Guild Wars 2

I’m looking to upgrade my system. Currently I get 40-50 fps out in the world (excluding LA and WvW battles ofc) on medium settings.

Regarding monitors, is it true that a 60hz monitor can only display 60 fps?

If so, what hz should I go for? I’ve seen some online at 120hz, but then I see peeps here mentioning 200hz?!?

So I’m just a little confused and was wondering what the deal is here.

Also, if I did have a120 or 200 hz monitor – what would be some good specs for a system to properly utilize this better monitor?

Many thanks!

Most monitors nowerdays come in 2 formats 60hz and 120hz.

FPS wise what that means is ..if u run a game that ur computer can get say 100 fps out of ..if u leave VSync OFF on a 60hz screen ..u will get all 100fps ..but ur screen will tear like a ****** ..Bassicaly what it looks like is as if u took a picture ..ripped it in half and then ofset the to halfs slightly ..top and bottom half of the screen dont line up and thats becouse the screen is showing a portion of the next frame instead of all of the 1 whole frame.

If however u turn Vsync ON u cap the FPS at 60 and also syncronize the frames being pumpedo ut of ur computer to the refresh rate of the screen ..so each screen refresh gets a frame from the computer at the exact same time so u odnt see any screen tearing.

So what this means is, if u cant stand screen tearing and want higher than 60fps both of which r really needed for heavy FirstPerson Shooter gamers, then u want a 120hz monitor that can use Vsync and as such acheve 120fps without any screen tearing.

As for a system ..wel lfor GW2 there is none .. GW2 has such bad performance from its game engine that u could have the best consumer CPU and GPU layout currently available and u would still drop into the 30’s in WvW battles.
For other games however, u would want a top of the line Single GPU graphics card like a 680 or a 7970 along with a good CPU like a FX 8350 or Intel 3570k or 3770k..or even a 3930k. better yet would be 2 of the above grpahics cards in SLI, so u can run games at top quality and stil lacheve 100+ FPS a lthe time ..thus getitng the most out of a 120hz monitor.

as SN says, this game wont run great on any system, anet need to rebuild the engine so its not optimized for a 6-8ghz tricore cpu….

for gw2, you could use a 30hz monitor and be fine…

for shooters 120hz is good, BUT personally, I wouuld get a 2560×1440 korean monitor they are only rated at 60hz but, they are amazing value, they are IPS panels from LG, same ones used in the apple cinema displays, yet you can get them for alot less!!!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130703&p_id=9579&seq=1&format=2

thats one option, there are meny, the crossover(brand) are considered by many to be the best but, the monoprice is a steal…..microcenter has one as well…..

Im really eyeing a monoprice come next month…….

Im personaly waiting on 120hz Super-HD(1440p/1600p+) screens to become available at 32" or 37" sizes ..i cant go any smaller ..im running a 42" atm and going down to a 32" would be painfull enough even with the better PPI :P
Still u can get a 1440p 90-120hz 30" monitor atm .but they cost a pritty penny.

I will be happy with the 27"….lol

gotta admit 390usd for a 27" 2560×1440 IPS monitor….the crossover is better but…..this ones got a US retailer with an amazing rep….

Personally, I find 120hz only useful in FPS games. RPG’s and RTS games I don’t find to benefit much because they’re not face-paced enough to warrant 120hz. If you’re purely playing GW2, a 60hz monitor is sufficient. But if you also play FPS games (Like BF3 or god forbid COD) alongside GW2, then getting a 120hz monitor is worth it.

As for the 200hz monitor: No such thing exists. At least, not true 200hz on LCD monitors.

For gaming I couldn’t personally use anything other than 120hz, coming from 200hz CRTs it took me (and most others in the quake scene for instance) a long time to switch over because of the horrendous input lag/response time issues of TFTs.

As previously mentioned, it is of most benefit in fast paced games although you will notice the difference immediately even from mouse movement on the desktop. What I find baffling is people who enable vsync on a 120hz TN thus introducing more lag negating the main benefit of the tech…

Some people just cant stand screen tearing.. which happens even when ur fps is under the refresh rate unless Vsync is on.

idd each to their own I guess, would rather put up with a minimal amount of tearing than the horrible input lag but that’s me. I know people who don’t even notice the difference in response between vsync on or off :o

majestic: having many friends who where part of that culture, I can tell you, most of them moved to quality lcd’s once we started being able to test them first, most did not hold onto crt’s till they died because, they wanted larger screens.

its not so much the hz or even response time thats the killer, input lag can come from the eletronics in the monitor, its why with many of the korean monitors the vga+dvi models are preferred because they have almost zero input lag, where the models with hdmi, dp, dvi, vga, hell even saw one with RGB all add at least minor input lag.

I have one friend who was VERY picky about refresh rates and such, but he decided to take a chance and get a crossover model(one with the nice stand) and he was floored, its only 67hz max on the refresh but, it actually looks better then his more expensive 120hz dell and samsung gaming monitors, he constantly tells me how shocked he is about how much more fluid and smooth it is….this is a guy who was mad he couldnt get 220hz lcd’s…….(he had a 24" crt that would do 220hz at its recommended res, or 87hz at 2560×1600)

I do get what your saying but, not all lcd’s are created equal, just as not all crt’s where created equal, some where AMAZING, others where sort of like early TN monitors….(total crap)

infact, I use to scrap monitors for a couple years to make extra money, we would devac the tubes then strip the pcb’s out and send them to another company that stripped the parts off the tubes so they could be used by another devision of our company to refurbish yet other monitors….some crt’s where truly horrific…..i mean worse then the worst TN panel on the market…(yes really that bad)

on the other hand, I have a buddy whos got 6 crt’s (very small borders around the screen, hitchi prof builds) he uses in eyefinity, amazing….. they are 26" .22 dot pitch(not kidding….) and at their best res, they do 96hz, he actually paid to have a new tube shipped from asia so he could repair one after the mask broke loose inside the tube….and that wasnt cheap!!!

either way tho, I have seen these korean monitors in action, and, honestly, the dvi models…excellent, as good or better then the best CRT’s i have seen, and that includes models that cost over 1500bucks back in the day…..

SN, if you use dynamic vsync or frame limiter you can avoid taring and game to game it depends how annoying it is, i got a few games, its BAD, others, even at their worst you can barely notice it……on the ones its bad, radeon pro saves the day(since normal vsync dosnt play nice with sli or crossfire in many/most situations. and some games get horrible input lag from vsync…)

majestic.8129:

idd each to their own I guess, would rather put up with a minimal amount of tearing than the horrible input lag but that’s me. I know people who don’t even notice the difference in response between vsync on or off :o

this really depends on the game, some (what i call games with proper vsync) dont have this issue but, many/most today have this issue to at least some degree….

one thing i have noticed, games on UE3 like tera vsync tends to cause input lag, but, the funny thing, if you disable mouse smoothing, the input lag caused by vsync almost disappears…..if you use something like radeon pro to force vsync…totally gone….

I do know what your saying, and as somebody whos been suing crossfire for a few years solid here, I can tell you, I know all about the troubles of vsync…

triplebuffering can really help as well, I wish more games would use TB natively rather then needing it forced externally….

Well I agree with some of your points, by response times I did mean the overall response being hz/input lag/other factors combined rather than the often meaningless G2G manufacs quote

I wouldn’t dispute a good IPS with low input lag being acceptable in many scenarios but the only one I found comparable to a 120hz TN is the Catleap clocked at 120hz. Anything lower and its just not smooth enough for games like QW/CPMA without the higher refresh if you play at a high enough level and anyone on somewhere like ESR will say the same. Obviously as quality goes there is no question who wins there! Also I would concede the amount of games that have these requirements these days is very small.

I can honestly tell you I could identify almost immediately in any game if vsync is on or off assuming it doesn’t have artificial lag introduced (for example GW2 before smoothing was removed). TB improves things of course but its still noticeable by a long stretch.

I agree in most games its noticeable, and they didnt remove smoothing in gw2, they tweaked it, they refused to remove it or let us disable it(was in on that arguement…..lol)

vsync if done correctly can be fine, the problem really is, very few engines do it well, most do an honestly kitten poor job of implementing it, hell, i got a STACK of games where you cant enable vsync in game, if you try, it dosnt work……turns out some of them, the dev’s did that intentionally because the in game vsync was so bad it caused noticeable lag, i mean lag so bad even a total WoW noob would notice it….

like when your systems really overloaded and the mouse lags..half a second behind your movements kinda “Wtf” bad…..

I am not a competitive gamer, havent been for years, I got tired of the culture of that group, to much kitten talking and in fighting, and to much “you have to be hacking, theres no way with your hardware you could kill me”…….

skill>hardware…….thats all i need to say…..because if you been gaming as long as you imply, you know its true, somebody with medocre skill but excellent hardware can and will loose to somebody with MEH hardware and excellent skills.(im a kittening evil sniper…..people HATE me in games where i can hide and snipe…main reasion I quit bc2 was i got tired of people loosing and turning on their hacks(the games full of aimbots…you can get them for less then 8 bucks a month….)

well, time to check if warframe has an update

Hmm yeah reduced would probably have been a better word, stopped playing this months ago so am a bit out of touch.

Of course generally speaking what you say is true, but in cases where the skill is roughly equal the player with with less lag/more smoothness will have a better ability to hitscan more accurately and thus gain a advantage. When I used to play on 56k against lpbs I had to adjust playstyle because it was literally impossible to outaim, comparable but to a lesser degree.

Kinda going off-topic anyways now, my recommendation to the OP would be the benq xl2411t if you play twitch shooters competitively otherwise get a IPS like jazhara stated which would provide much better image quality.

they are amazing(the 2560×1440 korean monitors), im really thinking of grabbing that monoprice one next month…..sucks not having alot of money to throw around….

but hey, the things not gonna be in stock till next month so, win win!!!

Only thing i dont like about LCD bassed tech is the high probability of dead pixles. Just 1 dead pixel would aggrivate me to no end. And with the Korean monitors, they can have a good handfull of dead pixels as the panels r A- not A+. If u can i highly sugest paying extra for ‘pixel perfect’ which is a service some places offer..they test the screen and garauntee 0 dead pixels for the 1st year..if u use ur computer alot that 1st year will pritty much show up any weak pixels.

Indeed, my defense against doa pixels is distance selling regulations in the UK, not sure if there is comparable in other countries. Obviously doesn’t protect you after that but at least wouldn’t start on a minus

SN, even monitors here in the states many times dont cover if you have less the like 5 dead pixels and some if those are on the edges of the screen, they arent covered….(had this fight with 4 major monitor manufactures….they try everything to avoid taking back defective stuff)

if you live near a microcenter they got a korean ips panel and will take them back if you find a dead pixel, my buddy bought 12 for his company 2 of 12 had dead pixels(one it was a single one in the top corner) microcenter exchanged them no problem, the one with a single dead pixel they just put up on display and sold as open box the other had 3 dead center that one went back to the manufacture)

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?p_id=9579&seq=1&format=2
or
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130703&p_id=10235&seq=1&format=2
or
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130703&p_id=10234&seq=1&format=2

monoprice have excellent support and have been around a long time(anybody whos done much networking buying the stuff to network knows monoprice…unless they never order online….lol)

those monitors are NICE the 27" is headed my way next month I think…..good price!!!!(they also have a stand for 20bucks thats said to be quite good.)

my monitor at work has 1 dead pixel in the top left, its bright white…..but its litterly at the edge of the screen so i only notice it when i go looking for it…(thank god otherwise it would drive me nuts!!!)