The Art of Choosing Monitor Technology: A Personal Reflection

When it comes to choosing monitor technology, I've found myself at a crossroads. For now, I'm happy with my current setup and see no pressing need to upgrade anytime soon. In fact, I think I can get another two to three years out of my current monitors before they start showing their age. Of course, that's always assuming they won't just give up on me entirely, but until then, I'll keep using them.

My preference for monitor technology has shifted over the years. While I've experimented with ultra-wide displays in the past, I'm not convinced it's the right choice for me. There was a time when I had triple monitors set up, which allowed me to multitask like a pro. However, my experience with ultra-wide displays left me underwhelmed. The aspect ratio just didn't feel right, and the transition between screens would often leave me with an unsightly blank space. Thankfully, newer models have addressed these issues, but I'm still not sold on the format.

When it comes to monitor technology, there are a few key factors that matter most to me: refresh rate, response time, and resolution. These aren't exactly groundbreaking concerns, but they're essential for someone like me who doesn't need the absolute latest and greatest in display tech. A high refresh rate is crucial for smooth visuals, while fast response times ensure that motion looks sharp and clear. Resolution, of course, matters if you want to see every detail on your screen.

Gaming monitors with ultra-wide resolutions have improved significantly over the years. They now offer better scaling, and the transition between screens is much smoother than it once was. However, for non-gaming applications like office work or browsing the web, I don't feel that an ultra-wide display is necessary. In fact, I'd argue that a narrower, taller screen would be more conducive to productivity.

My current monitors are TN panels, which have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. While they may not offer the same level of color accuracy as IPS displays, they're often more affordable and still provide plenty of brightness. Of course, there's nothing wrong with buying a high-end display – it's just that for me, value is paramount.

One thing I do appreciate about my current monitors is their ability to scale down content from wider formats like 16:9. This allows me to see everything clearly on the screen without having to stretch or compress images in any way. However, there was a time when I had IPS displays that struggled with scaling – they would lose detail and become pixelated, which was frustrating.

As for my plans for the future, I'm not sure what's next. One thing is certain: whenever I do decide to upgrade, I'll need to choose a new monitor that meets my requirements. Since I don't see myself switching from two monitors anytime soon, I'd likely opt for another dual-monitor setup. Anything less would be redundant.

In the end, choosing monitor technology is all about finding what works for you. What matters most isn't whether you're gaming or working – it's what you get out of your display. For me, a high-quality TN panel with fast response times and good brightness is all I need.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enyes what I'm going to be going over today is uh my top 10 tips or reasons uh that you could consider uh before purchasing a gaming monitor or just a monitor in general you know for professional use um excuse me so a lot of people feel that it's just in Past Times They did anyway uh I think it's people are becoming a lot more cogn of it now uh with the new technologies but the monitor was just an afterthought for most people um especially whenever it was a CRT monitor because um they were all pretty good performers some had a lot more color accuracy some than than others did but um you're going to get a constant 60 htz out of those because that's what that's just what they run at so uh a lot of people took that for granted uh up until uh flat panels started to come into play and that's whenever a lot of people now started paying attention to the Hertz rate of their monitors because um you can definitely tell a difference 60 and sub 60 and then a lot of people can see it above 60 which is like myself um so the that's my first topic is is the refresh rate um if you're looking to be playing a lot of games especially Competitive Gaming you're going to want every Edge that you can get right so squeaking out every frame per second that you can on a monitor that makes it visible for you um you're you're you're going to just benefit from it greatly right so higher FPS High higher FPS right well your higher visible FPS right um and that coincides with the second point which is response time um the response time determines how quickly the pixels can change their color faster response times can uh reduce ghosting and motion blur in fast-paced games so it it'll help people call me back right because you know they ghost me so often and I just can't so I need a higher cuz that that literally is it's it's a higher response time it literally they ghost me and I never okay can't imagine I'm so glad you're not the only one with that problem imagine why sry time what what so so I will let you finish your tip but I definitely want to hear like what a good average is or what an average might be for a response time uh well response time for me is going to be like a a gray to Gray which is the color scale like 1 millisecond that's what you're really looking for uh and then sub you know 5 milliseconds for the uh the the color accuracy but yeah most high-end monitors need to hit that one millisecond gr degre response time do you have to clap to find that out no no you don't have to but you you can if you would like there's nothing clapping video yourself clapping and then you do the you play it on the monitor okay yeah no not not so much no all right carry on okay all right but yes the uh the faster the response time the better offense you're going to be uh whenever it comes to uh playing your games um response time meaning how quickly you make a movement using your controller and as to how quickly it responds and it's seen on the screen so you want those to be as exactly close to zero which means no difference so um the next thing to consider is going to be the size of your monitor um and this goes into Competitive Gaming again as well um the size of the monitor can help you or hinder you uh smaller ones tend to be better if you're playing games uh because there's less head movement that you have to do back and forth you know so a lot of your um high-end Gamers um competitive Gamers I should say they use uh smaller monitors that way it's it's it's less time for them to have to track with motion as what's going on on the screen um as opposed to somebody using a 50-inch screen and if you're at a table or or even a reasonably close distance you're going to have to move your head so wait so I be a better gamer if I have a smaller monitor possibly time could be better right you couldn't get a a monitor small enough to make me a better gamer like it's just yeah maybe postage stamp size and that'd be great right you can try that too getting that FPS and Tetris that's what you yeah it's so funny you say that because I I just started having to use my monitors in uh you know I I I think I mentioned to you about the issues I had with scaling the resolution so I have 4K monitors and so the one toone comparison is to run them like 1080p monitors or 2160 monitors when I'm running them as 2160 I notice that like my have to like okay I got to get the pointer to the other side of the display and it takes forever so that's yep interesting yep same thing uh can happen with uh playing the game so and then that goes back into your response time and then you've got lift off and there's different things that you have to take into consideration at that point but yep you're exactly right that Josh do they still use uh high-end CRTs in Competitive Gaming or if those I don't see them anymore um especially now since there's refresh rates that are over 500 megahertz now on on TN panels because I would say about eight to 10 years ago sometimes you could see them but the I think it was the 900 or 9,000 Series yeah was the 900 and the Reon I think that they've stopped now is because obviously there's no connector for it yeah or HDMI or DVI I'm sorry not DVI but uh uh display board um and if you wanted to use one of them then you would have to go through converters or connectors and then that could even slow or lower the response time of the input that you're doing on your on your device so I think that that's why the because it's going to introduce some input lag yeah yep makes sense yeah and I think the the analog chipset is just completely gone off of them yeah there's no processing for it right interesting good point uh the next one would be the panel type um the panel type uh can vary in strengths and weaknesses like I said a while ago a TN panel which is a twisted pneumatic there's IPS or VA uh and even now oleds are are becoming more prominent in gaming um IPS up until OLED was probably your best in response time I'm sorry not response time but uh resolution and viewing angles um meaning you didn't have to be directly in front of the television where your monitor to enjoy what the scene was supposed to look like throughout the entire picture um so instead of having to sit directly in front of your monitor if you got to about 75 degrees you know everything would wash out and turn gray and white you couldn't see the screen well so that is a TN panel for the most part they're meant to be displayed straight on um and you can test that usually just with your eyes if you just want to shift your head you know and see if it does change then odds are if it does it's it's a TN panel you wouldn't experience that from an OLED or an IPS screen um it may dim a little bit with a VA but nothing like a t so uh anybody have a question I thought no no I don't have a question but you were talking IPS okay I I have to PS I again this is very good beer there's only one beer it this was his first beer all still based on the first beer I'm gonna IP in my chair oh wow all right well we can uh we can waste some time until he gets back hey Glen I had a question for you hey Josh go ahead yeah what about gsync and freesync yeah what about them pal yeah like can you tell me about those yeah yeah I'll tell you about them okay is that in your is your list anyway yeah it's on my list on my list well I'll ask him that's not something that potentially in his list soyn resync is a variable refresh rate how about that GYN yeah yeah he answer your question and you've got more yeah he answered your question you've got more questions now it's all right we can go over that what were you gonna what were you gonna ask Brad uh for IPs panels were they more color accurate over VA panels yes before OLED okay yep IPS was the the choice we viewing angles and color accuracy for the most part yeah like I said earlier I'm still on my computer rig from 2016 I've done very little upgrades from it uh and I I bought an AOC IPS monitor it's 60 HZ 1080p I think it's 27 inch still works fine would I like higher refresh rate yes would I like higher resolution yes but at the time IPS was most Skyler accurate because budget friendly Monitor and it's worked fine but uh it's time for an upgrade soon so yeah and I recomm oled's where it's at it's just a lot more expensive yeah but it's worth it in the long run because starting to come down in price now yeah still expensive than micro led oh yeah yeah yeah and I mean and I touched on this on the last podcast too but if you build a computer let's say you save for a while and you build a computer that's new everything to the market new GPU new CPU max out your RAM motherboard whatever it may be your mileage on that PC is going to last longer so right if you put if you build a computer today for 25 three grand and you get over 10 years of use out of it cost of motorship is cheaper than build building a cheap PC and going long term and you can obviously upgrade your monitor long term so um it's just time for an upgrade for myself I guess good enough yeah it is Chris you're back yeah this back I am did everything free sync for you go free I gsync and free sync gsync is that Nvidia and and and freesync wasn't that AMD originally but yeah yeah they both still are two different Technologies for uh variable refresh rate which means your graphics card gets in perfect tandem with your gaming Mo uh graphics card and to your monitor so that eliminates your screen tearing or the Slowdown or the stutter that you might see um a lot of people are successible to that I know I am uh personally so if I'm playing a game that my graphics card is having a little trouble keeping up with and I can see the tearing then uh I will make sure that I enable that if I don't want to lose any eye candy right so you could drop your settings in the game and boost your FRS per second or you can use that technology that Cycles them together at the same time and it doesn't look like there's anything happening to it at all and you're running at least a a steady 60 htz refresh and I wasn't meaning to to jump on your list I heard as I was walking away I heard Josh do it so I wanted to make sure that was cap sorry no you're good both of you I really well it was an intuitive question so no it wasn't not for me I was trying to save you Josh but you just threw yourself under the bus I'm really good at all my number one skill throwing myself under the bus put that on your res do it hey hey yeah better you than me and with the with the another thing with the free sync and the g-sync you're going to have a range of how good or not how good but a range of um what hurts that technolog is going to work so for gsync now I think that it goes up to 175 Hertz on certain monitors from 60 to 175 Within that range it's it's capable of keeping your screen from tearing and then I think with uh amd's uh add the the free sync you can achieve 144 and the the the tearing that's basically when like you've got a flat image but then it it it shifts shifts up and down shifts right split off but it's always going to be vertic this is actually this is actually like giving me uh uh PTSD in a way to when I had a PowerBook G4 I had the worst problem for some reason with DVDs that I was playing on it caring like I would have the worst tearing playing any DVD and I I like I didn't know what it was at the time so I was going to like computer shop to computer shop to try and show them this and like they weren't getting it and oh man it's so yeah I'm sensitive to that too for sure yeah yeah I really am um so anytime that I can use that technology with freesync or gsync I always turn it on and make sure it's enabled uh the good thing about freesync it's exactly what it is it's free means it's open source um it actually works on both AMD cards and uh Nvidia cards but it's uh now becoming normal for GYN to do the same thing it's it it's compatible back and forth on AMD or Nvidia products but but even beyond that I've got free sync monitors now and they're connected to uh Mac a Macbook 16inch right by way of a thunderbolt cable through a dock but they're both pushing 144 on what are these aren't 4K they're not they're these are for those 1440p monitors so they 2kk 2K yeah so I got two 2K displays it just made sense to do two displays in the my particular setup and it wasn't originally here at the time but I will say this even though the new Macbook right or sorry not new the M1 MacBook does not have AMD or g g g no Nvidia Graphics in it yeah it it'll still power and and free sync is is fully compatible with it and it's got it's gotten better over time with the Mac OS support yep so it uses its own version I think from what I understand a variable refresh rate on their processors but but it's still within the specs of those monitors so you're still going to benefit Mac well it was originally a few a couple Mac uh OS versions ago the variable refresh rate would always trip on it just like I said no I want it to lock at I think at that time it was I was locked at 100 or 120 whatever it was I said no just stay here don't move and then it would always revert and then the previous version of Mac OS fixed it so that could just have the fixed or the locked refresh rate and you could even toggle that I I think it was at 120 until I realized I could toggle something else and go to 144 and so I ended up going to 144 and you know can but I can tell you as much as a frame rate guy as I am I I I'd be hardpressed to tell you the difference between a 120 and a 144 even side by side they're they're negligible like at that 90 and 120 I can see but 120 and 144 I I I'm not sure I visually I I can't I can't the difference I'm the same way I can't either um one but definitely sub 120 yes you know I can definitely see um because I I can't I can't do 60 HZ screens anymore nope oh another fun fact if you have one of the new iPhone 15 Pros or 14 pro or one of the pro iPhones since they started with promotion if you want to experience the 60 frames per second again just turn on low power mode it's brutal y awful yeah well you can you can turn off I think you can toggle it Beyond goinging low power mode there's another toggle for reducing the yeah you can Nerf reduce motion maybe no reduce motion will make it such that the the anim or the transitions oh right the transition they they'll fade instead of like you know moving they fade so I I turn that on that's how I know that one because I turned that on for sure my big issue is not so much with the screens anymore but with movies and TV shows that the fact that they're filmed in 24 I think it's 2425 that's at 30 frames per second and I mean they still look watchable right but you can you can go on YouTube today and watch a 1080p60 versus 1080p30 and it's a world of difference I understand there's data limitations for filming and it's a lot more data but if we were even able to get movies today in 1080p60 or 4K 60 again the media is going to be more expensive but the the content or the quality content that you're you're taking in is substantially better but it it's it's a little frustrating that we've got these high Hertz refresh rates but right you know consoles for example you're again you're watching stuff on Netflix 24 to 30 frames per second and when you're playing video games depending on the game itself it might not even hit the 60 FPS uh it's just you know 60 or 120 I guess the monitor consoles can go up to 120 but yeah yeah they can go up to 120 but there there's another thing going on there that they do in the software end that is dynamic resolution scaling to where if you're playing a game and in order for it to stay at that 120 hertz or 120 frames per second refresh rate it will dynamically throughout the time period of the game during um graphical intensive scenes drop the resolution from 4K to 1440p um yeah you don't really see it because it's it's Blended well and and it's quick but um unless it's an extended scene no it doesn't stay there it just fluctuates whatever it needs to to keep that 120 frames per second so you may say that you're playing at 4K but it may not be all of the time just depending on the circumstances yeah I'm sure there's some sort of a upscaling in the background yeah happening for sure so I do recall that it's interesting yeah they're actually using the the AMD free sync technology and all the new consoles because it's powered by a AMD AGP so both consoles are the Xbox and the PlayStation 4 or five also real quick Chris is right there is an option under accessibility and under motion that is in addition to reduce motion it's limit frame rate there's a toggle yeah that's that's what it is uh on the iPad I think it was where you would have to originally turn off is it the promotion yeah yeah there's a toggle for that yeah I'm not Des doing that like why what's the purpose to do that like why is like oh this this battery live on the mobile devices all right I guess so yeah it takes more power to push those frames per second that those hurts fair enough but 60 frames per per second definitely hurts it does hurt it does so does 120 120 is good I can do 120 doesn't hurt as much it's still really it doesn't hurts well I guess it technically speaking it does hurts yes go go into the weeds all right so the next point that I want to make um while you're on your journey to to get a new monitor is HDR important to you uh it's super important to me now because once you go to HDR and you get to see real HDR content on on a screen that is certified Vasa HDR uh and can reach those certain levels of uh of luminance um you never want to go back I don't want to uh so HDR it's going to enhance the colors uh and make them more immersive while you're gaming or you're you're watching your content your brights like Reflections those are going to stand out more the the skyline during the sunset it's going to be brighter at the Sun as opposed to having you know lesser contrast throughout the rest of the screen and that's why it's called high dynamic range um exactly so it just boosts the range of the light that's that's visible to you uh it makes it brighter in certain areas on the screen um what about you guys do you use HDR any of you I yeah remember we were fiddling with that earlier this week on the on the twitch stream but I couldn't get I just couldn't get the image to look great it just didn't it didn't it did not Bowl me over like I was like oh I I I can't live without it now I just I don't it just didn't work for me maybe I'll go back to it again on the external screens but either the text was too sharp or it was too fuzzy I couldn't find the right the sweet spot right again maybe it's just a matter of setting it not thinking about it for a day and then and then and then continuing to try it just to acclimate to the difference in what the uh um you know what the the image is but I and even after watching HDR content honestly I like I said I'm willing to chalk that up to probably not having the best HDR compatible displays yeah um and because it just it it in many ways looked worse not better for me yeah the time that I saw HDR work its magic on me was whenever I first saw it on an OLED um on an OLED it stands out much more than it would on a TN VA or an IPS panel because with an OLED the screen can turn completely off for its darks for its blacks you mean pixels can turn on and off pixel completely turns off not physically the television or the monitor right but each one of those pixels are individually lit it's an organic lightemitting diode is what the OLED stands for um so whenever the pixel turns off and then you've got something that's right next to it that's white and super bright I mean that contrast is going to really stand out so an OLED is where it's at currently or a micro LED for uh HDR content um and it ranges from 400 being the scale there's a number from 400 all the way up to I think there's a 12200 now for the uh the the Vasa standards for HDR content um you don't really get any benefit of it at 400 or 600 once you get above that 600 Niche range on that scale that's whenever you can really see the the HCR stand out um um so anything on 1,000 and up you're really going to notice the HDR and have a better experience I actually have a theory about the iPhone's HDR when I take pictures in HDR I swear because the screen is HDR so it's displaying an HDR version of the photo right I swear it can hide like imperfections better because the the brightness of the brights is so high that I can't see that it's like not as sharp as it could be or oversharpened or whatever the case may be it it actually makes the pictures look better but not really because they're better it's because they're just brighter right yeah see that's that's the thing is taking those photos and watch seeing them on on on the iPhone screen almost seems too bright too contrasting I have that issue pixeling Pro and I'll come back to that but uh when I view those or even upload those photos to or view them somewhere you know on the desktop they just don't look as good and it's a screen and but that that to me is is is a huge limitation to taking those shots that may look good on some screens but look absolutely Gastly on others yeah and a lot of times that can be blamed on two different things like you said one the monitor or the screen that you're using or the television is not certified at a higher rate or a higher number like I made refence to um if it's not then you're not going to have as much contrast but the most important thing is how the content is mastered excuse me so what I'm saying by that is how well they implemented HDR into the game or into the movie or into the show that you're watching uh that can really impact your HDR experience as well and how well you calibrate your HDR um whenever you get a new monitor usually there's a calibration that you can go to or you get a calibration sheet that sit with your monitor like I did on on my particular one showing me how it was set up and where it ranked at on the scales for HDR as well as you know Adobe for the color accuracy for the srg Josh you need to go B oh yeah I'm probably gonna have to hop off okay that's fine all good no worries but I feel like this podcast could be like we could almost create like a progress bar yeah of the podcast theoretically and it may very well be that we learn that four people is a good amount of people for a podcast five is always good for a buffer but I feel for May we're learning you know what do you know experience you know four may be where we where we shoot four and uh it's it's just it's learning you got to go Josh thank you appreciate you hanging know thank you it's been fun yes it has thank you love the see Josh that's it Josh is gone come go are you just like that just like that he's hanging out he's got something else to say he like you're making this awkward dude this is like it was like we were like segueing you bud see it all right Glennon you got more yeah I got uh one more and then okay that'll be it for mine uh to me the number one thing is going to be cost right always um make sure that you have a budget uh most people have a budget anyway and you're going to need to set up and and find a happy medium for what your needs may be or what your wants are and compare it to what the capabilities of your your Hardware on your your system can do and stay within those parameters because if you have a GTX you know a 4060 then it's probably not the best idea for you to run out and try to find a a 4k monitor that runs at a 240 HZ refresh rate because you're going to benefit absolutely zero from having that monitor right so shop within the the limits and the constraints that you have with your Hardware um and you're going to learn that at that level a 1080 monitor is going to be perfectly fine for you and you can get great OLED IPS monitors for you know thousands cheaper hundreds cheaper than an OLED panel that's that's doing 240 HZ yeah that's that's been my reason for not upgrading yet I'm still waiting for that OLED to drop in price obviously I need to build a new computers well I don't need to but I want to but that's one of the determining factors is that I want to replace my monitors well potentially go to 4K and 4K OLED 120 hertz it's it's a big premium right now it's a it's a big Chu of change so the technolog is out it's eventually going to get cheaper but when is the question right and and that's potentially it's it's it's a law of diminishing returns right M so that's a big deal yeah and and we're seeing the trend now we're at the sub th000 doll point on these monitors you know depending upon the size and the and the specs of how fast they go and the HCR but yeah you can see that that's starting to be a little bit of a trend I know right now everything's inflated but that was what's we were heading into before the inflation started so yeah you know I I I'd go for as much as I could afford every every every step of the way me cram as much fps into my eyeballs as I can take yeah I want all the FPS is in mys the the old adage of future proofing there's been a debate online for eons is it a thing can you actually do it my answer is kind of yeah computer yeah remember the what was the company was it EPC or something like that the forever you never have to upgrade computer the e machines or something E Machine yeah that was it I mean you you can't buy a $200 computer back in the late or late 90s early 2000s and expect to get you know 50 years of use out of it at the same time I mean if you're going out and spending 500 bucks on a computer it'll last you let's say four years is for modern upto-date gaming high resolution whatever it may be if you spend two three four $5,000 on everything brand new topof the line you might get eight nine 10 years out of it before you have to upgrade that GPU or get a newer newer CPU right the sockets change but you can buy that 10 core versus the six core you might have gotten or an i5 or you're buying an i7 or an I9 instead of the I5 you've got so you can do those incremental upgrades yeah so future proofing I think is the thing right the more you spend up front the less you're going to spend overall I agree he that time span yeah I take the same approach or do my best right can't always can't always do it right but it's a it is a balance a delicate balance that's reason why why the credit cards have limits that is for sure I'll I'll be like I I'm not sure when I'm going to be upgrading my monitors again I feel I can get another two three maybe even four years out of them before I'm like okay maybe it's time um so I'm hoping to you know until they die like basically like when they're done done done done done and then I'll then I'll I'll make the shift and even then I may go back to just using one screen rather than having two two is just a nice to have you know for background but um you know certainly having one is is critical even even in the current resolution which I wasn't even sold on I'd much rather have like a wider taller display rather than I know some people love the w super what are the uh the ultra wide wide Ultra wide yeah I'm I I did that for a brief while I I don't think I could do an ultra wide again I I don't know it was just different maybe it was just my head going there and going this way that way and maybe it was the you know the the the pitch right where the sharpness of the text wasn't you know it was things were jaggy it wasn't perfect but that was again it was the product I I don't blame the the the underlying technology the idea of an ultra wide but yeah I just I I don't know I don't know I don't know what I'm going to do next apart from you know getting one with with a high re that's the only thing I care response time and refresh rate those are the yeah those are like to me number one easily not even being a gamer those are the things that that I I look for easily yeah personally I don't think I'll be doing an ultra wide I mean for gaming they're great because you're Center of attentions in the center of the screen and then the games will stretch so peripheral they look great yeah when you're working in you know office or Outlook or something you're you're turning that's not that's not great for the neck no everything else be said for using two monitors though that's true yeah I got two one twoo I I've had three monitors before and they personally at the time they scaled better just because this was probably Windows 8 e what was it Vista Vista through seven era kind of thing but you know triple screen at the time I could do you know research on one screen my homework on the other and YouTube or whatever preoccupy me while I'm up and running and the early um Ultra wides when they were plugged into a Windows machine they didn't have the triple uh software setup so they would just kind of do a half screen half screen they've gotten better but the the aspect ratio was just way off but again that's changed with the newer so yeah with the the newer ones there's not that issue any longer um to you can see like a a a line where one monitor stopped and the other started because essentially they were just showing three you know 1080p panels together and and upping the resolution to to a 1440 um but yeah they've they've come a long way even with the the games and the formats now that that we take in the content um they're mastered you know for for Ultra wides now both in gaming and then the way that uh you even YouTube videos you can get a 1440p or a 3440 by 1440 setting for the uh the ultra wides yeah I I'll I I'll probably stick with ultra Slims not Ultra wide I'm just I don't know I just I'll be I think I'm good that way I don't it depends I don't know what's gonna I cannot predict the future I don't know what's going to happen when I'm going to make my choice I just know when I'm going to make it I'm going to say hey Glendon what do I get I need to get a need to get a new one what do I get like I don't want I don't want to do the research ain't nobody got time for that just tell me yeah we do we got time for it you got time for I just like no just tell me which one I need to get and I'm good and I'll be happy nice quality TN P will do you well oh so I hear no don't don't buy those oh okay well because I I was like it didn't make sense to me I like well it kind of Grays out if you look at it the wrong way I'm like yeah they're awful sounds temperamental all I've seen honestly is is uh ipss mhm the I mean they're good screens common or common enough that every every other panel I see is IPS yep AR perfect they've got their own weaknesses too so yeah sayingyes what I'm going to be going over today is uh my top 10 tips or reasons uh that you could consider uh before purchasing a gaming monitor or just a monitor in general you know for professional use um excuse me so a lot of people feel that it's just in Past Times They did anyway uh I think it's people are becoming a lot more cogn of it now uh with the new technologies but the monitor was just an afterthought for most people um especially whenever it was a CRT monitor because um they were all pretty good performers some had a lot more color accuracy some than than others did but um you're going to get a constant 60 htz out of those because that's what that's just what they run at so uh a lot of people took that for granted uh up until uh flat panels started to come into play and that's whenever a lot of people now started paying attention to the Hertz rate of their monitors because um you can definitely tell a difference 60 and sub 60 and then a lot of people can see it above 60 which is like myself um so the that's my first topic is is the refresh rate um if you're looking to be playing a lot of games especially Competitive Gaming you're going to want every Edge that you can get right so squeaking out every frame per second that you can on a monitor that makes it visible for you um you're you're you're going to just benefit from it greatly right so higher FPS High higher FPS right well your higher visible FPS right um and that coincides with the second point which is response time um the response time determines how quickly the pixels can change their color faster response times can uh reduce ghosting and motion blur in fast-paced games so it it'll help people call me back right because you know they ghost me so often and I just can't so I need a higher cuz that that literally is it's it's a higher response time it literally they ghost me and I never okay can't imagine I'm so glad you're not the only one with that problem imagine why sry time what what so so I will let you finish your tip but I definitely want to hear like what a good average is or what an average might be for a response time uh well response time for me is going to be like a a gray to Gray which is the color scale like 1 millisecond that's what you're really looking for uh and then sub you know 5 milliseconds for the uh the the color accuracy but yeah most high-end monitors need to hit that one millisecond gr degre response time do you have to clap to find that out no no you don't have to but you you can if you would like there's nothing clapping video yourself clapping and then you do the you play it on the monitor okay yeah no not not so much no all right carry on okay all right but yes the uh the faster the response time the better offense you're going to be uh whenever it comes to uh playing your games um response time meaning how quickly you make a movement using your controller and as to how quickly it responds and it's seen on the screen so you want those to be as exactly close to zero which means no difference so um the next thing to consider is going to be the size of your monitor um and this goes into Competitive Gaming again as well um the size of the monitor can help you or hinder you uh smaller ones tend to be better if you're playing games uh because there's less head movement that you have to do back and forth you know so a lot of your um high-end Gamers um competitive Gamers I should say they use uh smaller monitors that way it's it's it's less time for them to have to track with motion as what's going on on the screen um as opposed to somebody using a 50-inch screen and if you're at a table or or even a reasonably close distance you're going to have to move your head so wait so I be a better gamer if I have a smaller monitor possibly time could be better right you couldn't get a a monitor small enough to make me a better gamer like it's just yeah maybe postage stamp size and that'd be great right you can try that too getting that FPS and Tetris that's what you yeah it's so funny you say that because I I just started having to use my monitors in uh you know I I I think I mentioned to you about the issues I had with scaling the resolution so I have 4K monitors and so the one toone comparison is to run them like 1080p monitors or 2160 monitors when I'm running them as 2160 I notice that like my have to like okay I got to get the pointer to the other side of the display and it takes forever so that's yep interesting yep same thing uh can happen with uh playing the game so and then that goes back into your response time and then you've got lift off and there's different things that you have to take into consideration at that point but yep you're exactly right that Josh do they still use uh high-end CRTs in Competitive Gaming or if those I don't see them anymore um especially now since there's refresh rates that are over 500 megahertz now on on TN panels because I would say about eight to 10 years ago sometimes you could see them but the I think it was the 900 or 9,000 Series yeah was the 900 and the Reon I think that they've stopped now is because obviously there's no connector for it yeah or HDMI or DVI I'm sorry not DVI but uh uh display board um and if you wanted to use one of them then you would have to go through converters or connectors and then that could even slow or lower the response time of the input that you're doing on your on your device so I think that that's why the because it's going to introduce some input lag yeah yep makes sense yeah and I think the the analog chipset is just completely gone off of them yeah there's no processing for it right interesting good point uh the next one would be the panel type um the panel type uh can vary in strengths and weaknesses like I said a while ago a TN panel which is a twisted pneumatic there's IPS or VA uh and even now oleds are are becoming more prominent in gaming um IPS up until OLED was probably your best in response time I'm sorry not response time but uh resolution and viewing angles um meaning you didn't have to be directly in front of the television where your monitor to enjoy what the scene was supposed to look like throughout the entire picture um so instead of having to sit directly in front of your monitor if you got to about 75 degrees you know everything would wash out and turn gray and white you couldn't see the screen well so that is a TN panel for the most part they're meant to be displayed straight on um and you can test that usually just with your eyes if you just want to shift your head you know and see if it does change then odds are if it does it's it's a TN panel you wouldn't experience that from an OLED or an IPS screen um it may dim a little bit with a VA but nothing like a t so uh anybody have a question I thought no no I don't have a question but you were talking IPS okay I I have to PS I again this is very good beer there's only one beer it this was his first beer all still based on the first beer I'm gonna IP in my chair oh wow all right well we can uh we can waste some time until he gets back hey Glen I had a question for you hey Josh go ahead yeah what about gsync and freesync yeah what about them pal yeah like can you tell me about those yeah yeah I'll tell you about them okay is that in your is your list anyway yeah it's on my list on my list well I'll ask him that's not something that potentially in his list soyn resync is a variable refresh rate how about that GYN yeah yeah he answer your question and you've got more yeah he answered your question you've got more questions now it's all right we can go over that what were you gonna what were you gonna ask Brad uh for IPs panels were they more color accurate over VA panels yes before OLED okay yep IPS was the the choice we viewing angles and color accuracy for the most part yeah like I said earlier I'm still on my computer rig from 2016 I've done very little upgrades from it uh and I I bought an AOC IPS monitor it's 60 HZ 1080p I think it's 27 inch still works fine would I like higher refresh rate yes would I like higher resolution yes but at the time IPS was most Skyler accurate because budget friendly Monitor and it's worked fine but uh it's time for an upgrade soon so yeah and I recomm oled's where it's at it's just a lot more expensive yeah but it's worth it in the long run because starting to come down in price now yeah still expensive than micro led oh yeah yeah yeah and I mean and I touched on this on the last podcast too but if you build a computer let's say you save for a while and you build a computer that's new everything to the market new GPU new CPU max out your RAM motherboard whatever it may be your mileage on that PC is going to last longer so right if you put if you build a computer today for 25 three grand and you get over 10 years of use out of it cost of motorship is cheaper than build building a cheap PC and going long term and you can obviously upgrade your monitor long term so um it's just time for an upgrade for myself I guess good enough yeah it is Chris you're back yeah this back I am did everything free sync for you go free I gsync and free sync gsync is that Nvidia and and and freesync wasn't that AMD originally but yeah yeah they both still are two different Technologies for uh variable refresh rate which means your graphics card gets in perfect tandem with your gaming Mo uh graphics card and to your monitor so that eliminates your screen tearing or the Slowdown or the stutter that you might see um a lot of people are successible to that I know I am uh personally so if I'm playing a game that my graphics card is having a little trouble keeping up with and I can see the tearing then uh I will make sure that I enable that if I don't want to lose any eye candy right so you could drop your settings in the game and boost your FRS per second or you can use that technology that Cycles them together at the same time and it doesn't look like there's anything happening to it at all and you're running at least a a steady 60 htz refresh and I wasn't meaning to to jump on your list I heard as I was walking away I heard Josh do it so I wanted to make sure that was cap sorry no you're good both of you I really well it was an intuitive question so no it wasn't not for me I was trying to save you Josh but you just threw yourself under the bus I'm really good at all my number one skill throwing myself under the bus put that on your res do it hey hey yeah better you than me and with the with the another thing with the free sync and the g-sync you're going to have a range of how good or not how good but a range of um what hurts that technolog is going to work so for gsync now I think that it goes up to 175 Hertz on certain monitors from 60 to 175 Within that range it's it's capable of keeping your screen from tearing and then I think with uh amd's uh add the the free sync you can achieve 144 and the the the tearing that's basically when like you've got a flat image but then it it it shifts shifts up and down shifts right split off but it's always going to be vertic this is actually this is actually like giving me uh uh PTSD in a way to when I had a PowerBook G4 I had the worst problem for some reason with DVDs that I was playing on it caring like I would have the worst tearing playing any DVD and I I like I didn't know what it was at the time so I was going to like computer shop to computer shop to try and show them this and like they weren't getting it and oh man it's so yeah I'm sensitive to that too for sure yeah yeah I really am um so anytime that I can use that technology with freesync or gsync I always turn it on and make sure it's enabled uh the good thing about freesync it's exactly what it is it's free means it's open source um it actually works on both AMD cards and uh Nvidia cards but it's uh now becoming normal for GYN to do the same thing it's it it's compatible back and forth on AMD or Nvidia products but but even beyond that I've got free sync monitors now and they're connected to uh Mac a Macbook 16inch right by way of a thunderbolt cable through a dock but they're both pushing 144 on what are these aren't 4K they're not they're these are for those 1440p monitors so they 2kk 2K yeah so I got two 2K displays it just made sense to do two displays in the my particular setup and it wasn't originally here at the time but I will say this even though the new Macbook right or sorry not new the M1 MacBook does not have AMD or g g g no Nvidia Graphics in it yeah it it'll still power and and free sync is is fully compatible with it and it's got it's gotten better over time with the Mac OS support yep so it uses its own version I think from what I understand a variable refresh rate on their processors but but it's still within the specs of those monitors so you're still going to benefit Mac well it was originally a few a couple Mac uh OS versions ago the variable refresh rate would always trip on it just like I said no I want it to lock at I think at that time it was I was locked at 100 or 120 whatever it was I said no just stay here don't move and then it would always revert and then the previous version of Mac OS fixed it so that could just have the fixed or the locked refresh rate and you could even toggle that I I think it was at 120 until I realized I could toggle something else and go to 144 and so I ended up going to 144 and you know can but I can tell you as much as a frame rate guy as I am I I I'd be hardpressed to tell you the difference between a 120 and a 144 even side by side they're they're negligible like at that 90 and 120 I can see but 120 and 144 I I I'm not sure I visually I I can't I can't the difference I'm the same way I can't either um one but definitely sub 120 yes you know I can definitely see um because I I can't I can't do 60 HZ screens anymore nope oh another fun fact if you have one of the new iPhone 15 Pros or 14 pro or one of the pro iPhones since they started with promotion if you want to experience the 60 frames per second again just turn on low power mode it's brutal y awful yeah well you can you can turn off I think you can toggle it Beyond goinging low power mode there's another toggle for reducing the yeah you can Nerf reduce motion maybe no reduce motion will make it such that the the anim or the transitions oh right the transition they they'll fade instead of like you know moving they fade so I I turn that on that's how I know that one because I turned that on for sure my big issue is not so much with the screens anymore but with movies and TV shows that the fact that they're filmed in 24 I think it's 2425 that's at 30 frames per second and I mean they still look watchable right but you can you can go on YouTube today and watch a 1080p60 versus 1080p30 and it's a world of difference I understand there's data limitations for filming and it's a lot more data but if we were even able to get movies today in 1080p60 or 4K 60 again the media is going to be more expensive but the the content or the quality content that you're you're taking in is substantially better but it it's it's a little frustrating that we've got these high Hertz refresh rates but right you know consoles for example you're again you're watching stuff on Netflix 24 to 30 frames per second and when you're playing video games depending on the game itself it might not even hit the 60 FPS uh it's just you know 60 or 120 I guess the monitor consoles can go up to 120 but yeah yeah they can go up to 120 but there there's another thing going on there that they do in the software end that is dynamic resolution scaling to where if you're playing a game and in order for it to stay at that 120 hertz or 120 frames per second refresh rate it will dynamically throughout the time period of the game during um graphical intensive scenes drop the resolution from 4K to 1440p um yeah you don't really see it because it's it's Blended well and and it's quick but um unless it's an extended scene no it doesn't stay there it just fluctuates whatever it needs to to keep that 120 frames per second so you may say that you're playing at 4K but it may not be all of the time just depending on the circumstances yeah I'm sure there's some sort of a upscaling in the background yeah happening for sure so I do recall that it's interesting yeah they're actually using the the AMD free sync technology and all the new consoles because it's powered by a AMD AGP so both consoles are the Xbox and the PlayStation 4 or five also real quick Chris is right there is an option under accessibility and under motion that is in addition to reduce motion it's limit frame rate there's a toggle yeah that's that's what it is uh on the iPad I think it was where you would have to originally turn off is it the promotion yeah yeah there's a toggle for that yeah I'm not Des doing that like why what's the purpose to do that like why is like oh this this battery live on the mobile devices all right I guess so yeah it takes more power to push those frames per second that those hurts fair enough but 60 frames per per second definitely hurts it does hurt it does so does 120 120 is good I can do 120 doesn't hurt as much it's still really it doesn't hurts well I guess it technically speaking it does hurts yes go go into the weeds all right so the next point that I want to make um while you're on your journey to to get a new monitor is HDR important to you uh it's super important to me now because once you go to HDR and you get to see real HDR content on on a screen that is certified Vasa HDR uh and can reach those certain levels of uh of luminance um you never want to go back I don't want to uh so HDR it's going to enhance the colors uh and make them more immersive while you're gaming or you're you're watching your content your brights like Reflections those are going to stand out more the the skyline during the sunset it's going to be brighter at the Sun as opposed to having you know lesser contrast throughout the rest of the screen and that's why it's called high dynamic range um exactly so it just boosts the range of the light that's that's visible to you uh it makes it brighter in certain areas on the screen um what about you guys do you use HDR any of you I yeah remember we were fiddling with that earlier this week on the on the twitch stream but I couldn't get I just couldn't get the image to look great it just didn't it didn't it did not Bowl me over like I was like oh I I I can't live without it now I just I don't it just didn't work for me maybe I'll go back to it again on the external screens but either the text was too sharp or it was too fuzzy I couldn't find the right the sweet spot right again maybe it's just a matter of setting it not thinking about it for a day and then and then and then continuing to try it just to acclimate to the difference in what the uh um you know what the the image is but I and even after watching HDR content honestly I like I said I'm willing to chalk that up to probably not having the best HDR compatible displays yeah um and because it just it it in many ways looked worse not better for me yeah the time that I saw HDR work its magic on me was whenever I first saw it on an OLED um on an OLED it stands out much more than it would on a TN VA or an IPS panel because with an OLED the screen can turn completely off for its darks for its blacks you mean pixels can turn on and off pixel completely turns off not physically the television or the monitor right but each one of those pixels are individually lit it's an organic lightemitting diode is what the OLED stands for um so whenever the pixel turns off and then you've got something that's right next to it that's white and super bright I mean that contrast is going to really stand out so an OLED is where it's at currently or a micro LED for uh HDR content um and it ranges from 400 being the scale there's a number from 400 all the way up to I think there's a 12200 now for the uh the the Vasa standards for HDR content um you don't really get any benefit of it at 400 or 600 once you get above that 600 Niche range on that scale that's whenever you can really see the the HCR stand out um um so anything on 1,000 and up you're really going to notice the HDR and have a better experience I actually have a theory about the iPhone's HDR when I take pictures in HDR I swear because the screen is HDR so it's displaying an HDR version of the photo right I swear it can hide like imperfections better because the the brightness of the brights is so high that I can't see that it's like not as sharp as it could be or oversharpened or whatever the case may be it it actually makes the pictures look better but not really because they're better it's because they're just brighter right yeah see that's that's the thing is taking those photos and watch seeing them on on on the iPhone screen almost seems too bright too contrasting I have that issue pixeling Pro and I'll come back to that but uh when I view those or even upload those photos to or view them somewhere you know on the desktop they just don't look as good and it's a screen and but that that to me is is is a huge limitation to taking those shots that may look good on some screens but look absolutely Gastly on others yeah and a lot of times that can be blamed on two different things like you said one the monitor or the screen that you're using or the television is not certified at a higher rate or a higher number like I made refence to um if it's not then you're not going to have as much contrast but the most important thing is how the content is mastered excuse me so what I'm saying by that is how well they implemented HDR into the game or into the movie or into the show that you're watching uh that can really impact your HDR experience as well and how well you calibrate your HDR um whenever you get a new monitor usually there's a calibration that you can go to or you get a calibration sheet that sit with your monitor like I did on on my particular one showing me how it was set up and where it ranked at on the scales for HDR as well as you know Adobe for the color accuracy for the srg Josh you need to go B oh yeah I'm probably gonna have to hop off okay that's fine all good no worries but I feel like this podcast could be like we could almost create like a progress bar yeah of the podcast theoretically and it may very well be that we learn that four people is a good amount of people for a podcast five is always good for a buffer but I feel for May we're learning you know what do you know experience you know four may be where we where we shoot four and uh it's it's just it's learning you got to go Josh thank you appreciate you hanging know thank you it's been fun yes it has thank you love the see Josh that's it Josh is gone come go are you just like that just like that he's hanging out he's got something else to say he like you're making this awkward dude this is like it was like we were like segueing you bud see it all right Glennon you got more yeah I got uh one more and then okay that'll be it for mine uh to me the number one thing is going to be cost right always um make sure that you have a budget uh most people have a budget anyway and you're going to need to set up and and find a happy medium for what your needs may be or what your wants are and compare it to what the capabilities of your your Hardware on your your system can do and stay within those parameters because if you have a GTX you know a 4060 then it's probably not the best idea for you to run out and try to find a a 4k monitor that runs at a 240 HZ refresh rate because you're going to benefit absolutely zero from having that monitor right so shop within the the limits and the constraints that you have with your Hardware um and you're going to learn that at that level a 1080 monitor is going to be perfectly fine for you and you can get great OLED IPS monitors for you know thousands cheaper hundreds cheaper than an OLED panel that's that's doing 240 HZ yeah that's that's been my reason for not upgrading yet I'm still waiting for that OLED to drop in price obviously I need to build a new computers well I don't need to but I want to but that's one of the determining factors is that I want to replace my monitors well potentially go to 4K and 4K OLED 120 hertz it's it's a big premium right now it's a it's a big Chu of change so the technolog is out it's eventually going to get cheaper but when is the question right and and that's potentially it's it's it's a law of diminishing returns right M so that's a big deal yeah and and we're seeing the trend now we're at the sub th000 doll point on these monitors you know depending upon the size and the and the specs of how fast they go and the HCR but yeah you can see that that's starting to be a little bit of a trend I know right now everything's inflated but that was what's we were heading into before the inflation started so yeah you know I I I'd go for as much as I could afford every every every step of the way me cram as much fps into my eyeballs as I can take yeah I want all the FPS is in mys the the old adage of future proofing there's been a debate online for eons is it a thing can you actually do it my answer is kind of yeah computer yeah remember the what was the company was it EPC or something like that the forever you never have to upgrade computer the e machines or something E Machine yeah that was it I mean you you can't buy a $200 computer back in the late or late 90s early 2000s and expect to get you know 50 years of use out of it at the same time I mean if you're going out and spending 500 bucks on a computer it'll last you let's say four years is for modern upto-date gaming high resolution whatever it may be if you spend two three four $5,000 on everything brand new topof the line you might get eight nine 10 years out of it before you have to upgrade that GPU or get a newer newer CPU right the sockets change but you can buy that 10 core versus the six core you might have gotten or an i5 or you're buying an i7 or an I9 instead of the I5 you've got so you can do those incremental upgrades yeah so future proofing I think is the thing right the more you spend up front the less you're going to spend overall I agree he that time span yeah I take the same approach or do my best right can't always can't always do it right but it's a it is a balance a delicate balance that's reason why why the credit cards have limits that is for sure I'll I'll be like I I'm not sure when I'm going to be upgrading my monitors again I feel I can get another two three maybe even four years out of them before I'm like okay maybe it's time um so I'm hoping to you know until they die like basically like when they're done done done done done and then I'll then I'll I'll make the shift and even then I may go back to just using one screen rather than having two two is just a nice to have you know for background but um you know certainly having one is is critical even even in the current resolution which I wasn't even sold on I'd much rather have like a wider taller display rather than I know some people love the w super what are the uh the ultra wide wide Ultra wide yeah I'm I I did that for a brief while I I don't think I could do an ultra wide again I I don't know it was just different maybe it was just my head going there and going this way that way and maybe it was the you know the the the pitch right where the sharpness of the text wasn't you know it was things were jaggy it wasn't perfect but that was again it was the product I I don't blame the the the underlying technology the idea of an ultra wide but yeah I just I I don't know I don't know I don't know what I'm going to do next apart from you know getting one with with a high re that's the only thing I care response time and refresh rate those are the yeah those are like to me number one easily not even being a gamer those are the things that that I I look for easily yeah personally I don't think I'll be doing an ultra wide I mean for gaming they're great because you're Center of attentions in the center of the screen and then the games will stretch so peripheral they look great yeah when you're working in you know office or Outlook or something you're you're turning that's not that's not great for the neck no everything else be said for using two monitors though that's true yeah I got two one twoo I I've had three monitors before and they personally at the time they scaled better just because this was probably Windows 8 e what was it Vista Vista through seven era kind of thing but you know triple screen at the time I could do you know research on one screen my homework on the other and YouTube or whatever preoccupy me while I'm up and running and the early um Ultra wides when they were plugged into a Windows machine they didn't have the triple uh software setup so they would just kind of do a half screen half screen they've gotten better but the the aspect ratio was just way off but again that's changed with the newer so yeah with the the newer ones there's not that issue any longer um to you can see like a a a line where one monitor stopped and the other started because essentially they were just showing three you know 1080p panels together and and upping the resolution to to a 1440 um but yeah they've they've come a long way even with the the games and the formats now that that we take in the content um they're mastered you know for for Ultra wides now both in gaming and then the way that uh you even YouTube videos you can get a 1440p or a 3440 by 1440 setting for the uh the ultra wides yeah I I'll I I'll probably stick with ultra Slims not Ultra wide I'm just I don't know I just I'll be I think I'm good that way I don't it depends I don't know what's gonna I cannot predict the future I don't know what's going to happen when I'm going to make my choice I just know when I'm going to make it I'm going to say hey Glendon what do I get I need to get a need to get a new one what do I get like I don't want I don't want to do the research ain't nobody got time for that just tell me yeah we do we got time for it you got time for I just like no just tell me which one I need to get and I'm good and I'll be happy nice quality TN P will do you well oh so I hear no don't don't buy those oh okay well because I I was like it didn't make sense to me I like well it kind of Grays out if you look at it the wrong way I'm like yeah they're awful sounds temperamental all I've seen honestly is is uh ipss mhm the I mean they're good screens common or common enough that every every other panel I see is IPS yep AR perfect they've got their own weaknesses too so yeah saying\n"