Replacement monitor suggestions

[Kaz]

I've got 2 LG 32" 2560x1440 240 hz monitors.  I wish I could keep them, but I am experiencing eye strain.  Yesterday 10 minutes of desktop use resulted in blurry vision for hours, and eye irritation for 6-8 hours.

 

These LG 32" screens are always blurry.  Text in particular is very bad.  I've tried increasing sharpness, it's an improvement,  but not great.

 

I think my eye strain comes from forcing my eyes to look for detail that isn't there.  I'm not sure if it's a low PPI issue, or how LG decided to use rWbg instead of sRBG.  I almost switched to LG's 27" OLED, but it turns out that monitor has really bad text clarity as well.  Something about rWbg not being very good for text.

 

I do not know if there is a way to force sRGB with AMD graphics cards, if there is, could anyone explain how it's done?

 

After months of struggling, I want to use my computer bad enough I'm ready to dump these monitors and buy something else.

 

I'm looking for 27" or 32" monitors in the 1440p to 4k range.  If I get another 1440p monitor it's going to be 27".

 

I don't know if there is a visual clarity difference between 27" 1440p and 4k.  I thought my 27" 1440p IPS Yamakasi picture was very sharp.  It had a gloss screen.

 

I'm at a loss.  One thing I know, text needs to be clear.  I know I want 2 monitors.  I know I like high refresh rates, but that it's waisted on a 2nd monitor. (Unless I get 3!).  I liked having 2 of the same monitor, but I can see where it's not the best idea for gamers.  I'm leaning towards 2 4k monitors with the thought that if I ever outgrow them and want faster refresh rate, I could buy just 1 monitor and run all 3.  I also think the 4k monitors will still be relevant in 5 years whereas the higher refresh won't matter as much.

 

I know LG makes a lot of panels that get rebranded, are there other companies I need to avoid because they use rWbg and text looks terrible?

 

I've never used a curved monitor.  I have a friend who swears by them.  I probably prefer flat screens because it's easier to show other people what I'm working on, but I could be persuaded to give them a try.

 

My primary use is office/gaming.  My graphics card is a 7900xtx.

 

Thanks for any input.  I've put off buying replacements for a long time because I don't know what to buy.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Kaz

[Kaz]

After spending the evening reading reviews.  Gigabyte M32U is the leading choice.

[pio]

I wonder why you're experiencing so much eye strain with the 32's.  32" and 1440p is relatively large pixel pitch, kind of like a 27" 1080p panel.  With that said, have you tried messing with the scaling options in Windows yet?

[Snakecharmed]

I feel like more info might be needed. What model monitors do you have now, how long have you had them, and do they have a reputation for poor text clarity?

 

No clue here about the subpixel layout's potential effects on text sharpness, and I have to admit I was completely confused because sRGB is a color space, not a subpixel layout. It's RGB vs. BGR, and I've only ever owned RGB monitors, so I have no point of reference for comparison. There are Windows apps/settings that should address that though.

 

I wouldn't rule out physiological changes as a possible cause of the eyestrain either. I'd actually consider that a primary culprit with how you described having prolonged blurry vision and eye irritation.

[schuck6566]

a quick google search shows you're not the only person with blurred text issues with the LG monitors in those specs.

[Slaughtahouse]

13 hours ago, Snakecharmed said:

I feel like more info might be needed. What model monitors do you have now, how long have you had them, and do they have a reputation for poor text clarity?

 

No clue here about the subpixel layout's potential effects on text sharpness, and I have to admit I was completely confused because sRGB is a color space, not a subpixel layout. It's RGB vs. BGR, and I've only ever owned RGB monitors, so I have no point of reference for comparison. There are Windows apps/settings that should address that though.

 

I wouldn't rule out physiological changes as a possible cause of the eyestrain either. I'd actually consider that a primary culprit with how you described having prolonged blurry vision and eye irritation.

^

 

Agreed. I believe the same is true. To my knowledge, sRGB = reference to colour space spectrum (how much range you can get in colours), usually compared against Adobe RGB (larger colour space).

 

I believe what is driving the OP mad is the subpixel layout of their monitor. I don't think modifying the colour space will make the same impact. It may reduce overall bleeding of colours on text but it sounds like a pure hardware / panel constraint. 

 

I'd go on Rtings, and build a table with the key features you want. Example:

Monitor Table Tool - RTINGS.com

WWW.RTINGS.COM

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by Slaughtahouse

[The Pook]

On 02/09/2023 at 18:00, Kaz said:

or how LG decided to use rWbg instead of sRBG.

 

TIL

 

just looked it up and apparently that's why my monitor sometimes looks different than my old one. I went from an older AU Optronics 27" 1440p to an LG 32" 1440p and I couldn't describe why it looked different. after reading up it seems to be what I noticed. 

 

Certain combinations of font/font size/color/background color gives text a weird rainbow "fringe/halo." But it doesn't give me eye strain and I kind of stopped noticing it at all after a while.

[Snakecharmed]

At least for the text, Windows has a ClearType tuning tool that should be able to accomodate BGR subpixel layouts. That's my understanding of that setting anyway. I've never used it, so I don't know how well it works and I don't know if that will address the greater problem of eyestrain.

[Sir Beregond]

I used to have an LG 32" 1440p VA panel and I could never quite put my finger on why, but you are right, the test was never the clearest. Now that makes sense.

[Kaz]

Update on the situation.  I've now had Gigabyte M32U monitors for about a week.

 

On 03/09/2023 at 17:28, pioneerisloud said:

I wonder why you're experiencing so much eye strain with the 32's.  32" and 1440p is relatively large pixel pitch, kind of like a 27" 1080p panel.  With that said, have you tried messing with the scaling options in Windows yet?

I was using text scaling, then I tried windows scaling (apparently they are different).  While there were some gains/benefits, I ultimately decided the monitors weren't working out for me. 

 

I am now using 2x Gigabyte M32U (32" 4K 144hz) monitors, and I'm debating returning them and getting Gigabyte M27U (27" 4K 150/160hz overclocked) monitors.  The smaller screen size might be preferable to me for a sharper image/text clarity.  I'll probably fire up cleartext and see how that goes for the next week or so before making a decision.  From what I read, the LG monitors don't play well with clear text, it was designed for sRGB/BGR, not rWbg.  The gigabyte panels should be fine, but the LG panels are unsupported.  With the prevalence of LG OLED panels hitting the market, it will be interesting to see if windows adds support for rWbg.

 

Interesting sidenote, my 27" Yamakasi 2560x1440 monitor felt like it had a sharper/crisper image than the Gigabyte 32" 4K monitor.  The 4K monitors have higher PPI, but the Yamakasi had a glass finish, as opposed to the mat finish on new monitors.  I miss the days when monitors had glass. 

On 05/09/2023 at 00:00, Snakecharmed said:

I feel like more info might be needed. What model monitors do you have now, how long have you had them, and do they have a reputation for poor text clarity?

 

I wouldn't rule out physiological changes as a possible cause of the eyestrain either. I'd actually consider that a primary culprit with how you described having prolonged blurry vision and eye irritation.

 

The 32" monitors I was using are LG 32GQ850-B.  I question how much of the issue is a text issue, vs a screen/panel lighting issue.  Before finally purchasing new monitors, I noticed that watching video for 10 minutes would bother my eyes.  The final straw was when I was looking at my blue windows login screen and realized, my eyes are bothered.  That was within 30 seconds of firing up my computer.  Since the monitor swap, I do still have some eye trouble, but it is significantly reduced.  I feel like I can recover in this situation, vs before when things were only getting worse.

 

For now, I'll be avoiding LG panels due to the unsupported rWbg, which includes companies like Corsair who use LG panels.  I'm extremely disappointed that all the new OLED panels fall into this category, especially considering they are the only panels that still use glass. 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Kaz