Looking for a new budgetfriendly 1440p FreeSync monitor around 32"

[bowrilla]

Hello everyone.

 

tl;dr

Budget: 300€ ish (definitely under 400€)

Size: ~32"

Resolution: 1440p

Refresh Rate: >75Hz FreeSync (working decently with NVIDIA G-Sync)

Vesa Mount: mandatory!

Colors: >99% sRGB (decent accuracy after calibration)

 

Longer Version

So, I'm looking for a new monitor mostly for gaming and coding but also for occasional photo retouching (mostly B&W). To top it all off, I'm trying to stay in a more budgetfriendly area of around 300-ish Euros (German market). I'm not a competitive, semi-professional shooter player so I'm not after 144Hz or above, 100Hz would be fine, 75Hz the lowest I want to go. 99% sRGB coverage with at least acceptable accuracy after calibration is a requirement, a VESA mount an absolute must as I have to mount it on the wall. Since I'm running a 1080Ti I'd like to find a model that works well enough as G-Sync-compatible. 30-32" is what I'm looking for, 34" ultra wide is the upper limit. Above the 32" mark the monitor needs to be curved in order to fit. Resolution should be 1440p as I don't intend to upgrade to an 2080Ti anytime soon and coming games might be challenging in 4k for the 1080Ti on all ultra settings. And then there's the issue with the cable length of 8m which will render 4k challenging for the cable. HDR is nice to have but not a requirement at all.

 

I'm fully aware, that the budget is set low but there should be some decent options I think after some research. Obviously I'm not expecting to find professional grade color accuracy. Additional connectivity features aren't doing much to me, headphone out would be nice just like a USB hub though it's not a mandatory feature.

 

What I use up to today

Up to this day I usually only worked and gamed on 1080p displays and/or TVs. Since 1440p TVs aren't really a thing I'd rather leave the 42" FullHD TV on the wall and replace my old NEC 27" FullHD IPS display. My second system is the 13" FullHD display on my Spectre x360.

 

What I've found so far

I already looked around and found 4 display though I can't find many tests if any at all about them. Maybe some people here have first hand information.

 

Acer ET2 ET322QUbmipx (31.5" 2560x1440 48-75Hz IPS) - 229€

LG 32QK500-W (31.5" 2560x1440 48-75Hz IPS) - 249€

Philips E-Line 328E9FJAB (31.5" 2560x1440 48-76Hz VA) - 265€ (open box one for 219€)

AOC CQ32G1 (31.5" 2560x1440 30-144Hz VA) - 314€

LC Power LC-M34-UWQHD-100-C (34" 3440x1440 48-101Hz VA) - 364€

 

Any suggestions?

[Streetguru]

14 minutes ago, bowrilla said:

Hello everyone.

I'd highly suggest just buying a 4k display so you never have to replace it, unless you are going all the way for 144hz.

Most games have a render scale now, so running them at like 1600p instead of 2160p is easy. Or 1080p scales up perfectly anyways.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/43FKHx/samsung-lu32j590uquxen-320-3840x2160-60-hz-monitor-lu32j590uquxen

https://www.monitornerds.com/samsung-u32j590-review/

Otherwise this one seems like your best bet
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/2dw7YJ/viewsonic-vx3258-2kc-mhd-315-2560x1440-144hz-monitor-vx3258-2kc-mhd

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/517013e4


Wait like an 8 meter long display port/hdmi 2.0 cable? why. 1440p 144hz and 4k 60hz should have similar bandwidth requirements anyways.

[bowrilla]

7 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

I'd highly suggest just buying a 4k display so you never have to replace it, unless you are going all the way for 144hz.

Most games have a render scale now, so running them at like 1600p instead of 2160p is easy. Or 1080p scales up perfectly anyways.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/43FKHx/samsung-lu32j590uquxen-320-3840x2160-60-hz-monitor-lu32j590uquxen

https://www.monitornerds.com/samsung-u32j590-review/

Otherwise this one seems like your best bet
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/2dw7YJ/viewsonic-vx3258-2kc-mhd-315-2560x1440-144hz-monitor-vx3258-2kc-mhd

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/517013e4


Wait like an 8 meter long display port/hdmi 2.0 cable? why.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Haven't thought about the scaling. The Samsung panel looks interesting, the ViewSonic on the other hand doesn't have a VESA mount, which eliminates it. It has to sit on the wall since the desk area is quite shallow. 

 

Any opinions regarding the displays I listed? Particularly the LC-Power and the AOC since they have higher refresh rates and make better use of the adaptive refresh rate.

 

The cable has to be that long because my PC sits underneath my TV in a sideboard in which it looks nice, the desk is across the room and properly tucking the cable away next to the skirting results in roughly 8m (little bit less but you obviously need a few centimetres of leeway).

[Streetguru]

29 minutes ago, bowrilla said:

LC Power LC-M34-UWQHD-100-C (34" 3440x1440 48-101Hz VA) - 364€

 

I'd go for the ultra wide over a 16:9 display, even if it's not 144hz, it has more options for displaying content.

 

free-sync is most useful at like below 100hz, once you get to 144hz or above screen tearing is less noticeable anyways.

[bowrilla]

20 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

 

I'd go for the ultra wide over a 16:9 display, even if it's not 144hz, it has more options for displaying content.

 

free-sync is most useful at like below 100hz, once you get to 144hz or above screen tearing is less noticeable anyways.

The ultra wide display seems pretty appealing and 100Hz 1440p with FreeSync seems fine to me (I'm used to 1080p 60Hz non-adaptive) though the colors are an unknown factor unfortunately - not many review to find. The AOC has pretty goot color accuracy after calibration according to the tests I've found and it comes with the biggest refresh rate range.

[FlappyBoobs]

I've just bought the Samsung CHG70 32" it's 1440p 144hz freesync (gysnc compatible) HDR 600 curved screen, at the top of your budget. 

 

It's a freaking amazing monitor, but takes up alot of desks pace with the stand. There's a little ghosting in windows but it's barely noticeable and in games it's non existant. The curve really gets you immersed in games, and you genuinely use periferal vision because it's gigantic which really adds to racing games if they're your bag.

 

 

I use a 34" dell ultrawide (also 1440p but wider) at work and the 16:9 is a much better home monitor than the ultrawide. Ultrawides are amazing at productivity, but a 32" 1440p screen feels bigger in terms of gaming than the ultrawide IMO. 

[bowrilla]

5 hours ago, FlappyBoobs said:

I've just bought the Samsung CHG70 32" it's 1440p 144hz freesync (gysnc compatible) HDR 600 curved screen, at the top of your budget. 

 

It's a freaking amazing monitor, but takes up alot of desks pace with the stand. There's a little ghosting in windows but it's barely noticeable and in games it's non existant. The curve really gets you immersed in games, and you genuinely use periferal vision because it's gigantic which really adds to racing games if they're your bag.

 

 

I use a 34" dell ultrawide (also 1440p but wider) at work and the 16:9 is a much better home monitor than the ultrawide. Ultrawides are amazing at productivity, but a 32" 1440p screen feels bigger in terms of gaming than the ultrawide IMO. 

Thanks for the input, but that monitor is not just on the top end of the budget (or more like 20% above) but also very much at the upper end of the capabilities of basically all cables but the most expensive ones I can get at lengths of around 7.5-10m. With the fitting cable I'd be looking at more like 500-520€

 

I did some research on Displayport cables around 8m. Turns out, 8m are basically non existent. There are 7m, 7.5m, maybe 9m and a few 10m cables. Most (more affordable) 10m and 7.5m cables can't even conform to Displayport 1.2 and can at best support something around 1440p at maybe 60-80ish Hz. If you want a reliable DP 1.2 connection, you're basically limited to the Lindy Gold line, the active Startech 10m cable or the active VivoLink 10m one. The cables cost between 55-75€. 

 

Looking at the listed displays, the cheaper 75Hz displays should not pose any issue here, since they're 8bpc, "only" 1440p and not that challenging refresh rate wise, so some more cheaper cables should work. The 144Hz 1440p and the 100Hz UW 1440p are definitely in the ball park of the expensive cable considering their bandwith requirements. Same story with the 4k display.

 

These are the moments I miss those good old days when things were a bit simpler.

[bowrilla]

So, I did some more digging and I narrowed it down to 3 displays:

 

Philips E-Line 328E9FJAB (2560x1440 48-75Hz curved 32" VA 8bpc 122.6% sRGB) - 265€ (open box 219€)

Samsung U32J590 (3840x2160 40-60Hz flat 31.5" VA 10bpc ) - 267€ (open box 242€) (thanks for the suggestion)

Samsung S34J550 (3440x1440 50-75Hz flat 34" VA 8bpc 100% sRGB) - 329€ (open box 299€)

 

I've read on monitornerds, that the S34J550 hasn't got the best color accuracy even after calibration, but then I'm mostly interested in good greyscale precision. 21:9 would be lovely for coding, general productive work and so on - if only it was curved at that size but since it has quite a deep case with a pronounced curve on the back I might get it to work with a little bit more distance to the wall and a thicker mount (or some washers). The U32J590 reads like a good choice but I might have to rely on in-game or in-monitor scaling for upcoming games, color accuracy seems to be great though. The 328E9FJAB has the biggest color range but I can't find any details about color rendering unfortunately.

 

Any experiences with those models?

 

Edit: I'll be sitting around 80cm from the wall so viewing distance is a point here. The Philips 328E9FJAB measures only 52mm - add another 15mm for the mount and I'll end up at a viewing distance around 73-75cm, same for the Samsung U32J590 4k display. The Samsung UW one though measures a hefty 106mm and I'll probably have to go for a 20mm mount to clear the shelve structure on the wall - that means I'll be sitting at around 68-70cm from the display which might be an issue with the VA panel's viewing angles at 21:9.