So I have this mod for my Dreamcast that outputs 1080p (with letter and pillar boxes) or a fullscreen 4:3 960p signal. I'm told by the creator that the 960p signal isn't strictly a correct/proper hdmi signal so it won't work on some screens or tvs. Happily it works on both my tvs and both monitors.
But when I upgraded to a Acer Predator XB321HK, my first "gaming" monitor I found it doesn't support the 960p signal.
On the support page for the screen I see there's drivers for the monitor. I've built plenty of PCs in the past but monitor software is something completely foreign to me.
It just surprised me that my fancy gamer screen is the only one not to support this (I don't know how great a monitor it really is, it was the only one I could find to fit inside my arcade cab, which is where I need the DC sadly)
If you have a monitor with a screen 2160 pixels tall (2x 1080p) why would you want your console outputting an image 960 pixels tall that's then scaled up 2.25x rather than the 1080p signal scaled up 2x? It's gotta look worse, right?
Alrighty I've spent some time in the wilderness doing some really soul searching. I've come up with a few options:
1. LG 34GN850-B $1,300 - 34in, 1440p, 144Hz, Freesync - My original inclination is still tempting but it comes at a steep price. I think the high refresh rare would likely be lost on me and I don't really have the hardware to support it. I do like the idea of an ultrawide which does not seem very feasible in 4k.
2. LG 34WK95U-W $1,900 - 34in, 4K - Not really a serious contender as it's out of my price range. I also saw something about some bad screen burn in, anyone know if that's still an issue? Lack of Freesync might be an issue for games?
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
4. Dell U3219Q $1,200 - 32in, 4k - Dell's an interesting one in that it's pretty hard to actually see them in store around here. I do trust them though and the monitors I've had for the past 10 years are Dells and they've worked great. I guess a negative on this one is the lack of Freesync. I saw something about Dell's not playing very nicely with Macs, is that something I should be concerned about if I may one day be plugging a Macbook or something into it?
Any thoughts? I guess eventually I will have to suit up and brave the real world to see these things.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
Alrighty I've spent some time in the wilderness doing some really soul searching. I've come up with a few options:
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
I own this monitor. I've praised it extensively for what it is at the price point it sells for. Believe it or not, but the brown is actually great--it's a metal (or brushed metallic over plastic) finish, rather than matte brown (unlike the matte/polished plastic on every other monitor). Of your four, I'd say it's easily the best looking monitor, but frankly, it's not a hard contest. The stand is, in fact, pretty, solid metal (aluminum?) and quite useless except for adjusting the vertical angle of viewing, but so is the LG, I think, that costs $1,100 more than that. The pretty-but-useless stand is one of the ways they save costs. In terms of picture quality, it's probably only second to to said LG, and possibly beats it in color reproduction and HDR implementation--I expect it beats the LG 34GN850 too. It comes with a number of neat features you might find totally useless, like the best speakers I've ever heard in a monitor (at least in 20 years--that's a low bar also), and a IR remote. The sort of things you might never use. It also has Freesync, but it's pretty useless for anything over 60 hz (you can overclock it, not that I would recommend it, and not by much).
If price is your concern, I'd say it's no contest: get the BenQ, and pay $60 for a high-end gas-spring monitor arm mount if your desk can accommodate it, which will do a better job than any of those monitor stands (in fact, if you're spending +$1,000 on a monitor, I think you might as well get a gas-spring arm). They're all huge monitors, especially the "5K2K" WUHD display, they're going to weigh a lot and you're going to want a good arm if you're doing that, the cost difference in negligible compared to the monitors themselves.
I don't think LG has burn-in problems particularly (no one makes OLED monitors anymore, for reasons we've abundantly covered in this thread), but they used to have temporary image retention problems that are mostly cleared up. Look at Amazon or any source of long-ownership reviews if you're worried about that.
So I have this mod for my Dreamcast that outputs 1080p (with letter and pillar boxes) or a fullscreen 4:3 960p signal. I'm told by the creator that the 960p signal isn't strictly a correct/proper hdmi signal so it won't work on some screens or tvs. Happily it works on both my tvs and both monitors.
But when I upgraded to a Acer Predator XB321HK, my first "gaming" monitor I found it doesn't support the 960p signal.
On the support page for the screen I see there's drivers for the monitor. I've built plenty of PCs in the past but monitor software is something completely foreign to me.
It just surprised me that my fancy gamer screen is the only one not to support this (I don't know how great a monitor it really is, it was the only one I could find to fit inside my arcade cab, which is where I need the DC sadly)
If you have a monitor with a screen 2160 pixels tall (2x 1080p) why would you want your console outputting an image 960 pixels tall that's then scaled up 2.25x rather than the 1080p signal scaled up 2x? It's gotta look worse, right?
Yes, well 4k is 4x 1080p. And you're correct that mode is "pixel perfect" where each pixel is just made larger (integer upscaling I believe it's called). But its able to do that by adding the pillar and letter boxes (there's a black frame on the top, bottom, left, and right). With the 960p I can get a full screen experience with no black bars. It's hardly noticeable when I've tried it on other screens. Some games you just want a larger view of the action rather than it being slightly sharper.
So I have this mod for my Dreamcast that outputs 1080p (with letter and pillar boxes) or a fullscreen 4:3 960p signal. I'm told by the creator that the 960p signal isn't strictly a correct/proper hdmi signal so it won't work on some screens or tvs. Happily it works on both my tvs and both monitors.
But when I upgraded to a Acer Predator XB321HK, my first "gaming" monitor I found it doesn't support the 960p signal.
On the support page for the screen I see there's drivers for the monitor. I've built plenty of PCs in the past but monitor software is something completely foreign to me.
It just surprised me that my fancy gamer screen is the only one not to support this (I don't know how great a monitor it really is, it was the only one I could find to fit inside my arcade cab, which is where I need the DC sadly)
If you have a monitor with a screen 2160 pixels tall (2x 1080p) why would you want your console outputting an image 960 pixels tall that's then scaled up 2.25x rather than the 1080p signal scaled up 2x? It's gotta look worse, right?
Yes, well 4k is 4x 1080p. And you're correct that mode is "pixel perfect" where each pixel is just made larger (integer upscaling I believe it's called). But its able to do that by adding the pillar and letter boxes (there's a black frame on the top, bottom, left, and right). With the 960p I can get a full screen experience with no black bars. It's hardly noticeable when I've tried it on other screens. Some games you just want a larger view of the action rather than it being slightly sharper.
I really need to get one of the new (and good) HDMI adapter sets available on Dreamcast now. Even if I haven't turned on my DC for months (losing the component inputs on my living room TV made it harder to justify).
Alrighty I've spent some time in the wilderness doing some really soul searching. I've come up with a few options:
1. LG 34GN850-B $1,300 - 34in, 1440p, 144Hz, Freesync - My original inclination is still tempting but it comes at a steep price. I think the high refresh rare would likely be lost on me and I don't really have the hardware to support it. I do like the idea of an ultrawide which does not seem very feasible in 4k.
2. LG 34WK95U-W $1,900 - 34in, 4K - Not really a serious contender as it's out of my price range. I also saw something about some bad screen burn in, anyone know if that's still an issue? Lack of Freesync might be an issue for games?
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
4. Dell U3219Q $1,200 - 32in, 4k - Dell's an interesting one in that it's pretty hard to actually see them in store around here. I do trust them though and the monitors I've had for the past 10 years are Dells and they've worked great. I guess a negative on this one is the lack of Freesync. I saw something about Dell's not playing very nicely with Macs, is that something I should be concerned about if I may one day be plugging a Macbook or something into it?
Any thoughts? I guess eventually I will have to suit up and brave the real world to see these things.
oh hm these are good options for me to peruse too!
Alrighty I've spent some time in the wilderness doing some really soul searching. I've come up with a few options:
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
I don't think LG has burn-in problems particularly (no one makes OLED monitors anymore, for reasons we've abundantly covered in this thread), but they used to have temporary image retention problems that are mostly cleared up. Look at Amazon or any source of long-ownership reviews if you're worried about that.
Thanks again for all the advice. I will take a look at the BenQ in person. I’m not to price sensitive but I also don’t want to be taken for a ride on something to overkill. If I can find it, I might take a look at the 5K LG but that does seem too excessive. It was image retention that was the issue I saw on Rtings not burn-in. I’ll check for other reviews elsewhere though as that site definitely skews to a certain type of enthusiast it seems.
Not sure about a monitor arm. Maybe I’ll post a picture of my desk if I can find a place to host it. Currently I have a monitor on a raised section with shelving on either side of it and a second monitor off to the side on a lower part of the desk. I have grown used to a two monitor setup for work. With more work from home stuff happening my setup has become really cumbersome which is why I’d really like to get a fairly big monitor to take the place of two. I’m not the most handy of people so arms and mounts and all that usually scare me away.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
Alrighty I've spent some time in the wilderness doing some really soul searching. I've come up with a few options:
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
I don't think LG has burn-in problems particularly (no one makes OLED monitors anymore, for reasons we've abundantly covered in this thread), but they used to have temporary image retention problems that are mostly cleared up. Look at Amazon or any source of long-ownership reviews if you're worried about that.
Thanks again for all the advice. I will take a look at the BenQ in person. I’m not to price sensitive but I also don’t want to be taken for a ride on something to overkill. If I can find it, I might take a look at the 5K LG but that does seem too excessive. It was image retention that was the issue I saw on Rtings not burn-in. I’ll check for other reviews elsewhere though as that site definitely skews to a certain type of enthusiast it seems.
Not sure about a monitor arm. Maybe I’ll post a picture of my desk if I can find a place to host it. Currently I have a monitor on a raised section with shelving on either side of it and a second monitor off to the side on a lower part of the desk. I have grown used to a two monitor setup for work. With more work from home stuff happening my setup has become really cumbersome which is why I’d really like to get a fairly big monitor to take the place of two. I’m not the most handy of people so arms and mounts and all that usually scare me away.
Shit, LG monitors still deal with image retention problems sometimes? It's not like Rting has that many monitor reviews, and if you're paying almost $2K for a monitor, it better be pretty damn high-end. I'm kind of glad I stopped buying LG monitors. Now if only someone would buy my used 28" UHD. *sigh*
Man my adventure into the real world did not go well. I think this is my first time going out shopping for anything other than groceries since the pandemic started. Seemed like nothing was on display or even in stock. Would have really liked to see that BenQ monitor in person as it's starting to grow on me. Considering just ordering online and risking having to return it if I don't like it. Things with screens are generally where I draw the line on ordering online though plus there's a $30 shipping charge still paying for shipping beats wandering around town trying to find it.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
Man my adventure into the real world did not go well. I think this is my first time going out shopping for anything other than groceries since the pandemic started. Seemed like nothing was on display or even in stock. Would have really liked to see that BenQ monitor in person as it's starting to grow on me. Considering just ordering online and risking having to return it if I don't like it. Things with screens are generally where I draw the line on ordering online though plus there's a $30 shipping charge still paying for shipping beats wandering around town trying to find it.
Assuming you can't see it in person (which is just an argument for not buying a more expensive monitor, as risk mitigation), the next big problem with buying a monitor, any monitor, is dead pixels. Which I've run into every single monitor I've bought in the last 10 years, annoyingly, including my 3280U. Amazon was good about in-place exchanges (send me a new monitor, I send the less new one back), but even if you buy one from a physical location that's going to be an issue unless they're truly unusual and let you unbox and plug it in at the store.
Ended up pulling the trigger on the 3280U. No dead pixels that I can tell so that's always a bonus. I do think I'll need a monitor arm of some sort. It's just a little too high. Don't suppose anyone has any recommendations? The new monitor is speced at 8.1 kgs. It's not really a necessity but a dual one might be nice since I'll be keeping one of my old 24' monitors hooked up as well. Something desk mounted and as long as I'm making demands hopefully something easy to install.
Thanks all.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
Ended up pulling the trigger on the 3280U. No dead pixels that I can tell so that's always a bonus. I do think I'll need a monitor arm of some sort. It's just a little too high. Don't suppose anyone has any recommendations? The new monitor is speced at 8.1 kgs. It's not really a necessity but a dual one might be nice since I'll be keeping one of my old 24' monitors hooked up as well. Something desk mounted and as long as I'm making demands hopefully something easy to install.
Thanks all.
Told you that metallic brown was a sexy look. That, and it's literally only on the faceplate/soundgrill anyway, the rest of the monitor (not including the stand) is your usual textured black finish. Congrats on the no-dead-pixels, I've never been so lucky, though make sure you do a check against a completely white desktop at least once. In my case, it was a permanently "on" pixel, rather than a dead one, making that a misnomer.
I should probably take a photo of my tiny corner desk to demonstrate my own setup, but the basics are: you can use a mechanical spring or a gas spring arm. There are merits to either, but gas spring arms tend to be a little more expensive (they use internal pistons) while giving a much smoother action. I went with gas. Considering mine was literally the first monitor arm I ever installed myself, it was easy--but tiring--for a novice with only one pair of arms. I had a harder time deciding where to put it, frankly, because my desk is up against a wall. The biggest issue here is with a 32" monitor, you're going to need a robust arm graded for that weight (conversely, using too small of a monitor on an arm will also be problematic potentially), at a certain point, like that WUHD monitor or that Odyssey G9 monstrosity from Samsung, 99% of consumer monitor arms aren't going to be any use, because they're aimed at monitors that weigh less than small children. I went with a HUANUO single-arm gas spring, because it was well reviewed (and this sort of mechanical device is a case of "You'll know very quickly if this doesn't work"), their dual monitor system is similar. You might also want to consider one with a telescoping "fire-pole" base, even though that's one additional point of weakness.
Also, because there's no reason you wouldn't reuse it (unless it broke or the springing action--mechanical or gas--wore out, which takes years), it's worth getting a good one. A hundred dollar dual-monitor gas-spring arm--which is towards the high end--is literally 9.1% of the price of a $1100 monitor, and will quite possibly outlive it. It's the same question, "You're spending $1,300US on your GPU alone, never mind the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and storage, why wouldn't you get a half-decent case?" except you're less likely to reuse the case.
Odyssey G9 is 230 bucks off. I pulled the trigger.
Same here and with a little luck it might arrive before the weekend. Funnily the initial package tracking had it listed as being 3.7 meters wide and I was a little disappointed when they fixed it.
Got it last night. Got it unboxed (it is possible to do it by yourself as long as you think ahead and plan everything) This is a beast and awkward to manipulate because of the curve...and size.
Haven't powered it on yet, going to wait till tomorrow for my hands to get more thoroughly degreased. Got the drivers/manuals/firmware downloaded and ready to go.
Definitely keeping the box and the packing paper so its easier to protect/move. Just gotta figure out where I'm storing the box now.
firmware updated and monitor installed. don't see any backlight bleeding, though I am getting some pretty bad screen tearing just within the windows desktop. monitor inf installed, nvidia drivers up to date. thought maybe it was g-sync, so I turned that off too. It is a GTX 1060 6GB though. (rest of the PC is 9 years old) cranking it down to a lower resolution isn't fixing it either. Is my monitor just too much for my old card or does anyone know any other tricks?
EDIT: nvm, think I fixed it, it defaulted to 120 hz. cranking it down to 60 hz appears to have corrected it.
The G9 is freakishly huge! My one complaint so far is that the construction of the stand and mounting feels flimsy as the monitor will wobble when doing things like fiddling with the menu.
Considering the stands most WQHD monitors come with, that doesn't surprise me in the least (and you'd have a hard time finding a mounting arm that didn't wobble at least a little).
yeah my monitor stand is just not quite deep enough so the legs dangle over just a smidge And yeah, I got the wobble too. The reviews I saw did mention it. It's not as bad as I was expecting it to be though. The reviews made it seem like just about any vibration will make it wobble, but I've been bumping against my desk a fair amount and I don't see any significant wobble, just when I fiddle with the controls just like you said.
I think most of the issue comes from the small round mounting point they are using in order to fit the lighting thingy in the back. It's not really an issue and the weight of the display keeps everything rather locked in place unless you actively touch it but Samsung definitely tried to cut down on the total mass when designing the stand compared to something like the x34p.
Stands tend to be where most manufacturers cheap out, in part because "Hey if you were really unhappy with this, you'd buy a mounting arm anyway." It's not like $3000 home television sets don't come on $30 aluminum feet either. That was one place where LG actually surprised me, one of their UHD monitors I own actually came with a competent stand that even supported portrait rotation. That's not going to happen with an Odyssey G9, for obvious reasons, and the stand itself--and every video I've seen gushing about how huge and massive and heavy the monitor is--looks wobbly inevitably.
There's probably a mounting arm out there that can handle it, somewhere. Of course, then you need a desk/table surface that can actually handle said arm.
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LuvTheMonkeyHigh Sierra SerenadeRegistered Userregular
Hello frens I am after a specific monitor opinion:
I am staring at the LG 27GL850 and Dell S2721DGF. Is the Dell worth the extra money? I am buying 2 of them regardless of what I choose.
mosssnackYeah right, man, Bishop should go!Good idea!Registered Userregular
edited November 2020
So I haven't bought a monitor since like 2013. It's a 24" that I use for my xbox/ps4 and my gaming computer (from 2016, running a gtx 970 in it). The monitor is old and has an entire line of dead pixels on the right portion of the screen.
Anyway, looking to do an upgrade to use with my current pc and ps4. My next largish purchase will probably be a ps5, so not looking to buy an extremely expensive monitor that will push me to dump a bunch of upgrades into my pc.
I've been looking at the LG 27GL650F-B 27" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7636MH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 and it's on sale for $250 right now. It seems well suited for my current hardware, but again, I haven't bought a monitor in a long ass time. Is there something better at this range that I'm missing? Not super interested in going over $300.
So I haven't bought a monitor since like 2013. It's a 24" that I use for my xbox/ps4 and my gaming computer (from 2016, running a gtx 970 in it). The monitor is old and has an entire line of dead pixels on the right portion of the screen.
Anyway, looking to do an upgrade to use with my current pc and ps4. My next largish purchase will probably be a ps5, so not looking to buy an extremely expensive monitor that will push me to dump a bunch of upgrades into my pc.
I've been looking at the LG 27GL650F-B 27" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7636MH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 and it's on sale for $250 right now. It seems well suited for my current hardware, but again, I haven't bought a monitor in a long ass time. Is there something better at this range that I'm missing? Not super interested in going over $300.
If you're looking for a monitor for console gaming, you're really shooting yourself in the foot by not getting a UHD-capable monitor.
Assuming you're going from XB1/PS4, you're not going to use that 144hz refresh rate, and 1080p is satisfactory. But with the next gen consoles, it's already apparent that +HD resolutions, most obviously UHD (and to a lesser extent QHD) are going to get way more support than +60hz. Mostly because, on XB1X/PSFro (the intermediate improved consoles that came out 3 years ago), we already have libraries of games that take advantage of UHD resolutions (natively or checkerboard upscaling, especially in PSFro's case), and virtually none of them that run at +60hz at any resolution. We'll see more of that with Xbox Series X and Playstation 5, but that's still a ways down the road, and it's not like they aren't going to be massive libraries of +HD games that run at 60hz.
If you were going to be overwhelmingly use this as a PC gaming monitor, and you're pursuing +60hz 1080p gaming, actually, this is a perfectly suitable choice. You won't run into the problem displaying HD content on a QHD screen that we've discussed previously with natively 1440p monitors of any refresh rate. But the consoles--Playstation included--are going straight from being HD machines (sort of) to UHD machines (sort of) with +60hz refresh rates as a secondary plan for the future. You can get a UHD monitor from LG for $300 (like the LG 27UL500) if you want to stick with LG but, eh, they're not really exceptionally good (for starters, their "gaming" monitors are pretty much identical to their office monitor offerings but with different furniture and better refresh rates usually).
I could be misunderstanding your priorities, but that's something to keep in mind.
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mosssnackYeah right, man, Bishop should go!Good idea!Registered Userregular
So I haven't bought a monitor since like 2013. It's a 24" that I use for my xbox/ps4 and my gaming computer (from 2016, running a gtx 970 in it). The monitor is old and has an entire line of dead pixels on the right portion of the screen.
Anyway, looking to do an upgrade to use with my current pc and ps4. My next largish purchase will probably be a ps5, so not looking to buy an extremely expensive monitor that will push me to dump a bunch of upgrades into my pc.
I've been looking at the LG 27GL650F-B 27" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7636MH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 and it's on sale for $250 right now. It seems well suited for my current hardware, but again, I haven't bought a monitor in a long ass time. Is there something better at this range that I'm missing? Not super interested in going over $300.
If you're looking for a monitor for console gaming, you're really shooting yourself in the foot by not getting a UHD-capable monitor.
Assuming you're going from XB1/PS4, you're not going to use that 144hz refresh rate, and 1080p is satisfactory. But with the next gen consoles, it's already apparent that +HD resolutions, most obviously UHD (and to a lesser extent QHD) are going to get way more support than +60hz. Mostly because, on XB1X/PSFro (the intermediate improved consoles that came out 3 years ago), we already have libraries of games that take advantage of UHD resolutions (natively or checkerboard upscaling, especially in PSFro's case), and virtually none of them that run at +60hz at any resolution. We'll see more of that with Xbox Series X and Playstation 5, but that's still a ways down the road, and it's not like they aren't going to be massive libraries of +HD games that run at 60hz.
If you were going to be overwhelmingly use this as a PC gaming monitor, and you're pursuing +60hz 1080p gaming, actually, this is a perfectly suitable choice. You won't run into the problem displaying HD content on a QHD screen that we've discussed previously with natively 1440p monitors of any refresh rate. But the consoles--Playstation included--are going straight from being HD machines (sort of) to UHD machines (sort of) with +60hz refresh rates as a secondary plan for the future. You can get a UHD monitor from LG for $300 (like the LG 27UL500) if you want to stick with LG but, eh, they're not really exceptionally good (for starters, their "gaming" monitors are pretty much identical to their office monitor offerings but with different furniture and better refresh rates usually).
I could be misunderstanding your priorities, but that's something to keep in mind.
So my time with a console and pc is usually pretty evenly split, just depends on whatever I'm playing. I'm absolutely not stuck on LG, the model I showed was just what I happened to stumble upon. Is there a preferred brand that has something similar to the 27ul500?
And thank you for the detailed post! Absolutely the sort of information I was looking for
So I haven't bought a monitor since like 2013. It's a 24" that I use for my xbox/ps4 and my gaming computer (from 2016, running a gtx 970 in it). The monitor is old and has an entire line of dead pixels on the right portion of the screen.
Anyway, looking to do an upgrade to use with my current pc and ps4. My next largish purchase will probably be a ps5, so not looking to buy an extremely expensive monitor that will push me to dump a bunch of upgrades into my pc.
I've been looking at the LG 27GL650F-B 27" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7636MH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 and it's on sale for $250 right now. It seems well suited for my current hardware, but again, I haven't bought a monitor in a long ass time. Is there something better at this range that I'm missing? Not super interested in going over $300.
If you're looking for a monitor for console gaming, you're really shooting yourself in the foot by not getting a UHD-capable monitor.
Assuming you're going from XB1/PS4, you're not going to use that 144hz refresh rate, and 1080p is satisfactory. But with the next gen consoles, it's already apparent that +HD resolutions, most obviously UHD (and to a lesser extent QHD) are going to get way more support than +60hz. Mostly because, on XB1X/PSFro (the intermediate improved consoles that came out 3 years ago), we already have libraries of games that take advantage of UHD resolutions (natively or checkerboard upscaling, especially in PSFro's case), and virtually none of them that run at +60hz at any resolution. We'll see more of that with Xbox Series X and Playstation 5, but that's still a ways down the road, and it's not like they aren't going to be massive libraries of +HD games that run at 60hz.
If you were going to be overwhelmingly use this as a PC gaming monitor, and you're pursuing +60hz 1080p gaming, actually, this is a perfectly suitable choice. You won't run into the problem displaying HD content on a QHD screen that we've discussed previously with natively 1440p monitors of any refresh rate. But the consoles--Playstation included--are going straight from being HD machines (sort of) to UHD machines (sort of) with +60hz refresh rates as a secondary plan for the future. You can get a UHD monitor from LG for $300 (like the LG 27UL500) if you want to stick with LG but, eh, they're not really exceptionally good (for starters, their "gaming" monitors are pretty much identical to their office monitor offerings but with different furniture and better refresh rates usually).
I could be misunderstanding your priorities, but that's something to keep in mind.
So my time with a console and pc is usually pretty evenly split, just depends on whatever I'm playing. I'm absolutely not stuck on LG, the model I showed was just what I happened to stumble upon. Is there a preferred brand that has something similar to the 27ul500?
And thank you for the detailed post! Absolutely the sort of information I was looking for
Pretty much the only console game that runs at 120hz at 2160p is Gears 5 on Xbox Series X. I don't know of a single game that does it on Playstation 5, but I bet it's out there somewhere (and I think The Falconeer can do it on Series X, no idea about PS5).
The reason for that is because Gears 5 is a fucking amazing game, and runs at 60hz at 4K on Xbox One X. Which gets to the point--if you're on consoles, 4K/60hz is a thing, and has been, and UHD monitors that do 60hz are a lot more useful than HD monitors that do 100, 120, or 200hz. The PC situation is completely different, of course, aside from the fact that lots of PC games, particularly older ones coming from consoles, don't run correctly at over 60 FPS, but they are by no means the majority. Also, you'll need a serious GPU to do 200 hz at 1080p, we're talking GTX 1080/1080 Ti, along with a CPU to match.
Glad I could be of help. I'd recommend a good monitor for you, but really there's a huge variety of UHD monitors to choose from, even more so than 1080p/120hz monitors I think.
I am just not used to ultrawide monitors. That and I've been using dual monitors for so long, going back to a single one, even though it's essentially two 27 inch monitors glued together is just...jarring. You click full screen to watch a video and I'm just not prepared for it to actually use the whole screen.
I tried this Samsung Easy Settings Box software which is supposed to partition the screen for you, but I must be missing something since it doesn't seem to work for me as far as splitting the screen into two so that a full screen video only takes up one of the partitions.
Any good tips regarding this? I take it you pretty much have to play old games that don't have ultrawide support in windowed mode? Tried fooling around with Borderlands 1 yesterday and that was the only thing that seemed to work well.
I am just not used to ultrawide monitors. That and I've been using dual monitors for so long, going back to a single one, even though it's essentially two 27 inch monitors glued together is just...jarring. You click full screen to watch a video and I'm just not prepared for it to actually use the whole screen.
I tried this Samsung Easy Settings Box software which is supposed to partition the screen for you, but I must be missing something since it doesn't seem to work for me as far as splitting the screen into two so that a full screen video only takes up one of the partitions.
Any good tips regarding this? I take it you pretty much have to play old games that don't have ultrawide support in windowed mode? Tried fooling around with Borderlands 1 yesterday and that was the only thing that seemed to work well.
The Samsung software looks like it does the same thing as Microsoft Powertoys and that doesn't actually create separate screens as much as it lets you move the window snapping around. It won't really change the behaviour of the standard full screen option but will let you play around with stuff in windowed mode. If you want it to behave as two actual screens you might be forced to use the PIP/PBP on the monitor and hook up an extra cable but that does comes with drawbacks like forced 60 Hz IIRC.
Old games and such should work in full screen but you might have to turn off the scaling settings in the Nvidia control panel under Adjust desktop size and position if they end up being horribly stretched out.
Yeah, you're pretty much stuck with that as far as I understand it. If you wanted too monitor, trite as it sounds, you should've bought two monitors. The G9's internal scaling/processing isn't magic, it basically works like every other widescreen monitor.
As Numi noted above, don't rely on the monitor to keep proper aspect ratios in old games, it's going to do a terrible job of it unless you actually alter the on-device settings, and possibly even then. In the Nvidia Control Panel (not sure about AMD), go to "Adjust desktop size and display" under "Display" and set scaling to be handled on your GPU. This should be "required" even with normal monitors, much less Lawrence of Arabia aspect ratio monitors.
Monitor drivers are a thing but they live in your computer, not in the monitor. They aren't going to make the monitor suddenly accept new signals from things that aren't even a PC.
Never heard of a monitor firmware update but it's not impossible. Usually more of a TV thing.
You might try 480p if you can, better chance that will be supported by the monitor.
I already have a second monitor arm on the way. I plan to mostly use one monitor and then have the second monitor for Twitch streaming stuff. I have great speakers so I don't need any more monitor speakers or anything.
Any particular suggestions on a second monitor under $300? There are some 27" screens going for that for Prime Day but I'm not sure which ones are traps.
Question: Is there any good way to do displayport output into an HDMI-only monitor? My XFX Radeon 5600XT only has one HDMI port, and my second monitor is HDMI-only
Question: Is there any good way to do displayport output into an HDMI-only monitor? My XFX Radeon 5600XT only has one HDMI port, and my second monitor is HDMI-only
Yes, just buy a DisplayPort to HDMI cable.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
Oh hey we actually have a dedicated monitor thread. Finally managed to get myself a graphics card (3060ti) and I think I might celebrate by finally going up to 1440 screens. Is there an established gold standard monitor or what sort of features do I need to be looking for?
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
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Red Raevynbecause I only take Bubble BathsRegistered Userregular
Oh hey we actually have a dedicated monitor thread. Finally managed to get myself a graphics card (3060ti) and I think I might celebrate by finally going up to 1440 screens. Is there an established gold standard monitor or what sort of features do I need to be looking for?
Did you get one? It depends a lot on your price range, and then also on what kind of gaming you want to do (do you care about >60fps?). I often see the Samsung Odyssey G7 recommended as the gold standard, but it is priced like gold imo. I read a lot of posts here and other online reviews and went with a Gigabyte M27Q when I found it on sale for $269. I've had it for about a month and I totally love it.
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NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
Haven't gotten anything yet, have done a bit of looking. As far as what I want to do with my gaming, currently I tend to just cap framerate at 60 but that's primarily because my current monitors can't render higher than that anyway. Unless going up to 144 or whatever the refresh rate number was these days adds a stupid amount to the price, may as well go for it.
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
NEO|PhyteThey follow the stars, bound together.Strands in a braid till the end.Registered Userregular
edited October 2021
Man what is even with this, according to their website, I could get that monitor shipped and have it by 9pm today, or I could order it for in-store pickup and it won't be ready until the 14th. Does it just slap on two extra weeks to be safe?
:edit: Or apparently I could go to the farther away location and get it today, but then I'd have to figure out precisely where that one is.
NEO|Phyte on
It was that somehow, from within the derelict-horror, they had learned a way to see inside an ugly, broken thing... And take away its pain.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
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If you have a monitor with a screen 2160 pixels tall (2x 1080p) why would you want your console outputting an image 960 pixels tall that's then scaled up 2.25x rather than the 1080p signal scaled up 2x? It's gotta look worse, right?
1. LG 34GN850-B $1,300 - 34in, 1440p, 144Hz, Freesync - My original inclination is still tempting but it comes at a steep price. I think the high refresh rare would likely be lost on me and I don't really have the hardware to support it. I do like the idea of an ultrawide which does not seem very feasible in 4k.
2. LG 34WK95U-W $1,900 - 34in, 4K - Not really a serious contender as it's out of my price range. I also saw something about some bad screen burn in, anyone know if that's still an issue? Lack of Freesync might be an issue for games?
3. BenQ EW3280U $800 - 32in, 4k, Freesync - Going down in price, this monitor looks pretty competent. Not sure about the aesthetics of it, brown is certainly a choice. There's no height adjustment on the stand which I don't think will be a problem but is still a bummer.
4. Dell U3219Q $1,200 - 32in, 4k - Dell's an interesting one in that it's pretty hard to actually see them in store around here. I do trust them though and the monitors I've had for the past 10 years are Dells and they've worked great. I guess a negative on this one is the lack of Freesync. I saw something about Dell's not playing very nicely with Macs, is that something I should be concerned about if I may one day be plugging a Macbook or something into it?
Any thoughts? I guess eventually I will have to suit up and brave the real world to see these things.
I own this monitor. I've praised it extensively for what it is at the price point it sells for. Believe it or not, but the brown is actually great--it's a metal (or brushed metallic over plastic) finish, rather than matte brown (unlike the matte/polished plastic on every other monitor). Of your four, I'd say it's easily the best looking monitor, but frankly, it's not a hard contest. The stand is, in fact, pretty, solid metal (aluminum?) and quite useless except for adjusting the vertical angle of viewing, but so is the LG, I think, that costs $1,100 more than that. The pretty-but-useless stand is one of the ways they save costs. In terms of picture quality, it's probably only second to to said LG, and possibly beats it in color reproduction and HDR implementation--I expect it beats the LG 34GN850 too. It comes with a number of neat features you might find totally useless, like the best speakers I've ever heard in a monitor (at least in 20 years--that's a low bar also), and a IR remote. The sort of things you might never use. It also has Freesync, but it's pretty useless for anything over 60 hz (you can overclock it, not that I would recommend it, and not by much).
If price is your concern, I'd say it's no contest: get the BenQ, and pay $60 for a high-end gas-spring monitor arm mount if your desk can accommodate it, which will do a better job than any of those monitor stands (in fact, if you're spending +$1,000 on a monitor, I think you might as well get a gas-spring arm). They're all huge monitors, especially the "5K2K" WUHD display, they're going to weigh a lot and you're going to want a good arm if you're doing that, the cost difference in negligible compared to the monitors themselves.
I don't think LG has burn-in problems particularly (no one makes OLED monitors anymore, for reasons we've abundantly covered in this thread), but they used to have temporary image retention problems that are mostly cleared up. Look at Amazon or any source of long-ownership reviews if you're worried about that.
I really need to get one of the new (and good) HDMI adapter sets available on Dreamcast now. Even if I haven't turned on my DC for months (losing the component inputs on my living room TV made it harder to justify).
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/alienware-34-curved-gaming-monitor-aw3420dw/apd/210-atzq/monitors-monitor-accessories
i had been looking at this: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-ultrasharp-34-curved-usb-c-monitor-u3419w/apd/210-arcl/monitors-monitor-accessories but the price difference isn't *massive* and then it would likely be better for gaming eventually if i decided to go down that route... hmm
oh hm these are good options for me to peruse too!
Thanks again for all the advice. I will take a look at the BenQ in person. I’m not to price sensitive but I also don’t want to be taken for a ride on something to overkill. If I can find it, I might take a look at the 5K LG but that does seem too excessive. It was image retention that was the issue I saw on Rtings not burn-in. I’ll check for other reviews elsewhere though as that site definitely skews to a certain type of enthusiast it seems.
Not sure about a monitor arm. Maybe I’ll post a picture of my desk if I can find a place to host it. Currently I have a monitor on a raised section with shelving on either side of it and a second monitor off to the side on a lower part of the desk. I have grown used to a two monitor setup for work. With more work from home stuff happening my setup has become really cumbersome which is why I’d really like to get a fairly big monitor to take the place of two. I’m not the most handy of people so arms and mounts and all that usually scare me away.
Shit, LG monitors still deal with image retention problems sometimes? It's not like Rting has that many monitor reviews, and if you're paying almost $2K for a monitor, it better be pretty damn high-end. I'm kind of glad I stopped buying LG monitors. Now if only someone would buy my used 28" UHD. *sigh*
Assuming you can't see it in person (which is just an argument for not buying a more expensive monitor, as risk mitigation), the next big problem with buying a monitor, any monitor, is dead pixels. Which I've run into every single monitor I've bought in the last 10 years, annoyingly, including my 3280U. Amazon was good about in-place exchanges (send me a new monitor, I send the less new one back), but even if you buy one from a physical location that's going to be an issue unless they're truly unusual and let you unbox and plug it in at the store.
Thanks all.
Told you that metallic brown was a sexy look. That, and it's literally only on the faceplate/soundgrill anyway, the rest of the monitor (not including the stand) is your usual textured black finish. Congrats on the no-dead-pixels, I've never been so lucky, though make sure you do a check against a completely white desktop at least once. In my case, it was a permanently "on" pixel, rather than a dead one, making that a misnomer.
I should probably take a photo of my tiny corner desk to demonstrate my own setup, but the basics are: you can use a mechanical spring or a gas spring arm. There are merits to either, but gas spring arms tend to be a little more expensive (they use internal pistons) while giving a much smoother action. I went with gas. Considering mine was literally the first monitor arm I ever installed myself, it was easy--but tiring--for a novice with only one pair of arms. I had a harder time deciding where to put it, frankly, because my desk is up against a wall. The biggest issue here is with a 32" monitor, you're going to need a robust arm graded for that weight (conversely, using too small of a monitor on an arm will also be problematic potentially), at a certain point, like that WUHD monitor or that Odyssey G9 monstrosity from Samsung, 99% of consumer monitor arms aren't going to be any use, because they're aimed at monitors that weigh less than small children. I went with a HUANUO single-arm gas spring, because it was well reviewed (and this sort of mechanical device is a case of "You'll know very quickly if this doesn't work"), their dual monitor system is similar. You might also want to consider one with a telescoping "fire-pole" base, even though that's one additional point of weakness.
Also, because there's no reason you wouldn't reuse it (unless it broke or the springing action--mechanical or gas--wore out, which takes years), it's worth getting a good one. A hundred dollar dual-monitor gas-spring arm--which is towards the high end--is literally 9.1% of the price of a $1100 monitor, and will quite possibly outlive it. It's the same question, "You're spending $1,300US on your GPU alone, never mind the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and storage, why wouldn't you get a half-decent case?" except you're less likely to reuse the case.
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Same here and with a little luck it might arrive before the weekend. Funnily the initial package tracking had it listed as being 3.7 meters wide and I was a little disappointed when they fixed it.
Haven't powered it on yet, going to wait till tomorrow for my hands to get more thoroughly degreased. Got the drivers/manuals/firmware downloaded and ready to go.
Definitely keeping the box and the packing paper so its easier to protect/move. Just gotta figure out where I'm storing the box now.
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EDIT: nvm, think I fixed it, it defaulted to 120 hz. cranking it down to 60 hz appears to have corrected it.
Enlist in Star Citizen! Citizenship must be earned!
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There's probably a mounting arm out there that can handle it, somewhere. Of course, then you need a desk/table surface that can actually handle said arm.
I am staring at the LG 27GL850 and Dell S2721DGF. Is the Dell worth the extra money? I am buying 2 of them regardless of what I choose.
Anyway, looking to do an upgrade to use with my current pc and ps4. My next largish purchase will probably be a ps5, so not looking to buy an extremely expensive monitor that will push me to dump a bunch of upgrades into my pc.
I've been looking at the LG 27GL650F-B 27" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R7636MH/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 and it's on sale for $250 right now. It seems well suited for my current hardware, but again, I haven't bought a monitor in a long ass time. Is there something better at this range that I'm missing? Not super interested in going over $300.
bnet: moss*1454
If you're looking for a monitor for console gaming, you're really shooting yourself in the foot by not getting a UHD-capable monitor.
Assuming you're going from XB1/PS4, you're not going to use that 144hz refresh rate, and 1080p is satisfactory. But with the next gen consoles, it's already apparent that +HD resolutions, most obviously UHD (and to a lesser extent QHD) are going to get way more support than +60hz. Mostly because, on XB1X/PSFro (the intermediate improved consoles that came out 3 years ago), we already have libraries of games that take advantage of UHD resolutions (natively or checkerboard upscaling, especially in PSFro's case), and virtually none of them that run at +60hz at any resolution. We'll see more of that with Xbox Series X and Playstation 5, but that's still a ways down the road, and it's not like they aren't going to be massive libraries of +HD games that run at 60hz.
If you were going to be overwhelmingly use this as a PC gaming monitor, and you're pursuing +60hz 1080p gaming, actually, this is a perfectly suitable choice. You won't run into the problem displaying HD content on a QHD screen that we've discussed previously with natively 1440p monitors of any refresh rate. But the consoles--Playstation included--are going straight from being HD machines (sort of) to UHD machines (sort of) with +60hz refresh rates as a secondary plan for the future. You can get a UHD monitor from LG for $300 (like the LG 27UL500) if you want to stick with LG but, eh, they're not really exceptionally good (for starters, their "gaming" monitors are pretty much identical to their office monitor offerings but with different furniture and better refresh rates usually).
I could be misunderstanding your priorities, but that's something to keep in mind.
So my time with a console and pc is usually pretty evenly split, just depends on whatever I'm playing. I'm absolutely not stuck on LG, the model I showed was just what I happened to stumble upon. Is there a preferred brand that has something similar to the 27ul500?
And thank you for the detailed post! Absolutely the sort of information I was looking for
bnet: moss*1454
Pretty much the only console game that runs at 120hz at 2160p is Gears 5 on Xbox Series X. I don't know of a single game that does it on Playstation 5, but I bet it's out there somewhere (and I think The Falconeer can do it on Series X, no idea about PS5).
The reason for that is because Gears 5 is a fucking amazing game, and runs at 60hz at 4K on Xbox One X. Which gets to the point--if you're on consoles, 4K/60hz is a thing, and has been, and UHD monitors that do 60hz are a lot more useful than HD monitors that do 100, 120, or 200hz. The PC situation is completely different, of course, aside from the fact that lots of PC games, particularly older ones coming from consoles, don't run correctly at over 60 FPS, but they are by no means the majority. Also, you'll need a serious GPU to do 200 hz at 1080p, we're talking GTX 1080/1080 Ti, along with a CPU to match.
Glad I could be of help. I'd recommend a good monitor for you, but really there's a huge variety of UHD monitors to choose from, even more so than 1080p/120hz monitors I think.
I tried this Samsung Easy Settings Box software which is supposed to partition the screen for you, but I must be missing something since it doesn't seem to work for me as far as splitting the screen into two so that a full screen video only takes up one of the partitions.
Any good tips regarding this? I take it you pretty much have to play old games that don't have ultrawide support in windowed mode? Tried fooling around with Borderlands 1 yesterday and that was the only thing that seemed to work well.
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The Samsung software looks like it does the same thing as Microsoft Powertoys and that doesn't actually create separate screens as much as it lets you move the window snapping around. It won't really change the behaviour of the standard full screen option but will let you play around with stuff in windowed mode. If you want it to behave as two actual screens you might be forced to use the PIP/PBP on the monitor and hook up an extra cable but that does comes with drawbacks like forced 60 Hz IIRC.
Old games and such should work in full screen but you might have to turn off the scaling settings in the Nvidia control panel under Adjust desktop size and position if they end up being horribly stretched out.
As Numi noted above, don't rely on the monitor to keep proper aspect ratios in old games, it's going to do a terrible job of it unless you actually alter the on-device settings, and possibly even then. In the Nvidia Control Panel (not sure about AMD), go to "Adjust desktop size and display" under "Display" and set scaling to be handled on your GPU. This should be "required" even with normal monitors, much less Lawrence of Arabia aspect ratio monitors.
Never heard of a monitor firmware update but it's not impossible. Usually more of a TV thing.
You might try 480p if you can, better chance that will be supported by the monitor.
My current second screen is still good, but is small and doesn't even support monitor arms.
My main screen is one of these, and it's great (ASUS VG248QE 24" Full HD 1920x1080 144Hz 1ms): https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B2HH7G0/
I already have a second monitor arm on the way. I plan to mostly use one monitor and then have the second monitor for Twitch streaming stuff. I have great speakers so I don't need any more monitor speakers or anything.
Any particular suggestions on a second monitor under $300? There are some 27" screens going for that for Prime Day but I'm not sure which ones are traps.
Edit: This one seems popular. Any thoughts? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YGZL8XF
Yes, just buy a DisplayPort to HDMI cable.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
Warframe/Steam: NFyt
:edit: Or apparently I could go to the farther away location and get it today, but then I'd have to figure out precisely where that one is.
Warframe/Steam: NFyt