Good 1440p VA Monitors under $500

[obigowens]

My first monitor was a second-hand IPS 75hz 5ms 1080p 24" from LG. I used that for about 4 years, before accidentally buying a VA monitor. I decided to give it a shot and love it so much! The only issue is that it does have a slight bit of black smearing. Its nothing all too noticeable in most of my games, but I would prefer if It didn't even exist in the first place. So here I am looking for a good VA monitor at 1440p. I do not care to heavily about refresh rate, but If possible, something at or over 144hz would be nice. For sizing, anywhere from 27" to 32" is preferable.

I Have looked at the Samsung Odyssey series of VA Curved monitors and found some decent reviews on the G7 and G9. My main issue is that the G7 is $469 (Even if its withing my budget Its still a bit high.) and the G9 is way too much. I see the G5 for a safe cost but I'm not sure it has the same low level of black smearing that the G7 is reported to have. Much help is appreciated, thanks a bunch!

[Tan3l6]

15 minutes ago, Dean0919 said:

Never had VA monitor. Some people say it's good, some say it's not as good as IPS

As op pointed out, the VA tends to have noticeable black smearing. 

I guess it depends on the quality of the panel also, but IPS panels don't have that issue.

Spoiler

I think the black smearing though is visible only on black-white elements moving vertically. In games it's basically not detectable at all.

[WereCat]

Can you get the the Odyssey G65B instead? It's significantly cheaper and it's HDR absolutely sucks but otherwise it's still one of those good VA panels.

[DoctorNick]

2 hours ago, obigowens said:

My first monitor was a second-hand IPS 75hz 5ms 1080p 24" from LG. I used that for about 4 years, before accidentally buying a VA monitor. I decided to give it a shot and love it so much! The only issue is that it does have a slight bit of black smearing. Its nothing all too noticeable in most of my games, but I would prefer if It didn't even exist in the first place. So here I am looking for a good VA monitor at 1440p. I do not care to heavily about refresh rate, but If possible, something at or over 144hz would be nice. For sizing, anywhere from 27" to 32" is preferable.

I Have looked at the Samsung Odyssey series of VA Curved monitors and found some decent reviews on the G7 and G9. My main issue is that the G7 is $469 (Even if its withing my budget Its still a bit high.) and the G9 is way too much. I see the G5 for a safe cost but I'm not sure it has the same low level of black smearing that the G7 is reported to have. Much help is appreciated, thanks a bunch!

Nowadays IPS and VA are almost the same price, therefore get a IPS monitor. Has lower input lag. I would stay away from Samsungs VA monitors. You get can one of these absolute bangers for around 250 usd:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4BBw7X

Monitor: Gigabyte G27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor  ($209.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: Gigabyte M27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($249.99 @ Amazon) 
 

[obigowens]

10 hours ago, DoctorNick said:

Nowadays IPS and VA are almost the same price, therefore get a IPS monitor. Has lower input lag. I would stay away from Samsungs VA monitors. You get can one of these absolute bangers for around 250 usd:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4BBw7X

Monitor: Gigabyte G27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor  ($209.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: Gigabyte M27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($249.99 @ Amazon) 
 

Bro completely ignores my preferences in pursuit of the "best" monitor. I really like the contrast ratio that my current VA monitor has, so for multimedia viewing, I simply can't go back anymore. I do appreciate the recommendations, I really do, but please pay attention to someones preferences next time.

[obigowens]

10 hours ago, WereCat said:

Can you get the the Odyssey G65B instead? It's significantly cheaper and it's HDR absolutely sucks but otherwise it's still one of those good VA panels.

Do you know if it has similar performance for black smearing? If it does that might be my new monitor since Its price is much better.

[obigowens]

11 hours ago, Tan3l6 said:

As op pointed out, the VA tends to have noticeable black smearing. 

I guess it depends on the quality of the panel also, but IPS panels don't have that issue.

  Reveal hidden contents

I think the black smearing though is visible only on black-white elements moving vertically. In games it's basically not detectable at all.

Almost correct. Black smearing is also visible with objects moving horizontally in darker areas. Try looking up Blur Busters VA Test and you find what I'm talking about. The thing is, a better quality VA panel just doesn't have this issue anymore. So it has the great contrast ratio of the VA without the black smearing caused by low response time making it bad for games. Basically, its a cheaper mini-led and oled solution, without any of the backlight bloom that comes with mini-led monitors.

[WereCat]

Just now, obigowens said:

Do you know if it has similar performance for black smearing? If it does that might be my new monitor since Its price is much better.

I haven't seen any smearing on it at all. I've been using it for few months now. I upgraded from AOC AG271QG which is an IPS 165Hz monitor from 2016. The response times alone are far better on the G65B and colors and contrast are also way better.

 

The only issue are the QC issues with Samsung stuff. While all issues I've got were resolved with a firmware update, friend bought the same model but 27" ... I have 32" and he got some scanlines on green content, I don't have any scan line issues but I have stuck blue subpixel in bottom right corner. Can be seen on red and black background but it's not visible during normal use except some few edge cases.

 

The HDR and mainly the local dimming is absolutely terrible and must be disabled because the screen will look like it's flickering when moving the mouse cursor across the zones as there are very few zones and it's annoying as hell. It's just there for marketing reasons I suppose.

[obigowens]

11 hours ago, Dean0919 said:

Never had VA monitor. Some people say it's good, some say it's not as good as IPS. One thing to consider when buying new monitor is curve vs non-curve. If you didn't have curved monitor, maybe abstain from buying it, because you might not like and time will be already spent, so be wise before what you buy.

 

Here are some options I found:

1. ASUS TUF Gaming 27
2. ASUS TUF Gaming 27" 1440P HDR
3. MSI G271CQP E2, 27
4. MSI G273CQ, 27
5. AOC GAMING CQ27G3S
6. GIGABYTE GS27QC 27

Funnily enough my current monitor is option number 2. It is known to have the lowest input lag of any VA monitor at its price point, even beating out tons of IPS monitors. Its black smearing isn't very bad either, Look up Gaia Map VA Test and you'll find a video of a VA monitor vs an IPS monitor on the Gaia star map. The VA flickers in and out when you move through the star map, but the IPS just doesn't. But when that VA monitor is of high quality, that issue is noticeably better, or even fixed. For curved monitors, I had a flat one, and wanted a curved one. I now have it and am happy that It's curved.

[obigowens]

5 minutes ago, WereCat said:

I haven't seen any smearing on it at all. I've been using it for few months now. I upgraded from AOC AG271QG which is an IPS 165Hz monitor from 2016. The response times alone are far better on the G65B and colors and contrast are also way better.

 

The only issue are the QC issues with Samsung stuff. While all issues I've got were resolved with a firmware update, friend bought the same model but 27" ... I have 32" and he got some scanlines on green content, I don't have any scan line issues but I have stuck blue subpixel in bottom right corner. Can be seen on red and black background but it's not visible during normal use except some few edge cases.

 

The HDR and mainly the local dimming is absolutely terrible and must be disabled because the screen will look like it's flickering when moving the mouse cursor across the zones as there are very few zones and it's annoying as hell. It's just there for marketing reasons I suppose.

Have you tested the black smearing on Blur Busters UFO test yet, pay close attention to the top UFO to see the black smearing. If so then thanks for the recommendation, I'll likely end up with the G65B if that issue really is fixed.

[WereCat]

52 minutes ago, obigowens said:

Have you tested the black smearing on Blur Busters UFO test yet, pay close attention to the top UFO to see the black smearing. If so then thanks for the recommendation, I'll likely end up with the G65B if that issue really is fixed.

Yes, I can't see any smearing. The top UFO at 240Hz is also very clear and I can make out individual details at the default 960 pixels per second with both Fast and Faster setting for Response Times. (No noticeable inverse ghosting that thar refresh rate either but Faster does have some inverse ghosting at lower refresh rates).

 

Edit:

There is some very minor smearing or ghosting with Ghosting / Pursuit Camera on Cyan / Magenta / Red background for the very top UFO but I can't notice it on other colors and I can't see any on black background either.