MaximilianKohler

I tried two of them for an expensive IPS monitor and they were both really bad. I've tried lots of other TN and VA monitors and the expensive IPS was the worst by far. BLB is generally only noticeable on pure black scenes, but glow is noticeable more often. You may have had a bad TN. The ones I used had none of those problems. As mentioned in the OP, my VA has much better viewing angles than my IPS. Smearing on my VA is only noticeable on some high-contrast scenes, and is certainly overshadowed by IPS glow. I'm sure that lower-quality VA monitors have worse smearing though. As I said, my IPS monitor was ranked #1 at the time, and I tried two of them. So "unless you used in total dark room, else glow is never an issue. Also a good IPS has very minimal glow" is a false statement. Not true at all. I played competitive FPS for a decade and used everything from CRTs to the fastest TN panels. My VA is perfectly fine for competitive gaming and nowhere near the comparison of 60hz to 120+. To give you the benefit of the doubt, you may be thinking of, or used, VA monitors that were worse than mine. There's always something "better"; but often to degrees that don't matter. For example, I tried a TN panel that was better (according to the specs) in most ways over my BenQ TN, yet those were insignificant compared to things like level of BLB and viewing angles, which were much worse on the monitor that had better specs. There was nothing noticeably better about the TN with better specs. In practice, it seemed worse in every way. You responded with another emotional rant, making more broad claims without any support, which seems common for people defending/promoting IPS monitors, which makes me think they might be benefitting from IPS monitors being sold. I listed the monitors I used in the OP. The IPS was $500+ and the VA was around $200. I ran objective tests and took pictures: * https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2TJZIXSD5X2PG/ * https://www.amazon.com/review/R1ZA3N3Q7C10TT/ According to another commenter in this thread, mini LED has an irritating blooming issue. I'm sure the smearing issue is worse on some VAs with lower response times. I don't see the G7 monitor mentioned at all on the site that had my VA as a top recommendation (PCmonitors.info).

The 240hz IPS I tried was twice the price of my VA. My VA is perfectly fine for competitive gaming. The IPS was trash at anything, gaming or otherwise, due to the IPS glow. "IPS is far better for most" - why? You've made a claim with no support. Your comment is the exact type I'm talking about that made me waste a bunch of time and money on a really bad monitor.

I looked at the recommended monitors for gaming and movies on a major site and they list many IPS monitors. Before I bought my current VA monitor (AOC C27G1: 27", curved, 144hz, 1080p) I tried an IPS (Acer Nitro XV273, 240hz, 27") since I frequently saw them recommended, and I saw that particular monitor ranked as #1 at the time (around 2020), and the IPS glow was awful, and so were the viewing angles. And it wasn't just a bad monitor because I tested two of them. IPS monitors have better colors than TN and VA but that's one of the more useless factors for most casual and gaming use since we are not doing color-critical work (and even if we were, the IPS glow makes colors inaccurate...), so it puzzled and annoyed me that people were recommending IPS monitors so much, and I felt I was "tricked" into buying one. After lots more testing and research I found this article https://www.howtogeek.com/658701/tn-vs.-ips-vs.-va-whats-the-best-display-panel-technology/#which-panel-type-is-right-for-you to be the most accurate (recommends VA for most people), except their claim that IPS has the best viewing angles -- my VA has MUCH better viewing angles than that 240hz IPS. This is coming from someone who was a competitive gamer for many years and thus mostly used a BenQ Zowie TN panel. I think my VA is fine for competitive gaming. The issues are backlight bleed and high contrast smearing; but they're nowhere near as bad as the IPS glow that ruined 1/3rd of the screen space.

FYI I'm replying in this older thread because it's a top search result. I am very confused by that claim I quoted. I'm on the 144hz XG2402. Overdrive (Rampage Response) is ON "Faster". Vsync is OFF. In Talos Principle: Freesync OFF, no frame limit, 160-190 FPS = not full tearing, but not smooth. Freesync OFF + 144 frame rate limit = obvious tearing. Freesync OFF + 141 frame rate limit = not full tearing but very obvious waves. Freesync OFF + 120 frame rate limit = better, but not completely smooth. Freesync OFF + 100 frame rate limit = smooth. Freesync ON + 141 frame rate limit = smooth. So what I learn from this testing is that having monitor hz significantly higher than your FPS is preferable, and negates the need for vsync or freesync. Not being able to run games at 240+ FPS seems irrelevant. On a 240hz monitor you could simply cap your FPS at whatever is stable (say 150), and you'd have smooth gameplay. What am I missing?

Ah, you're right. The youtube videos aren't that clear, but I had another look at the aftermarket kit I got and there is indeed a very thin clear plastic lining that separates the main part of the backplate from the motherboard. However, the screw holes that extend through the motherboard's holes do seem to be bare metal, but that's the same for motherboard standoffs. Anyone know of a link that explains the need (or lack of) for these various things?

The Zalman AM4 kit definitely has no rubber-like material on the backplate. Though the original one for older AMD and Intel CPUs each had some kind of protection/cushioning. I don't see any sort of rubber-like material or protection in either of the two videos I linked. Except on the default backplate.

There are no rubber o-ring washers with my CNPS10X Optima cooler. Nor are there any in the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Installation Guide for AMD FM2 Socket video or the CM AMD Ryzen AM4 Upgrade Kit Installation video I linked. All seem to be attached bare. This is the Zalman AM4 kit https://zalmanoutlet.com/products/amd-am4-kit-for-zalman-coolers

The default AM4 backplate that comes with my B450 motherboard has a white plastic protector between the backplate and the motherboard. I'm guessing this is to prevent metal from coming into contact with the motherboard? The backplate that came with an aftermarket AM4 CPU cooler does not have such a protector, and thus the metal contacts the motherboard. Should I remove that plastic protector from the motherboard's backplate and attach it to the AM4 kit's backplate? I'm seeing conflicting information about the necessity of this. And in some youtube videos I see other aftermarket coolers look like they also have a bare metal backplate touching the motherboard. Even the screw holes that extend out of the aftermarket cooler's AM4 backplate are bare metal, whereas the ones on the MB's backplate look protected: https://youtu.be/sx0LUq1mjVo?t=33 You can also see the white plastic protector on the default back plate: https://youtu.be/9tIUNh_vEew?t=39 and here This is an AM4 kit I bought for an older cooler. And even for the old AMD and Intel mounts that originally came with the cooler, all of them have some sort of protector between the metal backplate and the motherboard. This video shows another aftermarket bare metal backplate being installed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tIUNh_vEew

This thread comes up in the top results when doing a web search, so it would be nice if someone could update it. The links in DarkSmith2's comment are not working, and "IC" hasn't been defined. I found this link/list https://www.overclock.net/forum/18051-memory/1627555-ryzen-memory-ic-collection-thread.html which seems to say that B-Die > Hynix A/M-Die > D/E/S-Die. And Dual Rank is a primary factor to look for. But the store pages don't contain any of that info. IE: https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820231977 That list is also incomplete. For example, it does not contain F4-3200C16D-16GVRB. I see this "b-die finder" site https://benzhaomin.github.io/bdiefinder/ but it doesn't say why we would want b-die.