Hardware Discussion Thread

[kirbypuff]

(01-21-2015, 11:20 AM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Set sharpness to 0.

It doesn't work like that for BenQ monitors.

The default sharpness is usually set at '5' (no processing). Setting it to '0' will soften/smudge the image. Setting it to '10' will oversharpen the image like a bad Photoshop filter.

Some older models have a '1' to '5' setting where '3' is the default.

Always use the medium (default) sharpness setting.

[kirbypuff]

(01-21-2015, 05:36 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: When I can get a really good 4K, 120+Hz OLED display for £150, then I'll be happy. I know it won't be hard to get something much nicer than what I currently have, but people keep complaining about whichever things I could buy (that aren't especially expensive). Plus, by the time my monitor requirements are met, GPUs able to handle that kind of display will also be cheap.

4K OLED? That's soooo 0ldsk00l

Still waiting for an affordable IOLED (inorganic LED) or a Laser-based 8K 240Hz display - something that's better than a CRT.

[NaturalViolence]

kirbypuff Wrote:CRTs may have a black level of zero,

kirbypuff Wrote:but the *screen* is not completely black when the display is switched off (no power). It's a shade of grey

Those two statements are completely incompatible with one another.  If it were grey then the black level would not be zero.

kirbypuff Wrote:Even with an infinite contrast, a CRT monitor wll never display a true black, especially when the brightness is set to a very low value.

It can, and will.  Grab a crt monitor, display a pure black (0,0,0) image, turn the lights off, and point a light sensor at it.  Now do the same with an LCD.

kirbypuff Wrote:On the other hand, most LCD displays are pitch-black when switched off.

What you're likely referring to is glare.  CRTs have a more reflective surface which can cause them to appear greyer in high strength ambient lighting due to the extra glare.  Black level measurements are always taken with the lights turned off to achieve a controlled environment since ambient lighting is something that is controlled by the user and varies.

kirbypuff Wrote:If the black level is very low and the contrast high enough, then the resulting image is stunning, better than any CRT.

I am an LCD man myself but I have yet to see any LCD under $10,000 come close to the contrast of a decent crt monitor.  So I must strongly disagree. While it's true that a crt might appear more washed out in bright lighting due to the lower max brightness and higher glare in any environment with strong ambient lighting neither one of them is going to look stunning since the apparent contrast will go way down on both.

kirbypuff Wrote:It's a "Pixel Overdrive" feature to reduce ghosting.
"High" is a recommended setting for BenQ monitors. The RTC errors are minimal in this mode. The "Premium" setting is what you should avoid using.
"Off" is a bad setting and not recommended.

I have a similar benq monitor and to me the difference in motion blur is not noticeable while the RTC errors are.  Any RTC at all results in a black shadow behind the mouse when moving the mouse slowly.  If you crank it up to maximum it gets REALLY distracting.

kirbypuff Wrote:Still waiting for an affordable True LED or Laser-based 8K 240Hz display.
Something that's better than a CRT (CRTs can already refresh at 200+ Hz).

Why would you want an inorganic LED display?  We already have them and they suck.

We do have laser based rear projection systems but now they're not being sold new anymore since nobody wanted to buy them.

LCDs can already refresh faster than 200Hz.  And CRTs could only do that if you had a high end model and cranked the resolution way down.

[kirbypuff]

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Those two statements are completely incompatible with one another.  If it were grey then the black level would not be zero.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Grab a crt monitor, display a pure black (0,0,0) image, turn the lights off, and point a light sensor at it.  Now do the same with an LCD.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: What you're likely referring to is glare.  CRTs have a more reflective surface which can cause them to appear greyer in high strength ambient lighting due to the extra glare.  Black level measurements are always taken with the lights turned off to achieve a controlled environment since ambient lighting is something that is controlled by the user and varies.

You still don't get it.

A CRT is a relatively simple vacuum tube made of glass with a phosphor coating on the viewable side of the tube.
The phosphor coating is LIGHT GREY in color. A plastic layer is then glued on top of the glass for safety and to make the (ugly light-grey) appearance more tolerable (darker). Finally, a light AG coating is applied on top of that plastic/epoxy layer.

Here's what a modern CRT display looks like when it's unplugged (switched off):
Modern CRT Display

In a poorly-lit or well-lit room, the screen is NOT black.

and here's what a modern CRT display looks like when it's unplugged (switched off):
Modern LCD Display

It's pitch-black.

So, even with an infinite contrast / zero black level, the CRT cannot display a *true* black.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: Why would you want an inorganic LED display?  We already have them and they suck.

Organic LEDs are extremely sensitive to humidity / water and the RGB components have a short / uneven lifespan.

Inorganic LEDs are durable / have a longer life and are water-resistant.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: We do have laser based rear projection systems but now they're not being sold new anymore since nobody wanted to buy them.

Because they're super-expensive and bulky (take a lot of space).

A new technology is needed to produce slimmer and relatively cheap displays based on laser tech.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I have a similar benq monitor and to me the difference in motion blur is not noticeable while the RTC errors are.  Any RTC at all results in a black shadow behind the mouse when moving the mouse slowly.  If you crank it up to maximum it gets REALLY distracting.

It depends on the panel. If it's a TN panel with a decent response time, you can turn it off.

But for VA and IPS, the ghosting when AMA is turned off is unbearable.

VA and IPS have non-linear response times (some color transitions are 20 times slower than others), so RTC is a must.

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I am an LCD man myself...

I don't like LCD tech. very much, since it's based on materials in a *liquid* state. This means you cannot use an LCD display when the ambient temperature drops below 12*C (or above 33 *C).

At +10*C or below, you will experience horrible pixel lag (as the LCs become more dense and lazy at lower temperatures). The blur / ghosting is extreme.

This is a big problem with LCD displays (no such issue with CRTs).

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I have yet to see any LCD under $10,000 come close to the contrast of a decent crt monitor.  So I must strongly disagree. While it's true that a crt might appear more washed out in bright lighting due to the lower max brightness and higher glare in any environment with strong ambient lighting neither one of them is going to look stunning since the apparent contrast will go way down on both.

They're surprisingly close.
The latest generation of VA panels used in HDTVs have a static contrast ratio of over 6,000:1 (real measured value, not "on paper").
Modern VA panels have improved a lot with wide viewing angles, doubled contrast ratio and pixel response times cut in half.

A typical CRT has ~15,000:1.

[teh_speleegn_polease]

(01-22-2015, 02:07 AM)kirbypuff Wrote:

(01-21-2015, 03:03 PM)NaturalViolence Wrote: I have a similar benq monitor and to me the difference in motion blur is not noticeable while the RTC errors are.  Any RTC at all results in a black shadow behind the mouse when moving the mouse slowly.  If you crank it up to maximum it gets REALLY distracting.

It depends on the panel. If it's a TN panel with a decent response time, you can turn it off.

But for VA and IPS, the ghosting when AMA is set to "Off" is unbearable.

VA and IPS have non-linear response times (some color transitions are 20 times slower than others), so RTC is a must.

So my TN-panel has an advertised 1ms response time; obviously it's never accurate but suffice to say that it is still pretty good. (My refresh rate is currently 144Hz, the monitor's maximum.)

All I want to say is that I turned AMA off for the first time since getting the monitor. I'm noticing ghosting when just moving my mouse around. I think I'll keep AMA on, thank you very much.

Me experimenting with my settings: (Show Spoiler)

I also tried a few other things. Setting the picture to standard mode, turning on blur reduction, and experimenting with instant mode. I then went and played a couple quick rounds of TF2 as scout, which is probably the activity that requires the least input lag and clearest image I can get. My verdict?
Blur reduction does make a small difference, but when not gaming it makes everything flicker - even scrolling a webpage isn't smooth anymore. Even with 144Hz. I think I'll wait till 240+Hz for true blur reduction.
The ghosting without AMA is very noticeable, at least for me. Still keeping it on high.
The black eQualizer setting is not available in standard mode for some reason (lolwut). While you'd want true blacks while, say, watching a movie, when playing games seeing clearly in darkness is really helpful, and the lack of eQualizer was noticeable and annoying. (And TF2 isn't even a very dark game.)

So after all this, I decided to keep my previous settings. Except for instant mode, I'm still playing around with that.

EDIT: Also, I did notice a yellow tinge while experimenting with Standard mode. And the colours where a lot more washed-out. Garteal, try setting the mode to Movie and see if it's any better? Even if I wanted to keep blur reduction, I'd probably still go with my current settings.

[Garteal]

I noticed a lot of ghosting during my games when I had AMA on High and turning it off made everything so much better.

Quote:Spoiler

I found that the Blur Reduction made a huge difference, atleast to me. Did you get the Blur Strobe Utility? If not get that and set your refresh rate to 120hz and apply the VT trick for more brightness. You might have single strobe enabled in the service menu, that should be off for anything above 60hz. I didn't notice any flickering unless I enabled the reduction at 60hz.

Quote:EDIT: Also, I did notice a yellow tinge while experimenting with Standard mode. And the colours where a lot more washed-out.

Yellow tint on the whole screen or in specific places? They should still be visible in other modes. I actually went over every option multiple times and I believe one of the FPS settings made it look... less annoying, but as said before, no blur reduction amongst other things.

And I'm on a Dell U2414H atm and it looks like I'm still kinda unlucky in the lottery. While the colors and all are really amazing, I'm noticing a pixel light up in the tiny bezel. Not too distracting, but still there. Pushing on the bezel eliminates it but it goes right back up. Not sure if I should keep on trying to fix it or not and also pondering on whether I should return it or not. Everything else seems fine and there's also the chance I might get a worse screen forcing me to send it back again. There's still some yellow on the right of the screen, but much much less than the XL2411Z and on a less annoying spot on the screen.

[teh_speleegn_polease]

...Aaand I just realised that for some unfathomable reason I still have V1 firmware. Even though I bought the monitor in late summer 2014, when V2 had already been out for at least a few months. And there is no practical way to upgrade it; the "best" option for me is probably contacting BenQ UK to see if they will upgrade it, and I'm really not sure if it's worth all the hassle this will inevitably bring. :/

[Xtreme2damax]

Is it possible to replace the 24-pin motherboard power connector on a PSU? A piece of plastic broke off around a prong trying to fix receding prongs that were causing shutdowns. This is on an old PSU, thinking about setting up a box with some spare parts for multiplayer LAN and that would save money on the PSU.

[kinkinkijkin]

Tips when considering using an old or cheap PSU to save money:

don't

[Xtreme2damax]

The psu isn't cheap and the psu is fine. The 24-pin connector is what needs to be fixed, I just need to pop the old connector off and pop the pins into the new connector. Of course I would make note of which pin is which and where each goes. Other than that the psu is fully functional just the pins were receding and not making a good connection.

The spare box would consist of cheap hardware I have lying around. I have my LGA775 Gigabyte motherboard with a Core2Duo E7500 set aside. It's sole purpose is for multiplayer games over LAN with my siblings and friends.