BenQ RL2460HT 24-Inch Monitor Review: Is Gaming Good At 60 Hz?

Features
By Christian Eberle
published

Does a true gaming monitor need to have a 120 or 144 Hz refresh rate? BenQ’s RL2460HT offers plenty of features that cater to enthusiasts, but it tops out at 60 Hz. Can those extra capabilities compensate, or should you continue your search elsewhere?

Results: Color Gamut And Performance

Color gamut is measured using a saturation sweep that samples the six main colors (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and yellow) at five saturation levels (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 percent), yielding a more realistic view of color accuracy.

First up is the Fighting mode. Some alterations are made to the standard sRGB color gamut by design.

Red and magenta show the largest deviations, but all of the colors are off in saturation, hue, and luminance by varying degrees. Using the Fighting mode is purely a matter of personal preference. In our experience, games look best when the display is calibrated to a proper sRGB color gamut.

The Standard mode is pretty good overall. Our only real concern is the under-luminance of blue, red, and magenta. Those same colors are over-saturated at the 20-, 40-, 60-, and 80-percent levels. If you only look at the 100-percent saturations, the gamut looks very good.

Calibrating the grayscale improves the gamut results significantly. Now the luminance levels are near-perfect and the saturation problems have been mostly fixed. Red is a little under, but only just. This is a great example of how getting the white point correct can improve a display's total color performance.

Now we return to the comparison group:

An average error of 1.19 Delta E is amazing when you consider that the RL2460HT is the least expensive monitor in our round-up. We wouldn’t expect a gaming monitor to perform this well, but we’ll take it! BenQ really raises the bar here.

Gamut Volume: Adobe RGB 1998 And sRGB

There are basically two categories of displays in use today: those that conform to the sRGB/Rec. 709 standard like HDTVs, and wide-gamut panels that show as much as 100 percent of the Adobe RGB 1998 spec. We use Gamutvision to calculate the gamut volume, based on an ICC profile created from our actual measurements.

The RL2460HT is clearly an sRGB-only display. With a measured error of 1.19 Delta E in our color saturation sweep test, a large gamut volume of 97.72 percent goes hand in hand with that. Few professionals would put this monitor on their short list. But you could use it for video work when the wider Adobe RGB gamut isn’t required.

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

27 Comments Comment from the forums
  • blackmagnum
    Does it even matter when games automatically enable Vsync setting to 60 Hz?
    Reply
  • eldragon0
    Does it even matter when games automatically enable Vsync setting to 60 Hz?
    No, but chances are if you're dropping 300+ on a monitor and genuinely want the extra frame rate you will be the type of person who is ready and expecting to tweak the game's files to run at those frame-rates.
    Reply
  • eldragon0
    Does it even matter when games automatically enable Vsync setting to 60 Hz?
    No, but chances are if you're dropping 300+ on a monitor and genuinely want the extra frame rate you will be the type of person who is ready and expecting to tweak the game's files to run at those frame-rates.
    Reply
  • Heironious
    Yes, it matters. After buying the ASUS VG248 with Lightboost enabled in 2D gaming, I can not go back to a 60hz monitor. Is it really that hard for you to disable Vsync in the games settings?
    Reply
  • envy14tpe
    I think most mid-range gamers go 60Hz TN panel monitors that sell for $150 or less. This monitor seems pretty pricey and is stuck between those and the 144Hz monitors. I don't' think this will sell all that well.
    Reply
  • therogerwilco
    The ZR30W is 2560x1600, yet only 60 hz.

    I achieve first place in multiple games when playing multiplayer, on a regular basis.
    60hz is not the problem, the problem is your system if it CAN'T sustain 60 fps.
    Reply
  • Xivilain
    If your monitor supports 30hz, 60hz, or even 120hz, its nice to see the visual difference they make when compared side by side. I like to show other people this demo to compare FPS:
    http://frames-per-second.appspot.com/
    Reply
  • xenol
    When frame rate time periods start exceeding the fastest reaction times of humans, I start to question whether or not even faster frame rates are necessary.

    I don't think competitive players win because they have 144Hz monitors and can react with all that information being fed to them. I think they win because they are proactive, and that there are many tells anyway to allow someone who's tuned in the game to react quickly.

    I mean, StarCraft has choppy animation that is independent of refresh rates (they look like they move at 20FPS), but there's a lot of high level competition there.
    Reply
  • heydan
    Im still don´t know how people reach the 120-144 fps in any game even at 1080p, maybe they refer to fps higher than 60fps, like 70, 80, and maybe for some old games the 120-144 fps, or they play games with low settings in order to reach those fps?, can someone explain me?, because I can find any review about any high end GPU and found that there´s so little games that achieve 120-144 fps at 1080p with everything max out...
    Reply
  • tipmen
    Im still don´t know how people reach the 120-144 fps in any game even at 1080p, maybe they refer to fps higher than 60fps, like 70, 80, and maybe for some old games the 120-144 fps, or they play games with low settings in order to reach those fps?, can someone explain me?, because I can find any review about any high end GPU and found that there´s so little games that achieve 120-144 fps at 1080p with everything max out...

    You do have a point with newer games that have very nice graphics. Such as, BF, Metro LL, and Arma 3 you need a beefy GPU set up or some people turn down the settings. (Eye candy is nice but if it is going to be a slideshow it isn't worth it) However, older titles such as CS GO where having the higher FPS will give you an edge doesn't take much to get 200+ FPS. Basically computers with at least an i5 and a 6970 or 580 can hit FPS 100+ on older titles. Newer titles i5/i7 (depends on the game if it take advantage of the hyper threading) 7970(280)/290x or 680/780. Crossfire or SLI helps but I personally find the gaming experience smoother playing CS GO on one 7970 instead of two in crossfire. With one I am still well over 100 FPS. When I play BF4 I have crossfire enable and high settings with some things turned down I get over 100FPS on DX11 API. When I try mantle (When it works....) I get an extra 10fps if I am lucky and feels smoother. You also can check Toms GPU charts of even their recently released SMB. I own Asus 144hz and never can go back to playing FPS on something less. I just wish they will catch up to my golden days with the CRTs refresh rates .
    Reply