120hz or IPS screen

[velocci]

Hi all, I'm trying to pick a monitor to buy and i'm deciding between one that has 120hz TN panel or one that is an IPS panel but is 60hz. which would you choose and why?

 

[malikq86]

if you got a good rig w/ a good gpu..than get the 120hz.. (ie: you can get like 80+ FPS on the games you play). If not, get the IPS. I have a GTX 570...and currently have an IPs..but I also want to get a 120hz. best of both worlds. I love having dual screens at work..so I thought i might as well get one of each at home. lol

 

[velocci]

I have the i7-2600k and using its gpu. but I might end up buying a better video card later. right now i'm using my pc for internet, watching video files (not bluray movies) and once and a while I play a game. i'm not concerned with games because for most gamers, any monitor will do. i'm not a hardcore gamer. i'm worried that if I go with the 60hz IPS monitor, i will regret not getting 120hz and not being able to view 3D content or anything else that will require 120hz. but if I got with the 120hz TN monitor, then i'm getting older technology in the TN panel. the monitors in question are the Dell U2410 (60hz IPS panel) and the BenQ XL2410T (120hz TN panel). the benq monitor supposedly has restrictive viewing angles, but I might not care about that. i'd have to go see the monitor in a store. and the dell has Picture in Picture and Picture by Picture which would be really nice. it all comes down to if 120hz monitor will become important later on. do you think it will be more useful or required in the next few years?

 

[jaguarskx]

For most gamers the normal 60Hz is fine. I'm not a big fan of 3D movies or games. If you like watching 3D movies, then sure go for a 120Hz monitor that supports 3D. All 3D monitors are 120Hz monitors, but not all 120Hz monitors are 3D monitors.

Is a 120Hz monitor going to be required in the next few years? No.

Will a 3D monitor become more useful in the next few years? Don't know. That depends what you want to do with it beyond watching movie or playing games.

nVidia cards offers the best and easiest solution for 3D gaming (and watching movies I guess). AMD cards can do 3D, but you must purchase 3rd party drivers to do so and the last time I've checked setting up an AMD card for 3D was more complicated than nVidia's solution.

 

[velocci]

which would you choose? 120hz or IPS?

 

[jaguarskx]

I use IPS panel monitors as my primary monitors.

I have a TN panel monitor, for a HTPC, but it only gets used 4 hours at most per month. But it is usually half that amount of time.

 

[MagicPants]

I have a 120hz monitor on my gaming pc. I am getting rid of it (sticking it in the closet) and looking for an ips monitor.

I also have a 30 inch ips panel on my non-gaming pc that I've hooked up to the gaming one on occasion. But it's too big.

Anyway the plus side of the 120hz is less input lag and better motion, but I only notice this while shaking windows on the desktop, never in games. The 120hz monitor is TN which means the colors aren't so good and it has a limited viewing angle.

Unless you are competitive at first person shooters (wired mouse, etc...) go with an IPS. Just make sure to get one that has low input lag like the dell u2412m.

3d tech is changing too quickly to justify the prices they are charging. It should be $20 extra, not $200

 

[velocci]

you said dell U2412? is that a new model coming out? right now they have U2410.

 

[MagicPants]

The u2412m is slightly cheaper than the u2410 and it uses LED lighting. It's a budget IPS, but the reviews have been good and it's got a low input lag. It's what I'd buy if I wanted a 24" panel. (I'm currently looking for a no compromise 27, but giving up hope)

 

[velocci]

thanks but the U2412m doesn't have HDMI. that's a must for me. i'm thinking of forgetting the 120hz direction. but still not sure if I'm going to spend the money on the U2410 or the BenQ XL2410T. Another option is the Asus 23" model with IPS. I think the model is PA238Q or something.

 

[malikq86]

velocci - if you don't have a good gfx card (your using CPU gfx?) or don't game to often (both of which sound like your situation) than get the IPS. If you want 3D get the 120hz...however, tbh, 3D is lame..and people here really don't buy it for 3D...they buy it for smoothness in 2D gaming. 120hz is really only recommended if you want you play a lot of shooters/racing games with a powerful gfx card. I personally (and probably most people here) think 3D is dumb gimmick..and complete waste of money...it is not ideal for anything (have to wear glasses all the time, strains eyes)...unless you really like/want 3D...get the IPS imo. I don't think the current 3D is the future..and I believe most techies will agree...they have to fix some issues before it really becomes mainstream (tho yes, there are a lot of 3D TVs, but I don't think people really use the "3D" feature that often, if ever)... especially for monitors.

 

[velocci]

I think I will forget about 3D. but I probably will get a better video card eventually.

 

[MagicPants]

Checkout the HP zr2440w. It's almost the same as the u2412m, but it has hdmi. No reviews yet though.

 

[velocci]

looks good. but no PIP. the Asus PA246Q is probably about the same price, but has PIP

 

[velocci]

I just learned that for the two Asus monitors i'm considering, if i'm using the DVI port for my PC, I can't see the HDMI source in the PIP. that's so dumb. so PIP is useless for these two monitors. they are off the list. In fact, neither does the BenQ have PIP. looks lik i'm going to have to make sure the Dell U2410 can view the HDMI port in the sub window. anyone know?

 

[velocci]

update: it seems that all (or most) monitors don't allow PIP with DVI and HDMI at the same time, including the dell that's a bummer. but I can always use a connector that allows me to use the display port on the monitor and the DVI port on my PC. the good thing about the dell is that it has component inputs (the red/green/blue inputs).

 

[velocci]

is there a big difference between a brightness of 250cd/m2 vs 400cd/m2?

 

[Seaclam]

I have a 120hz monitor on my gaming pc. I am getting rid of it (sticking it in the closet) and looking for an ips monitor.

I also have a 30 inch ips panel on my non-gaming pc that I've hooked up to the gaming one on occasion. But it's too big.

Anyway the plus side of the 120hz is less input lag and better motion, but I only notice this while shaking windows on the desktop, never in games. The 120hz monitor is TN which means the colors aren't so good and it has a limited viewing angle.

Unless you are competitive at first person shooters (wired mouse, etc...) go with an IPS. Just make sure to get one that has low input lag like the dell u2412m.

3d tech is changing too quickly to justify the prices they are charging. It should be $20 extra, not $200

I was under the impression that IPS panels are for "still work". When I look at various IPS panel specs, they always have terrible ms timings. They are very slow. Yes, they are fantastic for photo work as their color spectrums are wide, but for gaming.....I don't think anybody would recommend an IPS panel. Iplan to get a nice NEC IPS for my photo stuff, but for gaming.......you gotta have speed. The problem has always been, if you game and do photo work, you need two monitors. That still hasn't changed unfortunately. Perhaps something like OLED will be faster. IPS panels, while great on color, are just too slow.

 

[MagicPants]

Most TN panels claim 2 ms that's 500 fps. Most IPS claim 6ms that's 170fps. Most people have a built in reaction time of 100ms(the range is 80 to 150).

All that fast response time is really only good for is keeping the image from being blurry while moving. Input lag how fast a panel responds to your input, this is far more important.

In general the lower a panel's response time, the higher its input lag. This might seem counter-intuitive, but the reason is that most panels use something called "overdrive". An over driven panel looks at the current frame and the next frame and tries to over shoot the target color.

If the pixel is white, and the next image is gray, then the panel tells it to turn to black. The idea being that the white pixel will pass through gray on it way to black, faster than it would just turn to gray, if gray was the target.

The panel guesses when this will happen and times it just right, so that it tells the pixel to turn gray just as it is passing through to gray. Some panels get this wrong, and you see a dark trail behind moving objects where the panel has overshot gray.

Anyway, this is all fine a good, and it makes moving images sharper, but it has the downside that the monitor has to buffer two frames so that you are always one frame behind. In other words over-driven panels have an extra 16ms of input lag.

A 120hz panel displays new frames twice as often so the overdrive lag is only 8ms.

Anyway the effect of this is that it's much more pleasant to game on an IPS monitor(due to the better color) , but you will be more competitive on a 120hz tn.

 

[Seaclam]

I have a 2ms Samsung and when I look at my like 5ms laptop screen, I can notice the difference right away. Now I've been looking at the NEC panels in the $800(e-ips P241W-BK) to the $1300(ips PA241W-BK-SV)range and they are way too slow. Like 8ms at best with others even higher. Don't get me wrong, they are by their very nature, not gaming screens. Just as gaming screens are not photography work screens. My only wish at this stage of the game was that there was a monitor technology out that had the best of both worlds.

 

[MagicPants]

The thing is... response times are largely made up numbers. It's like dynamic contrast numbers that claim 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratios because they can turn the screen off. If you see a difference between a laptop and a desktop screen that makes sense, but you can't condense a monitors performance down into one little simple number any more than you can say one car is faster than another because it has more horsepower.

You have to look at the whole picture.

Here take a look at this review:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2312hm.htm

Notice how the TN panels have slightly lower response time, but this IPS panel blows them out of the water on input lag. Also notice how the dell ips beats the Benq 120hz tn when it comes to ghosting. Then notice how the 3ms Samsung smashes the 2ms Benq.

Manufacturer reported response time is not the whole story.

I have a 2ms Samsung and when I look at my like 5ms laptop screen, I can notice the difference right away. Now I've been looking at the NEC panels in the $800(e-ips P241W-BK) to the $1300(ips PA241W-BK-SV)range and they are way too slow. Like 8ms at best with others even higher. Don't get me wrong, they are by their very nature, not gaming screens. Just as gaming screens are not photography work screens. My only wish at this stage of the game was that there was a monitor technology out that had the best of both worlds.

 

[phraze]

For most gamers the normal 60Hz is fine. I'm not a big fan of 3D movies or games. If you like watching 3D movies, then sure go for a 120Hz monitor that supports 3D. All 3D monitors are 120Hz monitors, but not all 120Hz monitors are 3D monitors.

From what i have read LG D237IPS is a 60hz 3D monitor