Qnix QX 2710 Evolution II Review

[MeltyMoon]

Hey guys, I picked up a 2nd 7950 and a QX 2710 for Christmas, and I thought I'd write a review for this forum! I'll be organizing this review by key talking points. So it's going to be fairly laid back and informal, so without further ado let's jump into it shall we?

 

Size:  25.78 inches x 18.5 inches. 

 

Panel Technology: The Qnix uses a PLS panel, which is a technology used by Samsung for their high quality panels. This would suggest that these panels themselves are discarded panels that Samsung would've used in their 700+ dollar 1440p monitors sold here in the states. PLS uses less power than IPS, and has arguably better contrast as well. Here is a photo for your viewing pleasure:

 

Lights on

 

Lights off

 

This is all with out of the box calibration, note that the photo i chose was high in contrast, so keep that in mind if you feel like it has a lot of black crush. 

 

*note* i will include a various gallery of 1440p photos so you can try and have an idea as to what color reproduction looks like at stock profiles. 

 

Panel: You should keep in mind that when you purchase any of these Korean 1440p monitors (Qnix, Yamakasi, X-Star, etc) that you are taking a gamble when it comes to the quality of the panel. These are A- panels, and most are rejected due to some sort of defect. In my case I did fairly well, I only have one dead pixel and it is in the very top left corner of the monitor. Here is a photo with the area circled it appears as a small black smudge (due the sub pixels dying with the pixel itself).

 

pixel

 

It is a total non issue and I'm relieved that my monitor didn't come with a larger problem. 

 

Now it's time to talk about Black Light Bleed!

 

I again seem to be very lucky because my panel exhibits a very small amount of BLB in the bottom and top right corners, and isn't visible with any lights on. I have to turn off every light in my room to be able to realize that it is there. Even when I have turned all the lights off, the bleeding isn't visible in games or movies. Here is a picture below showing the BLB.

 

Please note that my camera over dramatizes the bleed. The light is white in color, and only appears in the red areas that I outline!

 

Black Light Bleed Example

 

Overall I found all of these cons a non issue and love the panel. 

 

Construction: Here is were some (again very minor) gripes come in. Which is understandable being I picked up this monitor for 320 bucks. They had to cut corners somewhere, right? Okay here is a rundown of the construction:

 

 

 

Here is a front view shot so you can see a little of everything before I jump into small points:

 

Front Facing (my camera refused to let me take a decent photo here, sorry!)

 

Now lets dive into some more focused points:

Bezel:

The bezel itself has a glossy finish. This unfortunately means it's a fingerprint magnet, so you may have to give it a wipe down often. The bezel itself also has a decent amount of branding on it, however in my opinion it doesn't look that bad. Here are some Bezel/Branding close up shots:

 

Main Branding          The strip underneath is plastic designed to imitate brushed aluminum. It actually looks rather nice.

 

Other Branding1

 

Other Branding2

Ports:

There are 3 ports on the back (one for DVI-D, a power port, and a audio port)

 

This monitor has two 5 watt speakers, they are what you would expect from monitor speakers in terms of sound quality. The ports on the back are all on the right hand side of the bump out in the back of the monitor, here is a picture to help with that visualization:

 

Ports

 

Again please forgive me for the poor quality here. My S4 doesn't have the greatest camera in the world. The port on top is the power port, the middle one is the port for the 3.5mm audio jack, and at the very bottom is my DVI-D cable. I didn't use the one included with this monitor! 

Width:

Being this is an LED monitor, it is very thin. You can take a look at the width below:

 

Example

Stand:

The stand isn't amazing, but it gets the job done. The monitor DOES have 100x100mm vesa mounts for custom monitor arms. The clear arm part of the stand is attached to the monitor. You have to remove the back of it, and remove 2 screws that are holding it in place. The stand offers tilt and does wobble if your desk moves. Here is an example of the max tilt of the monitor

 

Tilt

Panel Play:

There is a small amount of panel play in the bottom right corner of the monitor. I am able to push the panel inwards about a millimeter. Again not a huge issue, because you should never really be pushing in on your panel. 

 

Overclocking: I was able to get my monitor up to 120hz without issues, but I didn't keep it there because I noticed that the monitor was just dropping frames. I'm currently keeping it at 96hz and it looks much better than what it did at 120hz. The reason I'm using 96 is because It's a multiple of 24 so movie playback isn't out of wack. Please keep in mind that I can't guarantee overclocks on these panels, and they may also shorten the lifespan of your panel. I wouldn't go any higher than 96, because you really shouldn't be pushing more than 96fps in modern games at 1440p. 

 

Where to purchase: I personally bought this monitor from the good guys at ipsledmonitors.com I emailed them with a few questions and they were very quick with their response, and they were very polite as well. They offer a 3 year warranty (while i should warn you that their website is only registered to last for a year, so I have no idea if they will honor that later on down the road, or even still be around for that matter). I ordered from these guys because it gives you someplace to return the monitor to in the states if you have a serious issue. They give you a two week window to return the monitor, this can be fore any reason. They will offer you a full refund or a replacement. You can read more about their return policy on their website. Here is the direct link to the page:

 

http://www.ipsledmonitors.com/QNIX-QX2710-Evolution-II-Monitor-p/qni1.htm?ID=14&yes=yes 

 

The monitor included a power brick, a korean plug for the brick, an ungrounded US adapter for korean plugs, and a DVI-D cable. I didn't use the korean brick cable or the adapter because the power brick itself accepts a standard power supply input. So if you have any spare power supply cables lying around you could use those instead!

 

They advertise it to be a 6ms response time panel, I believe mine has an 8ms response time. So that's just another thing to keep in mind!

*note* the camera does distort colors slightly. You may notice color shifting between the gallery and original image sections

Gallery:

Shot1

 

Shot2

 

Shot3

 

Shot4

 

Shot5

 

Shot6

 

Shot7

 

Shot8

 

Original Images:

Just for comparison 

 

Shot1

 

Shot2

 

Shot3

 

Shot4

 

Shot5

 

Shot6

 

Shot7

 

Shot8

 

Hope you guys all enjoyed reading! I also hope this little thread of mine will be useful for anyone interested in Qnix or X-Star monitors being they are essentially the same monitor. If i missed anything, please let me know below! I'll edit it in!

 

Cheers!

-MeltyMoon

[MeltyMoon]

bump

[Ashratt]

thank you for this nice overview.

Did it drop any frames at 96hz? Can the pixel response even keep up with the higher refresh rate?

As far as i know there is no OSD so you have to live with the colors out of the box right?

And my last question, would it be possible to remove the glossy bezel and still somehow mount it to a monitor arm?

 

edit: apparently it is possible, although the definition of ghetto setup 

[MeltyMoon]

thank you for this nice overview.

Did it drop any frames at 96hz? Can the pixel response even keep up with the higher refresh rate?

As far as i know there is no OSD so you have to live with the colors out of the box right?

And my last question, would it be possible to remove the glossy bezel and still somehow mount it to a monitor arm?

All great questions!

1. It's actually stable at 120hz. I ran a program called Refresh Rate Multitool, and i wasn't dropping frames at 120hz. My issue was just some minor crossfire stutter, so the monitor wasn't at fault I'm still leaving it at 96hz though, I rarely get up in the 120s in games at this resolution.

2. There isn't an OSD but there are many user made ICC profiles to help calibrate the panel, being the colors shift once you overclock. You could also use a colorometer or the windows calibration tool to change the colors the panel produces. I personally think it does a very good job out of the box though!

3. The monitor comes with a standard 100x100 vesa mount, so you can put in on a monitor arm. The neck of the stand is attached inside the monitor, so you'll have to remove the back to gain access to the 2 screws that hold it in place. As for removing the glossy bezel? That unfortunately I'm not sure of, didn't see anything really come up with a google search either.

 

@Ashratt that is soooo dirtyyy

[meneervent]

Good review.

However it really is useless to put in photo's of the monitor to show the color reproduction, your camera and monitor of the viewer have too much influence on the end result.

[MeltyMoon]

Good review.

However it really is useless to put in photo's of the monitor to show the color reproduction, your camera and monitor of the viewer have too much influence on the end result.

This is true, I just had some time on my hands still so i took a couple extra photos. I'm glad you enjoyed the review however!