I'm shopping for a new computer monitor. Currently I have a 17 inch Gateway HD1700. I really want a 24 inch monitor but it's so hard to decide on one.

I've been staring at these for months it seems.

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-VS248H-P-24-Inch-Full-HD-Monitor/dp/B0058UUR6E/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1389590424&sr=1-5&keywords=asus+monitors

I fear this one will be outdated fast as 120+hz monitors are becoming the standard.

http://www.amazon.com/VG248QE-24-Inch-Screen-LED-lit-Monitor/dp/B00B2HH7G0/ref=sr_1_7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1389590569&sr=1-7&keywords=asus+monitors

I've come real close to buying this one a few times. My worry is my 560 Ti won't be enough to run stuff on it especially at higher hertz. And i refuse to spend money on the 700 series of nvidia gpus. 800 series is going to be truly next gen. Also i read a few times the color is really bad on this.

And then there is another ASUS monitor I've looked at that has dual HDMI ports which I suppose would be good if I ever buy a console since I don't own a television.

Brad keeps mentioning he is going to get a new monitor as well, which keeps this fresh in my mind.

Not sure why i'm stuck on ASUS but they seem the most geared towards gaming and I dislike the stand on the BENQ equivelents.

I've also considered just getting a 24inch HDTV and using it as a monitor but heard there are drawbacks to that such as not being able to read text and such.

If you decide to get the VG248QE, take a look at this article and scroll way down to the ICC Profile section. Use that profile and the settings (with tweaks as you like) to fix the washed out color issues with the monitor.

I like the monitor for gaming -- you're right that the refresh rate is kind of useless because it's very difficult to get modern games over 100 fps while still looking fancy. However, the refresh rate has the benefit of no ghosting and low input lag. I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to watch a lot of movies or do photo editing though.

I've used 7 monitors in the last 3 years and I currently have 4 plugged into my desktop. Out of all those the one I like the most is the ASUS PA248Q.

Some of the things I really like about this monitor are the following:

there are 4 usb3.0 ports on the side for quick and easy access when I need to plug something in.

The range of motion without any additional accessories is really good. Including full rotation to portrait, tilt back and forth and vertical height adjustment.

Very wide viewing range.

and most importantly, it's 1920x1200 instead of the usual 1920x1080.

It also helps that it was highly praised on wirecutter which is pretty much my first stop whenever I'm looking for new hardware. Other reviews are also pretty positive on it.

Holla if you have any specific questions about that monitor and good luck =]

I have the Dell U2412M 24" monitor. It's actually 16:10 and 1920x1200. For what it's worth, I've had many monitors in the past, but this one is definitely my favorite. I highly recommend it.

It's also got 4.5 stars on Amazon, and 5 stars on Newegg. And reviews of it seem to be between 4 and 5 stars as well. It's a really good, sturdy monitor, and it's pretty great for gaming, even for an IPS panel. I get no noticeable input lag, if any.

This monitor is easily recommendable. Good color, decent contrast, and very low input latency (9ms). It's definitely one of the better picks out there at the moment

The VG248QE is a good choice for a different set of reasons (it is after all TN, so it's colour reproduction really isn't up to the same standard as the 2412M by a fairly hefty margin) however the high refresh rate and Light Boost mode are extremely nice. That being said I would hold off on this, it's due to be refreshed in the coming month in order to include support for Nvidia G-Sync.

I would take a trip over to TFT Central and have a look at the reviews for whats currently out there, they cover the full spectrum of what you might want from a monitor and I find it to be the best site to narrow down the choices.

@jennibelle: Wait for display port 1.3 to come out.

@catsakimbo: That's the problem I forsee. I do watch a lot of netflix and Hulu through my PC and the bigger screen would probably make me want to watch a bunch of movies on it. However I play way more games than I do watch stuff. Why dkn't they make a monitor that does it all :(

I came into this thread thinking that "monitor shopping" meant "window shopping" and you admire goods on the internet through your monitor instead of looking at display windows.

Now I feel dumb.

You shouldn't.

I would go with a good response-time monitor over anything else for gaming. The difference between my Philips LED and my secondary BenQ monitor in response times for gaming is huge enough that I prefer hurting my head by angling my neck up looking at the BenQ. I'm not using game-mode on either of them because that stuff hurts the eyes, yet the BenQ whips the Philips so hard, I'm going with a 27" BenQ for my next purchase (PS4 + PC).

http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/ is your friend and mine, and OLED, AMOLED monitors are still too far away to become reality for the consumer market.

You should just wait till the gsync monitors come out and spend the extra money and get one. It shouldn't be too long that they'll bee available. It might be more money but it will last you for years to come.

I went all out and got the Dell UltraSharp U3011 30" Monitor. My brother got one from his wife for Father's Day. I got to play on it for a bit and going back to my 23 inch monitor just wasn't the same. It's a bit pricey but so far worth every penny.

Since you have an Nvidia card keep in mind that monitors with Nividia's new G-sync tech is going to be rolling out this year, I think actually next month.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2014/01/08/hands-on-with-nvidia-g-sync/

I'm monitor shopping at the moment too. If you're buying a new monitor now or in the near future I'd recommend either a 27" at 2560 x 1440, or a 30" at 2560 x 1600.

The power of a modern graphics card is somewhat wasted on a 24" 1920 x 1200 monitor at this point. Five or six years ago it would have been fine, but now? Not so much. Even if you don't have a modern graphics card at the moment chances are you'll be replacing it sooner rather than later, sooner than you'll be buying another monitor at any rate. A little forward thinking now will set you up nice for the future, in my opinion. You'll grow into it so to speak.

For a 27" I've got my eye on the Dell U2713HM or the Asus PB278Q. The Dell comes calibrated from the factory, and has better overall color accuracy and screen uniformity than the Asus, but also costs roughly $100 more. I've seen the Asus in person though and it was gorgeous right out of the box. The Dell is the way to go based purely on specs. The question is whether or not the price difference is justified or noticeable in your real world use case.

For a 30" I like the Dell U3014 for the same reasons I like its 27" little brother. It's had some quality control issues, however. Revision A03 of this monitor supposedly fixes all the issues the previous revisions had so accept nothing less than A03.

CES just concluded as you may know. Several new monitors with nVidia G-Sync are scheduled to be released in the near future. I'm keeping an eye on the Asus ROG Swift PG278Q. It's 27" at 2560 x 1440, 120Hz refresh, 1ms response, and G-Sync. If it reviews well in color and uniformity I think it's the one to get.

Hey guys, I have a newbish question about monitors. Is there a downside to using a TV (ex: Samsung LED 32" 1080p 120hz) hooked up via HDMI as a PC Gaming monitor? My friend was going to give me his TV because he was getting a 46" display for his gaming room. I mentioned I would use it as a PC monitor and he said that was a horrible idea. But I wasn't exactly sure why that was (and he couldn't explain either). Why couldn't / shouldn't I use it as my PC Gaming Monitor?

P.S. Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread, didn't think it made sense to start a whole new topic.

@cloudyimpulse: That 120 hz won't mean shit because that tv isn't a proper monitor.

Potential dirty fat input latency depending on the set. Also if the TV is lame then it may not let you turn off all the image processing and scaler garbage, you generally want a TV that has a "PC" mode for the HDMI input.

I did this for a while but eventually the latency got to much for me, it really is a noticeable issue when your using something as precise as a mouse.

To keep it simple:

• If you have the cash, grab an IPS monitor. I prefer Dell. The difference is really quite stunning over your standard bargain basement, TN paneled monitor. They can really put out an inky black that TNs cannot hit, as well as far more accurate colors.
• Input lag may be a factor. I say may as I've used IPS panels for years (some considered to have a large amount of lag, and some not so much) and I've never felt any difference, honestly. Anecdotal experience, might be setup dependant, etc etc. I've never once blamed my monitor for a missed shot, slow command, or blocked move. Your mileage may vary. If you are really that worried, and don't plan to watch movies (or enjoy the art design of a game, whatever) than maybe don't bother.
• 120Hz is great and all, but make sure your system has the juice to actually get you to 60+ FPS in the first place. If you consistently see frame tearing because your rig is running a game at 150 FPS without V-Sync, than you may want to consider it. If you sit around 50-60 most of the time, uncapped, than there's little point. Banking on a future GPU to get you there is always a bit dicey. I'd dump the Hz and go to IPS instead; I've heard people like the jump from 60 to 120, but love the difference between TN and IPS.

I'm biased as I've got two great IPS panels in front of me, but they're so pretty that I find it hard to recommend anything else anymore. Until I picked up a superb Panasonic ST60 in my living room, I stopped using my TV all together as the monitors were just that much better. This'd be what I'd grab on a semi-decent budget.

120Hz is nice. I like color accuracy/vibrancy more. To each their own.

So if the Samsung TV has a PC mode, then would it work. Or are you saying the latency on the TV would still be bad? Do TV's usually list their latency?

EDIT: BTW, I'm trying to find out more info on TV he's giving me (UN32F5000AF). It seems to have an HDMI input labled as a PC/DVI input. Hoping that would help.

Samsungs normally have a PC mode (the more recent ones anyway, both of my LED's have it). TV manufacturers generally don't list input latency in their technical specifications which means it normally falls to product review sites to test that.

You can test the latency on your own at home if you have another screen with a known latency number, but it takes a pretty keen eye and a stop watch application.

http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/samsung-un32f5000af/4505-6482_7-35650446-2.html

According to that review that series of TV comes with 38ms of latency on average, which for me is way to high for mouse gaming (personal taste, fine for a controller however).

First thanks for the all the info. I may just end up giving it a shot and look for that PC mode. It's not like I play a ton of FPS games online. I play some Dota every once in awhile, some Skyrim / RPG games mixed in with some Action games sometimes. So I guess I'll just have to give it a shot and see if I feel any difference while playing.

Thanks again.

Just wanted to follow up and say I'm using the TV as a computer monitor through HDMI 1 (labeled as HDMI/DVI).

Other than making an adjustment to the brightness (it was pretty high). It seems perfect. I'm playing Skyrim on it and everything seems to be playing smooth as if I were playing on actual Computer Monitor. Also tried some Dota 2 and no issue there either. I know those games aren't the fastest moving games in the world, but so far so good. I haven't noticed any difference in Lag or whatever while playing. Or at least I'm ignorant enough to not notice.

This is a pretty decent deal I've been thinking of picking up. It looks like a pretty solid monitor for the price. It's through tigerdirects ebay store.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-ST2421L-24-Class-Widescreen-LED-Monitor/321293114292?customid=4yHDMId3EeOERgLjBHCCfw0_it0w3_WRR_0_0&pub=5574652453&afepn=5335869999&campid=5335869999&pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item4ace8fdbb4&afepn=5335869999

Ive been through many many displays in the past few years and finally found one i can settle with with this one

when properly calibrated the blacks are phenomenal and its quite fast for a AMVA panel too.