Help choosing two monitors for work and gaming, $150 - $250 each

[SibCon]

Hi guys.
I'm looking to buy two monitors, I'm in US.
When I was building my rigs, I thought that I've had tough times deciding on mobo and GPU. Boy I was wrong, I've seen nothing... My head is spinning just after looking at ASUS with gazillion letter combinations

Anyway...

I am looking for two monitors in US:

CPU: i5-6600k
GPU: ASUS 970
RAM: DDR4 16Gb
Primary purpose: work
Secondary purpose: gaming (being secondary does not mean that I would be ok getting crappy monitor just so I can do some spreadsheets and taxes. When I game, I want it bad with awesome color, no flickering, etc.)
Image quality: Show me some, babe. Show me more. (i.e. important, very)
GSG: 5ms or less is a must?
Resolution: 1920x1080 is all I need
Size: minimum 24", 27" will fit more work, but I don't know if I should go for 27". Worth it? Will picture quality degrade on 27 comparing to 24?
Speakers: don't need / don't want

After spending hours and hours doing some research, I am leaning toward ASUS, BenQ, or maybe Samsung or LG.

Based on what I mentioned, can you recommend something in $150 - $250 range? Don't forget that I need two, so be gentle. If $250 monitor is marginally better than $150 monitor, I'd rather buy $150 one.

Please help, I'm going crazy!

 

[wildfire707]

In the current marketplace, I would tend to get an ASUS PB238Q monitor. It offers nearly every type of input, in an IPS display with a 6ms response time, has very good color accuracy, and is relatively inexpensive at $212.37 on Amazon.

It is a 23" 1920 x 1080 monitor, so it is not quite the 24" size that you had requested. But you will save about $90 by choosing it instead of its 24" sibling.

Right now I would stay with a 1080p monitor for most users. They use a resolution that is ideal for movies and supported by virtually all games made in the last 5 years. Your video card will have no problems running games on one or both of the monitors. I use 3 Dell U2311H monitors on my system and it is really cool in games that support the 5760 x 1080 resolution that I have.

With 2 monitors you will probably want to game on one and can still do something else on the other (I have used this to have a mission walk through loaded on one of my other monitors as I play a game on one monitor.

This monitor can be found at:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb238q

For the price limit that you put in, a fast response monitor (75 or 144 Hz) can be expensive and are unusual to find until you get to a higher resolution.

As far as response time is concerned, 8ms is the absolute slowest that most people will find acceptable. IPS monitors are also highly desirable as their displays support wide angle viewing (including vertical) and have excellent colors, but they are slower refreshing than normal TN panels.

 

[SibCon]

In the current marketplace, I would tend to get an ASUS PB238Q monitor. It offers nearly every type of input, in an IPS display with a 6ms response time, has very good color accuracy, and is relatively inexpensive at $212.37 on Amazon.

It is a 23" 1920 x 1080 monitor, so it is not quite the 24" size that you had requested. But you will save about $90 by choosing it instead of its 24" sibling.

Right now I would stay with a 1080p monitor for most users. They use a resolution that is ideal for movies and supported by virtually all games made in the last 5 years. Your video card will have no problems running games on one or both of the monitors. I use 3 Dell U2311H monitors on my system and it is really cool in games that support the 5760 x 1080 resolution that I have.

With 2 monitors you will probably want to game on one and can still do something else on the other (I have used this to have a mission walk through loaded on one of my other monitors as I play a game on one monitor.

This monitor can be found at:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pb238q

For the price limit that you put in, a fast response monitor (75 or 144 Hz) can be expensive and are unusual to find until you get to a higher resolution.

As far as response time is concerned, 8ms is the absolute slowest that most people will find acceptable. IPS monitors are also highly desirable as their displays support wide angle viewing (including vertical) and have excellent colors, but they are slower refreshing than normal TN panels.

That looks like a good monitor. Unfortunately, I can't go 23", 24" is the minimum. I wish that the next size up wouldn't me that much more.

 

[wildfire707]

Well, if you really need at least 24" for the display size you should take a look at the ASUS PA248Q monitor. It is the bigger brother of the PB238Q that I mentioned earlier and uses a 1920 x 1200 resolution. Some games will have trouble supporting that resolution, but games made in the last year should work fine. In all other respects it is basically identical to the PB238Q.

The biggest problem for you would probably be the price. It costs $299 at Amazon.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pa248q

If that will not work, then you will probably have to go with a TN panel monitor to keep the cost down. They will have narrower viewing angles and the color will not be as good, but their are several models that have very high refresh rates to help out in games.

With this in mind, you should take a look at the ASUS VG248QE monitor. It is a 24" model that has the 144 Hz refresh rate. If you have a Microcenter store nearby, you can get one for $240. Online it costs $263, but the price should go down by the end of the year due to competition.

Here is a link to it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe

If price is an absolute concern, you can take a look at the LG 24MB35PY-B monitor. It is a very nice 23.8" IPS monitor, but it does not come with a DisplayPort cable and has trouble with low grade cables. If you get a Monoprice or Accell branded DisplayPort cable, it should work fine. It is the cheapest IPS monitor that I would normally consider using at $195, but most people would just get a more expensive monitor to avoid the hassle.

Here is a link to the LG monitor:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-monitor-24mb35pyb

Once again, good luck!

 

[SibCon]

Well, if you really need at least 24" for the display size you should take a look at the ASUS PA248Q monitor. It is the bigger brother of the PB238Q that I mentioned earlier and uses a 1920 x 1200 resolution. Some games will have trouble supporting that resolution, but games made in the last year should work fine. In all other respects it is basically identical to the PB238Q.

The biggest problem for you would probably be the price. It costs $299 at Amazon.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-pa248q

If that will not work, then you will probably have to go with a TN panel monitor to keep the cost down. They will have narrower viewing angles and the color will not be as good, but their are several models that have very high refresh rates to help out in games.

With this in mind, you should take a look at the ASUS VG248QE monitor. It is a 24" model that has the 144 Hz refresh rate. If you have a Microcenter store nearby, you can get one for $240. Online it costs $263, but the price should go down by the end of the year due to competition.

Here is a link to it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vg248qe

If price is an absolute concern, you can take a look at the LG 24MB35PY-B monitor. It is a very nice 23.8" IPS monitor, but it does not come with a DisplayPort cable and has trouble with low grade cables. If you get a Monoprice or Accell branded DisplayPort cable, it should work fine. It is the cheapest IPS monitor that I would normally consider using at $195, but most people would just get a more expensive monitor to avoid the hassle.

Here is a link to the LG monitor:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-monitor-24mb35pyb

Once again, good luck!

wildfire707
Thanks a lot for detailed info and explanations. That helped me a lot.
ASUS also has slightly bigger version PB258Q, which looks amazing, and it has blue light filter, which should help if I spend a lot of time in front of the monitor.

I'm still comparing it to VG248QE, but I'm leaning toward PB258Q (higher resolution, IPS panel, and blue light filter).

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[SibCon]

Last call, any reasons to choose VG248QE over PB258Q, if I'm not into gaming too too much?
Does blue light filter really work, or is it just a marketing gimmick?

 

[wildfire707]

Last call, any reasons to choose VG248QE over PB258Q, if I'm not into gaming too too much?
Does blue light filter really work, or is it just a marketing gimmick?

The PB258Q uses an IPS screen, so it will have better colors and a wide viewing angle. For most people it would definitely be a good option. The blue light filter is for people who have trouble staring at monitor screens, and I can't really say if it works since I don't have that problem.

The biggest issue that you would run into with the PB258Q over the PA248Q (the expensive one that I mentioned earlier) would be the color accuracy. If you do photo editing or website development, having accurate colors is very important. The "SplendidPlus" feature that is on the PB258Q distorts the colors and brightness displayed, to make low light images show up better and make images "pop". The PA248Q has the "Splendid" feature, and includes an option to display accurate colors (basically an OFF mode to the Splendid).