What monitor to buy?

[Yardem]

Hi,

I've ordered the Define X1, which comes with a GTX1080 card.
What would be a solid monitor to go with it?

I'm completely out-of-touch with gaming stuff, terms like IPS, TN panel, Gsync, etc are completely alien to me, and I don't plan to begin reading this stuff now.
The rig is for my 12yo boy, and he's no good with this stuff either.

So, what should I get for that rig?

Thanks.

 

[Oussebon]

What's the budget for the monitor? And what kinds of games is your son into?

IPS generally has better colour reproduction and viewing angles (it looks better and the colours don't go as funny if you're off to the side a bit). TN has a faster response time, and is cheaper (obviously some IPS monitors are cheaper than some TN ones, but within the same kind of class, TN is generally cheaper). If your son plays hair-trigger shooters at a competitive level (season rankings for his games, that kind of thing), a TN panel with the fastest response time possible might have the advantage. Otherwise IPS wins hands down imo.

The GTX 1080 can arguably handle gaming at 4k resolution, though doesn't have much headroom for it. The options would be a 4k monitor with the possibility of adding a second GTX 1080 in future if more FPS are needed then, or getting a 1440p monitor. GTX 1080 is very powerful at 1440p res, and would let the games run at much higher FPS. That's particularly desired in shooters, and some 1440p monitors also have very high refresh rates. A GTX 1080 is wasted on a 1080p resolution.

G-sync synchronises the monitor's refresh rate to the frames produced by the NVidia GPU. It carries a price premium, but can mean a much smoother image.

 

[Yardem]

The plan is to add an HTC Vive at some point in the future, for some VR games.
So, if I spend a lot on the monitor, the Vive will move further into the future.

Son is into shooters, but he's only played them on the XBox. His current computer is a NUC running Linux, and it hasn't been used for gaming, except a little Minecraft at low fps.
I'm thinking 1440p will be a massive improvement over his current gaming experience, and we can look at 4K in a year or two.

Can you recommend something for this resolution?

 

[SpyderTracks]

The plan is to add an HTC Vive at some point in the future, for some VR games.
So, if I spend a lot on the monitor, the Vive will move further into the future.

Son is into shooters, but he's only played them on the XBox. His current computer is a NUC running Linux, and it hasn't been used for gaming, except a little Minecraft at low fps.
I'm thinking 1440p will be a massive improvement over his current gaming experience, and we can look at 4K in a year or two.

Can you recommend something for this resolution?

I would recommend 1440p as a minimum with a 1080 as its overpowered for a 1080p screen. I can highly recommend the dell S2716DG which is a 27" 1440p Gsync. It's about the cheapest of its kind as its a TN panel rather than IPS but don't let that put you off, it's a sweet monitor and really good value. I've just picked one up myself.

Edit: it's 144hz refresh also

I picked it up for £500, pm me if you want to know where from.

 

[Oussebon]

I gather the Asus Predator XB271HU is very popular. Upto 165hz refresh rate, 1440p, IPS, gsync. In so far as a screen costing ~£650 can really be described as popular. Popular among those who have £650 quid to drop on a monitor, let's go with that description.

 

[Yardem]

I think it's ridiculous to spend this much money on a monitor.

That Dell is attractive at £500, found it on a competitor site.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I think it's ridiculous to spend this much money on a monitor.

That Dell is attractive at £500, found it on a competitor site.

I looked at hundreds of reviews for the dell over loads of different sites and they all pretty much said the same thing. Apparently settings out of the box need adjustment, but the TN panel is of such high quality you forget it's a TN.

 

[keynes]

I think it's ridiculous to spend this much money on a monitor.

That Dell is attractive at £500, found it on a competitor site.

Depends on your budget, there are monitors +£650 with very good reviews and features. If you were to have 2 X GTX 1080 I would recommend a 4K monitor. The one spidertracks recommends looks very good.

 

[Yardem]

I can highly recommend the dell S2716DG which is a 27" 1440p Gsync.

Ordered straight from Dell, who agreed to match the price from that other UK site.
I was looking at the connectivity, and I've a question: the monitor has two audio outputs (headphones on the side, and line out at the back), but there's no line in from what I can see. How does the monitor receive audio from the sound card?!

 

[Oussebon]

HDMI or display port presumably. Those kinds of connection can carry sound, just as with a TV plugged into a DVD player with an HDMI cable for example.

 

[Yardem]

I'm confused: I understand that a DP or HDMI connection can carry sound as well as video, but would a video card push any sound on such a connection?
For most PCs, the sound card and the video cards would be separate, no?

 

[Oussebon]

but would a video card push any sound on such a connection?

Yeah, any modern GPU should do I think.

the sound card and the video cards would be separate, no?

Yes and no. You can get sound via the video card. Nvidia has distinct sound drivers for its GPUs (they'll install by default) which are distinct from the realtek (or whatever) sound drivers for the mobo's on board sound. You can also have sound from the motherboard or a dedicated sound card as well.

As for where the sound comes out - the speakers of the monitor plugged into the GPU by HDMI, or the speakers you have plugged in separately to your sound card/ onboard sound - you decide that in your system settings and your software. So you could have your system set to use the monitor speakers by default (sound from the GPU), but tell programs to use the other sound output devices you might choose to plug in on an individual basis (usb headphones, speakers plugged into the sound card's audio-out or whatever).

Even at the same time if you like, for instance with your game's sound via the monitor and your CD's sound via some other speakers. Why you'd want to I'm not sure. But you could.

If that makes any sense

 

[SpyderTracks]

Mines just about to arrive so will share my thought but I'm sure oussebon is dead on. If you manually install the nvidia driver you can specify weather or not to install hdmi audio drivers.

Have you got yours powered up? Happy with it?

 

[SpyderTracks]

It does have an audio jack next to the display port.

 

[Yardem]

Have you got yours powered up? Happy with it?

I just placed the orders. The Define X1 is Processing, i.e. they haven't even looked at the order yet.
The monitor is due to ship Sept 19.

No rush though...

 

[SpyderTracks]

I just placed the orders. The Define X1 is Processing, i.e. they haven't even looked at the order yet.
The monitor is due to ship Sept 19.

No rush though...

Just got mine this morning, it's a lot prettier than the photos make out, near edgeless. Haven't gamed yet, will do so later.

Must say, a few reviews said you should customise the settings out of the box, but to me it looks perfect.

 

[Yardem]

It does have an audio jack next to the display port.

According to the manual, it's a line out for connecting speakers. It says it does not support headphones there.

 

[SpyderTracks]

According to the manual, it's a line out for connecting speakers. It says it does not support headphones there.

Any line out will support normal headphones, think they're referring to use headphone sets which you'd normally plug into your PC.