Author Topic: Monitor Review Update Log 2020  (Read 8233 times)

NCX

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Monitor Review Update Log 2020 #7
« on: March 20, 2020, 05:38:21 pm »
Acer ConceptD CP7271K

Added the Review by Pro Hardware Hungary and Review by Tom's Hardware to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 27" 4-5K AHVA/IPS/PLS buying guide.


Matte, height adjustable, 3840x2160 AUO AHVA panel with 384 zone local dimming, with 24-144hz Nvidia G-Sync, Displayport, HDMI 2.0, 4x USB 3.0 and 3.5mm Auido Out.  The Acer ConceptD CP7271K has a native 1100:1 contrast ratio (FALD or local dimming disabled), 90.9% DCI-P3 (HDR) and 96.9% sRGB (when the SDR Color sRGB mode is enabled which prevents the over-saturation of non-HDR content) color space coverage, and very accurate color presets out of the box.  The CP7271K has a low glow AHVA panel, especially when local dimming is enabled, and fast pixel response times; =DEAD= does not test for input lag, but Tom's Hardware did and measured a 31ms delay versus 36ms for the Asus PG27UQ and 39ms for the Acer X27.

The unitPro Hardware Hungary tested is significantly less accurate than the unit Tom's Hardware tested since it came with low preset gamma unless set to the Cool mode (2.19 gamma versus <2.1 for the other modes) which has 8000K color temperature or is way too blue.


Alienware AW2720HF

Added the Review by Rtings to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 240h-280z Monitors buying guides.

Matte, fully adjust-able, 240hz, 1920x1080, IPS panel with 20-240hz AMD Free-Sync (not G-Sync Compatible), Displayport, 2x HDMI 2.0, 4x USB 3.0, and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The Alienware AW2720HF is preset to the RPG mode which is fairly accurate, but has too high (2.39 average) and skewed gamma resulting in colors and shades being a bit too dark, and loss of detail or black crush when viewing dark content.  The Alienware also can not fully cover the SDR (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) color spaces, so it can not display some colors as accurately and vibrantly as it should, even when calibrate, but it does come close to doing so (97%), and can still be considered good.  The AW2720HF has negligible input lag and offers very fast and nearly completely overshoot free pixel response times at 240hz when the Fast  overdrive setting is used, but has slow pixel response times and higher than average (negligible; 15ms delay at 60hz vs typical 9-10ms measured by Rtings) at 60hz which prevents it from being an outstanding console and PC gaming monitor.

The Acer XV273X is significantly more accurate, has superior gradient handling, vastly superior 60hz overdrive, and slightly lower input lag at 60hz (11.4ms vs 15ms), but slightly slower, though still excellent 240hz overdrive.


Asus VG27AQ

Added the Review by Global HD Russia to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-170hz 1440p Monitors and Best Reviewed Flicker Free 27" 1440p AHVA/IPS/PLS buying guides.

The VG27AQ is a fully adjust-able, matte, 144hz (over-clocks to 165hz over Displayport), 2560x1440 AUO AHVA panel with AMD Free-Sync (48-165hz range), back-light strobing (ELMB) Displayport (over-clock-able to 165hz), 2x HDMI 2.0 and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The VG27AQ has very accurate preset color accuracy (Racing Mode), and has very low or negligible input lag.  The VG27AQ needs to have the overdrive (Trace Free) reduced from 60 to 0 to get rid of excessive overshoot ghosting at 60hz and has slow pixel response times at 60hz, but performs well at 144, 155 and 165hz when the over drive (Trace Free) setting is kept to the default 60 setting.  TFT Central provides Trace Free 80 measurements which prove that the VG27AQ suffers from over 20ms of overshoot ghosting during many transitions which I find unacceptable which is why I recommend using Trace Free 60.


Asus TUF VG27VQ

Added the Review by Rtings to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-165hzhz 1080p Monitors buying guide.

Fully adjust-able, curved, matte, 165hz, 1920x1080 VA panel with AMD Free-Sync (20-165hz), ELMB Sync (100-165hz back-light strobing) Displayport, Dual-Link DVI (120hz max), HDMI 2.0 and 3.5mm Audiio Out.  The VG27VQ has high contrast (3.900:1) for a VA panel and is fairly accurate, but is slightly too blue, has slightly too low gamma and can not display color as accurate and vibrantly as they should be sinceit can only cover 91.7% of the sRGB color space.  It also does not have proper 8 bit +FRC to simulate a 10 bit signal as advertised since it suffers from a bit of banding when displaying dark colors and shades.  The VG27VQ has negligible input lag, but slow pixel response times resulting in some obvious smearing and a bit of overshoot ghosting when its best Trace Free setting (80) is used.


Asus VG279QM

Added the Review by Les NumeriquesReview by Playwares and Review by TFT Central to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 27" 1080p IPS/PLS Monitors and Best Reviewed Flicker Free 240-280hz Monitors buying guides.

Fully adjust-able, matte, 1920x1080, 280hz IPS (probably AUO AHVA) panel with back-light strobing (ELMB), Nvidia G-Sync (48-280hz), Displayport, 2x HDMI 2.0 and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The VG279QM is preset to the Racing Game Visual Mode which is very accurate and almost properly covers the sRGB color space, but the unit PC Lab PL came with slightly too low gamma (2.1-2.2) versus the nearly linear 2.2 gamma Playwares and TFT Central measuredThe VG279QM slightly over-saturates greens, oranges, reds and yellows by over 10% but is otherwise very accurate.  The VG279Q supports HDR, but it is best lest off since it lacks almost all of the features required for true HDR, especially in regards to the DCI-P3 color space coverage since it peaks around 80%.  The overdrive is preset to the Trace Free 60 setting which provides the best performance at 240hz whileTrace Free 80 speeds up the pixel response times without obvious overshoot at 280hz.  Trace Free 60 causes some obvious overshoot at 60hz; Trace Free 20 slows down the pixel response times and gets rid of most of the overshoot at 60hz, but is a bit slower than Trace Free 40 which TFT Central recommends.  The VG279QM has negligible input lag according to 2/3 of the reviewers to measured the delay, and balanced and fast overdrive which provides pixel response times which are only slightly slower than the fastest TN panels like the Acer XF252Q.

Les Numeriques measured (middle screen) a 9.7ms delay with the Leo Bodnar device at 60hz which is nearly as low as possible.

PC Lab PL (measured a 27.5ms delay with a high speed camera.  27.5ms is very high for a gaming monitor.  This could be a mistake, a 60hz measurement or a different version of the monitor.

Playwares measured 2-3ms at 280hz and 17ms at 60hz with the SMT Tool.


BenQ Zowie XL2731

Added the Review by Playwares  to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-165hzhz 1080p Monitors buying guide.

Fully adjust-able, matte, 1920x1080, 144hz TN panel with AMD Free-Sync, Displayport, Dual-Link DVI (120hz), 2x HDMI and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The XL2731 has 900:1-1000:1 contrast and is preset to the abysmal FPS Picture Mode which has very low (1.48) gamma resulting in very dull or washed out colors and shades.  Like most Zowie monitors, the XL2731 can be vastly improved by switching to the Standard Picture Mode which provides accurate (2.16 gamma & accurate RGB levels) and good image quality, but I do not know if it suffers from dark content banding since Playwares does not test for it.  The XL2731 under-saturates greens and blue slightly and over-saturates purples, reds and yellows; it can not, but comes close to fully covering the SDR (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) color spaces.  The XL2731 has negligilbe input lag at 144hz (3-4ms measured by Playwares with the SMT Tool vs a CRT), a 17ms delay at 60hz and fast pixel response times without obvious overshoot when the default AMA High response time setting is used.  I can't recommend it without knowing if it does or does not suffer from dark content banding, and because it is not competitively priced against the 1080p 144hz IPS panels which have much better image quality.


LG 24GL600F

Added the Review by Pro Hardware Hungary to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-165hzhz 1080p Monitors buying guide.

Matte 1920x1080 144hz TN panel with AMD Free-Sync (20-144hz), Displayport, Dual-Link, 2x HDMI 2.0, and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The LG 24GL600F has passable preset color accuracy (Gamer 1 is the best), but suffers from a preset blue tint and has slightly washed out colors since the gamma is non-linear and too low (2.06 average); Pro Hardware Hungrary measured nearly linear 2.2 gamma, but their unit came with a stronger blue tint (7600k color temperature versus Rtings 6880k).  The 24GL600F has negligibly input lag and very fast (top tier) pixel response times.


MSI Optix MAG272CQR

Added the Review by Global HD Russia and IT Hardware PL to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-170hz 1440p Monitors buying guide.

Matte, curved (1500R), semi-wide gamut, 2560x1440 165hz VA panel with a height adjustable stand, AMD Free-Sync, Displayport (48-165hz Free-Sync range), 2x HDMI 2.0 (48-120hz Free-Sync range), USB-C, 2x USB 3.2 and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The MSI is uses a semi-wide gamut (it over-saturates SDR color by >25%)  but is fairly accurate when set to the Custom Pro mode which also unlocks the color controls and increases the preset gamma and RGB level accuracy.  Unfortunately the contrast ratio is limited to around 2,200:1 (versus 3,000:1 spec) when using the most accurate preset modes, and when calibrated.  Global HD does not measure input lag and the PixerPixAn photo of the overdrive indicates quiet slow pixel response times.  It Hardware PL measured a 4-8ms delay


Philips 272M Gaming

Added the Review by Playwares to my Best Reviewed Flicker Free 27" 1080p IPS/PLS Monitors and Best Reviewed Flicker Free 144-165hzhz 1080p Monitors buying guides.

Matte, 1920x1080, 144hz, IPS panel with AMD Free-Sync, back-light strobing (MPRT), Displayport, HDMI, VGA and 3.5mm Audio Out.  The Philips has up to 1400:1 contrast which is 30-40% higher than most AHVA/IPS/PLS panels, accurate but slightly too high (2.29 average) preset gamma, and a semi-wide gamut panel which over-saturates SDR (HDTV/REC 709 & sRGB) color by 25%, but does not under-saturate any colors.  The  272M has negligible input lag (2-3ms) and the overdrive is controlled by the Smart Response menu setting and performs best when set to the third setting which provides fast pixel response times and minimal overshoot on par with the AOC 27G2.