April 14, 2020

Monitors and TVs

There are allegedly three types of panels used in monitors: IPS, TN and VA. OLED has not yet made an appearance in the monitor arena, only in TV sets.

My son Paul says the following about monitors. He thinks highly of BenQ, but their monitors seem optimized for gamers and they don't make a 43 inch 4K monitor (their biggest is 32 inch). He considers Dell to be mid-tier. They never make junk, but except for a few home runs, their stuff is generally mediocre and perhaps overpriced. He says that LG is the sole maker of OLED panels at this point in time, which is an interesting tidbit, but those are out of my price range. He is using an Acer B286HK right now and says it is much nicer than an older BenQ with a TN display.

My current monitors

My current monitor is a Dell model U2715H. This is a 27 inch monitor with 2560 by 1440 resolution. It has an LED backlit IPS panel. I have used this monitor continuously for at least 3 or 4 years now and have never had a problem.

I also have a smaller monitor (on my Windows machine), a Dell model U2413. This is 1920 by 1200. Its claim to fame is a full sRGB color gamut, and the ability to hold an internal color calibration table. It uses a TFT active matrix panel. One convenience I have appreciated on this monitor is that it has an internal USB hub and places two USB slots in a handy location along the left edge.

Possible 4k monitor upgrade - LG 43UN700-B, April, 2020

Nice, but this won't cut it because it has no DP connector.

This currently sells for $700 on Amazon. It has an IPS panel and offers 3840 by 2160 resolution. It has four HDMI inputs and apparently no DP. Not having display port may rule this out, since the video card I have seems to only support 60 Hz refresh over the display port.

One reviewer says he mounted his to the wall with an Ergotron LX HD Sit-Stand Wall Mount LCD Arm - Wall Mount

This is a $276 item, so it ought to be top tier.

Possible 4k monitor upgrade - Acer ET430K, May, 2019

At $500 this seems to be quite a bargain. It does 60 Hz, but people complain about ghosting and pixel persistence, so this seems like a useless specification. You may as well get a 30Hz refresh monitor. There are also reports of some intermittent screen blackout that a lot of people see. With weird complaints like this, I will pass.

Possible 4k monitor upgrade - Dell P4317Q, May, 2019

An 82 percent sRGB gamut is unfortunate, but maybe not a show stopper. Also I see complaints that the PWM to control screen brightness causes eye fatigue and headaches for some people. But seein this monitor in action is what started me on this whole quest. I visited a fellow who had a 43 inch Dell monitor, and was knocked over by the idea. The Dell of interest is a P4317Q, currently selling for about $800. It has the usual 16x9 aspect ratio and offers 3840 by 2160. The spec indicates you only get the 60 Hz refresh if you use the display port, as follows: 
4K 3840 x 2160 (DisplayPort: 60 Hz, Mini DisplayPort: 60 Hz, HDMI: 30 Hz)
My current machine has an i7 processor and I am using the on-chip video which will not drive these 4k resolutions, so I would also need to buy a new video card. There are lots of options. I want a card without a fan (because they always fail, usually sooner than later). Also I don't need gamer style refresh rates or any of the high performance stuff that gamer oriented video cards offer.

MSI GeForce 1030 card

The MSI GeForce 1030 card I have links to above sells for $100, does not have a fan. It has a huge heat sink and hogs several slots, so I need to be sure it will fit into my case without issue. This actually looks quite good, the gamer oriented motherboard I have may finally pay off, it provides room for four big PCIE cards.

A particular virtue of the MSI card over other 1030 cards is that it has a DP (display port) connector that supports 60 Hz. Many of the other cards offer only DVI. This card has HDMI and DP. HDMI offers a max resolution of 3840x2160, but only at 30hz. There is some evidence that the 1030 will go up to 8k (7680x4320 at 60 Hz) over the display port. One review of the MSI card says: "8K (those are all DisplayPort) or 5K or 4K...no problem at all."

Amazon sells four versions. Two have a fan and can be eliminated right away. One has DDR5 memory for $97. The other has 2G of DDR4 memory for $85. I would spend the extra $12 and get the one with faster memory.

I finally placed the order October 1, 2019 -- selecting the "2GH" variant. The two variants without the "H" (2G and 2GD4) have a fan and are of no interest. This leaves me with the choice between 2GH and 2GHD4. What I am led to believe is that the "D4" variant has the slower DDR4 memory and that if I order the 2GH, I will get a card without a fan and with the fast DDR5 memory. I waited long enough that the card was only available from 3rd party sellers, but this worked out just fine.

The question now that I have it is what ports are available and what resolution on each. The description says it supports HDMI 2.0b / DisplayPort (Version 1.4). Reviews say it will support a maximum resolution of 7680-by-4320 at 60Hz. However the HDMI max resolution is 3840x2160 @ 30hz which is the max hdmi 1.4 will allow (unless you run 4:2:0 subsampling to get 60 hz @ 4k. 5k @ 30 hz is also possible if you use 4:2:2 subsampling). Displayport max resolution: 7680×4320 @ 30 hz which is the max dp 1.4 will allow unless you run display stream compression (dsc) to get 8k @ 60 hz. 4k and 5k @ 60 hz is supported without having to use any dsc.

In short, this will only drive a 4K monitor at 60 Hz if you use the display port. Newer HDMI versions would do better, but the HDMI on this card is limited to 30 Hz refresh with 4k resolution.

Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!