When is $100 worth it?

[BFett]

I've been using my 3070 on my cheap $90 hd monitors for a while now, and decided that the next big upgrade would be my monitor. I had set a budget of about $300usd, willing to go up to $400 if it's really worth it. I also wanted to wait till primeday sales, but increasing cost in tvs is making me worried that monitor sales might not be a thing this year, or they might just go up.

 

2 examples I'm looking at:

Sceptre Curved 27 inch QHD - (C275B-QWD168) - $329usd - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Z38L765/?coliid=I26P4UW55CJKXI&colid=1W1EUDBTT9LYI&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

Acer Nitro - (XV272U KVbmiiprzx) - $429usd - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XMZZMW1/?coliid=I2GJ8MNTMG4BFJ&colid=1W1EUDBTT9LYI&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

They both have high refresh rates (165hz vs 170hz), both offer hdr400, VA vs IPS (i work in daylight and play games at night so not sure either or is ideal), and both are 2021 models.

 

In the end, is the $100 difference in price worth it? What marketing point am i missing? I haven't seen these (or any) monitors on display at any local store to take a look, so this is all just shopping via specs.

 

[Statik]

I would go with the Acer.

 

1. I've never heard of "Sceptre", and am very skeptic about buying "off-brand" computer parts, especially monitors.

 

2. I think IPS is the best when it comes to colour reproduction, viewing angles, etc.

 

 

IMHO, when you're rocking a GPU that's MSRP is $700, skimping on a monitor is the biggest waste. I'm a believer that it's like firearms, where you're only going to get out of it, what you invest in your glass (in this case, your monitor). I think for a system of your caliber spending half your GPUs budget on your monitor is pretty low end. You might think it'll be a decent upgrade from a $90 HD monitor to a 2k 144hz, but I think it's honestly going to blow your mind.

 

Long story short, every second spent on your computer is spend staring at the monitor, so don't cheap out on that.

[emosun]

well generally monitor choice is very subjective. I personally wouldn't buy either of those for any price. But of the two i'd pick the acer as "scepture" sounds like a temporary company name made to bail on warranties

[BondiBlue]

I'd pick the Acer personally. I've seen better quality from their products as opposed to Sceptre. 

14 minutes ago, Statik said:

1. I've never heard of "Sceptre", and am very skeptic about buying "off-brand" computer parts, especially monitors.

They're not really off-brand, just lower end products compared to their competition. 

 

13 minutes ago, emosun said:

But of the two i'd pick the acer as "scepture" sounds like a temporary company name made to bail on warranties

Sceptre has been around for a long time, since the mid 80s. They're definitely not that sort of a sketchy company, but their products do tend to be lower end. 

[YoungBlade]

Check out this (sorta recent) Hardware Unboxed video:

If you like any of the monitor suggestions there, you can follow up by looking for additional reviews. I ended up getting the Gigabyte M27Q based on Tim's suggestion when I later saw it on sale for $329 and am very happy with it.

 

Your 3070 will easily be able to game at 1440p considering that my 2060 Super can do it just fine, so I'd agree that your monitor should be your next upgrade.

[emosun]

Just now, BondiBlue said:

Sceptre has been around for a long time, since the mid 80s. They're definitely not that sort of a sketchy company, but their products do tend to be lower end. 

yeah well revlon been around a long time and i sure am not going to buy any of their stuff either

[BFett]

4 hours ago, Statik said:

I think IPS is the best when it comes to colour reproduction, viewing angles, etc.

I always wondered about ips view angles argument. If the monitor is at my desk, arms length in front of my face, how much of a viewing angle do I really need?

 

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like when it comes to monitors, spending a bit more for a brand/trusted name is worth it. 

[Statik]

21 hours ago, BFett said:

I always wondered about ips view angles argument. If the monitor is at my desk, arms length in front of my face, how much of a viewing angle do I really need?

 

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like when it comes to monitors, spending a bit more for a brand/trusted name is worth it. 

I mean, if it's a stationary monitor, peoples distance to their face varies, and on larger panels just the angle from your face to the outer edges/corners can sometimes have darkening on other than IPS panels.

 

I also completely agree with point 2. Even with popular monitors (mostly UW) I've seen people have issues with dead pixels, backlight bleed, etc on POPULAR companies, nevermind cheaper ones.

[dutchninjapanda]

On 5/25/2021 at 6:10 PM, YoungBlade said:

Check out this (sorta recent) Hardware Unboxed video:

If you like any of the monitor suggestions there, you can follow up by looking for additional reviews. I ended up getting the Gigabyte M27Q based on Tim's suggestion when I later saw it on sale for $329 and am very happy with it.

 

Your 3070 will easily be able to game at 1440p considering that my 2060 Super can do it just fine, so I'd agree that your monitor should be your next upgrade.

I also have the M27Q and love it! As far as a bang for the buck monitor, it or the G27Q seem to be some of the best out there for getting you a high refresh rater 1440p monitor with good color accuracy. I found this comparison on rtings to be really helpful in making my decision to get the M27Q as it goes really in depth into all the different specs of it.
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tools/compare/gigabyte-g27q-vs-gigabyte-m27q/12904/19668?usage=3623&threshold=0.10

Edited May 27, 2021 by dutchninjapanda
Added link to post.

[Mihle]

On 5/26/2021 at 4:26 AM, BFett said:

I always wondered about ips view angles argument. If the monitor is at my desk, arms length in front of my face, how much of a viewing angle do I really need?

 

Thanks for all the advice. Sounds like when it comes to monitors, spending a bit more for a brand/trusted name is worth it. 

If the monitor is big enough and flat, you get colour shift at the edges with a VA.

 

[Mihle]

I personally would recommend people to buy monitors that cost the same as their GPU did.

[BFett]

In the end i did end up ordering an IPS monitor (gigabyte M27Q). Thanks everyone for the help, even if my end choice was nothing I asked about, but rather the result of a research rabbit hole that took more hours of my waking thought than I'd rather admit to my SO.

 

One thing that did finally push me to an IPS option was seeing examples of black smearing. 

Thanks again everyone.