Should I Go With Fast TN or Fancy IPS?

[othertomperson]

Unless you literally earn money playing competitive games, IPS.

 

IPS IPS IPS IPS.

 

The colour is way better, and there's no noticeable lag.

 

Unless you literally earn money by creating art, you buy a cheap piece of crap, or you spend most of your time doing side-by-side comparisons you are unlikely to tell the difference.

[Razor512]

Before going with IPS, be sure to look at the panel type, some of the budget IPS panels are 6 bit panels, thus you will not achieve full sRGB coverage even after calibrating.

 

below $200, stick with TN, above $200, start looking for a non E-IPS panel. (economic IPS= 6 bit panel vs the standard 8 bit, higher quality IPS panels will do 10 bit color)

 

tomshardware is also starting to do monitor guides. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/top-best-computer-monitors,3917.html

 

Wanted to also add that while many TN panels will also do less than 8 bit, and then use dithering to achieve other colors. When you go with IPS, you at least want true 8 bit, or budget permitting, 10 bit.

[Yoinkerman]

Unless you literally earn money by creating art, you buy a cheap piece of crap, or you spend most of your time doing side-by-side comparisons you are unlikely to tell the difference.

 

Even a budget IPS is leagues better than decent TNs.  An inexpensive TN is like $130 for a 23", an inexpensive IPS 23" is like $160.  To me the difference is large enough to warrant a few extra dollars.  To me, I spend a few more dollars, get a much better experience every single time I ever use it, and have no downsides.  Totally worth it.

[GoodBytes]

Before going with IPS, be sure to look at the panel type, some of the budget IPS panels are 6 bit panels, thus you will not achieve full sRGB coverage even after calibrating.

 

below $200, stick with TN, above $200, start looking for a non E-IPS panel. (economic IPS= 6 bit panel vs the standard 8 bit, higher quality IPS panels will do 10 bit color)

 

tomshardware is also starting to do monitor guides. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/top-best-computer-monitors,3917.html

 

Wanted to also add that while many TN panels will also do less than 8 bit, and then use dithering to achieve other colors. When you go with IPS, you at least want true 8 bit, or budget permitting, 10 bit.

Actually this is not really true. An 6-bit IPS monitor, or basically a entry level one, in term of colors matches a high-end top of the line 6-bit TN panel (the only 8-bit TN panel is the 4K ones, and that a: Still 6-bit but you need to spend more than an entry level IPS (so ~300$) will be similar), plus you have the advantages of IPS panels. Even calibrated both, IPS can achieve better colors, despite both 6-bit panels.

At work we have the ASUS 4K TN panel: PB287Q, and honestly, despite calibrating it no one is impressed by the color reproduction. Colors are washed out. It's fine, it's not awful like our cheapo TN monitors, don't get me wrong, but it's not 8-bit IPS panel good. I would even argue that a good 6-bt IPS panel can deliver similar performance and be (if we ignore resolutions), a fraction of the price.

eIPS is not the only 6-bit IPS panel. In fact, any panel can be made 6-bit flavor. You have H-IPS, and AH-IPS for example, where both are available in 8-bit and 6-bit variety.

And if anyone wonders, they are no consumer grade 10-bit IPS panel. 10-bit colors are emulated, with a true 8-bit panel, much like a 6-bit panel emulates 8-bit colors to achieve what we see as minimum: 16.7 million colors, and not be limited with the low: 262,144 colors that a 6-bit panel would otherwise only be able to display natively.

[Cheddle]

Hello, I'm debating between getting 1ms TN or a 5ms IPS ~24" monitor. If I go with an IPS it will probably be the LG 24MP55HQ-P if TN then the BenQ RL2455HM. I'm not sure which to get. Should I go TN or IPS, if you have any other suggestion for monitors than the ones I mention, feel free. I'll be using the monitor for gaming mostly.

 

I have  Samsung u28d590 - its a TN and it looks amazing.

 

here is an in-depth review

 

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_u28d590d.htm

 

It is not as simple as TN=>IPS or IPS=>TN - each panel, right down to the individual unit you buy, has variances in quality and uniformity.  Each manufacturer has difference tolerances to how much this variance is - Apple are renowned for hugely fussy panel uniformity for example.

 

There are plenty of shit house IPS panels on the market and plenty of rubbish TN as well.  research... read proper reviews... go to a store and look at one... do not trust some random on the internet who swears all TN are washed out crap, or that IPS is a blurry shit storm...

[Zulkkis]

There are plenty of shit house IPS panels on the market and plenty of rubbish TN as well.  research... read proper reviews... go to a store and look at one... do not trust some random on the internet who swears all TN are washed out crap, or that IPS is a blurry shit storm...

 

It doesn't feel that way when you're looking at movies or games.

 

It sure as hell will feel that way when you start configuring a shader with a specific shade of colour and glossiness in mind.

 

And IPS panel will feel like a blurry shitstorm after you've used a strobed 120Hz TN. When I first played TF2 with a scout and had Lightboost on, it felt like cheating compared to anything I had had before. Sure it's not the same thing in the vast majority of games, but when it counts it really does count.

[othertomperson]

 

Even a budget IPS is leagues better than decent TNs.  An inexpensive TN is like $130 for a 23", an inexpensive IPS 23" is like $160.  To me the difference is large enough to warrant a few extra dollars.  To me, I spend a few more dollars, get a much better experience every single time I ever use it, and have no downsides.  Totally worth it.

 

Well no shit. I already said that a cheap TN is going to be rubbish. If you're going to spend that price range on a monitor then the IPS will probably be better. But I'm a bit irritated with people talking about the ROG Swift and the PB287Q as if they were £160 TN monitors because they're just parroting off what they've heard people say on the Internet.

 

How about you actually look at what people who have seen quality TN monitors have to say about them rather than just repeating stuff you've heard.

 

 

 

I have  Samsung u28d590 - its a TN and it looks amazing.

 

here is an in-depth review

 

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/samsung_u28d590d.htm

 

It is not as simple as TN=>IPS or IPS=>TN - each panel, right down to the individual unit you buy, has variances in quality and uniformity.  Each manufacturer has difference tolerances to how much this variance is - Apple are renowned for hugely fussy panel uniformity for example.

 

There are plenty of shit house IPS panels on the market and plenty of rubbish TN as well.  research... read proper reviews... go to a store and look at one... do not trust some random on the internet who swears all TN are washed out crap, or that IPS is a blurry shit storm...

 

This. 1000x this. You just cannot decide based on the panel technology alone.

 

 

I would even argue that a good 6-bt IPS panel can deliver similar performance and be (if we ignore resolutions), a fraction of the price.

 

If we ignore resolutions there's no reason for anyone to spend more than £150 on a monitor ever. Astoundingly the fact that it's 4K and in the £300 price range is this monitor's main selling point.

[Jcowley]

I get to use a high end, professionally calibrated IPS monitor at work (it has a different feature we use it for, the great colour specs are a side-effect) and a whatever acer TN panel at home.

 

There is no way I can tell the difference between them. Unless they are sat side-by-side it would be almost impossible. Anyone who says otherwise either does colour work daily or has huge confirmation bias that their purchase was worth it.

[Cats can use computers]

if you are doing competitive sport go TN , if not get a IPS

[Cheddle]

All of the misinformation in this thread.

 

Not all TNs are good. Not all TNs are bad. Largely, in my experience, you get what you pay for. If you buy two TN panels that are each the same price, the same resolution, but one has double the refresh rate of the other then there's a reason they are the same price. One will have brilliant, vibrant colours, and the other will be dull, lifeless and basically what everyone in this thread is describing.

 

I have owned three TN panels in the last few years. One 1080p 60hz, one 1080p 120hz, and one 2160p 60hz. The two 60 hz displays have been magnificent. Truly wonderful. Not 100% accurate, which is what you're paying for with an expensive IPS, but still outstandingly good to look at. The 120 Hz... wasn't. I ended up gaming back at 60hz 1080p for a while with that because the drab colours were having a negative impact on my gaming experience, in spite of the higher framerate I was playing at.

 

tl;dr, there are good monitors and bad ones of all panel types, and you cannot write a monitor off just because it's TN.

 

As for viewing angles, they've all be fine? Horizontal viewing angles show negligible if any colour shift. Vertical viewing angles aren't great, but it's a PC monitor. You sit in front of it.

 

^^^ yep... I had a 144hz TN and it looked so bad I went back to 60hz... The blacks were grey, the whites were grey, it had colour banding... it was unreal to look at a true 1ms response time 144hz panel, especially for CS:GO but it just wasn't worth the compromise. It even showed the same shade of colour on the Facebook page for when you have read a notification and when one has not been read.

 

it was terrible for anything except twitch FPS, but for that it was EPIC. the best thing ever.

[Cheddle]

I get to use a high end, professionally calibrated IPS monitor at work (it has a different feature we use it for, the great colour specs are a side-effect) and a whatever acer TN panel at home.

 

There is no way I can tell the difference between them. Unless they are sat side-by-side it would be almost impossible. Anyone who says otherwise either does colour work daily or has huge confirmation bias that their purchase was worth it.

 

You very likely have two very good monitors :-P

 

There are some specific models that exhibit the worse traits of the techs... as I mentioned above, if you looked at that 144hz TN panel I had you would notice it looked really bad.  Likewise if you used the ultra-wide 21:9 IPS that I had you would notice it was really ghosty and blurry when scrolling... These two screens were good for what they had been designed to do but compromised everywhere else and were overall bad products.

 

these things are minor but do affect the overall experience of gaming and productivity on a PC.