Upgrading from a 5 year old monitor - what am I missing?

[Ian]

I've currently got dual Dell U2312HM monitors, which are around 5 years old. I've got no complaints with them, but I'm quite struck by how "old" they seem in comparison to new high-end desktops.

Monitors are an area where I know very little - so I'm not aware of what I may be missing. My current monitors are 23", IPS panel, support up to 1920x1080 res and have a Grey-to-grey response time of 8ms.

I didn't buy them as gaming monitors, as I wanted something very comfortable for day-to-day usage. However, I imagine that I can get the best of both worlds on a new monitor.

Has anyone upgraded to a new gaming monitor recently, and if so, can you tell me what sort of improvements you noticed? My 8ms g-t-g response time lags far behind what new monitors can do, so I imagine I'll see a big improvement in gaming - but I'd really like to hear a first hand account of someone that has a new-ish monitor (144hz or similar) .

edit: I should mention, I've got an NVIDIA graphics card - so G-Sync compatible would be of benefit (but it seems far too expensive atm).

 

[V_R]

I'm no expert either, but my 2 pence worth....

- What you have there is a decent pair of IPS panels.
- What are you thinking? Ultra wide? 1440p? 144Hz? Will you miss the productivity of two monitors? I'd imagine you would.
- Don't forget the more pixels you have the more power you need to run them.

I'm still rocking my 'old' BenQ 120Hz 1080p monitor. I have no complaints. Though I haven't experienced GSync or 144Hz so can't really comment either. If I were to upgrade I'd almost certainly go down the 27" 1440p route.

That said, I do remember going from my old 60Hz Samsung screen to this BenQ one and the the difference between 60 and 120Hz was to me very noticeable. games felt much smoother.

 

[muckshifter]

there are a couple of reasons for a possible upgrade I can see

1. If you play games that would be really strenuous to the monitor or just wish to have the "standard" 1ms response time. NOTE: that would probably be the "older" tech of a TN monitor

2. You want it in purple.

3. they broken

I have a Freesync 144Hz monitor, yep I have AMD, and well, err, I should have kept the £200, or done some more homework on the monitor.

 

[Ian]

Thanks for your thoughts .

I'm in no rush to upgrade the monitors, as I really like the existing setup (I'd definitely stick with dual monitors in future) - but as I've not seen what G-Sync/FreeSync can do, nor used a 1440p monitor for long, I wasn't sure if I was missing out on anything. It sounds like there probably isn't going to be a huge improvement then - at least, not worth the cost!

I'm really surprised at how long PC hardware lasts these days. My PC is around 5 years old (apart from the NVIDIA 560 > 960 upgrade, plus a bit more RAM) - yet it still runs everything I need.

I have a Freesync 144Hz monitor, yep I have AMD, and well, err, I should have kept the £200, or done some more homework on the monitor.

I remember the thread about the cable for this - I'm glad it was fixable! So, I'm guessing the benefits of FreeSync aren't as good as they may sound?

 

[muckshifter]

So, I'm guessing the benefits of FreeSync aren't as good as they may sound?

nope, not for me anyway ... I "see" no real benefit in anything I do, and I mainly play games. I get to see the FPS over 60, sometimes.

 

[Abarbarian]

Does text and graphics still look good on your monitors ? If yes why change ?