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I believe that you never regret buying the best. That being said, I also believe that you can get most of the performance of the best tech for a lot less money than the premium tier. Big Ultra HD monitors are certainly attractive, but if you don’t have $1,000 to spend, you can get a surprisingly good experience for a quarter of that.
What was the bleeding edge nine years ago is today an entry-level display. 144 Hz is, and should be, considered a starting point for gaming monitors. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t fun. The Viotek GFI24CBA makes the most of its features to deliver excellent gaming with a bright, sharp and color-accurate picture, and video processing that rivals the best.
There’s no HDR or extended color, but the picture is otherwise superb. Just remember to change the color temp from Normal to Warm, and you’ll have an image with no visible color or grayscale errors. And the TN panels of yesteryear are gone. The GFI24CBA’s IPS panel has contrast and viewing angles nearly equal to the best of the category.
The performance available from today’s video cards means you can expect 144 fps from this monitor with detail levels maxed in your favorite rendered games. When the refresh rate changes, Adaptive-Sync is there to prevent artifacts. You can use the GFI24CBA with G-Sync or FreeSync hardware with no issues. And its overdrive keeps motion blur to a minimum. I found no benefit to the included backlight strobe, but it’s there if you want it.
At this writing, the GFI24CBA is selling for $170. That’s an astounding value considering a 60 Hz IPS monitor was $400 a few years ago. You don’t get speakers, LEDs or USB ports. But you do get superlative gaming and a solidly built display that you’ll enjoy using. Highly Recommended for the budget-minded user seeking maximum value.
