Dang! Hats off to BenQ for this beast of a monitor. As Tim said in the closing thoughts, it's a great product for the price... _if_ you fall into the niche it's designed for. And doing one thing really, really well instead of trying to do everything mediocrally is worthy of praise in my opinion. Leave the latter option to everyone else.
optimum tech reviewed and said it was even better, or rather, "same feel", but with Asus keeping its IPS advantage, and with demonstrably superior UFO test performance.
@@xy6624 you can definitely notice a 50 nits brightness difference, but 27AQN with BFI on is already "bright" enough, and has clearer motion performance. My words are subjective, as a crude method you can look for review of your own monitor, check light output at various brightness levels, and make comparison.
Being an XL2540K owner for two years now I am not surprised how good this XL2566K is. If you are a serious, hardcore e-sports gamer (in a clan/org), Zowie is the way.
BFI has been an underrated feature for a long time. If you want a dated monitor that performs Excellently on this front, check out the Dell S2417DG. One of the best gaming monitors of all time IMO.
Na, the "better than 60 Hz" has been just s visible, or just about, for almost 10 years. Fast TN panels with well implemented strobing modes have been available for like 10 years. It was even more niche than today but, ya, available for a long time like on the fantastic Asus VG248QE, BenQ XL2411T, Asus PG278Q, Dell S2716DG, etc.
@@Z4d0k i’ve only used it on 2 displays, an lg lcd and and lg C2 oled. The lcd was like a slideshow/flickery mess and unusable. The oled was very good to me, there was some subtle flicker when the screen got really bright, but other than that it was a really solid experience. What displays you have tried it on?
Thanks for the review Tim! I've been waiting for you to get around to a top-end BenQ with DyAc for a while, it's an important data point when comparing the motion clarity of other display technologies at the moment and into the future. Without it, it's like having a world championship without inviting the number one ranked player in the world.
@@lukespatola1184OLED tvs have had BFI strobing for a very long time. BFI stands for black frame insertion and has nothing to do with backlights specifically. The insertion of a black frame in between to refreshes is what reduces sample and hold motion blur. Any monitor that uses sample and hold and emits ANY light would benefit from a BFI tech.
@@fireninja7434 Doesn’t matter bc they are still the go to. There’s no oled monitors that can support DyAc (BFI) above 60hz. A 360hz DyAc monitor is unrivalled in motion blur reduction and sheer smoothness of gameplay. People will argue about the viewing angles being a down side blah blah like no one is playing with a benq sideways or 5 feet away 😂 and if you use your pc for many hours a day or do productivity you have to worry about OLED burn in down the line, people downplay it’s problem but it looks really bad when it happens.
Can you make an episode centered around back light strobing's brightness change & screen flicker induced eye fatigue? I would like to have such feature always on but I value my eyes way more than clearer images.
Until I got my new LG OLED 240 Hz 45" monitor, I was using 120 Hz strobing mode for about 10 years with various Asus, BenQ, and Dell TN LCD monitors. There's no fatigue for 99% of people and you can't see the strobe pulse/flicker unless you have some 1 in a million super-human vision/brain, and that's "only" at 120 Hz which, by the way, looks like, I'd say, 90% as clear as 360 Hz strobing. In strobing mode, after 120 Hz, there are diminishing returns to increased motion clarity; 120 Hz gets you like 90% of the way there.
I'd really like to hear your opinion on the OLED glasses coming out. They seem like an affordable entry point for OLED and I'm curious how they compare to an OLED TV/Monitor.
I've been wondering when I'd see a BenQ dyac monitor on the channel I've been using the XL2546 for the past 4 years and can't find anything to upgrade to, I even gave up trying to play on my lg g2, but it's great for everything else. My favourite thing about this monitor is that DyAc works perfectly all the way down to 100Hz for those harder to run games... even at 1080p ahah
Just got the benq and it's unreal for gaming. I have a neo g8 (4k 240hz) and I am really considering keeping the benq as my main. Games honestly don't look that much worse in my opinion. I mainly play overwatch 2 and with a 4090 I can run 1080p at 200% render scale with max AA and and fsr set to .75 and still get above 400fps at all times. The performance on this thing is crazy! I can honestly say it's made me a better more consistent player and with the settings I just posted it's not that much of a downgrade visually. If you're serious about competitive gaming you gotta try this monitor. Motion clarity, smoothness and responsiveness are unmatched by anything else I have tried.
all of that image reconstruction seriously increases your input lag, thats why pros dont use any of that garbage, why are you using it in a serious game? you paid 600$ for the fastest liquid panel on the planet just to add all of that input lag , you are north american arent you?
@@juanme555 could be wrong but I’m pretty sure it only increases input lag if you don’t have enough frames. Im playing with 400+ fps so input lag is non existent. I will check next time I play though to make sure that’s correct. And no I’m not North American.
@@juanme555 can confirm that my sim numbers are the same with the amd fsr at .75 and 200% render scale as they are at 100 and with no sharpening. I'm not the type of person that doesn't notice something like that either. I played with loacl dimming and hdr off on my neo g8 because it added noticeable input lag so yeh.
No, first upscaling and then downscaling resolution for sure increases input lag. Maybe just use lower render scale (150%) if it helps with the quality and leave the fsr off completely. The best is just run 100% render scale without any fsr for sure.
In the context of OLED, by backlight strobing we're talking about black frame insertion, right? Because obviously there's no backlight there. Would be good to have some clarification on this going forward. My LG C1 actually has BFI (though I don't really use it), but it's been cut from newer televisions and not present in the OLED displays either. Seems LG is not very confident in the feature at this point, maybe they're working at an improved implementation.
I know that John Lineman from Digital Foundry always praises blackframe insertion on his LG CX and how it increases motion smoothness similar to what framegen does. But besides that I don't know anyone who uses it or even talks about it. For me the hit to brightness makes it not that viable.
Funny thing you mention c1. I specifically bought c1 due to 120hz BFI over c2. And I'll be keeping it until it dies, since no tv has this kind of feature and probably won't, since most people just don't care. But to me it's the one and only thing I care. Motion clarity of nearly crt, while not even needing 360fps rendering. Oh, and the brightness trade-off. Pff. I'd play at 1 nit if it gave me 0 motion persistence.
I like that they include the energy consumption of the monitors, almost no reviewer does, I was also shocked with the consumption of more than 100W of the Alienware oled and the G8, which is even more than my LG C2, I think I'll go for the M27Q
Remember that the M27Q only existing with a second revision on the market....with a completly other Panel in comparison to all of the great tests out there.
Thanks for the review! I bought it for Val and ended up returning it to wait for a monitor better for content consumption... a very niche monitor. Great for what it is.
Not making hot rodded TN panels for like 4 people a week to buy TN come a long way but unless someone is paying league fees with the hopes of eventually earning them back someday then it's as niche as niche gets
This, it's a pretty famous monitor in CRT/motion clarity circles, supposedly even better strobing than this BenQ shit at half the price. And it does do 60hz strobing which makes it automatically better for every arcade game out there.
@@hayche1986 The panel is actually pretty bad, terrible contrast for example. But what makes the monitor special is the supposedly best strobing out there on an IPS.
@@anomyymi0108 True. I have the monitor and it's fantastic. I wanted to get away from DYAC / BFI modes but the BFI is definitely top-tier on it. The response times (on Advanced mode) at even 60hz are fantastic, far better than any other IPS AFAIK. I have one specific game that runs between 50-100 fps.
It's possible to increase motion clarity even further with the Blurbusters Strobe Utility. I do most of my gaming on a 48" LG CX. Even with the highest setting BFI on the OLED, it doesn't get close to the motion clarity of a Strobe Utility tuned Xl2566K. Yeah it's TN... But if you enjoy some sweaty gaming, it's certainly a screen to heavily consider.
When comparing to OLED, I think it's worth mentioning that non-OLED can be preferred for competitive/pro gamers because they typically clock in tons of hours on the same game, which could result in quicker burn in on an OLED.
@@ferusic2463 ? Have you ever had a burn in? If its on the same element that caused the burn in, you wont see it. For anything else, yes, sure. But if you only play that ONE game, nothing else, no browsing, nothing just ONE game, burn in is irrelevant
@Philistine yes I've had and I own OLED screen atm (and TV too). But during my 35 years I've never seen a guy who does nothing else than only play a single game for 100% of the time he sits at PC for several years. Not to mention that when you start your PC, the game isn't straight up running immediately. There's also various other reasons why it could be annoying even if you only game single game as the crosshair could burn into screen and if you change the type or size of it it could be a distraction. Or if the hud elements slightly change place due to switch of settings or if the game is updated or a sequel is released for example.
@@ferusic2463 "But during my 35 years I've never seen a guy who does nothing else than only play a single game for 100% of the time he sits at PC for several years" Are you slow? We're literally talking about a monitor for a pro gamer, who's JOB it is to play that ONE game that's he's good at.
Only advantage for benq is dyac. I don't get it why no other company can tune that motion blur reduction as well as benq. Other than that everything is outdated for price. TN and 1080p for $600
A fast pixel response time OLED like the LG 27" and 45" has around the same motion clarity at 240 Hz (non-BFI) as a very fast TN or IPS has at somewhere between 400 and 500 Hz (non-strobing). OLED really is on another level. The only thing about OLED, and many people don't seem to understand or mention this is that at anything under around 170 Hz or so, they have motion clarity almost as terrible as LCD. Why? Because the atrocious sample-and-hold image refresh method that LCD uses is also used by OLED. The sample-and-hold method is the bottleneck, that's why my LG 45GR95QE-B has about the same motion clarity at even 144 Hz as my LG 38gn950-B, and 32" Samsung Neo G7 (non-Odyssey). Once you get to around 170 Hz (give or take 10 Hz), then you start mildly seeing the OLED pull away, now that the faster sample-and-hold refresh rate is allowing the OLED's fast pixel response times be seen, but just mildy, then at 180-190, the OLED superiority becomes quite noticeable, and at 200, it's on a whole-nother-level, let alone 240 Hz. Having said that, it's still not CRT level or stroboscopic / black frame insertion level but it's still extremely good.
Have had XL2540K, XL2540, XL2566K and i couldn't tell a big difference however when using XL2566K and going back to XL2540K it felt little bit less responsive in terms ghosting but not by much and my friends couldnt tell a difference. Not worth buying neither of those if you're not playing professionally and making money out of it as you can get IPS or OLED with beautiful colors.
I have XL2540 and XL2566K Unfortunately, my XL2540 is way better which is odd!!! The image quality and sharpness is way better on my XL2540!! The pixel density is horrible on the XL2566k! The eyesore it gave me was unbelievable!
Everyone says this about the xl2566k as if it’s the absolute best all around. For some reason on a lousy 165hz 1440p msi monitor I was by far my highest rank on valorant. Now on the 360hz zowie I’m no where near as consistent. It’s almost as if on the 1440p it was easier to hit shots and everything was bigger/clearer.
Can we please get a head to head review of the LG and the RoG? I went and bought the LG Oled 27” and then the Rog came out and I’m kinda regretting my purchase. PLEAAASEE!!
Lol what r u talking about. Then there wud be no hdr. He jus showed full screen brightness which isnt even that important. 200 nits in smaller windows is dog$hit. Bright specular highlights make the image pop.
Now after the ULMB 2 update that the PG27AQN got, it has similar performance to the Dyac+ (and similar brightness - the AQN is 250 Nits and BenQ with 233 Nits)
Where’s the LG C2/3? Why you remove older but well qualified displays from your graphs? Or at least have a long list of every display you tested but ranked. People will never know the C1/2/3 is still one of the fastest displays you can use and maybe it got cheaper. Not nice to show only the current years relevant PCs
Pointless. IPS is now at 500Hz and OLED at 240Hz (360Hz comparable). Also there are rumors of 480Hz OLED's coming in a few years time. TN has no advantages left. Even it's price is no longer the cheapest but the shortcomings are still there. When i looked at monitors that came out past 2020 i noticed a steep drop off in new monitors using TN.
I am thinking about to buy an Samsung neo g7. But I am so used on competitive gameplay. I have currently an RL2460S. Yup an zowie from years ago. I used 4K tv’s with premium hdr labels. But I directly sold them back. They were way too big, way too bright. The response time was super bad. I just can’t play on tv’s. Sinds I knew that 4K HDR is nice but not functional I stayed on monitors. Never turned back to tv. The monitor market has changed drastically since the launch of ps5/series x. I want to experience best of both worlds. The neo g7. Has 4K HDR, in 32 inch curved. So that will be new to me. Best of all 165 hz and low response times. Still. The zowie benq monitors are hitting different. The clarity and zero motion blur makes it outstanding. In combination with the speed. They always say the Colors are more grey and not vibrant on tn. But it was perfect for me. Now I am searching an next gen monitor for ps5 and the upcoming pro. I prefer performance above graphics. Somebody here in the comments is telling that he likes this monitor more then the neo g8. And it probably will be for me the same. Because all that backlit and hdr is nice but slows down performance. Distracts your eyes, etc. I thought about buying 2 monitors. The benq xl2546k and the Samsung neo g7 to have best of both worlds or eventually sell one back after testing them both. Samsung neo g7 or the xl2546K. I want to experience 4K HDR again. This time in monitor. BUT i am scared that the performance Will be way worse then my RL2460S 1080P 75hz monitor
you could argue that this monitore isn‘t that niche, as it can be used for work and fps gaming. While the OLEDS can be used for gaming and media consumption.
It’s niche because it’s TN(VERY dated tech for anything outside of speed). It’s 360hz which relegates it to 3-4 games people still play. BFI, which only matters If you can even take advantage of it. Unlike OLEDS which can be used for nearly anything. And the price too. $650 is more than double the price of a traditional 360hz which is around $300 today.
You're not using this for color accurate work. If you're talking regular office work, that's abysmal value and a 100$ 1080p IPS will be way better than this. This is 100% a super niche product and only very few hardcore esports players will want to fork 600$ for it.
Sorry, to clarify with work i meant office work and OLED cannot be used for this… that is the reason why I don‘t get an OLED currently. But I also not an fps gamer so both are not for me. But OLED can really only be used for content consumption…
Just a reminder that sample and hold flicker free displays need 2000fps@2000hz to match backlight strobed monitors like dyac's persistence 0.5ms and monitor manufacturers refuse to give us good bfi since motion blur is a combo of g2g and mprt blur you need BOTH to be low if you want a display with retina motion. g2g = how long it takes the pixels to change from one value to another mprt = how long each pixel stays visible for. the longer a frame stays visible the more it's going to smear on your retina. pro's of strobing: really low mprt possible at any refreshrate high average brightness possible just use a powerful backlight con's of strobing: ugly crosstalk that only gives you that great clarity in the center of the screen, only horizontal motion is improved everything else is worse. some people can't tolerate flicker. amplified stutter if framerate is not in perfect sync with refreshrate also don't forget persistence blur is only 1 side of the motion coin you still need retina refreshrates to remove all stroboscopic artifacts higher refresh-rate will always be smoother for that reason.
@@yoriiroy1720 because the crosstalk is variable by screen height so things moving vertically have inconsistent motion often looks worse then nonstrobed
OLED at only 240 Hz will give around same motion clarity as LCD at 360-500 Hz and an OLED at 360 Hz would absolutely destroy an LCD at 600 Hz. Not to mention, you'd only have to run your game at 360 fps instead of 600 fps to get that motion clarity. It's completely stupid now to try and achieve ridiculous framerates like 500 fps ( for 500 Hz monitor) when you can get the same motion clarity at half or less than half the framerate and refresh rate with OLED.
@@Decki777 I think CRT is the ultimate in speed but only very high end models support high enough resolutions and high enough hz to compete with OLED. The games also need to support 4:3. OLED response times are
I'd say 120hz-240hz is the sweet spot, these is really no benifit going 360hz because your sacrificing OLED, and better resolution, the quality difference is much bigger than refresh rate, even the most competitor games have trouble telling the difference between 240hz vs 360hz = 120hz vs 144hz they are very similar or considered partially the same.
Please test input lag with adaptive sync off. The majority of true competitive gamers know that adaptive sync adds multiple milliseconds of latency and would never use it.
I just want a good 170hz 1440p 27inch monitor with good colors and contrast. But besides from the Gigabyte M27Q P I didnt found anything appealing and the gigabyte is not available anymore..... at least in the EU
Pursuit cameras that track the image at the same speed as how your eye does. Combine that with a filter like a black border around the display to prevent glare. That and a really fast camera that can capture fast images.
For that price it needs to have HDMI 2.1, the LG 240hz OLED is also guilty of this but the Asus model does have HDMI 2.1 and also better brightness so that is the one to get.
Question, if OLED 360hz is coming next year, will the TN panel still be better? Does OLED have backlight strobbing or because it's OLED it's not possible?
I been racking my brain debating and I ended up going the BenQ route. Realized I don't need an OLED because I already have the aw34dw for other games outside of CS2 and the only game I play 98% of the time is CS2. Even if OLED comes out and beats the BenQ, it's not gonna be a disappointment I don't think not having the OLED 360hz 27inch (wishful thinking probably LOL). I think 27 inch is too big for competitive still so that Alienware 27 inch OLED 360hz is a no for me. Maybe if they do dyac+ like on a 24.5 inch OLED....blah. nope! Must not overthink it! Haha.
I have XL2566K and i am thinking of changing it to LG OLED 240hz 27inch. I am level 10 faceit and ex global player. I sit around 20k elo premier even tho i dont play that. Do you guys think OLED is gonna make me a worse player? Is it worth to upgrade. Im not a pro player, i play for fun but i also watch youtube and play other fps games like WZ2.
So I have the 540 hz monitor and if I turn on gsync in my monitor then I can’t use ulmb2. For cal of duty do I wanna use gsync on or ulmb2??? Please help
extremely niche product, just like how an F1 car is. I do think that even in other competitive genres like BR, this really isn't the best option as colour vibrance and contrast is more important than motion clarity at that point imo.
Dang! Hats off to BenQ for this beast of a monitor.
As Tim said in the closing thoughts, it's a great product for the price... _if_ you fall into the niche it's designed for. And doing one thing really, really well instead of trying to do everything mediocrally is worthy of praise in my opinion. Leave the latter option to everyone else.
PG27AQN just had ULMB2 Support added! I would LOVE to see a comparison between other BFI methods including DyaC.
optimum tech reviewed and said it was even better, or rather, "same feel", but with Asus keeping its IPS advantage, and with demonstrably superior UFO test performance.
@@eggcopter yes but 50 nits lower than dyac... Is it enough ???
@@xy6624 you can definitely notice a 50 nits brightness difference, but 27AQN with BFI on is already "bright" enough, and has clearer motion performance.
My words are subjective, as a crude method you can look for review of your own monitor, check light output at various brightness levels, and make comparison.
@@xy6624 I rather have that -50 nits than having to look at that ugly ass TN panel.
I rather have a 24.5 inch over a 27 inch I think for fps gaming. To me a 24.5 inch is easier to see more at once ...
Being an XL2540K owner for two years now I am not surprised how good this XL2566K is. If you are a serious, hardcore e-sports gamer (in a clan/org), Zowie is the way.
Wow that UFO test! First time the “better than 60hz” has been so clearly readable!
BFI has been an underrated feature for a long time. If you want a dated monitor that performs Excellently on this front, check out the Dell S2417DG. One of the best gaming monitors of all time IMO.
@@dontpokethebear3893 BFI on my lg c2 is a game changer for me when playing games on my ps5 and xbox series x. Super underrated feature indeed.
Na, the "better than 60 Hz" has been just s visible, or just about, for almost 10 years. Fast TN panels with well implemented strobing modes have been available for like 10 years. It was even more niche than today but, ya, available for a long time like on the fantastic Asus VG248QE, BenQ XL2411T, Asus PG278Q, Dell S2716DG, etc.
Every display with BFI I’ve used has made me feel nauseous. Maybe the BENQ would be better as the refresh is high.
@@Z4d0k i’ve only used it on 2 displays, an lg lcd and and lg C2 oled. The lcd was like a slideshow/flickery mess and unusable. The oled was very good to me, there was some subtle flicker when the screen got really bright, but other than that it was a really solid experience.
What displays you have tried it on?
Daaaamn I always thought that Alien motion test was always blurry. Holy cow that is the clearest I ever saw it.
Thanks for the review Tim! I've been waiting for you to get around to a top-end BenQ with DyAc for a while, it's an important data point when comparing the motion clarity of other display technologies at the moment and into the future. Without it, it's like having a world championship without inviting the number one ranked player in the world.
I use the XG2431 just for CSGO. Its so close to the 2566K without the pricetage
Still want a Viewsonic XG2431 review. Yes it's only 240hz but it's Backlight Strobing is BlurBusters Certified.
I learned nothing from this. Just listening in the background, because I enjoy Tim's soothing voice.
I only learn by spending money lol
ULMB 2 seems to help close the gap for non dyac monitors. It should be worth covering. Hopefully it comes to oled monitors
oleds dont need that. they have no backlight so it wouldnt do anything
@@lukespatola1184 you are wrong
@@lukespatola1184OLED tvs have had BFI strobing for a very long time. BFI stands for black frame insertion and has nothing to do with backlights specifically. The insertion of a black frame in between to refreshes is what reduces sample and hold motion blur. Any monitor that uses sample and hold and emits ANY light would benefit from a BFI tech.
no u are@@HumbleDude46995
BenQ needs to make OLED monitors with DyAc+.
They will be mopping the floors in an instant!
It will take them 13 years to bring to market 😂
they cant even use ips panels, and ips is the standard for some years, dont expect oled in the next few years
ips is not that fast bro
@@Raynoxfps
@Raynoxfps Yeah, I'm surprised how long it takes BenQ to get up to speed, but they're using old but gold technology for now.
@@fireninja7434 Doesn’t matter bc they are still the go to. There’s no oled monitors that can support DyAc (BFI) above 60hz. A 360hz DyAc monitor is unrivalled in motion blur reduction and sheer smoothness of gameplay. People will argue about the viewing angles being a down side blah blah like no one is playing with a benq sideways or 5 feet away 😂 and if you use your pc for many hours a day or do productivity you have to worry about OLED burn in down the line, people downplay it’s problem but it looks really bad when it happens.
Can you make an episode centered around back light strobing's brightness change & screen flicker induced eye fatigue?
I would like to have such feature always on but I value my eyes way more than clearer images.
A lot of older monitors used to flicker due to PWM.
I second this
PWM is generally thought of as "bad"
yet now we get strobing
I'm not sure there's a difference ?
Until I got my new LG OLED 240 Hz 45" monitor, I was using 120 Hz strobing mode for about 10 years with various Asus, BenQ, and Dell TN LCD monitors. There's no fatigue for 99% of people and you can't see the strobe pulse/flicker unless you have some 1 in a million super-human vision/brain, and that's "only" at 120 Hz which, by the way, looks like, I'd say, 90% as clear as 360 Hz strobing. In strobing mode, after 120 Hz, there are diminishing returns to increased motion clarity; 120 Hz gets you like 90% of the way there.
Would really love to see you get around to testing the ViewSonic XG2431.
I'd really like to hear your opinion on the OLED glasses coming out. They seem like an affordable entry point for OLED and I'm curious how they compare to an OLED TV/Monitor.
I've been wondering when I'd see a BenQ dyac monitor on the channel I've been using the XL2546 for the past 4 years and can't find anything to upgrade to, I even gave up trying to play on my lg g2, but it's great for everything else. My favourite thing about this monitor is that DyAc works perfectly all the way down to 100Hz for those harder to run games... even at 1080p ahah
Awesome review as always but i would love the Viewsonic XG2431 and Asus XG27AQM added
Just got the benq and it's unreal for gaming. I have a neo g8 (4k 240hz) and I am really considering keeping the benq as my main. Games honestly don't look that much worse in my opinion. I mainly play overwatch 2 and with a 4090 I can run 1080p at 200% render scale with max AA and and fsr set to .75 and still get above 400fps at all times. The performance on this thing is crazy! I can honestly say it's made me a better more consistent player and with the settings I just posted it's not that much of a downgrade visually. If you're serious about competitive gaming you gotta try this monitor. Motion clarity, smoothness and responsiveness are unmatched by anything else I have tried.
all of that image reconstruction seriously increases your input lag, thats why pros dont use any of that garbage, why are you using it in a serious game? you paid 600$ for the fastest liquid panel on the planet just to add all of that input lag , you are north american arent you?
@@juanme555 could be wrong but I’m pretty sure it only increases input lag if you don’t have enough frames. Im playing with 400+ fps so input lag is non existent. I will check next time I play though to make sure that’s correct. And no I’m not North American.
@@juanme555 can confirm that my sim numbers are the same with the amd fsr at .75 and 200% render scale as they are at 100 and with no sharpening. I'm not the type of person that doesn't notice something like that either. I played with loacl dimming and hdr off on my neo g8 because it added noticeable input lag so yeh.
No, first upscaling and then downscaling resolution for sure increases input lag. Maybe just use lower render scale (150%) if it helps with the quality and leave the fsr off completely. The best is just run 100% render scale without any fsr for sure.
@@viraltribe4566 my sim numbers are the same though. 1.8 for both.
In the context of OLED, by backlight strobing we're talking about black frame insertion, right? Because obviously there's no backlight there. Would be good to have some clarification on this going forward. My LG C1 actually has BFI (though I don't really use it), but it's been cut from newer televisions and not present in the OLED displays either. Seems LG is not very confident in the feature at this point, maybe they're working at an improved implementation.
I know that John Lineman from Digital Foundry always praises blackframe insertion on his LG CX and how it increases motion smoothness similar to what framegen does. But besides that I don't know anyone who uses it or even talks about it. For me the hit to brightness makes it not that viable.
Funny thing you mention c1. I specifically bought c1 due to 120hz BFI over c2. And I'll be keeping it until it dies, since no tv has this kind of feature and probably won't, since most people just don't care. But to me it's the one and only thing I care. Motion clarity of nearly crt, while not even needing 360fps rendering. Oh, and the brightness trade-off. Pff. I'd play at 1 nit if it gave me 0 motion persistence.
The newer oleds still do have BFI. Only at 60hz though..
@@GFClocked does it work with hdr? I haven't tried it on my CX yet. But hdr is the main reason why I play on my oled vs my monitor.
@@gavinderulo12yes it works with hdr. It does not work with vrr
Great job Tim! This video was great
I like that they include the energy consumption of the monitors, almost no reviewer does, I was also shocked with the consumption of more than 100W of the Alienware oled and the G8, which is even more than my LG C2, I think I'll go for the M27Q
Remember that the M27Q only existing with a second revision on the market....with a completly other Panel in comparison to all of the great tests out there.
Thanks for the review! I bought it for Val and ended up returning it to wait for a monitor better for content consumption... a very niche monitor. Great for what it is.
Given how good the motion clarity is here, what the hell are other manufacturers doing?
Not making hot rodded TN panels for like 4 people a week to buy
TN come a long way but unless someone is paying league fees with the hopes of eventually earning them back someday then it's as niche as niche gets
I'd love for you to test the XG2431!
2.6ms rise/fall
4.0ms Total response
0.1% overshoot
at 240hz with Ultra Fast overdrive mode.
Aoc 24g2zu could be the same panel 🤔
This, it's a pretty famous monitor in CRT/motion clarity circles, supposedly even better strobing than this BenQ shit at half the price.
And it does do 60hz strobing which makes it automatically better for every arcade game out there.
@@hayche1986 The panel is actually pretty bad, terrible contrast for example. But what makes the monitor special is the supposedly best strobing out there on an IPS.
@@hayche1986 Could be. Unfortunately I can't find much data on it and it's not available in my region.
@@anomyymi0108 True. I have the monitor and it's fantastic. I wanted to get away from DYAC / BFI modes but the BFI is definitely top-tier on it.
The response times (on Advanced mode) at even 60hz are fantastic, far better than any other IPS AFAIK. I have one specific game that runs between 50-100 fps.
Why is the benq 2546K not in the list? I would love to see this monitor compared to the others.
It's possible to increase motion clarity even further with the Blurbusters Strobe Utility. I do most of my gaming on a 48" LG CX. Even with the highest setting BFI on the OLED, it doesn't get close to the motion clarity of a Strobe Utility tuned Xl2566K.
Yeah it's TN... But if you enjoy some sweaty gaming, it's certainly a screen to heavily consider.
What is that? You download it ? What does it do?
didn't' expect you guys to ever do a benq
Wow that strobe mode is insane
Very good review Tim and informative.😊
I've been waiting for an OLED with black light strobing @ 3440x1440 + 240 Hz + VRR
Currently have a 34GN850, so I'll just wait patiently.
Great video :) please add Viewsonic XG2431 to this comparison in the future.
When comparing to OLED, I think it's worth mentioning that non-OLED can be preferred for competitive/pro gamers because they typically clock in tons of hours on the same game, which could result in quicker burn in on an OLED.
So what if it burns in those HUD elements? If you only play that game, it won't even be noticeable.
@@philistine3260 I hope this was a bad joke 🤦♂️
@@ferusic2463 ? Have you ever had a burn in? If its on the same element that caused the burn in, you wont see it.
For anything else, yes, sure. But if you only play that ONE game, nothing else, no browsing, nothing just ONE game, burn in is irrelevant
@Philistine yes I've had and I own OLED screen atm (and TV too). But during my 35 years I've never seen a guy who does nothing else than only play a single game for 100% of the time he sits at PC for several years. Not to mention that when you start your PC, the game isn't straight up running immediately. There's also various other reasons why it could be annoying even if you only game single game as the crosshair could burn into screen and if you change the type or size of it it could be a distraction. Or if the hud elements slightly change place due to switch of settings or if the game is updated or a sequel is released for example.
@@ferusic2463 "But during my 35 years I've never seen a guy who does nothing else than only play a single game for 100% of the time he sits at PC for several years"
Are you slow? We're literally talking about a monitor for a pro gamer, who's JOB it is to play that ONE game that's he's good at.
1:51 i love the unbranded thick bezels on zowie monitors
Will you be reviewing the xeneon oled by Corsair ?
Only advantage for benq is dyac. I don't get it why no other company can tune that motion blur reduction as well as benq. Other than that everything is outdated for price. TN and 1080p for $600
"It's the only product that does the thing"
"I don't know why it's expensive"
Do you read what you type afore posting it, buddi
Might have a specific patent
ULMB2 review please
I hope you guys do a Corsair 27qhd240 review
A fast pixel response time OLED like the LG 27" and 45" has around the same motion clarity at 240 Hz (non-BFI) as a very fast TN or IPS has at somewhere between 400 and 500 Hz (non-strobing). OLED really is on another level. The only thing about OLED, and many people don't seem to understand or mention this is that at anything under around 170 Hz or so, they have motion clarity almost as terrible as LCD. Why? Because the atrocious sample-and-hold image refresh method that LCD uses is also used by OLED. The sample-and-hold method is the bottleneck, that's why my LG 45GR95QE-B has about the same motion clarity at even 144 Hz as my LG 38gn950-B, and 32" Samsung Neo G7 (non-Odyssey). Once you get to around 170 Hz (give or take 10 Hz), then you start mildly seeing the OLED pull away, now that the faster sample-and-hold refresh rate is allowing the OLED's fast pixel response times be seen, but just mildy, then at 180-190, the OLED superiority becomes quite noticeable, and at 200, it's on a whole-nother-level, let alone 240 Hz. Having said that, it's still not CRT level or stroboscopic / black frame insertion level but it's still extremely good.
How did you come up with this insight? im interested in getting the 45 oled, but i question it use for competitive gaming vs TN
Have had XL2540K, XL2540, XL2566K and i couldn't tell a big difference however when using XL2566K and going back to XL2540K it felt little bit less responsive in terms ghosting but not by much and my friends couldnt tell a difference. Not worth buying neither of those if you're not playing professionally and making money out of it as you can get IPS or OLED with beautiful colors.
I have XL2540 and XL2566K
Unfortunately, my XL2540 is way better which is odd!!!
The image quality and sharpness is way better on my XL2540!!
The pixel density is horrible on the XL2566k! The eyesore it gave me was unbelievable!
@@TheWMq8 what are your benq monitor settings for the xl2540?
Everyone says this about the xl2566k as if it’s the absolute best all around. For some reason on a lousy 165hz 1440p msi monitor I was by far my highest rank on valorant. Now on the 360hz zowie I’m no where near as consistent. It’s almost as if on the 1440p it was easier to hit shots and everything was bigger/clearer.
Can we please get a head to head review of the LG and the RoG? I went and bought the LG Oled 27” and then the Rog came out and I’m kinda regretting my purchase. PLEAAASEE!!
Why do people act like you need more than 200 nits? Are people really gaming with sunlight?
200 nits is cheeks
Lol what r u talking about. Then there wud be no hdr. He jus showed full screen brightness which isnt even that important. 200 nits in smaller windows is dog$hit. Bright specular highlights make the image pop.
@@anuzahyder7185 he was talking about sdr then wasn't he?
@@guywithalltheanswers6942 yea but this monitor cannot even do hdr anyway. Thats the max brightness which is very low
thanks, I was looking for a 360hz tn panel
Now after the ULMB 2 update that the PG27AQN got, it has similar performance to the Dyac+ (and similar brightness - the AQN is 250 Nits and BenQ with 233 Nits)
it's 1200€ monitor, lol.
xl2546 ftw
I NEEDED THIS
You have read my mind with this video
please do a INNOCN 27M2V review, it's amazing with its spec but not really covered by anyone yet
Where’s the LG C2/3? Why you remove older but well qualified displays from your graphs? Or at least have a long list of every display you tested but ranked. People will never know the C1/2/3 is still one of the fastest displays you can use and maybe it got cheaper. Not nice to show only the current years relevant PCs
3:45 „probably wouldn’t recommend by Asus“ 🤔😁. Thanks for the review Tim, great as usual. Was waiting for this one.
Waiting for the 540HZ Asus TN monitor with AUO panel review
Pointless. IPS is now at 500Hz and OLED at 240Hz (360Hz comparable). Also there are rumors of 480Hz OLED's coming in a few years time. TN has no advantages left. Even it's price is no longer the cheapest but the shortcomings are still there. When i looked at monitors that came out past 2020 i noticed a steep drop off in new monitors using TN.
Can you review the benq XL 2546K Monitor
Hi could you test the new msi g253pf? its only 300 dollar and it has 360hz refresh rate. Planning to get one but not sure if is a good buy.
ULMB2 is available on the PG27AQN. Where's that comparrison vs. DYAC? 12:05
What do you think is the fastest monitor for console gaming at any refresh rate?
I am thinking about to buy an Samsung neo g7. But I am so used on competitive gameplay. I have currently an RL2460S. Yup an zowie from years ago. I used 4K tv’s with premium hdr labels. But I directly sold them back. They were way too big, way too bright. The response time was super bad. I just can’t play on tv’s. Sinds I knew that 4K HDR is nice but not functional I stayed on monitors. Never turned back to tv. The monitor market has changed drastically since the launch of ps5/series x. I want to experience best of both worlds.
The neo g7. Has 4K HDR, in 32 inch curved. So that will be new to me. Best of all 165 hz and low response times.
Still. The zowie benq monitors are hitting different. The clarity and zero motion blur makes it outstanding. In combination with the speed. They always say the Colors are more grey and not vibrant on tn. But it was perfect for me.
Now I am searching an next gen monitor for ps5 and the upcoming pro. I prefer performance above graphics.
Somebody here in the comments is telling that he likes this monitor more then the neo g8. And it probably will be for me the same. Because all that backlit and hdr is nice but slows down performance. Distracts your eyes, etc.
I thought about buying 2 monitors. The benq xl2546k and the Samsung neo g7 to have best of both worlds or eventually sell one back after testing them both.
Samsung neo g7 or the xl2546K. I want to experience 4K HDR again. This time in monitor. BUT i am scared that the performance Will be way worse then my RL2460S 1080P 75hz monitor
you could argue that this monitore isn‘t that niche, as it can be used for work and fps gaming. While the OLEDS can be used for gaming and media consumption.
It’s niche because it’s TN(VERY dated tech for anything outside of speed). It’s 360hz which relegates it to 3-4 games people still play.
BFI, which only matters If you can even take advantage of it. Unlike OLEDS which can be used for nearly anything.
And the price too. $650 is more than double the price of a traditional 360hz which is around $300 today.
You're not using this for color accurate work. If you're talking regular office work, that's abysmal value and a 100$ 1080p IPS will be way better than this. This is 100% a super niche product and only very few hardcore esports players will want to fork 600$ for it.
Sorry, to clarify with work i meant office work and OLED cannot be used for this… that is the reason why I don‘t get an OLED currently. But I also not an fps gamer so both are not for me. But OLED can really only be used for content consumption…
Just a reminder that sample and hold flicker free displays need 2000fps@2000hz to match backlight strobed monitors like dyac's persistence 0.5ms
and monitor manufacturers refuse to give us good bfi
since motion blur is a combo of g2g and mprt blur you need BOTH to be low if you want a display with retina motion.
g2g = how long it takes the pixels to change from one value to another
mprt = how long each pixel stays visible for. the longer a frame stays visible the more it's going to smear on your retina.
pro's of strobing:
really low mprt possible at any refreshrate
high average brightness possible just use a powerful backlight
con's of strobing:
ugly crosstalk that only gives you that great clarity in the center of the screen, only horizontal motion is improved everything else is worse.
some people can't tolerate flicker.
amplified stutter if framerate is not in perfect sync with refreshrate
also don't forget persistence blur is only 1 side of the motion coin you still need retina refreshrates to remove all stroboscopic artifacts higher refresh-rate will always be smoother for that reason.
Wait, why is strobing not improving vertical motion too? Shouldn't it just generally improve motion clarity?
@@yoriiroy1720 because the crosstalk is variable by screen height so things moving vertically have inconsistent motion often looks worse then nonstrobed
low refreshrate strobing with low crosstalk on the screen improves motion and all directions.
So what is the best monitor choice for competitive fps then?
BOE just showed 600Hz laptop prototype, and 4K zone mineled high refresh rate 32 inch 4k panel. Super interested in the later one
OLED at only 240 Hz will give around same motion clarity as LCD at 360-500 Hz and an OLED at 360 Hz would absolutely destroy an LCD at 600 Hz. Not to mention, you'd only have to run your game at 360 fps instead of 600 fps to get that motion clarity. It's completely stupid now to try and achieve ridiculous framerates like 500 fps ( for 500 Hz monitor) when you can get the same motion clarity at half or less than half the framerate and refresh rate with OLED.
@@Spinelli__how would a 240hz crt compare with 240hz OLED for speed? CRTs have 0ms input lag
@@delatroyCRT 240hz will have zero input lag, instant response time and no motion Blur . I don't know why plasma display dead.
@@Decki777 I think CRT is the ultimate in speed but only very high end models support high enough resolutions and high enough hz to compete with OLED. The games also need to support 4:3. OLED response times are
@@delatroy CRT is a superior display technology just but I'm glad that we have OLED now it's closer to CRT, requires less power and thin .
What about the 1440p 240hz monitors from BenQ?
( like the BenQ MOBIUZ EX270QM )
nothing benq has outside of this monitor performs anywhere near as impressive. they are good, but not amazing.
if you really want to came in 1440, cannot recommend the PG27aqn enough. It's fantastic.
5:04, so if average FPS meets or exceeds 360fps, 360hz + Premium is the way to go? And if less than average 360fps, 360hz, go high?
Where’s the zowie xl2566k vs aw2523hf
WOW ZOWIE motion
can you guys do a CRT vs high refresh CRT vs ZOWIE
please do the corsair oled 27 monitor review! thanks!
CDSR MPRT leaderboards
1. CRT 60hz
2. 360hz FastTN Zowie OD11
3. 240hz Woled LG
4. 240hz FastTN AUO M270DTN02.7
5. 175hz qd-oled Samsung
6. 360hz ultraFast IPS AUO M270DAN10.0
7.240hz Fast IPS AUO
8. 160hz 4K AUO 7.0 IPS
9. 120hz Woled LG
10. 170hz IPS Sharp
Where does xl2546k fit on the list?
I'd say 120hz-240hz is the sweet spot, these is really no benifit going 360hz because your sacrificing OLED, and better resolution, the quality difference is much bigger than refresh rate, even the most competitor games have trouble telling the difference between 240hz vs 360hz = 120hz vs 144hz they are very similar or considered partially the same.
If you can find a good CRT, maybe John from Digital Foundry can hook you up with one, can you please do the UFO test comparison for it, thanks
this guy gives me monitor envy
I'm curious about the comparison video of benq 2566k and dell aw 2523hf. Why don't you have a Dell monitor
Is the processing lag present with adaptive sync off? Seems super high indeed
yeah weird no test without adaptive sync
Hey! Could you please compare SAMSUNG VA 240HZ G6 vs older model G7 whats difference between this 2 monitors?
Please test input lag with adaptive sync off. The majority of true competitive gamers know that adaptive sync adds multiple milliseconds of latency and would never use it.
screen tear
@@HumbleDude46995 It's not a big deal at all on 360 Hz and better monitors. I speak from experience. Input latency matters much more.
@@lizardpeter matter more than SCREEN TEARING ? I can tell you are a casual
rewatch the video again he said he’s tested adaptive sync on and off. The input lag on this monitor is dogshit
@@assault0 i agree , in 2023 2.5 inputlag is unacceptable for an "ESPORTS MONITOR"
what is the better, xl2546x or xl2566k?
Where is the Alienware AW2723DF in the comparison chart?
I'm still waiting for ULMB 2 review.
What is refresh rate conpliance…is that 30 -50 percent bad? Is it should be 90 perecnt or we wont get 360 hz refresh rate???
Where’s aw2523hf vs xl2566k
If they bring a 1440p version I am sold :D
Why you didnt test the blus buster on oled? what kinda shi.t comparison was that
I just want a good 170hz 1440p 27inch monitor with good colors and contrast.
But besides from the Gigabyte M27Q P I didnt found anything appealing and the gigabyte is not available anymore..... at least in the EU
And I'm dreaming about 120 Hz 1080p OLED... Meanwhile everyone is chasing those pixel resolutions and crazy refresh rates.
Can you review the new 300hz monitor ROG XG27AQMR please?
Can you make video of best gaming monitors 1080 , 1440 , 4k , for ps5
I think oled would be better, but for motion clarity you would go for zowie 360hz
11:06 hmm that's interesting
I still kinda miss my XL2430T. :(
Was the ULMB 2 firmware update out just after this video? Pretty sure ULMB 2 is on par if not better than DYAC now
is it possible to use ULMB 2 at 144 frame rate?
There's no backlight to strobe on an OLED tho, no?
How do you get such clean shots of the image being displayed on those monitors?
Pursuit cameras that track the image at the same speed as how your eye does.
Combine that with a filter like a black border around the display to prevent glare. That and a really fast camera that can capture fast images.
For that price it needs to have HDMI 2.1, the LG 240hz OLED is also guilty of this but the Asus model does have HDMI 2.1 and also better brightness so that is the one to get.
The LG OLED has HDMI 2.1 and the ASUS OLED has HDMI 2.0.
@@andrewmorris3479 I was confused too cause I have one and it has HDMI 2.1
Question, if OLED 360hz is coming next year, will the TN panel still be better? Does OLED have backlight strobbing or because it's OLED it's not possible?
I been racking my brain debating and I ended up going the BenQ route. Realized I don't need an OLED because I already have the aw34dw for other games outside of CS2 and the only game I play 98% of the time is CS2. Even if OLED comes out and beats the BenQ, it's not gonna be a disappointment I don't think not having the OLED 360hz 27inch (wishful thinking probably LOL).
I think 27 inch is too big for competitive still so that Alienware 27 inch OLED 360hz is a no for me. Maybe if they do dyac+ like on a 24.5 inch OLED....blah. nope! Must not overthink it! Haha.
I rock this BEAST i have over 1.000H in Kovaak's... im a TryHard 4 live 😂
Which one lol
Processing lag is 2 ms higher than it could be.. why?
can you review asus PG27UQR ?
plz review the 500hz alienware
Xg27aqm please
now compare the BenQ XL2566K to the Alienware AW2524H and Im happy :)
Xl 360hz benq or aw2523hf
I have XL2566K and i am thinking of changing it to LG OLED 240hz 27inch. I am level 10 faceit and ex global player. I sit around 20k elo premier even tho i dont play that. Do you guys think OLED is gonna make me a worse player? Is it worth to upgrade. Im not a pro player, i play for fun but i also watch youtube and play other fps games like WZ2.
Good question even i am looking for answer
zowie is better than that or get the new 540hz monitors coming out
@@toromaru0912 i bought the ROG Strix OLED and zowie is trash compared to it.
@@toromaru0912 what monitor name?
@@SamS-ef5ez zowie xl2586x
So I have the 540 hz monitor and if I turn on gsync in my monitor then I can’t use ulmb2. For cal of duty do I wanna use gsync on or ulmb2??? Please help
ulmb2 you dont need gsync at 540hz
What about the 500 Hz Alienware monitor?
extremely niche product, just like how an F1 car is. I do think that even in other competitive genres like BR, this really isn't the best option as colour vibrance and contrast is more important than motion clarity at that point imo.
Black equalizer is crazy for Warzone dark places 🤣
Really wish you'd review the dell s2522hg. it seems really unknown for how good it is
I was on your mind.
$600 for 1080p i shall pass good sir