Thinking of upgrading my monitor in a reasonable way.
- Thread starter digitalwanderer
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And as usual, after giving up I'm on the cusp of ordering this one. It'd be here Sunday, has freesync premium, and is the latest version of a pretty nice monitor. 
I did it, ordered the one above. It'll be here Sunday but it's no Father's Day gift, it's just a new monitor because I want one.
It may be to provide an Ambiight function whereby the lights correspond to what's on the screen and light up the wall behind the monitor which provides both ambient light and the illusion of an extension of the screen space. It works brilliantly with a good setup. Or it may just be for decoration, which is cool enough in itself.
If you grab that, and you got a va panel, you gotta try that in a dark room but not pitch black, and play a concert video, and tell the light to follow the. Video
I used to do that using a poor man's ambilight (can't remember it was using 2 ps moves or using xiaomi wifi RGB light) and placed it behind TV.
It was amazing
IPS panel, not VA. No clue what the lights do or don't do, I'm just excited about the high refresh rates, low latency, and freesync premium.
The stand the monitor comes with sucks, but not a problem. Got the monitor arm all assembled and half my desk cleaned off, second half of the desk cleaning is tomorrow.
The stand the monitor comes with sucks, but not a problem. Got the monitor arm all assembled and half my desk cleaned off, second half of the desk cleaning is tomorrow.
It doesn't need to be to be VA. If the LEDs are bright enough they'll show up even in a fully lit room. Although dark is obviously best.
I'm using this which works well in normal daylight but I've supplemented it with a proper Ambilight kit which is out of this world. You can get ambilight test videos on YouTube.
OMG it is so freaking awesome in every single way! :O
Took me forever to figure most of the new stuff out and how to get it all working, now got freesync premium going with overdrive in high at 165Mhz and it's just gorgeous! I hate Doom Eternal, but seeing it all silky smooth at above 80fps and generally higher was just a hell of a thing. And I can see more details in the games, the contrast is much better with this new one.
Horizon New Dawn is breath taking. Wasn't paying attention to my fps since I was still sort of stuck at 60 until I undid all my tweaks, but it was smoooooooth. I understood microstutter and new I'd experienced some, but the utter lack of it now and the faster response time makes for just stunning game play.
I've been playing GTA V for the last few hours just in utter amazement. Between this new monitor and my first new glasses in 3 years I can just see so much detail it's mind blowing. I can read everything on all the signs in just about everywhere, I'm noticing details in GTA that I never did before...and this is my go to game for after any upgrade because I know it so well and love it so much. To see it this improved makes me feel this sidegrade was more than totally worth it.
For $200us I got one HELL of a performance and image quality bump, try and do that with a GPU upgrade any time soon.
To anyone who doesn't have a freesync/gsync capable monitor but does have a card I would highly suggest looking in to a monitor upgrade. The prices on monitors seems ludicrously reasonable considering the performance you're getting, and 'specially compared to other components.
Even if you get no fps gain in a game you will notice the smoothness difference from the lack of microstutter. If I'd known how big a deal it would be I would have done this years ago, but sort of glad it happened when it did since it gives me an eye candy upgrade in truly dry eye candy upgrade times.
Thanks for all the input, got any questions I will be glad to answer. I've just got to go game for a bit more, GTA sucked me right back in!
Horizon New Dawn is breath taking. Wasn't paying attention to my fps since I was still sort of stuck at 60 until I undid all my tweaks, but it was smoooooooth. I understood microstutter and new I'd experienced some, but the utter lack of it now and the faster response time makes for just stunning game play.
I've been playing GTA V for the last few hours just in utter amazement. Between this new monitor and my first new glasses in 3 years I can just see so much detail it's mind blowing. I can read everything on all the signs in just about everywhere, I'm noticing details in GTA that I never did before...and this is my go to game for after any upgrade because I know it so well and love it so much. To see it this improved makes me feel this sidegrade was more than totally worth it.
For $200us I got one HELL of a performance and image quality bump, try and do that with a GPU upgrade any time soon.
To anyone who doesn't have a freesync/gsync capable monitor but does have a card I would highly suggest looking in to a monitor upgrade. The prices on monitors seems ludicrously reasonable considering the performance you're getting, and 'specially compared to other components.
Even if you get no fps gain in a game you will notice the smoothness difference from the lack of microstutter. If I'd known how big a deal it would be I would have done this years ago, but sort of glad it happened when it did since it gives me an eye candy upgrade in truly dry eye candy upgrade times.
Thanks for all the input, got any questions I will be glad to answer. I've just got to go game for a bit more, GTA sucked me right back in!
also try seeing some in meat space. for some people, microstutter, bad color volume, low contrast ratio, etc are non-issue. Heck, none of my family member able to see whats so good with my LG CX55 (oled panel) that's around 5x the price of my old TCL 55 (va panel). To them, they are the same (on OLED and OLED gaming subreddit also some people says the same thing, no one able to see the goodness in their amazing OLED tv). The only difference is the CX is super thin and they scared of breaking it (thus easy for me to say, yes its fragile as heck, so please do not wipe it)
thus getting the cheapest monitor will probably be better. or getting ultra wide. or getting ambilight. etc
Damn, it's working a little TOO well. Forgot I'd have to turn off AMD chill or at least crank its FPS up. I've been playing Cyberpunk lately and it's freaking AMAZING! It's only around 45-70, but so much smoother and if I put the monitor in "FPS" mode I can see so many more details! ("FPS mode" just adjust the brightness/contrast/etc to way to high for a normal desktop but gorgeous for gaming)
My RX 580 is running a bit hotter lately. Rather than the low 70s she's averaging high 70s-mid 80s. Just ordered this to see if it'll help with the temps, hoping it will.
The gaming is just incredible, this was a very wise sidegrade to make!
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My RX 580 is a PowerColor Red Dragon, so it's a bit over 10" long. Should be a good fit.
My RX 580 is running a bit hotter lately. Rather than the low 70s she's averaging high 70s-mid 80s. Just ordered this to see if it'll help with the temps, hoping it will.
The gaming is just incredible, this was a very wise sidegrade to make!
-My RX 580 is a PowerColor Red Dragon, so it's a bit over 10" long. Should be a good fit.
Damn, it's working a little TOO well. Forgot I'd have to turn off AMD chill or at least crank its FPS up. I've been playing Cyberpunk lately and it's freaking AMAZING! It's only around 45-70, but so much smoother and if I put the monitor in "FPS" mode I can see so many more details! ("FPS mode" just adjust the brightness/contrast/etc to way to high for a normal desktop but gorgeous for gaming)
My RX 580 is running a bit hotter lately. Rather than the low 70s she's averaging high 70s-mid 80s. Just ordered this to see if it'll help with the temps, hoping it will.
The gaming is just incredible, this was a very wise sidegrade to make!
View attachment 5609-
My RX 580 is a PowerColor Red Dragon, so it's a bit over 10" long. Should be a good fit.
Yeah a new monitor can definitely be a much better upgrade in many cases than a GPU or other component upgrade.
Out of interest do the RGB lights do anything of use?
Only if I turn it around, they don't provide any sort of illumination or backlighting. Also I can choose the color and if it is static, breathes, or blinks. It doesn't have anything to do with what's on the monitor.
I put a small lamp behind my monitor and liked the effect, might rig something up to work like that.
It's really stepped up my gaming, it's almost like getting a generational leap instead of a generational upgrade type thing. I'm still just shocked at how big a difference it is.
If you're thinking about it, then this is what you need. You won't look back...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08FC3G9ZJ/?tag=b3d-21
hoom
Veteran
Still not sure what to do for me.
My main options are:
Dell S3221QS which was not only extremely attractive looking pricewise but currently 30% off locally which makes it hard not to jump on.
But I'm feeling very iffy about blacksmearing which is apparently largely inherent with VA panels & can't find clear evidence for how much there is with this monitor.
Pretty low response time & Freesync on the plus but only 60hz which presumably makes Freesync function questionable (but there don't actually seem to be many 4K that do over 60hz)
Its essentially the same exterior size as my existing 30" (thinner bezels so slightly bigger panel) & I kinda only really want to improve on the 30" to get more desktop area.
It'll have more resolution area so eg a youtube video snapped in a corner will run 1080p instead of 720 but be essentially the same physical size which seems like a questionable improvement.
There are some similar price/size/tech ones I've looked into but I'm not entirely convinced.
For bigger screen there is the Dell U4320Q
Its IPS so should be colour quality like I'm used to, no risk of blacksmear.
Response time is a bit meh but still better than my 30" which I haven't had any issue with.
Still 60Hz and no Freesync
Its Massive. To the extent that most reviews of this class monitor list the size as a downside 'are you sure you really want a monitor this big on your desk' & when I measure it out I do wonder if I actually do.
But price is a step up towards unreasonable (I'm hoping to see a 30% discount pop up which would bring it into my reasonable range).
Again there are other similar price/size/tech eg ASUS ROG SWIFT PG43UQ or LG 43UN700-B but I'm not entirely convinced.
If I accept U4320Q as reasonable priced I start bringing in stuff like U3219Q as an option.
4K 32" has the 'its not bigger than the 30" issue but its IPS & pro-grade colour.
60hz & no sync tech.
'Easy' option is to either go for the S3221QS, at the current price if I buy it & don't like it, no really big loss, it'd still be a decent upgrade for 2ndary monitor over my 24" Samsung.
Otherwise kick it down the line & hope that OLED monitors become reasonable by the time I look again
My main options are:
Dell S3221QS which was not only extremely attractive looking pricewise but currently 30% off locally which makes it hard not to jump on.
But I'm feeling very iffy about blacksmearing which is apparently largely inherent with VA panels & can't find clear evidence for how much there is with this monitor.
Pretty low response time & Freesync on the plus but only 60hz which presumably makes Freesync function questionable (but there don't actually seem to be many 4K that do over 60hz)
Its essentially the same exterior size as my existing 30" (thinner bezels so slightly bigger panel) & I kinda only really want to improve on the 30" to get more desktop area.
It'll have more resolution area so eg a youtube video snapped in a corner will run 1080p instead of 720 but be essentially the same physical size which seems like a questionable improvement.
There are some similar price/size/tech ones I've looked into but I'm not entirely convinced.
For bigger screen there is the Dell U4320Q
Its IPS so should be colour quality like I'm used to, no risk of blacksmear.
Response time is a bit meh but still better than my 30" which I haven't had any issue with.
Still 60Hz and no Freesync
Its Massive. To the extent that most reviews of this class monitor list the size as a downside 'are you sure you really want a monitor this big on your desk' & when I measure it out I do wonder if I actually do.
But price is a step up towards unreasonable (I'm hoping to see a 30% discount pop up which would bring it into my reasonable range).
Again there are other similar price/size/tech eg ASUS ROG SWIFT PG43UQ or LG 43UN700-B but I'm not entirely convinced.
If I accept U4320Q as reasonable priced I start bringing in stuff like U3219Q as an option.
4K 32" has the 'its not bigger than the 30" issue but its IPS & pro-grade colour.
60hz & no sync tech.
'Easy' option is to either go for the S3221QS, at the current price if I buy it & don't like it, no really big loss, it'd still be a decent upgrade for 2ndary monitor over my 24" Samsung.
Otherwise kick it down the line & hope that OLED monitors become reasonable by the time I look again
Can't help you. Anything over 1080 is currently out of my "give advice on" comfort zone.
Does that change the output based on what is being displayed on the monitor? If I could find one of those cheap I'd jump on it, but mostly I'm finding $8us adjustable color RGB strips for the back.
OLED panels also got black smear. But in practice, i never able to notice it while watching movies or playing games on LG CX. Dunno its visible / distracting to you or not
Does that change the output based on what is being displayed on the monitor? If I could find one of those cheap I'd jump on it, but mostly I'm finding $8us adjustable color RGB strips for the back.
Yes it does. Takes some setting up but once done it just works, and works brilliantly. The lights are very bright to the point they'll light up the room but can be reduced in intensity as required. And the syncing works perfectly. Its pretty transformative to the viewing experience IMO - and reduces eye strain too.
I've been pondering building one of those LED backlight thingies using this https://hyperion-project.org/forum/
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