60Hz H-IPS vs 120Hz TN vs Dual 60Hz TN

jeremy160

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Hey Everyone,

I'm contemplating on which type of 27" monitor to get with my gaming rig.
Everyday I surf on the internet heavily and game lightly (first person shooters, Crysis 2, etc), and use it for school.
I don't do any photo editing or movie editing.
Which monitor type is best for me?
When I'm playing Crysis 2 on max settings, will a 60Hz monitor bring the fps back from it's true potential?

Gaming Rig:

Intel Core i7 960 @ 3.2 Ghz
AMD Radeon HD 6870 in Crossfire X
6 gb 1333mhz RAM

Thanks
 
Solution
120fps at 1920x1080 i can believe. if you stay at similar resolutions then performance should be fine. its only until you start doubling the resolution that your fps drops by 50-75% or more.

a typical signal is 60hz, 120 is achieved via dualink only. you really dont need it unless you want 3d (on a 3d capable monitor). the signal doesnt vary, its always 60hz no matter what resolution (well in europe i think they use 50hz but thats besides the point) the point is that whatever the rating is, it is a constant. your frames per second (fps) can vary, but the actual signal to your monitor does not.

led/ccfl are equal. there really isnt any benefit to going led except that leds *may possibly* last longer and that they are a little more...
h-ips and s-ips panels are considered the "absolute best" in terms of visual quality. the only downside is the fact that they cost more. i dont consider the higher response time an issue since i've never seen ghosting even on an older 16ms version (one i own).

tn panels are cheap. if you're on a budget they will work but are also at the lowest end in terms of visual quality. they also tend to "grey out" or invert colors when viewed at any angle except straight on. this is the same type of screen used on most laptops.

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either monitor will work for what you need but if it was me i'd spend a little extra and get the h-ips.

dont forget there are e-ips panels (down a tier from the h/s-ips) and va panels available which form the middle-of-the-road options.
 
as i said, personally i'd go with an ips panel.

that said, i've heard about a few dell panels having backlight bleed. check a few reviews and look at a few things on this list before making your mind up

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1038&bih=444&q=u2711+backlight+bleed&oq=u2711+backlight+bleed&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=8265l10811l0l11014l16l14l0l7l7l0l282l1250l0.3.3l6

that said, quite a few people seem to recommend the dell large format displays.

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in my personal opinion a duallink dvi would be worthless to you since you dont plan on using your monitor for much gaming or 3d content. also the fact that its a tn panel is a complete turnoff for me.

the dell large format display may be more monitor than you need, but would allow you to multitask with a few windows because of the high resolution. because of the high resolution though there are two pitfalls: the first is that because of the high resolution if you maximize photos/videos on screen they might not look as good as they would on a smaller panel. the other downfall is that for very demanding games the huge resolution puts a huge strain on your system. i see that you're running crossfire but you may want to check out the tomshardware video card charts to see how they will perform at the higher resolution.

i cannot tell you exactly what you should buy. this is your choice and yours alone. however, i can tell you the things you should look for so that you can make an educated decision that you will be happy with. just think about what choices are more important for you and be sure to read reviews.
 

jeremy160

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hey, ssddx

I plan to buy the U2711 tonight before the deal ends. Before I buy it, I want to know if I should buy because their is another monitor that is not on sale, but has almost the same price (u2711 $100 more expensive). I found a 27" 120Hz 1080p LED TN Samsung monitor. I did some research and figured out that my pc is capable of reaching 120fps with Dx11 disabled and on optimum graphics settings. I have a few questions for your expertise.

1. 120Hz better? (especially when powering a 1440p res it's going to be under 60hz for sure)
2. LED better? (u2711 uses CCFL tech)
3. Is the PPI on a 27" with 1080p too little?
4. Is U2711 worth $100 more to pay for?
5. Which is best for light fps gaming, and heavy internet surfing?
 
120fps at 1920x1080 i can believe. if you stay at similar resolutions then performance should be fine. its only until you start doubling the resolution that your fps drops by 50-75% or more.

a typical signal is 60hz, 120 is achieved via dualink only. you really dont need it unless you want 3d (on a 3d capable monitor). the signal doesnt vary, its always 60hz no matter what resolution (well in europe i think they use 50hz but thats besides the point) the point is that whatever the rating is, it is a constant. your frames per second (fps) can vary, but the actual signal to your monitor does not.

led/ccfl are equal. there really isnt any benefit to going led except that leds *may possibly* last longer and that they are a little more energy efficient but thats about it. the fact that they tinge the screen blue (which you can adjust out) makes me recommend ccfl still. but either will work.

at 27" the difference between 2560x1400 (dell) and 1920x1080 (sams) is absolutely huge. the dell will be much more crisp and clear (taking into account what i said in my last post) than the samsung. that said, i personally use a 40" 1920x1080 television as my screen and i enjoy it. the ppi is a little low but since i use it as a media/gaming pc everything is kosher. i'd love to have a u2711 but i don't want to throw money out for both (and i really wanted a big screen tv).

the samsung for $100 cheaper is absolutely no competition for the dell u2711 and what it brings to the table (unless you were looking for a 1080p screen instead, in which case you might consider it). personally i'd lean towards the dell.

if you have bad eyes you might have to raise the zoom level up on the dell monitor as text might be a little small (but that might be countered by it being a 27", i'm not sure) but this is not a real issue. you would be able to browse multiple pages at once on a screen (and even game/surf on one screen if you wanted). the downfall is that if you wanted to fullscreen a game at 2560x1440 it takes a beefier system to handle it (though if you get 120fps already you *should* be fine. do look at the video card charts @ that resolution though to be sure fps wont drop too much. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.

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in summary, keeping all of the pros/cons i stated earlier into account, the dell u2711 should be a good choice. at $100 above the other choice you mentioned its a no-brainer.
 
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jeremy160

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Thank you so much ssddx! I made my decision last night. I did a lot of research with reviews, graphics, etc. I decided to buy it after all! It was a great deal. I got extra discount with a work perk Dell coupon on top. Thanks again!