120hz monitors?

[Wiskers]

Hey everyone,

I've recently decided to jump on the pc gaming bandwagon and have just built a new pc. I want to get a 120hz monitor and am seriously considering the BenQ XL2420T. Is this a good monitor or are there any others that I should be considering?

Also, one of my mates was arguing with me the other day about 120hz monitors. He said that they were useless as you had to output 120 fps constantly, which I laughed at and told him that it would make no sense because, if that were the case, everyone would have to have exceedingly powerful gpus or put all the settings on low. I wasn't wrong was I?

Cheers,

Wiskers.

 

[william123098]

120 fps is easily output while doing simple tasks, however there is almost no point to a 120hz monitor if your gpu is not good enough to output the games you will be playing at 60-120 fps. a 60hz monitor's screen will refresh 60 times per second meaning if your gpu only runs the games you play at equal to or less than 60fps a 120hz monitor is useless, asumming it's primary function is gaming. a 120 hz monitor refreshes 120 times per second meaning if your game runs at 60-120 fps then there will be somewhat of a point to using such a monitor. in most cases i would simply use a conventional 50-60hz monitor unless your gpu can run things at 60-120fps. 120hz monitors are also more costly

 

[ssddx]

neither of you or your buddy are completely right or wrong.

as stated above, simple tasks are easily performed at 120fps even on low power gpus, however, if you want to see a large difference between using a 60hz and 120hz monitor in games you need a powerful gpu.

if you get under 60fps a 120hz panel is wasted.
if you get 60-80fps there is a slight improvment
if you get 80+fps you are likely to notice a decent improvement in framerate.

with this said, realize that games are getting more hardware demanding with each release and both 120hz and multipanel users are forced to upgrade hardware more often to keep pace if they want to stay on the highest quality settings.

also, keep in mind that only tn panels are available in 120hz. these panels while fast are also on the low end of color reproduction and have the poorest viewing angles.

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my personal recommendation is normally to go with an e-ips panel at 60hz for the viewing angle or s, p or h-ips panel for color reproduction and 180 viewing angle if you have the budget for it. of course you sacrifice 120hz capability.

its a give and take, you need to figure out which is more important to you. your budget is also a big consideration.

 

[Wiskers]

neither of you or your buddy are completely right or wrong.

as stated above, simple tasks are easily performed at 120fps even on low power gpus, however, if you want to see a large difference between using a 60hz and 120hz monitor in games you need a powerful gpu.

if you get under 60fps a 120hz panel is wasted.
if you get 60-80fps there is a slight improvment
if you get 80+fps you are likely to notice a decent improvement in framerate.

with this said, realize that games are getting more hardware demanding with each release and both 120hz and multipanel users are forced to upgrade hardware more often to keep pace if they want to stay on the highest quality settings.

also, keep in mind that only tn panels are available in 120hz. these panels while fast are also on the low end of color reproduction and have the poorest viewing angles.

----

my personal recommendation is normally to go with an e-ips panel at 60hz for the viewing angle or s, p or h-ips panel for color reproduction and 180 viewing angle if you have the budget for it. of course you sacrifice 120hz capability.

its a give and take, you need to figure out which is more important to you. your budget is also a big consideration.

Hmm... I was under the impression that ips panels were too slow for gaming, maybe I need to do some more research. Not very fussed about colour reproduction and viewing angle is not going to factor into my decision. I think that the speed of a 120hz TN panel will benefit me most as I won't be doing any movie or photo editing where colour reproduction is a must.

Thanks for helping me make up my mind

 

[Wiskers]

Best answer selected by Wiskers.