Price-efficient 200-350 € monitor for gaming

Alex Sturm · April 11, 2019

Hey guys,
since my old monitor heroically did after 8 years of service, im looking for a new monitor. After browsing through a ton of (rather biased as i suspect) reviews, i cant find a single one i completly trust in terms of quality and price.

The specs im looking for are: non-curved, 24", 200-350 €, at least 120 hz, 1080p or 1440p, no audio, ports supported by a rtx 2080.

Currently on my mind are the https://www.asus.com/Monitors/VG258Q/ and https://www.amazon.de/AOC-G2590PX-Monitor-Reaktionszeit-DisplayPort/dp/B07D377Q6D/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=aoc&qid=1554992032&s=computers&sr=1-4&th=1

Has anyone some deeper insight or tips for me?

Thanks in advance.

Sharif · April 11, 2019

The other day I saw a ballin monitor for like CAD 200, I'd a give your local pawn shop a quick visit if you know they carry electronics. Chances are slim but doesn't hurt

Yo Whats Up · April 11, 2019

Check this out bestmonitorsbyncx.createaforum.com/general-discussion/ ------ it's pretty in-depth and the guy is very knowledgeable. I'm also in the same boat as you looking to buy a monitor and for 1080p 144hz it seems like there is only one IPS monitor, asus VG279Q, that is above my budget, good 1440p 144hz are also above my budget, there's some cheap ones like Samsung C27JG50 but (I actually asked the guy and he was kind enough to respond) he said it's not worth to buy a 1440p 144hz below 400 euro as that's when generally the good models start (as can be seen from the guides), and he said it's better to buy good 1080p 144hz monitor then bad 1440p 144hz monitor, for example in the particular example of that samsung he said that the contrast is only about 2500-3000:1 while the best 27" 1080p 144hz monitors can get 5000:1 contrast, plus the samsung monitor doesn't cover the whole rgb, as can be seen here https://3dnews.ru/974553/page-2.html#Результаты при стандартных настройках , it only covers around 94% of the sRGB which he said will result in worse colours compared to models such as the Aoc c27g1 which covers 99.8% of the sRGB http://playwares.com/dpreview/56955153 , he said that will make the colours look more lively and vibrant and everything. You can check the guides from the first link above for more info, there are more reviews there. But personally for me, since 1440p and IPS is already out of the question since they're out of my budget (I want 144 hz monitor, I won't satisfy with 75 hz one), it's only VA and TN remaining, and since VA are all curved which have blurrier text and are the slowest panel of all three (pixel response time, overshoot ghosting, input lag etc.) I think I'm gonna go with a TN monitor, and I may go for the cheapest 240hz TN monitor around here which is actually the only 240hz monitor that's in my budget, the Acer KG251QD. Now he said there's a reason cheap monitors are so cheap, and in his guides he says that

"The color accuracy and contrast of the 240hz TN panels can vary significantly between the same monitors, and they are limited to 89-93% sRGB color space coverage which prevents them from being as accurate and vibrant as the best 144hz TN panels."

and also "144-240hz TN panels tend to suffer from pixel inversion artifacts which are shimmering mesh patterns which appears during motion on certain colors"

But despite all of this, I still play multiplayer games that require fast reactions so while the difference between TN and IPS might not be that big in terms of those stuff above (you can see more detailed info in his guides), VA is undoubtedly the worst of all three. It's like imagine Ra, Obelisk and Slifer, so you know how Ra sits above Obelisk and Slifer in the pyramid?

Spoiler

Well, same with TN and IPS monitor but upside-down, and VA sitting 3 levels below, at least according to what I read from the guide. Plus, there's the issue with the blurrier text too, and when I have to take into account 240hz vs 144hz, it really isn't that hard. The image quality might be worse but I think I'll manage. Plus it seems as if only the 27 inch monitors can get above 3000:1 contrast to reach 5000:1 contrast, and I definitely don't want a 27 inch 1080p monitor so that's out of the question too, so really the only advantage will be the lack of sRGB coverage but I think the pros outweigh the cons. You should really read everything there, it's full of information, and most models which are missing from there are missing with a good reason. For your budget, you can afford the Asus VG279Q which is undoubtedly the best 1080p 144hz monitor, and also better than any cheap 1440p 144hz monitors as was already said. Also idk why LTT decides to make my font small when I paste an image