Dual-monitor gaming. Please advise

[Padzki]

Hi, I'm planning to buy 2 Asus VX239H (23" IPS) monitors. I will only use 1 monitor for gaming, and the other one for general use(browsing/hardware monitoring tools/watching movies). My questions are:

1. Would there be a huge performance drop in gaming compared to single monitors?
2. While gaming, If I would like to browse on my second monitor, would my game be minimized?

I am also looking at buying a single 27" IPS monitor but only at 1080p.

Please advise.

Thanks

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Id take some 120hz monitors into consideration - I know their TN panel but for 120hz makes quite a difference to gaming from what i hear.

 

[Lopez0101]

You're not going to really see any decrease in game performance if you have a browser window open on the other monitor or anything. If you're worried about that you could just leave those programs open in the background on your current single monitor and it's going to pretty much be the same.

Yes, the game will minimize if you shift focus to another program or window. The only way to avoid the annoying monitor going black and switching is to run a game fullscreen windowed, but then you'll get a bar across the top and borders, which is annoying.

I'd take IPS panels over 120Hz ones, but that's my preference because I prefer color accuracy and viewing angles. I haven't noticed any input lag because of it, but it's hard to say since I've never played the same games on a 120Hz panel. Quite often you can overclock an IPS panel above 60Hz, but it all depends on the panel/manufacturer. However, if you're going to go 27" I highly recommend going 1440p, you will never go back to 1080. A 1080p signal stretched to 27" decreases the PPI of the monitor and can affect image quality since you normally sit so close to a computer monitor.

 

[Padzki]

Id take some 120hz monitors into consideration - I know their TN panel but for 120hz makes quite a difference to gaming from what i hear.

Hmm.. correct me if I'm wrong, but if you get a 120hz monitor, shouldn't you're FPS on games be constantly at 120 also to notice the difference? -I run a single 280x so I can barely reach 100 FPS

 

[Padzki]

You're not going to really see any decrease in game performance if you have a browser window open on the other monitor or anything. If you're worried about that you could just leave those programs open in the background on your current single monitor and it's going to pretty much be the same.

Yes, the game will minimize if you shift focus to another program or window. The only way to avoid the annoying monitor going black and switching is to run a game fullscreen windowed, but then you'll get a bar across the top and borders, which is annoying.

I'd take IPS panels over 120Hz ones, but that's my preference because I prefer color accuracy and viewing angles. I haven't noticed any input lag because of it, but it's hard to say since I've never played the same games on a 120Hz panel. Quite often you can overclock an IPS panel above 60Hz, but it all depends on the panel/manufacturer. However, if you're going to go 27" I highly recommend going 1440p, you will never go back to 1080. A 1080p signal stretched to 27" decreases the PPI of the monitor and can affect image quality since you normally sit so close to a computer monitor.

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I heard some reviews that 1080p is not good for a 27" especially that I seat 2 ft from my monitor.
Another question though. If I stick to a 23" IPS monitor, is it worth it to get another one? I can afford 2 asus VX239H(AH-IPS) monitors or 1 Dell U2312HM(IPS).

Thanks

 

[Solaris17]

Hi, I'm planning to buy 2 Asus VX239H (23" IPS) monitors. I will only use 1 monitor for gaming, and the other one for general use(browsing/hardware monitoring tools/watching movies). My questions are:

1. Would there be a huge performance drop in gaming compared to single monitors?
2. While gaming, If I would like to browse on my second monitor, would my game be minimized?

I am also looking at buying a single 27" IPS monitor but only at 1080p.

Please advise.

Thanks

no real performance difference if your have a decent GPU

it depends on the game. some of my games wont minimize at all and just go into a "windowed mode" others will simply disappear off my screen. It has to do with the game itself . no one can just say it will or it wont.

 

[BiggieShady]

Having 2 monitors and playing game on one is same as having only one, performance wise.
You will probably see a difference on desktop when the card idles - it may run a bit hotter.

 

[Lopez0101]

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I heard some reviews that 1080p is not good for a 27" especially that I seat 2 ft from my monitor.
Another question though. If I stick to a 23" IPS monitor, is it worth it to get another one? I can afford 2 asus VX239H(AH-IPS) monitors or 1 Dell U2312HM(IPS).

Thanks

I have my laptop hooked up to my 27" and I like having two monitors, it's certainly nice, but if I could only have one I'd rather have a single 27" 1440p. I have an ASUS PB278Q.

 

[15th Warlock]

If you run your game on a window you may still be able to use the second monitor to read anything or constantly monitor your hardware while you game, but the second you click on anything outside the game window, you'll loose all control of it.

Also, some games will degrade their performance when running on a window mode as opposed to running full screen, it might be imperceptible but it's gonna be there.

If you go to full screen on most games, the other monitor will just go to sleep mode and won't display anything, as your video card will display on one monitor, unless you want to run on multi monitor resolution but I would not recommend it on dual monitors, as the bezels will run right down the middle of your viewpoint.

 

[20mmrain]

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I heard some reviews that 1080p is not good for a 27" especially that I seat 2 ft from my monitor.
Another question though. If I stick to a 23" IPS monitor, is it worth it to get another one? I can afford 2 asus VX239H(AH-IPS) monitors or 1 Dell U2312HM(IPS).

Thanks

1080p is just fine for 27 inches. That is what I currently game one with no jaggies or issues. Honestly I heard the same rumor that you just mentioned above. Then One day I was at best buy and saw a 1080p 27 inch monitor. Looked amazing and I bought it. So don't believe 27 inches is bad for 1080p that rumor is crap!

The only partial truth is that your image quality depends on the monitor. So you could have a crummy looking 27 inch monitor just as easily as you could have a crummy looking 24 inch monitor. Just buy decent quality and all should be fine.

 

[Padzki]

1080p is just fine for 27 inches. That is what I currently game one with no jaggies or issues. Honestly I heard the same rumor that you just mentioned above. Then One day I was at best buy and saw a 1080p 27 inch monitor. Looked amazing and I bought it. So don't believe 27 inches is bad for 1080p that rumor is crap!

The only partial truth is that your image quality depends on the monitor. So you could have a crummy looking 27 inch monitor just as easily as you could have a crummy looking 24 inch monitor. Just buy decent quality and all should be fine.

Thanks for the reply. I've decided to buy a 27" IPS 1080p monitor. My question is, since I am currently gaming using a 23" 1080p monitor, should I notice a huge performance decrease(GPU) when using a 27" 1080p monitor? please advise

 

[a111087]

IPS is not really for gaming... when i first got PVA display, I didn't think i would notice the pixel lag, but i did.
If you want to have the best of the both worlds, get one 120mhz and one IPS.

EDIT: the size of LCD has nothing to do with performance requirement. as long as you are using the same resolution, FPS will stay the same.

 

[AsRock]

TBH, i have never noticed a difference in performance how ever it can bug some games like clicking to far to the right side and it minimizing the game all so your idle gpu speed will most likely increase too along with power usage.

 

[20mmrain]

Thanks for the reply. I've decided to buy a 27" IPS 1080p monitor. My question is, since I am currently gaming using a 23" 1080p monitor, should I notice a huge performance decrease(GPU) when using a 27" 1080p monitor? please advise

No you will not loose performance it is still 1080p. The only difference you may notice (Depending on the monitor you bought) Is a performance decrease in the response time. Example: if you are coming from a "TN" Display at 2ms response and going to a 5 ms response "IPS" Panel. Which case you it really doesn't matter all that much for two reasons. 1. There is no real standard for measuring response time (So you may not even notice) 2. 1ms and 2ms TN monitors really seem to be a benefit to people in the competitive gaming scene (because of quick reactions), and when I speak of competitive gaming I mean competitive gaming! The people who game for a living.
When I made a similar switch I didn't notice anything. I came from an 2ms Asus monitor to a 5ms Acer monitor. I was worried about seeing ghosting and issues like that. I have yet to see and difference or ghosting. As a matter of fact the only thing I have noticed is the increase in vibrant colors and more enjoyable visuals. So for me the switch was well worth it.
On the ghosting topic, I will say some people have noticed "slight" ghosting when they switched from a TN panel to an IPS. This usually happens when coming from a high quality TN monitor with ultra low response time to a low quality IPS with ultra high response time (Such as 7ms or higher). So please make sure you do your research and see what other people are saying about the monitor you are thinking of buying.
Other great variants of displays out there that provide ultra nice colors and viewing angles are, S-IPS and PLS. Good luck on your search, let us know what you get.

Despite what people are saying, IPS monitors and any other variant of that panel, is just fine for gaming.

 

[arskatb]

100% agree with 22mmrain. Im regular gamer and cant see big difference between hi hz and 60 hz monitor.
I had regular 1080p tn and swich that to ips(was like a huge leap)
then i switch it to 144hz tn and well.. didnt like that because tn offers much worse color, fullness and depth then ips.

ps. two monitor is bad idea. u will lose centerline. need to have an odd number of monitors

 

[Padzki]

No you will not loose performance it is still 1080p. The only difference you may notice (Depending on the monitor you bought) Is a performance decrease in the response time. Example: if you are coming from a "TN" Display at 2ms response and going to a 5 ms response "IPS" Panel. Which case you it really doesn't matter all that much for two reasons. 1. There is no real standard for measuring response time (So you may not even notice) 2. 1ms and 2ms TN monitors really seem to be a benefit to people in the competitive gaming scene (because of quick reactions), and when I speak of competitive gaming I mean competitive gaming! The people who game for a living.
When I made a similar switch I didn't notice anything. I came from an 2ms Asus monitor to a 5ms Acer monitor. I was worried about seeing ghosting and issues like that. I have yet to see and difference or ghosting. As a matter of fact the only thing I have noticed is the increase in vibrant colors and more enjoyable visuals. So for me the switch was well worth it.
On the ghosting topic, I will say some people have noticed "slight" ghosting when they switched from a TN panel to an IPS. This usually happens when coming from a high quality TN monitor with ultra low response time to a low quality IPS with ultra high response time (Such as 7ms or higher). So please make sure you do your research and see what other people are saying about the monitor you are thinking of buying.
Other great variants of displays out there that provide ultra nice colors and viewing angles are, S-IPS and PLS. Good luck on your search, let us know what you get.

Despite what people are saying, IPS monitors and any other variant of that panel, is just fine for gaming.

I'm thinking of buying the Asus VX279H (27" AH-IPS 1080p; 5ms response time). I've read this is the new version on the MX series they have. Apparently I couldn't find more reviews for it -only saw youtube reviews which they say it was good for gaming and general use.

 

[arskatb]

If you can find dell with same price then take dell

 

[Padzki]

There's actually a dell(Dell U2412HM, Dell U2412M, Dell U2312HM) that I found but their response time is 8ms compared to Asus' 5ms. -Does it matter?

 

[20mmrain]

Hmmm.... your right with a really quick look I didn't find many reviews on the Asus VX279 either.

Here's a couple
And another

I have never owned a HP monitor so I can not comment to arskatb's point. However I have owned a few Asus Monitors and a few Acer Monitors. I found both of those companies make very good monitors and have a great reputation. But while I haven't used a HP monitor before I have heard they also make very good monitors.
The 3rd monitor manufacturer I really like is Samsung... however they are usually more on the expensive side.

 

[sneekypeet]

side point....
last I knew, unless drivers have fixed this since, the card will always run in 3D mode and be much hotter at idle!

 

[Vario]

Pro tip: hold windows key and then push p to select dual monitor or single monitor without wearing out the monitor's power button.

 

[Kaynar]

There's actually a dell(Dell U2412HM, Dell U2412M, Dell U2312HM) that I found but their response time is 8ms compared to Asus' 5ms. -Does it matter?

The response times of ANY monitors are totally false and have absolutely nothing to do with real life. For example, These Dell monitors actually have about 20-25ms delay which is the typical delay of IPS screens. I don't know about that particular asus, but a good TN usually has about 3-15ms delay (the newest EIZO FORGIS has 3.7ms and this is the fastest screen currently). You will never notice the difference. You can head over to tftcentral.co.uk and have a look at one of their recent reviews and see the table with the "Average Lag Comparison".

Personally I own a dell 2713HM and used to own an Asus proart monitor, I have seen and played games on 120Hz "gaming" screen (Samsung s23a750d) of my previous flat mate and my personal opinion is that the advantages of IPS seriously outweigh the single advantage of TN which actually matters only to the pro CS gamers that get paid to win tournaments. The only thing you got to be careful with IPS is to not to pick a model that would present ghosting in games/fast movements.

In terms of the dual-monitor setup, I think you should have a high quality IPS as your main screen and a second cheap one so you can simultaneously browse the net etc.