EIZO FORIS FS2735 monitor announced- 1440p IPS Freesync

[bobrocks95]

Would be cool if there were enough noteworthy Freesync monitors to have a dedicated thread by now, but I don't think we're quite there yet...

This was just announced today I think, standard press release is up on a number of PC news websites- http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/gpu ... _monitor/1

It hits all the bullet points that a number of people are surely looking for, with a 1440p resolution, 144Hz refresh, 27" screen size, an IPS panel, and Freesync.
AFAIK the only other IPS Freesync monitor is the ASUS MG279Q, which is marred with a lot of issues even after a recall: Poor quality control leading to panel lottery, Freesync range limited to 35-90Hz, and more ghosting when using Freesync than there should be due to poor overdrive functionality.

Plenty of TN Freesync monitors that match every other bullet point, but I've lived with a TN monitor long enough that I don't bother reading about those (I currently have a TN...).



So, thoughts on this? I don't know much about EIZO myself, it seems they make "high-end" monitors, but that could just mean "high-priced" from my limited perspective. Think they'll be able to knock it out of the park with this? If so, will the price be so prohibitive it doesn't matter anyway? Have there been TN Freesync panels that didn't have notable ghosting trouble, or is Freesync as a whole still lagging behind in that department?

[Xan]

Just saw this and wanted to post about it as well. Took them long enough to come up with this

The thing with Eizo is that they have a long-standing reputation as a manufacturer of professional grade displays, from way back in the CRT days. Even if they are buying panels from other manufacturers these days they probably wouldn't risk that reputation by using a bunch of subpar capacitors, like Dell and others certainly have in the past. And FWIW even their cheaper consumer monitors are still being assembled in Japan (at least that was the case 2 years ago when they released footage from their plant, not sure if anything has changed in the meantime).

Anyway, specs are looking fine so far, certainly a good step up from my FS2333, but the panel could well be the same supposedly problematic 144 Hz AUO one that other monitors have used. Only reviews and reading on the respective forums will tell, but that's to be expected with any new monitor these days. Only one thing is for sure now, it beats the XB270HU by quite a margin in terms of style

[Ed Oscuro]

Red stripes are like the modern version of finned automobiles. Everybody has to have them...the Asus gaming monitors do, and even the Acer has a red ring on its stand.

Since it's Eizo, I'm afraid it'll be too expensive, but I'll stay hopeful. The plus side is that there shouldn't be a panel lottery. There might even be some good scaling / centering options available (anybody familiar with Eizo monitors care to say?)

I'd be most interested if they have a backlight control method while FreeSync is active. It doesn't explicitly say it in the article, so it probably doesn't.

There's also no information about that critical measure - response time - of course the normal manufacturer supplied response times are all inaccurate, but it should be comparable to known sets. I'm guessing that, again, it won't be too special compared to other sets.

[Xan]

The important part is that it's free from any piano gloss nonsense... they deserve approval for sticking to that with all of their products, disregarding the naysayers.

Not sure what you mean by centering options; my monitor has the option of displaying various resolutions in 1:1 mode, although I would think this would be the case for most brands anyway. Scaling quality isn't high on any PC monitor manufacturer's list these days from what I understand, especially since this can be done on GPUs now.

[SuperDeadite]

Until about 3 months ago I was still using a 22'' CRT for all my computer needs. But it finally died, and since I still love me some high motion classic FPS games like Quake, I wanted the best CRTish flat panel I could get.

Also living in Japan a lot of the high-end gamer monitors aren't even sold here (very little demand). Hence I went with the Foris FG2421. A bit pricey, but I adore this display. The brightness, contrast, colors, and smoothness (Turbo 240 really does work) all greatly exceeded my expectations. I was able to let go of my beloved CRT with no regrets. All of my buddies have been blown away by this thing.

[Xan]

According to prad the FG2421 has 12.8 ms of average input lag (using 120 Hz) vs. 4.6 on the FS2333 though, if these results are anything to go by. They also criticized inferior color spectrum coverage, viewing angles and interpolation on that monitor. I've never seen it in person, but I'd assume that 240 mode and the superior blacks on VA would still make it a better monitor for gaming.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not sure what you mean by centering options; [...] this can be done on GPUs now.

Sorry, I'm defaulting to thinking in analog.

On that note, do these latest monitors still preserve the VGA port? It's handy for some uses.

[bobrocks95]

Do any monitors still support VGA? Maybe through the DVI port as DVI-I?

[Ed Oscuro]

The fs2333 has both DVI and VGA ports, along with two HDMI ports.

[SuperDeadite]

According to prad the FG2421 has 12.8 ms of average input lag (using 120 Hz) vs. 4.6 on the FS2333 though, if these results are anything to go by. They also criticized inferior color spectrum coverage, viewing angles and interpolation on that monitor. I've never seen it in person, but I'd assume that 240 mode and the superior blacks on VA would still make it a better monitor for gaming.

I'm sure someone that compares tons of monitors back to back will find something to complain about. As for myself I just look at a display, and its a question if I like it or not. Typically I hate LCDs, hence I stuck to CRT for as long as I could. However, I love this thing, and I have not noticed any lag, I do not use emulation though so I can't attest to that.

As for interpolation, using various patches and what not 95% of my games output in 1080p anyway so non-issue for me personally. I have a few ancient doujins that only seem to work in 640x480, but I pump those out to my arcade monitor anyway.

[Ji-L87]

The amount of ports and swivelling stand looks really good. The design works, it's not terrible exciting but it's way better than FS2332 that I have that, when you remove the foot to vesa mount it, looks really funky with a bit of metal exposed where the foot used to be.

In terms of performance I have been very pleased with my FS2332 and I have at least one friend who runs a newer model without complaints, so I'm slightly excited for this.
I really don't need anything else they mentioned (maybe G-sync but I'm running Nvidia currently so...) so hopefully that won't have too much effect on the pricing.

[ZellSF]

That advertising movie for their cloud connected monitor is hilarious, I recommend everyone watch it.

1440p, variable sync, flicker free and IPS. Ticks almost the boxes for what a decent gaming monitor today should have. Just lacking a mention of input lag.

For non-gaming purposes, automatic brightness control is so good to have on your monitor. Five year warranty is nice too.

If I was a AMD user, this is the monitor I would buy (unless reviews end up saying anything negative about it).

[Xan]

Tom's Hardware did an experiment comparing FreeSync with G-Sync, although their testing methods leave a bit to be desired:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd ... ,4246.html

[bobrocks95]

Tom's Hardware did an experiment comparing FreeSync with G-Sync, although their testing methods leave a bit to be desired:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd ... ,4246.html

So they used an MG279Q with a limited Freesync range and ghosting problems, and then just asked people what they thought? Of course G-Sync is going to win...

[ZellSF]

One huge advantage (imo) that G-Sync has over Freesync now is that it isn't dependent on exclusive fullscreen: it will work in many windowed apps too.

Of course that should be possible for AMD to implement with a driver update too, but who knows how long that will take.

[bobrocks95]

Eizo's site shows the stand rotating 90 degrees to Tate, so there's another small plus. Still no word on pricing, but I'm guessing around $6-700 based on their other monitors.

[Ed Oscuro]

Tom's Hardware did an experiment comparing FreeSync with G-Sync, although their testing methods leave a bit to be desired:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd ... ,4246.html

The comments tear it down in a number of interesting ways.

I'd have to run some numbers to find out which results are valid, but the only one that looks informative is that 9 of the 10 respondents (out of a total 48) were right when they guessed the rigs. Probably mainly based on fan noise, a giveaway for AMD (and something that Tom's might not have been able to control even if they had attempted).

I do think that it probably gives a right result, but given the statistics of the thing, that's just the confirmation bias speaking. It could have been the other way around and we'd all be scratching our heads.

But yeah, bob's right, although I think that people are quick to blame ASUS for the limited range on that FreeSync display they used. But I have to ask - in a G-Sync system, would this have even happened? Wherever fault lies, this is still a problem with a FreeSync monitor. Hopefully not a common one, though.

[Xan]

On their site it lists the FS2735 as having a 1000:1 static contrast ratio, while the FG2421 has 5000:1. Just shows how superior VA is in that regard, and these are just theoretical values not even factoring in the IPS glow. I'm pretty happy with my monitor, but it's absolutely terrible at displaying dark scenery hands down, and the FS2735 will be no better. A-TW polarizers in monitors of that price range are still far from being reality unfortunately.

Wherever fault lies, this is still a problem with a FreeSync monitor. Hopefully not a common one, though.

It was a problem with the panel itself, something with big FPS variations causing problems. I don't think Asus specifically described these issues. Apparently there was also an issue with every 6th frame simply being dropped during 144 Hz operation, but it seems they fixed that with a firmware update.

[bobrocks95]

There are so few IPS adaptive-sync panels that I'm unsure if there's a sample large enough to fairly say whether it's Freesync's fault or ASUS' fault for their recent one's problems.

There's at least a couple of things I'm at least personally unsure about for a fair comparison between Freesync and G-Sync:

-Are there other Freesync monitors without ghosting yet, regardless of panel type? I haven't seen one, but from what I've read it's the panel manufacturer's fault as they haven't worked out the voltage overdrive yet. This is taken care of by the G-Sync module for those monitors, so they should be consistent across the board.

-Are there any adaptive-sync IPS monitors of either type that have a full frequency range? There are TN ones that have a full 30-144Hz syncing range so that's covered. There likely would have been IPS panels right from the start if there weren't some kind of hurdle to overcome with them (or maybe the market seriously prioritized TN and just figured not that many people would notice?).

[zanardi]

FreeSync works with overdrive on all monitors for quite some time now, including those released in march with a firmware update.
The ghosting problem was a march-april thing.

[Xyga]

I'm more interested in seeing extended comparatives of both sync technologies with most emulators, because if Freesync works just as well as G-Sync for what I'm interested in (more or less 53~61Hz) that just makes many more valid monitor candidates for the future.

Come on ! Please, someone with lots of free time and money !

[Fudoh]

Asus PG279Q is still happening, isn't it ?

[ZellSF]

I'm more interested in seeing extended comparatives of both sync technologies with most emulators, because if Freesync works just as well as G-Sync for what I'm interested in (more or less 53~61Hz) that just makes many more valid monitor candidates for the future.

Come on ! Please, someone with lots of free time and money !

Most emulators don't need it, most consoles are close enough to 60hz that speed adjustment won't be noticeable.

Higan, Ootake and PCSX2 won't work with FreeSync for example (pending a driver update), but they're all 60hz.

Only emulators I can think of that needs non-60hz is MAME and Wonderswan emulators.

MAME works in G-Sync and *should* work in FreeSync, though I can't find anyone who has tested.

Asus PG279Q is still happening, isn't it ?

Uh, yes, but isn't that just the exact same panel as Acer's Predator except with a HDMI input?

[Xyga]

Well yeah it's mostly for arcade emulator that goes without saying.
Still, most emus of '60Hz' hardwares like consoles still require either v-sync or buffering, otherwise there's tearing in most cases even if a little, so of course g/freesync will be useful with those too.

[Xan]

Any XB270HU owners on here? Since this is probably still the reference as far as adaptive sync monitors go right now. From everything I've read it seems that build quality and QC are really on the bad side despite the high price, but the G-Sync feature itself is said to work well.

[bobrocks95]

FreeSync works with overdrive on all monitors for quite some time now, including those released in march with a firmware update.
The ghosting problem was a march-april thing.

From what I can tell the ASUS MG279Q was released in June initially. So ASUS just blew it on their overdrive implementation, or am I misunderstanding?

[ZellSF]

Any XB270HU owners on here? Since this is probably still the reference as far as adaptive sync monitors go right now. From everything I've read it seems that build quality and QC are really on the bad side despite the high price, but the G-Sync feature itself is said to work well.

I have one of those, sending it in for repair as it came with some dust behind the panel though.

G-Sync works fantastically as of the latest driver update, before that it was really wonky.

[zanardi]

FreeSync works with overdrive on all monitors for quite some time now, including those released in march with a firmware update.
The ghosting problem was a march-april thing.

From what I can tell the ASUS MG279Q was released in June initially. So ASUS just blew it on their overdrive implementation, or am I misunderstanding?

MG279Q was released in late april. Sweclockers tested an early sample and found some firmware issues causing frame skipping at 144Hz.
ASUS recalled the monitor to update the firmware and re-released this monitor in june. Overdrive was working with FreeSync from the start.

[Ed Oscuro]

Any XB270HU owners on here? Since this is probably still the reference as far as adaptive sync monitors go right now. From everything I've read it seems that build quality and QC are really on the bad side despite the high price, but the G-Sync feature itself is said to work well.

I have one of those, sending it in for repair as it came with some dust behind the panel though.

G-Sync works fantastically as of the latest driver update, before that it was really wonky.

How did you like blur and backlight glow on that one? Has the lack of VGA and DVI ever been a nuisance?

[bobrocks95]

MG279Q was released in late april. Sweclockers tested an early sample and found some firmware issues causing frame skipping at 144Hz.
ASUS recalled the monitor to update the firmware and re-released this monitor in june.

Ah, got it, June was the post-recall re-release, my bad.

Overdrive was working with FreeSync from the start.

I was with you right until this; are you still talking specifically about the MG279Q? Because I continue to see reports of ghosting. An overdrive setting of 20 gives the best results from everything I've read, but it's still there. So what's the discrepancy here, or am I missing something else?