Hz with VSync and having the game run at 60fps will give some stuttering (unless the 60fps is super-solid and consistent). Again, it’s better to see this and have a play for yourself rather than theorising like that. Just use the settings you personally prefer, don’t let somebody else tell you what to do.

[RizzXbox]

Hi Guys

I’m going to be getting an Xbox Series X later on this year, out of the below options, which one would be the best to go for? If none of them, my budget is max £200.

Acer Nitro VG240YP
Acer TUF GAMING VG249Q
AOC 24G2U

I have decided that 24″ at 1080p with 144Hz is for me 🙂

[PCM2]

Hi RizzXbox,

I’ve merged your thread with this one as it’s a suitable place. As covered here my main Full HD recommendation for the Xbox Series X is the EX2510 (or EX2710). It offers superior pixel responsiveness and slightly improved colour consistency compared to the models you’re looking at. The 24.5″ AUO panel it uses is simply faster than the 23.8″ Panda panel and offers slightly improved viewing angle performance and shade consistency when viewed ‘head on’. That’s to say colours maintain their saturation and richness better towards the extreme edges of the screen. Of the models you’ve selected, though, I recommend the AOC 24G2U as it’s more vibrant and offers superior pixel responsiveness to the ASUS and Acer. You might find this comparison thread useful, which compares it to the ASUS. When reading that thread, remember that the Acer VG240YP is similar to the ASUS VG249Q.

It’s worth noting that not everybody likes the extra vibrancy and saturation offered by the colour gamut of the AOC, but if you don’t I’d take the BenQ over the other options you’re considering for reasons given above. It might also be worth reading through this thread for further insight into how the 23.8″ Panda panels and 24.5″ AUO panel compares. Or you can just stick with the recommendations given here and be assured thorough comparisons and analysis have already been made. 😉

[PCM2]

As promised we’ll be reviewing the BenQ Mobius EX in the not too distant future. Although the 27″ model (EX2710) rather than the 24.5″ EX2510. I appreciate some users prefer the larger screen for extra immersion and it can make sense if sitting a bit further back when playing on the console or watching movies etc. And it has been a while since I’ve looked at a 27″ Full HD screen. It should still give a good idea of what to expect from the 24.5″ model for those who prefer the smaller screen and tighter pixel density or just something slightly cheaper.

[pretoastedwaffle]

Good morning PCM,

It is quite possible that the Xbox Series X will get an update to support monitors with a non vesa standard refresh rate which could mean there are many more options for a 1440p 120hz+ console gaming monitor. The gigabyte M27Q looks incredible but the only thing that concerned me was the dynamic interlace pattern artifacts that you mentioned on the review of this monitor, as you mentioned that these interlace patterns were more noticeable at 60hz. So I sort of have two questions. Firstly, would these monitor artifcats be a major problem if I was gaming mostly at 60fps/hz? And if that were the case, would I be better going with the BENQ EX2780Q as the loss of a faster response time for no interlace pattern artifacts would be a better trade off?

[PCM2]

Moved your post over to this thread as it’s the best place for it. 🙂

[Author]

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