Ready to take the plunge: 27" + 3D?

D

dparm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
181
For about 4 years now my trusty Samsung 245bw has been chugging along. Picture quality is good when calibrated and it's 16:10 (1200p).

Lately I've got the itch to move up to a 27" and the 1440p/1600p resolutions. At the same time I have been curious about 3D. I'm not a heavy gamer but I think it might be fun to go and enter that world of 3D. Particularly interested to do a replay of the whole Mass Effect series, for example.



What does the hivemind think as far as a solid 27" monitor? And about finding a 3D one? Don't want heavy AG. Other than that, not picky about color accuracy, contrast, etc.

The Yamakasi Catleap Q270 is appealing. If I ditch 3D, the Nixeus Vue 27" seems nice, too. Also like the HP ZR2740w.
 
If you want to do games in 3D, nVidia 3D Vision is probably the easiest route. Right now the best 27" 3D Vision compatable monitor is the ASUS VG278H or HE, both TN 1080p monitors. If you aren't super picky about color fidelity I think they would be your best bet for 27" 3D. You might be able to get an overdriven IPS monitor to work in 3D games, but I haven't seen that done yet. Even if you got it to work, IPS is probably too slow to give a good 3D image.
 
Out of the question? No. There's simply nothing out there that you can buy today though,
 
Nightbird said:
Out of the question? No. There's simply nothing out there that you can buy today though,
Click to expand...


Damn. Well I appreciate the quick reply.

1200p on a 24" screen has been great; moving to a 27" 1080p (even with 3D) feels like a downgrade. Just worried that I'm going to hate the lower resolution on a larger screen.

Is 3D really worth the upgrade?
 
Last edited:
Some don't care for it, but I think 3D can be worth the sacrifice in performance (fps) and resolution. Game compatibility is getting better, but some games are poorly encoded for 3D and not worth the trouble. Also the performance hit and input lag can be significant, so competitive FPS gaming is out (I have tried it). But when you have a good monitor and good vid card(s) to drive it, some games can be very impressive in 3D and much more immersive. Fallout 3, The Witcher 1/2, and Trine are a few I've tried that are so good in 3D that I won't play them any other way. I'd love to have the increased color fidelity and resolution of a 1440p IPS monitor, but until I can also have 120Hz and 3D, I will be sticking with my 1080p 27" ASUS. Keep in mind that 3D has a 30-40% performance hit and it works best with vsync on and a minimum framerate higher than your refreshrate (120Hz). At 1080p even my SLI GTX580s struggle to do that with some games, so 1440p is too much to ask of current hardware unless you like to play with low IQ settings.
 
What's the consensus on the best games for 3D (list of titles, genres, anything)? My tastes are pretty varied but I am not a competitive gamer, nor am I a "twitch-gamer" hence my disinterest in 2D @ 120Hz. Been playing at 60Hz forever.

NVIDIA has a website that lists it out but I don't understand how ME1 is rated "good", ME2 is "fair", and ME3 is "poor". It's the same engine.
 
User reviews and forums are a better source than the main nVidia list. nVidia will only tell you how it looks out of the box. Some games can be "fixed" with simple tweaks and some are hopeless. Typically what will ruin a game is a mixture of 2d and 3d effects or objects, especially if they put the 2D stuff at the wrong depth. There is no reason ME3 couldn't be perfect in 3D with their engine. The developers only have to consider 3D as they code the game. In Mass Effect I think there is a problem with some lighting or menus at the wrong depth. I can't remember for sure but there are workarounds if that is the game you want to play. The nVidia forums had a good 3D Vision section with a running list of titles and fixes, but the forum is down temporarily. You can also look here and in their forums:

http://www.mtbs3d.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=38&Itemid=76

Batman is another amazing 3D game I forgot to list.
 
I guess I don't understand why one could be great and another poor? What is "poor" about one game's 3D versus the other?
 
Let's say in one version they code 2D clouds and put them in the background. That will look fine in 3D. 5 years later a new version of the same game is made, but this time the team put the clouds at screen depth. That might look fine in 2D but it would look stupid in 3D, ruining the immersion. Lighting and shadow effects are often put at the wrong depth, making the game look like a mess in 3D. Things like that can often be overcome by disabling shadows or bloom. Other games may position menus and text in such a way that they are distractingly out of place or unusable in 3D. Making a game look good and work in 3D just takes a little extra consideration on the part of the programmers. Not all developers care enough to do it. 3D is still a nitch concept so many overlook it.
 
In that case, 3D may not be a good idea for me.

So in the world of 1440p/1600p screens, everyone here seems to like the Yamakasi Catleap Q270 and the Nixeus Vue 27. The HP ZR2740w looks pretty solid too (I had the older ZR24w at my last job).
 
This sucks, I visited all the local computer stores (Fry's, Microcenter, Tiger Direct, Best Buy) and no one has a 3D monitor on display. I really want to try this before committing. Suggestions?
 
Moving to 120hz gaming was one of the best decisions i've made in my computer gaming career.
 
dparm said:
This sucks, I visited all the local computer stores (Fry's, Microcenter, Tiger Direct, Best Buy) and no one has a 3D monitor on display. I really want to try this before committing. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Heh, I thought you gave up?

If you are interested enough to poke around forums about it and can watch a 3D movie comfortably, it's a pretty safe bet that you will like it. Even if you don't, having a 120Hz monitor is a nice asset for a gamer.

I've never seen a 3D PC demonstration so unless you have access to a trade show you will have to jump in blind like the rest of us. The closest you could do is run Anaglyph with the nVidia driver. You don't need 120 Hz for that but you will need some color glasses (just buy a 3d magazine and use the paper ones). I've tried it and can't bear to look at it for more than a minute or two. For some reason the filtered colors are very uncomfortable for me and the effect isn't very good, but you will get some sense of what it is like to have depth in a game.
 
blinx said:
Moving to 120hz gaming was one of the best decisions i've made in my computer gaming career.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. The difference is night and day

The only real downside is that I'm now obsessed with getting the best possible performance that I can. My aging system, combined with more demanding engines, has me constantly sacraficing eye candy in exchange for 120FPS
 
I dunno, 3D movies are fine and all, but sometimes it feels cheesy because the producer/director try to milk it...like "oh gee, I bet that thing will come straight at me -- yep, it did." I hate paying extra for 3D movies but once and a while it can be fun.

I'm just trying to up the immersion factor....extra texture packs, really good speakers, ultra-high resolution, etc.

The Overlord "OC" one is tempting but I'm a little confused on whether or not they're 120Hz capable. Some have said it's a gamble and sometimes they don't work past 96Hz. At least with that it's still a really nice monitor if you can't get 120Hz to work.
 
dr.stevil said:
I completely agree. The difference is night and day

The only real downside is that I'm now obsessed with getting the best possible performance that I can. My aging system, combined with more demanding engines, has me constantly sacraficing eye candy in exchange for 120FPS
Click to expand...

Exactly! The only reason why I want another 670 is to max out bf3 at 120fps :(
 
blinx said:
Exactly! The only reason why I want another 670 is to max out bf3 at 120fps :(
Click to expand...

lol that'd be nice.

I'm still using my old GTX295 which is 'okay' but nowhere close to maxing the game out. If I turn everything down to minimum/medium levels at my native resolution (1680x1050) I'm lucky to get 70-80fps. Although, with motion blur, it's not bad. Compared to the PS3 version, it's butter smooth.
 
GTX 560 Ti 2GB. I'll probably add a second one, or sell it and go for a GTX 660 Ti.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top